Rebellion of Mäntsälä

The rebellion of Mäntsälä , Mäntsälän kapina in Finnish, is one of the most turbid events of the History of the Finland. It marks a major turning: never the fascistic parties pro were not also close to seizing the power, and never again they will on the occasion of it.

Origins

With the beginning of the year 1932, Finland is touched hard by the Grande depression. Unemployment and poverty are then massive.

In same time, the movement of Lapua with gained many sympathizers, anxious of the back in favor of old the " rouges" overcome during the civil war.

The climbing of the tension be very clear during three years:

the foundation of the movement of Lapua intervenes on February 1st 1929, when a heteroclite mixture of peasants of Ostrobotnie, civic guards, fascistic nationalists and sympathizers violently stop a communist meeting in the town of Lapua.
the summer 1930 sees many demonstrations and country steps , attacker and destroying the communist newspapers with Oulu and Vaasa in particular. The July 7th, a great walk of 12.000 men arrives at Helsinki to make pressure on the capacity, which votes in the urgency a Acte of protection of the Republic to prohibit the communist newspapers .
the end of the year sees the hardening of the movement, which removes and attacks militants of left, trade unionists, and even social democrats. Several are carried out, and the others are slackenings at the border of the the USSR with a clear invitation to emigrate on other side. This wave of violence culminates with the removal of the former president Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, outline of a coup d'etat. The popular support is then not rather extremely, and the movement is divided in the following months, becoming completely controlled by more the extremists.
the movement puts violence out of silencing device and turns to the policy, the candidate of its choice, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, is elected president in 1931.

Nothing any more then seems to be opposed to the seizure of power by the movement of Lapua.

Unfolding

February 27th, 1932, 400 members of the militia of the civic guards, slightly armed, stop a meeting of the social democrat left with Mäntsälä, not far from Helsinki. They are joined in the following hours by all the leaders of the movement of Lapua and by hundreds of other civic guards. The former chief of Staff of the army, the general Kurt Martti Wallenius, takes the head of rising.

The men ask for the resignation of the government and a radical change of policy.

After two days of undulation, the government decides to earlier use the Act of protection of the republic voted two years under the pressure of the militiamans to stop the organizers of the coup d'etat. In same time, the defense of Helsinki is reinforced and the troops of the regular army under the command of the general Aarne Sihvo prepare to crush the rebellion.

Face to face a long time armed does not last. The population is mainly hostile and president Svinhufud, although deeply anticommunist, draws up himself against the rebels. In its speech with radio operator of the March 2nd 1932, it brings into play all its personal prestige and asks the soldiers to disarm, promising that only the leaders will be sanctioned:

“ Throughout my long life, I fought to preserve the law and justice, and I cannot allow today that the law is trampled and the citizens trained in an armed conflict the ones against the others ..... Acting today under my own responsibility, without depending on whoever, and having taken the initiative to bring back peace in the country, each secret operation will be now regarded as directed not only against the legal order, but also against me - me who walked myself in the rows of the civic guards as defender of social peace ..... peace must be restored in our country as promptly as possible, and the defects existing in the life of our nation must then be eliminated within the framework from the legal order. ”

Its call finds soldiers largely soaked with alcohol and not very prompt to the combat, which disarm quickly. The leaders are stopped a few days and are afterwards sent in detention.

Consequences

The takeover by force failed because of the very weak preparation of the rebels and their undervaluation of the resistance of the government. It marks the peak of the tensions between extremists of right-hand side and left in the inter-war period in Finland.

The leaders will spend several months in prison, and their rehabilitation will be never complete. The movement of Lapua is prohibited the November 21st 1932, and never its successor, the patriotic movement, will not find such an audience in the electorate. The improvement of the economic conditions drives out the danger of Fascism and the rise of the war risk resolders the population which makes block behind leaders.

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