Shooting at the Kuusinen Club - the massacre committed in Petrograd on August 31, 1920 at the Kussinen Club. Eight people became victims, ten more were injured; among the victims there were many high-ranking figures of the Communist Party of Finland . The attackers were also Finnish communists, and the motive for the crime was the contradictions between the leadership of the Finnish Communist Party and part of ordinary members. The massacre received wide resonance, however, the real causes of the incident were not made public, and the victims were buried on the Field of Mars as "victims of the White Finns."
Content
History
At the end of the Civil War in Finland in 1918, which ended in the defeat of the Finnish Red Army, thousands of Red Guards fled to Soviet Russia, most of whom settled in Petrograd . For the organizational activities and meetings of the Finnish communists, a so-called “club” was organized, which was actually the headquarters of the Communist Party of Finland in Russia. It was located on Kamennoostrovsky Avenue, in the house 26-28 on the fifth floor in room 116. It is named after Otto Kuusinen after his alleged death in February 1920.
The former red leaders began to lead a luxurious life in the best hotels and restaurants in Petrograd, as they exported, and according to the “whites,” they stole millions of marks from the Finnish bank of foreign currency. The life of ordinary members of the Communist Party was poor. For attempts to criticize the leadership they were oppressed, including expelling them from the party. An opposition group was formed inside the party, the so-called "revolving opposition," which decided to launch an open attack and "remove the leadership and the abyss that separates it."
Assault
The attack began on August 31, 1920 during a smoke break. The first to be shot on the landing is Jukka Rahya . Office worker Liisa Savolainen tried to call for help on the phone, but got a bullet in the back of her head. Jukka Viitasaari tried to resist, but got a bullet in the head, like Tuomas Hürskyumurto . The shooting ended only when the shooters ran out of ammunition.
Victims
- Tuomas V. Hürskyumurto , party worker
- Väino Efraim Jokinen , former Member of Parliament and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Finland
- Ferdinand Theodor Kettunen, manager of the military organization of the Finnish Communist Party
- Konsta (Konstantin) Evert Lindqvist, former Member of Parliament, Member of the People's Council - Commissioner for Transport
- Jukka Rahya (“Ivan Abramovich”), member of the Central Committee of the Finnish Communist Party
- Jukka Sainio (Juho Walter Jussi Sainio), Representative of the Russian Communist Party
- Liisa Savolainen, clerk of a military organization
- Yucca (Juho) Theodor Viitasaari, red commander
Wounded
Ten people were injured, of whom K. M. Eva was seriously injured (he died in 1927).
Shooters
The shooters were six students of the Red Guard school , known exactly Akku Paasi (August Pyu) and Allan Haglund. Akku Paasi led the group. Numerous suspects in the attack were detained, but soon released.
The shooters wrote a letter about the motives for their act, and later voluntarily surrendered to the police. After two years of trial, they received light sentences of 3-5 years, except for the spouses Voito and Elvira Eloranta, who were shot several years later on charges of involvement in the organization of the murder, although they were not present at the event. Punishment served in Buryatia.
Funeral
The victims were buried on the Champ de Mars in Petrograd. The funeral was state, with nearly 100,000 people participating. Farewell was organized at the Hermitage on September 12, 1920. Victims of the White Finns were written on the tombstone, although the matter concerned the internal struggle in the Communist Party itself. The names of the dead are stamped on the stone of the August Communards . In the photo above, where the names and faces of the victims are immortalized, the verses refer to the “shooters in the back” of “secret killers with a black soul” who made an “alliance with the butchers” ( lahtari - the usual name for the enemy during the Civil War in red, less often in white the press). The second phrase mentions Cain's envy, that is, the author knew that we were talking about his betrayal, but he veiled the truth.
Sources
- Suomalaiset ensimmäisessä maailmansodassa, Lars Westerlund (toim.), Valtioneuvoston kanslian julkaisusarja 6/2004.
- Ykkösdokumentti: Kuusisen klubin murhat, Arvo Tuominen, YLE 2007 (TV1, January 28, 2007, 21.15)
- Izmozik BC THE CASE OF “RED FINNES”. - https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/delo-krasnyh-finnov
- Lbov A. “Terrorist Opposition” in the Finnish Communist Party // Breakthrough. 2011. No 1 (29).
- Lebedeva N.S. “The headquarters of the world revolution” and the Communist Party // Comintern and Finland. 1919-1943. M .: Nauka, 2003.S. 9-11.
- Mityurin D.V. Mauserist affair // Nevskoe Vremya. 2004. February 26. S. 5.
- Mityurin D.V. Mauserist case // Stop in Finland (The whole truth about Finland). 2007. No. 8 (27) [Electronic resource]: http://www.stopinfin.ru/ archive / 21/307 /
- Pückenen A. “Revolving Day” // New Sentinel. 2001. No. 11-12. S. 419-420.
- Rupasov A., Semenov N. On the attempt of an internal party coup in the leadership of the Finnish emigration (1920) // Russia XXI. 1996. No. 9/10. S. 155-160.