We-Land: 100 innovaciones sociales de Finlandia.

"En el mundo existen dos clases de personas: los I-landers, personas que sólo hablan de yo, yo, yo y los We-landers, personas que hablan de nosotros, y Finlandia es "We-land"."

Dr. Ilkka Taipale

Con estas palabras comenzó la presentación del libro titulado 100 innovaciones sociales de Finlandia del Dr. Ilkka Taipale; y bueno cuando conoces a un país de la manera en que conozco a Finlandia, sabes que las palabras del doctor al inicio de la conferencia son ciertas y no te queda de otra más que asentir firmemente con la cabeza.

No obstante, cuando conoces a tu país de la misma manera no hay más que preguntarte ¿por qué México no puede alcanzar el mismo nivel de desarrollo que Finlandia si tenemos más recursos naturales, si nuestra posición geográfica es privilegiada, si tenemos más población, etcétera?

Bueno, las respuestas quizá se encuentren en este libro y probablemente podamos aplicar algunos de los métodos que éste país nórdico utiliza para mejorar la calidad de vida de sus habitantes y ser uno de los países más desarrollados del mundo. El libro maneja cinco cuestiones en cuanto a la innovación y a grandes rasgos contaré de lo que se habló en la presentación.

Educación

El primer punto del que el doctor habla, es la educación. El sistema educativo finlandés es actualmente uno de los mejores del mundo, de acuerdo con PISA, sin embargo ¿qué hace tan especial este sistema? La primera característica es que todos los niños tienen las mismas oportunidades de estudiar hasta dónde cada estudiante quiera y además todos, absolutamente todos cursan el nivel básico.

Sí, esto también se ve en nuestro país, pero la diferencia radica en que los peores estudiantes son los mejores, es decir, los niños con mayores problemas de aprendizaje son a los que más atención se les presta; aunando a que no hay calificaciones en los cursos, ya que no se busca fomentar la competencia entre los estudiantes, sino que realmente se aprenda, un punto a favor si se toma en cuenta que la autoestima del niño se ve afectada al verse comparado con el mejor de la clase a través de unas cifras numéricas. Por lo que la educación finlandesa está basada en la solución de problemas, es importante saber el resultado, pero es más importante saber cómo llegar a ese resultado.

Otra de las características del sistema educativo finlandés es el hecho de que la educación es verdaderamente pública y las escuelas privadas se cuentan con los dedos de una mano, por lo que los padres no tienen que preocuparse por solventar los gastos académicos de sus hijos, ya que éstos corren por cuenta del Estado.

Igualdad de género

Siempre que se habla acerca de la igualdad de género se nos viene a la mente los derechos de la mujer y el trato con los varones, sin embargo, pocas veces se habla del derecho que los hombres tienen de realizar tareas femeninas. Esa es otra de las innovaciones del sistema de bienestar finlandés: los padres tienen el derecho-oportunidad o como se le quiera llamar de compartir con su mujer los primeros meses de vida de sus hijos. Todos los hombre gozan de “incapacidad” al momento del nacimiento para poder convivir con su mujer y el recién nacido.

Esto nos habla de una verdadera equidad de género, ya que se le da al hombre el mismo valor que a la mujer, además de que a los hombres les gusta apoyar a sus mujeres en las tareas del hogar y sobre todo en la educación de los hijos. Dicho sea de paso, esta igualdad se vio a lo largo de la presentación, ya que si bien el autor es el Dr. Taipale, su mujer Vappu Taipale también tuvo un papel activo dentro de la misma.

Dra. Vappu Taipale

Siguiendo con la cuestión de la equidad de género, Finlandia fue el primer país europeo en otorgar el sufragio universal, o sea el voto a las mujeres, además de que podían ser elegidas. Actualmente la mujer tiene un 50% de los cargos públicos incluido el Parlamento.

Además de las cuestiones políticas, las mujeres tienen presencia en todos los rubros del país, desde la medicina, hasta la ingeniería, pasando por la tecnología y la educación. A diferencia de nuestro país en donde las mujeres ganan menos que los hombres, en Finlandia los salarios son iguales para todos y si una mujer llega a ganar más que el hombre es porque tiene otros trabajos.

Sociedad civil

¡Tremenda sorpresa se lleva uno al enterarse de las sociedades civiles y organizaciones no gubernamentales finlandesas! La sociedad civil finlandesa (al igual que todo el país) es fuerte y la gente tiende a participar dentro de estas sociedades y organizaciones, haciendo de la finlandesa, una sociedad preocupada por los demás con ONG's que van desde la ayuda para los niños con problemas de aprendizaje hasta la ayuda a personas con problemas de drogadicción.

Sin embargo, no todo es color de rosa en Finlandia y el alcoholismo sigue siendo un problema, el "vicio nacional", ocupando las palabras del Dr. Taipale y es por eso que la mayor parte de las organizaciones no gubernamentales están orientadas en ayudar a hombres y mujeres con problemas con el alcohol. Mucho se ha hecho para combatir, los resultados existen, sin embargo, éste es y ha sido un problema difícil de combatir.

Un aspecto importante de las ONG's y los políticos es que, todos los funcionarios públicos deben pertenecer a alguna organización para poder ingresar dentro de la vida política de Finlandia, si eres electo senador tienes que pertenecer a alguna ONG, es más, ni siquiera puedes ser votado si no estás ayudando a los finlandeses de manera real.

Y no sólo los políticos y funcionarios públicos, también los casinos, casas de apuestas, etcétera, pertenecen a Organizaciones, por lo que las ganancias de éstas actividades lúdicas no se van a los bolsillos de empresas privadas, si no que se donan a causas que benefician a la población en general, las casas de apuestas únicamente deciden a quién van a donar sus ganancias, interesante ¿qué no?

Entrados en el tema de la política es importante mencionar que todos los partidos políticos participan en la toma de decisiones y la elección de los senadores se hace de manera proporcional, así que ningún partido tenga la mayoría absoluta.

Corrupción

Excma. Embajadora Anne Lammila

Difícil hablar de éste tema cuando México es uno de los países más corruptos. Sin embargo ¿cómo le hizo Finlandia para erradicar éste mal que tanto afecta a nuestro país? Bueno, primeramente el Dr. Taipale nos confesó que sí, en Finlandia también hubo corrupción, pero se logró erradicarla legislando para que las personas corruptas fueran castigadas.

El principal aspecto para combatir la corrupción es la rendición de cuentas, todos los ciudadanos tienen que declarar impuestos, mismos que se cobran equitativamente, es decir, los más ricos son los que más impuestos pagan, mientras que los que menos tienen pagan menos, haciendo con esto una sociedad más justa y más honesta.

Los castigos para la gente que intenta sobornar a un policía, un funcionario público, etc., consisten en penas de cárcel que van desde los 7 años y sin derecho a fianza. Y sí, el policía tiene la obligación de llevarte ante un juez si le ofreces cualquier cantidad de dinero. Radical o no, lo cierto es que les ha funcionado y bastante bien.

Finalmente…

¿Pues qué resta decir? Simplemente no creo que sea imposible alcanzar un nivel de desarrollo tal como el de Finlandia, pero siendo sinceros, tenemos mucho que limpiar y mucho por hacer, quizá algún día lo logremos, pero mientras no nos caería nada mal darle una leída a este libro, éste blog es sólo un esbozo de lo que son las innovaciones que han hecho del Finlandia, lo que es en la actualidad. Si estás interesad@ en el libro, puedes llamar a la embajada de Finlandia en México solicitándolo o enviando un correo a sanomat.mex@formin.fi

Gracias a Vianey Banda por las fotos.

Grand Duchy of Finland 2° part

Second part: romanticism and Finnish nationalism

Finnish identity

Like in the whole Europe, the XIX Century was characterized by the revolutions and the affectation of these on the arts, besides an ideology was created to help subjugated nations to obtain their independence and Finland was one of this nations. During the second half of 19^th century, the University of Helsinki was cradle of great painters, writers, poets and musicians that would developed the Finnish romanticism; those artists searched to create artworks and define an own identity, something that characterized them as Finns.

To start with the Finnish identity it’s necessary to set the country geographically: for Ángel Ganivet, Finland is in disadvantage because of its geographical position, since on the right it has to the “Colossus of the North” (Russia) and on the left it has the lion that pounce over Europe (Sweden),[1] but for me this is not a disadvantage, but the opposite, because Finland can be influenced by the occidental culture represented by Sweden and by the oriental culture by Russia, having a melting pot of cultures and a combination of them that make of Finnish culture, an unique one.

The “russification”

Due to the huge attributions that Finland had inside the Empire, the nationalists Russians started to criticize this situation, also the relation that the Duchy had with the rest of Europe.[2] This had as consequence the first period of russification; in this period, Russia tried to attract the Great Duchy to the influence sphere, that caused a confrontation between the Finnish elite and the Russian government.[3] In 1899 tsar Nicholas II started an attack against Finnish sovereignty, that wouldn’t stop until 1905,[4] with the dissolution of its army, the establishment of Russian as an official language, just as the decrease of the Finnish Diet power and at last the repression.[5] This brought with it the disappearing of the privileges and customs, under the slogan of smoothness and russification of the territories.

National painting, literature and music

The painting as a mirror of nationalism

Along the 19^th century painting played an important role to the develop of nationalism; Albert Edelfelt was a very important representative of this art, his capital work is the portrait of Louis Pasteur, demonstrating with this the importance that Finland had on the European sphere. Nevertheless on his works we can see the leading nationalism in the country at the end of the century, as is viewed on the painting Paris in the snow, where the Parisian landscape is mostly alike a Finnish one, on the work snow plays an important paper and we can see it even on the name, an artwork where the buildings viewed aren’t typical from Paris and the landscape could be a city inside the Nordic country. I can’t talk about the representative monument of Paris, because when Edelfelt painted this artwork, the Eiffel tower was in the beginning of its building.

Is in this period where the first factories start to come to Finland and once again, this is seen on the painting because of the economic-industrial development of the country, and also it’s the start of the first nationalist signs, same that were shown in every possible way.

Another figure on the Finnish romanticism is Akseli Gallen-Kallela, with the frescos that he painted about Kalevala, the Finnish epic poem, those artworks are colossal, and not only because of the size but for the technique and nationalism, because even for the topic those are nationalist artworks. Inside these pieces passages of Kalevala can be viewed, that represent the fight of Finns against Russians, the first fighting fo their independence and the second defending their interests. This painting is The defense of the Sampo (Sammon puolustus).

Another pictorial piece where this fight is seen is The attack (Hyökkäys), where the theory of nationalities is there, here the painter expressed Finland as a beautiful lady being attacked by a two-headed eagle, the same that represents the Russian Empire. In this work is illustrated in a clear and direct way the trying to russification by the empire, and the protest was loud and clear.

With their works “Finns wanted to show also through their art that Finland could have an independent existence in the concert of the European nations.”[6] And this was reflected on the Universal Exposition, which took place in Paris in 1899, where Finland was welcomed in its exclusive pavilion. There the country “emphasize its own nature and its definition in relation with Russia caused some conflicts […] the pavilion and Finland’s art caused an important political attention, in whose background was the institutional conflict between Russia and Finland.”[7] Along this period Finland started to have a more active role inside the European continent.

Kalevala

One on the first nationalist-romantic demonstration is Kalevala, the Finnish epic poem; according to Ángel Ganivet this creation is the most important of the Finnish nationalism,[8] and he has right because this is the world view of a subjugated people, this is the origin of the population, is the fight between men and inhumane weather predominant in Finland. The first edition of the book was in 1835 and it was conformed by about 5,000 verses and in 1849 was edited definitely, con more that 23,000 verses, gathered in 50 chants.[9]

This series of ancient chants were compiled by a medic named Elias Lönnrot, who spent a long time of his life going through the Karelian zones hearing and taking notes of all the poems, these would get a capital importance, because with the Kalevala the existence and specific character of the Finns will be known.[10]

Nevertheless, “what made Kalevala so meaningful wasn’t its content and language but the fact that Finns were capable to realize such a cultural achievement.”[11] And this is right, because Finland was subjugated so much time and besides it had a significant impact on the language, considering that after the publishing of the book, J. V. Snellman, demanded the establishment of Finnish language as the one of the administration and culture, which meant a compromise with Finnish people.[12]

Maamme (Our Land)

The nationalism that we have been talking about can be viewed also in the poem written by Johan Ludvig Runeberg, although it was originally written in Swedish, is nowadays the national anthem of Finland. As you can see in the first quote of this work, the poem talks about Finnish nature, about how is Finland, and in resume, it is the exaltation of a land that even if it was poor, it was the land that saw the Finns born,[13] since although for Russians or Swedes this land didn’t give economic yields, for Finns this is the best land of the world.

This is also reflected on the work that Jean Sibelius composed at the end of 19^th century, Finlandia. This musical piece is the creation of an image of greatness, of a great Finland, full of gifts, where a great prosperity is and above all, where Finns are, all of this through the sounds is.

As a conclusion

As we can see, the general situation of Finland during the XIX century gave way to the birth of a well justified nationalism, this is represented by a popular proverb of that period: “Swedes we are not and Russians we do not want to be, let’s be Finns then.”[14] With this words the huge feeling of love to the fatherland born in this century can be noticed, since although the country and their inhabitants enjoyed of enormous privileges under the Russian domain, Finns didn’t feel comfortable being a part of Russian and the demonstrations appeared among the XIX century and mainly during the second half were not spontaneous.

One of the reasons of these events was the fact that Russia, seeing the growing and prosper relations between Finland and the rest of Europe and besides the Finns started to have more independence, Russians dedicated to “russificate” Finland. One of those attempts to the Finnish autonomy was the establishment of Russian as an official language, displacing Finnish and Swedish, this was an insult to the elite, because they had worked so much establishing Finnish as an official language.

Probably one of the mistakes of Russia was give Finland many attributions, but the Empire had to secure the loyalty of Finland Estate in some way and giving to the Finnish a better life quality than the one they had with Sweden was an important manner to keep that loyalty. Nevertheless, this was only in theory, because the most part of the Finns kept living in precarious conditions:

“the rebirth of Finnish literature, the political constitution of Finland, the foundation of the nationalist party or Finnish party, are result of Russian domination, which couldn’t aspire to a quick integration of this country to the mother country, it keeps neutral between the two constitutive forces, the national and the Swedish, and allows that the first force became proprietor of the situation.”[15]

Another fact that moved the Finns to develop their own national identity was the language: during the whole history of Finland, Finnish was the vulgar language, being Swedish the official one. Nevertheless in the moment that Finland became a part of Russia, Swedish stayed there, but Finnish started to have more presence caused by the publishing of Kalevala; its compiler, Elias Lönnrot was the first Finn of the elite that made Finnish his mother tongue, being himself a conjuncture to the later publishes of books and poems in Finnish. This is really important, because with the work of Lönnrot not only the roots of Finland as a nation were taken up again, but also the language of the country was developed, the one that always was the language of the people, the vulgar language, and as Ángel Ganivet writes:

“Russian authority is convenient; the Swedish language could be stay as an interim way of intellectual communication; but the spirit of the country only can reach its highest height picking up itself and ‘thinking in its natural language’, set and dignified by creations of great value like Kalevala.”[16]

And I agree with Ganivet, because this work is beautiful, is an exaltation of the land, is the defense of the national against the foreign, watching it from the romantic view, it doesn’t simulate nothing that brags as romantic; through out all the verses, the main idea is the fight between the sons of Kaleva, that can be the Finns, against the army of Pohjola, that can be the Russians or the Swedes.

The Finnish identity is permeated by the fact that this people doesn’t belong to the Baltic race, nor Indo-European, the Finn race and also the language is odd and the only relatives they have in Europe are the Hungarians and Estonians, this made that Finns didn’t feel identified with the Russians, nor the Swedes, this took them to search an own identity, something that made them different from other people. Besides failing Russia on establishing its dominance over an ethnic and linguistic basement, they couldn’t homogenize the population. Because of this “Finnish nationalism had as basement the national language and culture, a strong estate and vigorous national identities.”[17]

Something that must be cleared is the fact that the work of Jean Sibelius was highly accepted by the people (even more than Runeberg), but strongly criticized and suppressed by Russins and the were right, because through all the verses of the poem (written years later than the musical composition) there are lines full of nationalism, there is Finland; Finns didn’t want to belong to Russia, and that, along the great relations the intellectual class had all over Europe, and the influence of European ideas, took them to shelter on the theory of nationalities and search for the independence and according to this, Finland was already prepared to search it because they had an own language, an own religion, an own literature and arts. And it’s because of that when the Finnish independence was threatened in Second World War, this feeling was present once again:

“Oh, rise, Finland, rise up high!

Your head, wreathed with great memories

Oh, rise, Finland, show to the world

The you drove away the slavery,

And that you didn’t give up to oppression

Your day has come, land of birth.”[18]

To me there is no better way to call a subjugated people to search for independence than through the music, because music is universal and it doesn’t understand about borders, and it’s because of this that the Opus no. 26 of Sibelius is more loved in Finland than Mamme, and even when Runeberg’s poem is a nationalist work, Finlandia is even more because this was written in Finnish and not in Swedish, so the people was called in their own language and not in one that doesn’t belong to them. Besides the call was really direct, if this poem never mention about Russians, it does about oppression and slavery, this was not only the calling to defend the father land, but also the extension of social reality, is in this moment when the sovereignty is threatened at the Second World War and it was necessary to escape from Russians.

To close this work, Finland played an important role to the security of the Russian Empire in XIX century, besides it has a huge intellectual and ideological development, which easily could compete with other European powers. All of this is result of the great autonomy the country had under Russian dominance, autonomy that led the country to be the first European nation in giving the vote to women, led Finland to develop industries as important nowadays as Nokia; same development that made of Finland nowadays one of the most prosper nations economic, politic, educative and socially.

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[1] Ganivet, op. cit., p.16.

[2] Klinge, op. cit., p. 87.

[3] Ibidem., p. 104.

[4] Sumner, op. cit., p. 105.

[5] S.A., op. cit, p. 20.

[6] Sakari Saarikivi, “El arte moderno”, en V.V.A.A., Finlandia, ayer y hoy, Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, trad. Alfonso Reta y Felipe Ximénez de Sandoval, 1973, p. 154.

[7] Klinge, op. cit., p. 105.

[8] Ganivet, op. cit., p. 139.

[9] Elias Lönnrot, Kalevala, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, prol. Agustín García Calvo, trad. Joaquín Fernández y Úrsula Ojanen, 2004, p. 34.

[10] Klinge, op. cit., p. 70-72.

[11] Ibidem., p. 72.

[12] S.A., op. cit., p. 19.

[13] Runeberg, op. cit., p. 6.

[14] Juva, op. cit., p. 66.

[15] Ganivet, op. cit., p. 66.

[16] Ibidem., p. 14-15.

[17] S.A., op. cit., p. 32.

[18] S.A., Finlandia Hymni, (DE 7 de octubre de 2011, 08:01 p.m., en http://www.suomifanit.com/pages.php?page=laulukirja) text translated from Finnish by Anahí Sandoval: Oi nouse, Suomi, nosta korkealle/pääs' seppelöimä suurten muistojen,/oi nouse, Suomi, näytit maailmalle/sa että karkoitit orjuuden/ja ettet taipunut sa sorron alle,/on aamus' alkanut, synnyinmaa. 

Grand Duchy of Finland 1° part

Between the Lion and the Colossus. The Grand Duchy of Finland and the birth of the nationalism during the XIX century.

"Oh, our land, Finland, the fatherland!

Listen to the gold word!

There are no valleys, nor hills,

Nor water, nor loved beaches

Than this northern land

The precious land!"[1]

Introduction

Finland, a land that has been characterized by having an inhospitable weather and because of that, of little importance for the European potencies; nevertheless its military importance during the XIX century was huge for Russian Empire. In this work I will try to give a general view about this Nordic country during this period, considering that Russia had others grand duchies, Finland developed in a special way, by gaining more autonomy than the others like for example the Poland's one.

In Mexico isn't so common to write of the nations of northern Europe, and that's why this work has the objective to increase the historical knowledge about that country. Besides here it's expected to know the conformation process of Finnish nationalism and the influence that this along the romanticism, had to achieve the independence; also I expect to know the rights that this country had under the Russian influence.

The hypothesis to follow on this work is that Finland developed as a mostly autonomous territory that could have its own government, parliament, currency and taxes, different from Russians. With the arrival of romantic and nationalist movements to Finland, Finnish started to have independence ideas and to have an own territory, out from the influence of Sweden or Russia.

XIX century was characterized by having great revolutions, empires and ideological trends that would affect the XX century events. Finland played an strategic role for Russians, because even when "insufficiently populated and poor, interested to Russia barely, but since the establishment of San Petersburg, the protection of its occidental capital and their communication with the Baltic sea was something important to Russia."[2] Giving start to the conquest period of Finland.

Finland goes to Russia

During more than six centuries Finland was under the influence of Sweden and it was in the end of XVI century when the king John III of Sweden introduced the Grand Duchy of Finland.[3] Nevertheless, this historical period is better known under the influence of Russia: when in XVIII century Sweden lost its status of potency, Russia took advantage of this situation to start several incursions to the Finnish territories and it was with tsar Alexander I when Finland was finally conquered.

In 1808, Sweden -ally with England- denied to participate in the continental block tha Napoleon Bonaparte tried to do against England, and Russia -ally with Napoleon- took advantage of the situation to oblige Sweden to give it the Finnish territories and as a result, Finland went definitely to Russia,[4] the first treaty where this was stipulated was the Treaty of Tilst of 1807, where Napoleon made a distribution of the influence zones[5] and finally with the Treaty of Hamina of 1808 "all the Finnish provinces and a part of the Västerbotten in Sweden were given over to Russia."[6]

After the firm of the treaty, Finland changed its status and was even different to the other territories dominated by Russia. The nation was governed with a constitution, laws and own taxes, becoming into a grand duchy apart and different from the whole empire.[7]

Grand Autonomous Duchy of Finland

"Finland kept not only its Lutheran religion, Swedish as the official language, the Swedish civil right and the penal right, but also the gustavian government form. The fact that Finland got its own central administration, in principle, its own Parliament conformed by four statements, resulted in the apparition of a genuine Finnish State. Finland, that had already got the heraldic range of Grand Duchy became in fact in a Grand Duchy provided with its own institutions."[8]

The last citation describes the advantages that Finland gain becoming a part of Russia. Nevertheless, this was because Russia had to ensure the loyalty of the Grand Duchy in any way, and it wasn't a better form than offering a better status than it had with Sweden over more than six centuries. But let's analyse this political entity.

Government

Russia respected the Finnish government form, and not only that, but also all the public servants of tue government were Finns: with exception of the Governor-General, Russian representative of the emperor.[9] Besides, Finland had an authority of superior administration: the Senate; equal to the officials, all the senators were Finnish but elected by the tsar.[10] This situation makes us clear that the Finns were the only ones that can manage the internal issues, meanwhile the external issues were reserved to the tsar.[11] the influence of the Finns started to be more evident during the second half of XIX century, in the moment were the Finnish Diet -members of the Parliament, in charge of the internal issues-, gathered for the second time to declare the Finnish language as the official in the duchy. The first time they gathered was in 1808, in the city of Porvoo, in which the tsar Alexander I "stated that Finland had been raised to the grade of nation."[12]

The autonomy of Finland was such, that had an unique democracy end in 1907 became the first country to give women the universal suffrage, being the elections of that year were a breaking point to the triumph of the Finnish social democracy. The opposition of the tsar Nicholas II of Russia to these reforms, brought the popular discontent, and this took Finland to search the independence.[13] The Finnish autonomy was attacked by the Russians nationalists who started to see in Finland a territory external to the Empire, and it needed to be subjugated once again, so the issues of the Grand Duchy went to be decided by the Russians.[14] All of that was a consequence of the strengthening of the pro Finns parties that were developed in the Finnish State, specifically during the reign of tsar Alexander III (1881-1894).

Economy

During the XIX century Finland found an economic stability that it hadn't had under Swedish control; in the first half kept living conditions mainly rural, that represented an economic slowness, considering the climatic conditions typical of the country, it is hard to keep good harvest or make them prosper. In the second half of the century, the Industrial Revolution came to Finland and with it the railways and the creation of several lines that crossed the country, with the Helsinki-Riihimäki-Viipuri-St. Petersburg line, as the main, opened in 1870.[15] This brought the development of trade between Finland, the rest of the empire and Europe. The railway wasn't the only achievement in the economy, but also "the Parliament, an own army and a national currency, the mark, that Finland got in 1860 and that in 1865 was separated from the rouble and in 1878 related to the gold standard, had a notable influence in the Finnish state and economic life and in its modernization."[16]

Nevertheless this modernization didn't mean an improvement in the quality of life of the Finnish population, considering that a high percentage continued living in the rural zones of the country and the trading was benefit only to the mainstream classes, and the territory was divided in two zones: the west of Finland that was more directed to Sweden and the east that strengthen bonds with St. Petersburg.[17] This oversight to the rural classes was obvious during the 1860 decade when the famines were presents due to the bad harvests and even in the 1890 decade, the famines and diseases grew, killing the tenth part of Finnish population.[18]

Education and national security

Under the Swedish influence, Finland got its own institutions, one of them was University; the University of Turku (Åbo) was the first in the country and it was there where the intellectual life began. Nevertheless, with the new regime in Finland, the university was moved from Turku to Helsinki, being known as the University of Alexander.[19]

The University of Helsinki began to gain importance in the 1860 decade for its important role in the education of great thinkers at that time. Besides it offered the precise conditions to the development of intellectual activities, the importance of this institution also lay in the fact that outside there were few sources of cultural resources.[20] Bound to the university there was the imperial army, the one that Finland was fitted in 1878 and it was formed by 5000 men, same that enter with the realization of military service; the army was important because it was another way for the population to get access to education. Nevertheless, there was another organism through which the educational level of the people was raised: the popular school, established in 1866.[21]

The strategy of Russia: the establishment of a new capital

With the importance that Finland gained to Russia, tsar knew that keep the territory pacified and loyal was a must, and that's why the empire must had the capital of the Grand Duchy closer to it and away from Sweden, something not possible with Turku as the main city; in 1812 Alexander I decided to make Helsinki the new capital and it was rebuild"with a splendour without precedents, to show Finns and foreigners that a new political entity was born: the Grand Duchy of Finland."[22] With this Russia sat clear its superiority in the Finnish territory and its intentions to make Finland an autonomous State. In 1819 the Senate was moved to Helsinki and in 1828 the university;[23] Turku didn't lose its importance and nowadays it's the second most important city of the country. With the new capital, Russia had a bigger presence on the Duchy, an the necessity to bring closer spiritual and geographically the administrative centre of Finland; the Russians had to make sure to keep the Finns loyal, this was proved "when the British and French fleets destroyed the Russians defences during the Crimean war, damaging at the same time the Finnish properties, Finns contributed with great zeal and conviction to reject the western enemy."[24] This event also makes us clear that the Finnish nationalism started to take form.

A free Finland

Due to the great revolutions born in the end of XIX century and the beginning of the XX, Russia was immersed into a deep crisis that affected the country's nobility and society in general. Because of the nationalism developed inside the Grand Duchy, the high class of the territory started to search the independence, same that was declared on December 6th, 1917; taking advantage of the Russian Revolution of that year and the fact that bolshevik didn't have the capacity to continue fighting to impose their vision in the Baltic states and Finland, this took them to recognise the independence of the Nordic country in 1920.[25] Being Finland the first nation that got its independence as a consequence of the First World War.

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[1] J. L. Runeberg, “Maamme”, en Matti Poutvaara, Suomi Finland, Porvoo, Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiön, 7° ed. 1961, p. 6 (text translated from Finnish by Anahí Sandoval: Oi maamme, Suomi, synnyinmaa!/Soi sana kultainen!/Ei laaksoa, ei kukkulaa,/ei vettä, rantaa rakkaampaa,/kuin kotimaa tää phjoinen,/maa kallis isien!)

[2] Matti Klinge, Breve historia de Finlandia, Helsinki, Otava, trad. Úrsula Ojanen y Joaquín Fernández, 2° ed., 2000, p. 63.

[3] Ibídem., p. 34.

[4] Mikko Juva, “Mil años de historia finlandesa”, en V.V.A.A., Finlandia, ayer y hoy, Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, trad. Alfonso Reta y Felipe Ximénez de Sandoval, 1973, p. 62.

[5] Klinge, op. cit., p. 63.

[6] Juva, op. cit., p. 62.

[7] B. H. Sumner, Una retrohistoria de Rusia, México, F.C.E., trad. Teodoro Ortíz, 2° ed., 1985, p. 104.

[8] Klinge, op. cit., p. 64.

[9] Ibídem., p. 70.

[10] S.A., Retrato de Finlandia, información e interpretación, Helsinki, Otava, 2005, p. 18.

[11] Ángel Ganivet, Cartas finlandesas y hombres del norte, Buenos Aires, Espasa-Calpe, col. Austral, 1940, p. 19.

[12] Klinge, op. cit., p. 64.

[13] Ibídem., p. 102.

[14] S.A., op. cit., p. 20.

[15] Klinge, op. cit., p. 82.

[16] Ibídem., p. 86.

[17] Ibídem., p. 65.

[18] Ibídem., p. 100-101.

[19] Ibídem., p. 74.

[20] Ibídem., p. 76.

[21] S.A., op. cit., p. 19.

[22] Klinge, op. cit., p. 67.

[23] S.A., op. cit., p. 18-19.

[24] Juva, op. cit., p. 62.

[25] Sumner, op. cit., p. 228.