A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
Socialist Eastern Central Europe in Finnish eyes during the Cold War: The view points of presidents Juho K. Paasikivi (1946-1956) and Urho K. Kekkonen (1956-1982)
Authors: Vares, Vesa
Editors: Jaroslaw Suchoples, Stephanie James, Heikki Hanka
Publisher: Peter Lang AG
Publication year: 2024
Book title : The Cold War Re- called: 21st Century Perceptions of the Worldwide Geopolitical Tension
Journal name in source: The Cold War Re- called: 21st Century Perceptions of the Worldwide Geopolitical Tension
First page : 583
Last page: 599
ISBN: 978-3-631-87145-4
eISBN: 978-3-631-91444-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3726/b21527
Abstract
After World War Two, Finland had to adapt to a new foreign policy and to a power constellation dominated by the Soviet Union. This meant that Finland had to conclude a military pact with the Soviet Union and to try to appease the Soviet Union but to avoid making any more concessions during this process than were necessary. The goal was to avoid being Sovietized, becoming a northern chain in the Eastern Bloc - and to navigate towards a Scandinavian line of neutrality with extreme care. One part of this project was not to identify with the smaller Socialist states and to try to retain some sort of Western and neutral image. This article describes how the Finnish Presidents of Republic, Juho K. Paasikivi and his successor Urho K. Kekkonen tried to advocate normal, correct diplomatic relations with the smaller Eastern Bloc nations and at the same time to keep them at arm's length. Some relations and images were troublesome - like the GDR, Czechoslovakia in 1948 and in 1968, sometimes Rumania - and in some cases there was some sort of genuine sympathy, like in Kekkonen's relations with Janos Kádár and in some sense in his position towards the Soviet Union compared to Tito and Gomulka. In the end, historical changes were not dramatic: this attitude towards Eastern Central Europe was not new to the Finns - they had been eager to emphasize also between the World Wars that Finland belonged far more to Western than Eastern Central Europe, and this mentality has remained to this day.
After World War Two, Finland had to adapt to a new foreign policy and to a power constellation dominated by the Soviet Union. This meant that Finland had to conclude a military pact with the Soviet Union and to try to appease the Soviet Union but to avoid making any more concessions during this process than were necessary. The goal was to avoid being Sovietized, becoming a northern chain in the Eastern Bloc - and to navigate towards a Scandinavian line of neutrality with extreme care. One part of this project was not to identify with the smaller Socialist states and to try to retain some sort of Western and neutral image. This article describes how the Finnish Presidents of Republic, Juho K. Paasikivi and his successor Urho K. Kekkonen tried to advocate normal, correct diplomatic relations with the smaller Eastern Bloc nations and at the same time to keep them at arm's length. Some relations and images were troublesome - like the GDR, Czechoslovakia in 1948 and in 1968, sometimes Rumania - and in some cases there was some sort of genuine sympathy, like in Kekkonen's relations with Janos Kádár and in some sense in his position towards the Soviet Union compared to Tito and Gomulka. In the end, historical changes were not dramatic: this attitude towards Eastern Central Europe was not new to the Finns - they had been eager to emphasize also between the World Wars that Finland belonged far more to Western than Eastern Central Europe, and this mentality has remained to this day.
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