Contribution of the Communist Workers Party for Peace and Socialism Finland

Finland joined the EU at the beginning of 1995 in the midst of a severe economic crisis. Since then, the economic position and rights of the working class have been subject to cuts, which continue to this day.

Finland’s accession to the EU marked a shift from the trade with the Soviet Union and later Russia to the markets of the Euro-Atlantic region and China.

During the Soviet Union’s existence, trade between Finland and the Soviet Union was based on barter, with Finland primarily importing electricity, oil, coal, gas, lumber, and machinery from the Soviet Union. Finland, in turn, exported a wide range of labor-intensive products to the Soviet Union, such as ships, other metal industry products, clothing, and agricultural products. These trade relations stabilized Finnish capitalism. Unemployment also remained low.

Although Finland’s capitalist class appeared to support Finland’s “neutrality” during the Soviet Union’s existence, in reality they were constantly striving for closer political, economic, and military ties with Western capitalist blocs. EU-membership marked a clear break with this previous policy.

It should be remembered that during World War II, Finland fought alongside Germany against the Soviet Union. When Germany’s defeat in the war was already apparent, Finland signed an armistice with the Soviet Union on September 19, 1944. Under the terms of the armistice, Finland was forced to remove German soldiers from its territory. The armistice also stipulated that the activities of the Communist Party of Finland must be legalized.

After the war, the Communists were quite popular, and in the first parliamentary elections, the party—as part of the Finnish People’s Democratic League—won 23 percent of the vote. The Finnish Communist Party remained part of the Finnish People’s Democratic League in elections until 1990—that is, until the activities of the old Finnish Communist Party were merged into the Left Alliance, at which point the party ceased to exist.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, following the victory of counterrevolutionary forces, Finland lost its most important trading partner, which had a profound impact on the stability of capitalism in Finland. This was a significant underlying factor that plunged the Finnish economy into a deep economic crisis in the early 1990s.

During the crisis, Finland rapidly deepened its relations with Western capitalist countries, joined the European Union, and began moving towards NATO membership.

With the onset of the post-Soviet era Finnish companies also entered into new agreements with the emerging Russian bourgeoisie. Finland’s integration into the EU, its rapprochement with the US, and the signing of a host nation agreement with NATO in 2014 had already progressed far, when economic relations with Russia were all-but severed in May 2022. Finland’s prior actions, its acceptance of EU- and NATO-policies, and its hostility toward Russia were all factors in favor of Finland’s admission to NATO.

Finland supported the war in Ukraine from its outbreak by financing it and supplying weapons and simultaneously increasing its own military buildup. The consequence has been a massive increase in debt almost doubling from 142bn Euros in 2019 to projected 264bn in 2026. By participating in sanctions against Russia, prices for fuel and electricity have sharply risen.

 

 

In his article “The United States of Europe,” Lenin characterized a possible capitalist alliance in Europe as “either impossible or reactionary”. The European Union is precisely such a capitalist alliance—an alliance that promotes the interests of the capitalists, whose purpose is to ensure the exploitation of the working class and to advance the common interests of the capitalists within the EU and around the world. The EU—contrary to its own propaganda—stands for the restriction of democratic and labor rights, the plundering of other countries’ natural resources, militarization and the escalation of war, anti-communism, and income redistribution in favor of the capitalist class.

The implementation of the political and economic objectives adopted by the European Union is ensured by the military alliance NATO. Occasional conflicts may arise within NATO, such as regarding the status of Greenland, when the U.S. declared that Greenland belongs to it. Behind this conflict lie the ambitions of European and American monopolies to gain ownership of Arctic natural resources.

As a willing contributor of the imperialist alliances EU and NATO, the Finnish Parliament has approved an amendment to the Nuclear Energy Act. Within Finnish territory, the allies have the right to transport, deploy, and store nuclear weapons. With this amendment, Finland is preparing for the escalating conflicts between imperialist powers in Europe.

The deployment, transport, and storage of nuclear weapons in Finland represent a significant step toward binding Finland even more tightly to Euro-Atlantic imperialist plans, with which the interests of the Finnish capitalist class are aligned. Nuclear weapons in Finland make the country a target for Russian attacks, including those involving nuclear weapons. The threat of nuclear war on Finnish territory has increased, which, if it were to occur, would bring untold suffering to the people.

Our party also took a stance against Finland’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. Every person who is maimed or loses their life because of this is a victim of a war policy from which capital circles in general—and manufacturers of weapons and ammunition in particular—reap the benefits. Landmines cause immeasurable suffering, most of all to civilians and especially to children.

It is estimated that mine clearance will cost 37 billion euros in Ukraine alone, and the danger that landmines pose is expected to last for several decades.

The long-term effects of trench-warfare, such as is waged in Ukraine, are still evident in the French “Zone-rouge” dating back to World War I, which are areas so severely contaminated that they remain uninhabitable to this day.

In Ukraine, the escalation of the war has accelerated further due to European-Ukrainian drone production agreements—on top of the economic, diplomatic, and military support already in place. The war is dragging on against the growing desire of Ukrainians for it to end.

The EU is already preparing for the next imperialist bloodbath through the “ReArm Europe” program—now known as Readiness 2030, which is meant to secure funding of over 800bn Euros for buying weapons.

The Finnish government has already spent over 5 billion euros supporting the war in Ukraine. Finland’s own defense budget was more than doubled from 3 billion euros in 2019 to 7 billion euros for the 2027 budget. Plans are in place to raise it even further to 13 billion euros by 2035, in line with NATO’s 5 percent target for total defense spending.

The Finnish government has taken on 11 billion euros in new debt in 2026 alone. As part of its “Covid-19 response” and then to support the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, the Finnish government has increased the national debt at an unprecedented rate. The government distributes these funds to benefit the business sector and arms manufacturers. This represents a major shift in the distribution of income from the working class to the capitalists and placing the burden on low-income people.

This debt-financed militarization is directly proportional to the cuts in funding for social services, healthcare, childcare, education, unemployment benefits, housing assistance, and so on—all of which have been reduced. The result is that even the insufficient public safety nets are eroded. At the same time, the wealthy and corporations have been granted tax cuts and corporate subsidies. Corporate taxes are to be lowered to 18% under the proposed 2027 budget, far lower than the rate of income tax.

With a view to the parliamentary elections to be held in the spring of 2027, it is noteworthy that not only the conservative parties but also Marin-government, consisting of the Social-Democratic Party, the Left Alliance and the Greens jumped to the aid of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie in 2022. The same government applied for Finland’s NATO membership. Neither the parties of the Orpo-government nor the “left”-parties are in any way anti-war or defenders of the interests of the working people. They are parties that exclusively advance the class interests of the capitalists, even though they may claim otherwise.

The Communist Workers’ Party—For Peace and Socialism has opposed and continues to oppose Finland’s EU membership and Finland’s NATO membership. Our party demands that Finland break away from the imperialist plans of the Finnish bourgeoisie. This is possible only through the struggle of the working class to defend its own class interests.

Breaking away from imperialist alliances is possible only through a persistent struggle against the capitalist system, which causes  poverty, unemployment, and wars.

 

Finland out of the EU and NATO—NATO troops and foreign military bases out of Finland!