Red Guards (Finland) in the context of "Government of Finland"

Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, imprisonment, internment, fear or pain are all factors that may establish persecution, but not all suffering will necessarily establish persecution. The threshold of severity has been a topic of much debate.

Otto Wilhelm "Wille" Kuusinen (Finnish: [ˈotːo ˈʋilːe ˈkuːsinen] ; Russian: О́тто Вильге́льмович Ку́усинен, romanized: Otto Vilgelmovich Kuusinen; 4 October 1881 – 17 May 1964) was a Finnish-born Soviet politician, literary historian, and poet.

From 1911 to 1917, Kuusinen served as Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland and became one of the leaders of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic in 1918. After the defeat of the Reds in the Finnish Civil War, he fled to Soviet Russia.

The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition from a grand duchy ruled by the Russian Empire to a fully independent state. The clashes took place in the context of the national, political, and social turmoil caused by World War I (Eastern Front) in Europe. The war was fought between the paramilitary Red Guards, led by a section of the Social Democratic Party with backup of the Russian bolsheviks and the paramilitary White Guards of the senate. General C. G. E. Mannerheim led the White Guards with major assistance by both the Finnish Jäger Battalion trained in Germany and the German Imperial Army, along the German goal to control Fennoscandia and Petrograd of Russia. The Reds composed of industrial and agrarian working class people controlled the cities and industrial centres of southern Finland. The Whites composed of land owners and the middle and upper class people controlled the rural central and northern Finland.

In the years before the conflict, Finland had experienced rapid population growth, industrialisation, gradually increasing urbanisation and the rise of a comprehensive labour movement. The country's political and governmental systems were in an unstable phase of democratisation and modernisation. The socio-economic condition and education of the population had gradually improved, and national awareness and culture had progressed. World War I led to the collapse of the Russian Empire, causing a power vacuum in Finland, and the subsequent struggle for dominance led to militarisation and an escalating crisis between the left-leaning labour movement and the conservatives.

The Kingdom of Finland (Finnish: Suomen kuningaskunta; Swedish: Konungariket Finland; 1918–1919) was a failed attempt to establish a monarchy in Finland in the aftermath of the Finnish Declaration of Independence from Russia in December 1917 and the Finnish Civil War from January to May 1918. The victorious Whites in the Parliament of Finland began the process of turning Finland into a kingdom and creating a monarchy. Although the country was legally a kingdom headed by a regent for over a year, the king-elect Friedrich Karl never reigned nor came to Finland following Germany's defeat in World War I. Republican victories in subsequent elections resulted in the country becoming a republic.

During the Finnish Civil War of 1918, Finnish Reds on friendly terms with Soviet Russia fought Finnish Whites who allied with the German Empire. Direct aid from the German Baltic Sea Division helped the Whites win the war. The provisional government established after the Grand Duchy of Finland's declaration of independence leaned heavily toward the Finnish right and included a number of monarchists. The parliament drew up plans to create a Finnish monarchy on the legal theory that the Swedish Constitution of 1772 was still in effect, but there had been an extended interregnum with no monarch on the throne. Prince Friedrich Karl of Hesse was elected to the throne of Finland on 9 October 1918 by the Finnish parliament, but he never took the position nor traveled to Finland. Soon after the election, Finnish leaders as well as the population belatedly came to understand the grave situation their German allies were in, and the wisdom of electing a German prince as monarch as Germany was about to lose World War I was called into question. Germany itself became a republic, deposed Kaiser Wilhelm II and signed an armistice with the Allies in November. The victorious powers informed the Finnish government that the independence of Finland would only be recognized if it abandoned its alliance with Germany. As a result, Friedrich Karl renounced the throne in December and the Baltic Sea Division withdrew from Finland. In the March 1919 election, with the Finnish left and socialists able to vote, republicans won a crushing victory. Finland's status as a republic was confirmed in the Finnish Constitution of 1919.

The Karelian Labour Commune was an autonomous region of Russia established in 1920 following the successes of the Red Army's incursion into the Republic of Uhtua, to undermine and discredit the separatist movements and to make Finland give up on attempting to liberate East Karelia shortly before the beginning of negotiations for the Treaty of Tartu and during the Kinship Wars. Edvard Gylling and Yrjö Sirola, former members of the executive organ of the rebel Reds in the Finnish Civil War 1918, the Finnish People's Delegation, met with Vladimir Lenin in the Kremlin to propose autonomy for East Karelia within Russia. The Commune was founded on 8 June 1920 and was disestablished on 25 July 1923 and succeeded by the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, following the end of the Kinship Wars.

A revolutionary movement (or revolutionary social movement) is a specific type of social movement dedicated to carrying out a revolution.

The White Guard, officially known as the Civil Guard (Finnish: Suojeluskunta, IPA: [ˈsuo̯jelusˌkuntɑ]; Swedish: Skyddskår; lit. 'Protection Corps'), was a voluntary militia, part of the Finnish Whites movement, that emerged victorious over the socialist Red Guards in the Finnish Civil War of 1918. They were generally known as the "White Guard" in the West due to their opposition to the "communist" Red Guards. In the White Army of Finland many participants were recruits, draftees and German-trained Jägers – rather than part of the paramilitary. The central organization was named the White Guard Organization, and the organization consisted of local chapters in municipalities.

The Russian Revolution of 1905 led to social and political unrest and a breakdown of security in Finland, which was then a Grand Duchy under the rule of the Russian Tsar. Citizen militias formed as a response, but soon these would be transformed along political (left-right) lines. The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent independence of Finland (declared in December 1917) also caused conflicts in the country. On January 27, 1918, the Finnish government ordered the disarming of all remaining Russian garrisons by the forces of the White Guard, and on the same day the Reds proclaimed revolution, leading to a bloody civil war. White Guards, led by General Gustaf Mannerheim, constituted the bulk of the victorious White Army during the Finnish Civil War (1918).

The Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (FSWR), more commonly referred to as Red Finland, was a self-proclaimed socialist state in Finland during the Finnish Civil War from January to May 1918.

The FSWR was established by the Finnish People's Delegation, a government formed by members of the Social Democratic Party to rival the existing Government of Finland, with support of the Red Guards. The FSWR controlled the capital Helsinki and most of southern Finland until March. Kullervo Manner served as its sole leader as Chairman of the Central Committee of the Finnish People's Delegation. The FSWR collapsed when the Red Guards were defeated by the White Finns and Germany, with Manner and most of the Finnish People's Delegation fleeing to Soviet Russia.