The Economic Basis of Soviet Post-War Policy in Finland: War Reparations 1944—1952

Abstract

The article is devoted to economic bases of post-war Soviet influence in Finland. War reparations from Finland were of great importance for the post-war recovery of the Soviet economy, because they took into account the needs of further industrialization, were tied to five-year plans for the development of the national economy. High rates of recovery of the Soviet economy were achieved, among other things, by obtaining reparations. Reparations accelerated this process, creating the prerequisites for industrialization and technical re-equipment of industrial enterprises, raising the living standards of Soviet society. Compared to German, Finnish reparations were small, but at the same time they accounted for 6—8% of national income and 15 % of all government spending (at the final stage, in 1950–1952, these figures decreased to 2—3% and about 6 %, respectively). The implementation of the reparation program involved the import of a number of machines and components for them. It became possible through Finland to get acquainted with new trends in the development of Western industrial production. Moscow’s own technological developments in the forestry, woodworking, paper and food industries, in non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy, shipbuilding and machine building, and agriculture, as well as the Finns' ability to achieve maximum results at minimum costs, were assessed by Moscow in the context of increasing production forces in the USSR. Paying reparations had consequences for the Finnish economy as well: the structure of reparations, consisting of 2/3 of the investment goods, prepared a radical restructuring of the Finnish industry, which ensured the economic and political connection of Finland with the Soviet Union in the cold war. In the 1950s and 1980s the reparation program provided a whole series of long-term agreements on commodity deliveries and scientific and technical cooperation between Finland and USSR. These treaties became the most important prerequisites for the gradual growth of the Soviet Union into international economic and political structures.