Lähteenmäki, Mari. Väinö Voionmaa. Puolue- ja geopoliitikko (review)

Abstract

SEER, 93, 3, JULY 2015 578 too, has re-emerged as a popular, symbolic figure without, as Biskupski notes, much interest in his policies outside scholarly circles. Dmowski-ite hostility has mostly, but not entirely, died out. In recent years, 11 November has been marked with speeches, parades, re-enactments and the songs of Piłsudski’s First World War Legions. Biskupski reports briefly that American Polonia is generally cool to 11 November, reflecting its Dmowski-ite origins, although more recent immigrants endorse it. Poles in the United Kingdom (and in Canada, as this reviewer has observed) are somewhat more favourable. Biskupski’s useful study presents the debate over Independence Day as a referendum on Piłsudski and, as such, he devotes considerable space to reporting general political developments. His study of Independence Day itself concentrates primarily on Piłsudski-ite enthusiasts who held power much of the time and put their ideas into practice. As a result, opponents of the Piłsudski cult receive less attention. The large ethnic minorities (35 per cent) are not ignored, particularly the pro-Piłsudski Jewish community, although there is room for future studies to explore the varying opinions of different factions. An exceptionally brief concluding chapter offers reflections on the symbolic nature of Independence Day as a celebration of the persistence of Polish identity despite much travail. Biskupski finds Piłsudski to be a key inspirational symbol even though, he notes, contemporary Poland resembles Dmowski’s dream of a homogeneous nation more than it does Piłsudski’s federalist idea. The study is well-researched from a wide variety of primary and secondary sources. The author draws on political speeches, pamphlets and journalism but does not deal with visual representations. Department of History Daniel Stone University of Winnipeg Lähteenmäki, Mari. Väinö Voionmaa. Puolue- ja geopoliitikko. Historiallisia Tutkimuksia, 264. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki, 2014. 517 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Appendices. Bibliography. Index. €43.00 (paperback). Thisisratheralargebook,butitssizehasenableditsauthor,MariLähteenmäki, to turn up a lot of history. Its size allows for an interesting introductory essay by F. R. Ankersmit on the relationship between history and politics. Hence the simple title of the name of a onetime leading Finnish Socialist, who died a couple of years after the Second World War. Actually, however, through much of this history runs a Leitmotiv of a conflict between Voionmaa and his powerful counterpart in the Finnish Social REVIEWS 579 Democratic Party, Väinö Tanner. They didn’t seem to like one another, these two, but could be gentlemanly enough when occasion required. Nonetheless Tanner did not regard Voionmaa as a serious politician since he only ‘did the work that pleased him’ (p. 427). In his turn, the normally kind-hearted Voionmaa might stoop to ‘Saksa Hitlerin, Suomi Tannerin’ (p. 439). The President of Finland, Risto Ryti (1940–44), was an admirer of Hitler and there were plenty in Finland to share his sentiment. Voionmaa has recorded that when Hermann Göring asked a group of Finns what to do with the population of Leningrad when the city was finally conquered, the answer came, ‘destroy them’. The answer pleased Göring (p. 369). Tanner seems to have been prepared for an attack on the city (p. 355). Voionmaa detested all of this, but, as Lähteenmäki admits, Finland could not have opposed a German invasion. On the other hand, the Finnish General, Paavo Talvela, did not get his wish to use his troops to break into Leningrad either. The Finns had to fall short, and soon, the Germans, too. What was it all about? Go back a bit to the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 when Poland was broken up and shortly afterwards when the Russians invaded Finland in the Winter War. That half of Poland and the Karelian Isthmus were bribes allowed to Stalin for keeping peace with Hitler while German troops invaded the West. The Finns have ever since blamed the Russians, but it was Hitler, too, who helped Stalin to get his pieces of Finland — and a lot more on the East Baltic shore. The Winter War started on 30 November 1939. On 28 November the Finnish minister in Moscow, Yrj...