This situation is not just, or even fundamentally the result of the left's own failures. The social conditions of modern Russia impose a long and difficult struggle in the rebuilding of a strong lett movement. * Finland New left I Finland's young communists have formed their own party, and contested their first parliamentary elections. Peter Lindgren
In the spring of 1996 the youth league of the Communist Party of Finland split from the party, and created what is today the Socialist League. "The main political reason for the split was the attitude towards the ex-Soviet Union. Our view is that it was not socialist, since democracy and freedom weren't realised there." says Juhani Lohikoski, SL candidate in the capital, Helsinki.
Today the SL has activities in about 20 cities and has about 200 members, mainly students and unemployed youth. They publish a magazine, Murros (Turning Point), five times a year.
"The government has stood for cutbacks and austerity during the last period, " continues Juhani Lohikoski.
Finland has a "rainbow government", comprising the conservatives, the liberals, the greens, the social democrats and the exCommunist Left League. Only one major parliamentary party, the Centre party, is outside the coalition.
According to Lohikoski, "the government is neoliberal, and ordinary people have lost much of their confidence in the future..." Ex-Communists in government
The left is divided, with the exCommunist Left League (LL) an active participant in the "Rainbow" government, with two ministers.
The League was founded in 1990, when the Communist Party dissolved. The party describes itself as "pluralistic: our members are left humanists, socialists, Marxists, feminists and green activists or in general left-oriented... So our party is not a socialist party in the
Russia/Finland * The author is attached to Moscow University. This article was presented as a working paper for the international gathering of the CADT/COCAD network in Brussels, last month. For more details contact: Committee for the Cancellation of the Third World Debt, 29 rue Plantin, 1070 Brussels. tel (322) 527 59 90 fax (322) 522 62 27 [email protected] http://users.skynet.be/eadtm ist traditional sense, though our goal is to limit the social power of the capital owners... Our goal is a socially and economically fair and ecological sustainable society"
The Left League is Finland's fourth largest party. In the last elections the party received 11.1% of the vote, and has 19 MPs and 2 MEPs. The party has 14,000 members.
The League is so committed to "responsible" government, that they say they could even form a government with the conservatives and without the social democrats!
As Lohikoski points out, "In Finnish politics, the left alternative is absent. The government is neoliberal, and ordinary people have lost much of their confidence in the future," Rebuilding a left alternative
In an attempt to rebuild this alternative, the SL and a group of NGOs tried to form the "Party of Wise Development". But they failed to collect the necessary 5,000 signatures to register for the elections. As a result, the SL stood five candidates, as independents.
"We never expected to get many votes," admits Lohikoski. But we thought it was important to participate and demand more popular influence in the political process.
"After all, we are a revolutionary grassroots organisation. Our electoral programme focuses on demands like a general six hours working day, sufficient social income, shortening the obligatory civil service for conscientious objectors to six months, and separating the state and the church."
The party is increasingly active in trans-European initiatives, including the Frankfurt counter-summit later this year. Links are also being built with Sweden's Socialist Party, and other radical left currents in Scandinavia. * For more information see http://www.dic.fi/~sosliito
International Viewpoint #310 April 1999 9
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