Finland: A victory of Maoism, a defeat of opportunism
On the 6th of December the Finnish bourgeoisie celebrates the independence day of Finland. In general, the spirit of the day is heavily anti-communist, due to spreading of the myth of the “winter war” of 1939 and that the participation of Finland to the operation Barbarossa were to defend the independence of Finland. During the recent decades, it has become “tradition” that fascists and nationalists organize marches in the capital city, and each year, there is an anti-fascist counter-demonstration. Maoists have taken a combative stance in this demonstration, and in past years, a handful of anarchists and opportunists have demanded the removal of communists and their flags from the demonstration, and threats to remove them by force have been made.
We publish this unofficial translation of the short analysis of the website Punalippu on the events of the day:
6.12. – A victory of Maoism, a defeat of opportunism
On the 6th of December the ”Suomi Herää” (Finland awakens) of the fascist Blue-Black Movement, the nationalist ”612 Torch march” and the antifascist ”Helsinki Ilman Natseja” (Helsinki Without Nazis, HIN) were organized in Helsinki. The first gathered 200 people according to the information of the police, the second 500 and the latter 1000. The organizers of HIN have said that their demonstration had 1500 participants. The police made in total 68 arrests: 14 armed fascists were arrested on the Helsinki main railway station and 54 people at HIN.
This year the HIN had planned to occupy Töölöntori and thus prevent the 612 Torch march from gathering. The police did not allow this, but started to beat the HIN apart soon after it assembled. Despite the heavy use of violence of the police this was so slow due to the strong resistance of the masses that the beginning of the 612 torch march was delayed by over half an hour.
The events of the day again clearly show that combative antifascism is just. Fascism cannot be resisted without active preparation to physical confrontation. The opportunistic preaching of peacefulness to the masses puts them to the position of a defenseless victim. In the HIN demonstration the Maoist contingent fought in the first line and thus gained a lot of support from the struggling masses.
Despite everything a small handful of the most rotten opportunists attacked a Maoist violently. The Anarchist leader Antti Rautiainen was the front man of this attack. The contingent applied self-defense and repelled the attack using moderate force. On the video published by Helsingin Sanomat it is seen that Rautiainen was acting on his initiative and the violence against him was self-defense in nature.
The target of the recently strengthened anti-communist offensive is to isolate the communists from the masses. The effect is however opposite: the masses equated the attackers to fascists and the police, demanded loudly the attackers to retreat and the Anarchist leader gained a reputation as a ”women beater” as well.
Therefore the 6th of December of this year was a clear victory to Maoism and the combative antifascism it supports, while the pacifistic and anti-communist opportunism suffered a grave defeat.
