Independence and Civil War in Turku

In December 1917 Finland declared itself independent. Seven weeks later Finns were fighting each other. Turku was called the most revolutionary city in the country, yet it was spared the worst of the fighting.

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Independence and Civil War in Turku

In 1917 the Russian Empire fell apart, and Finland broke free. But Finns did not agree on what the new country should be like. Workers and the better-off had grown far apart, food was running out, and both sides formed armed guards. In January 1918 the quarrel turned into a civil war. This page tells how Turku lived through those months.

Red Turku, 1917

A restless city. Researchers at the University of Turku describe Turku as Finland’s most restless city in 1917. The historian Rauno Lahtinen calls it “the most revolutionary city” of the time and argues that its Red leaders pushed Helsinki towards revolution Likely.
Revolution in Russia. In March 1917 a revolution in Petrograd forced the emperor to give up his throne. The old order in Finland began to crumble, and tens of thousands of Russian soldiers were still stationed in the country Well documented.
The May strike. On 28 May 1917 the Turku Social Democrats called a general strike, which grew out of a dispute about the town’s firemen. A strike militia, backed by Russian soldiers, pushed the police off the streets Well documented.
37 hours. The strikers locked the city council inside the Workers’ Hall. The head of the Senate, Oskari Tokoi, and P. E. Svinhufvud came to mediate, and the councillors were let out at 4 am on 1 June. In the end the strikers gained little. The exact timings differ in the account we used Likely.
Butter. In August 1917 a crowd broke into a butter store in Turku and took 25,000 kilos of butter (topic 2) Well documented.
A Red militia. In the autumn the police were removed and a Red militia kept order in the town. The Red Guard set up its headquarters in the old observatory on Vartiovuori hill Well documented.

Independence

The November strike. On 14–19 November 1917 a general strike spread across Finland. On 16 November its leaders narrowly voted for revolution, but called it off the same day Well documented.
6 December 1917. The Senate led by Svinhufvud presented a declaration of independence on 4 December, and Parliament adopted it on 6 December. The Social Democrats voted against, not because they opposed independence, but because they wanted a different way to it, and offered their own text Well documented.
Quiet in Turku. Turku did not celebrate much. Within days the Red militia went on strike for its pay, and Lahtinen calls the following days “nights of terror”. A photo from December 1917 shows a hat shop being looted Likely.

War, 1918

The war begins. The Civil War began on 27 January 1918. On one side were the Reds, mostly workers and landless people. On the other were the Whites, the forces of the government, many of them farmers and middle-class volunteers Well documented.
Turku’s Reds. The Red Guards of Helsinki, Kotka and Turku formed the vanguard of the revolution. On 29 January the Red Guard occupied the Turku branch of the Bank of Finland and emptied its cash Well documented.
Three months. The Reds ruled Turku for about three months. There were no major battles in the town itself: the front lines were further north and east Well documented.
The Germans arrive. On 3 April 1918 a German division of about 10,000 men landed at Hanko to help the Whites, and on 12–13 April it took Helsinki. The Reds left Turku in April. We have not found the exact days when they left and the Whites took over Likely.
The end. The war ended on 15 May 1918 with a White victory. About 38,000 people died: in battle, in executions on both sides and in prison camps Well documented.

After the war

Sirkkala. One of Finland’s largest prison camps was in the Sirkkala barracks in Turku. It held 3,300 Red prisoners, of whom 176 died, and it was used as a labour camp until July 1919. Researchers call the conditions fairly reasonable compared with other camps Well documented.
The camps. Across Finland about 80,000 Reds were held in camps, among them 4,700 women and 1,500 children. About 12,500 died there, mostly of hunger and disease Well documented.
Spared. University of Turku researchers write that Turku was “spared from greater violence” in 1918, and that the revenge after the war was milder there than in many other places Well documented.
Flu and universities. Spanish flu killed hundreds of people in Turku in 1918–1919. At the same time two new universities were founded: the Swedish-language Åbo Akademi in 1918 and the Finnish-language University of Turku in 1920 (stop 36) Well documented.

How do we know?

Historians have studied 1918 closely, and the number of dead was counted name by name in a research project around 2000. For Turku we have relied on Yle articles about Rauno Lahtinen’s book Punainen Turku 1917–1918 (2016) and on University of Turku researchers. Some details are uncertain: the exact days of the change of power in April 1918, and the timings of the May 1917 strike.

City policeRed militiaRed Guard ruleWhite government

Tap a dot or use the buttons. The coloured band is approximate.

Turku and Finland, 1917–1919. Tap the dots or step through the events. The second tab shows the human cost of the war.The coloured band shows roughly who kept order in Turku. Its edges are approximate, because the exact days of the changes of power were not found.

Why it matters

The Civil War left a deep wound. For decades families on the two sides remembered 1918 in very different ways: the Whites called it a war of liberation, the Reds a class war, and many people did not talk about it at all. Turku’s story shows that even a very revolutionary town could avoid the worst violence. Today historians try to tell the story of both sides, and the dead of both sides are remembered.

On the lighter side

Food queues and black markets

Wars are fought on empty stomachs too. In 1917 Finland ran short of bread. Ration cards, queues, hidden sacks of grain and secret deals became part of everyday life. Hunger also made people angry, and that anger fed the conflict of 1918.

Where did the bread go?

600 grams a day. Before the crisis, a Finn ate about 600 grams of grain a day, as bread, porridge and other food Well documented.
Grown elsewhere. Finland grew less than 40 percent of the grain it needed. Most of the rest came from Russia Well documented.
Imports stop. In the spring of 1917, as Russia fell into chaos, grain imports almost stopped Well documented.
Extra mouths. In the summer of 1917 there were about 100,000 Russian soldiers in Finland. They were outside the Finnish rationing system Well documented.

Cards and rules

Ration cards. Around the turn of 1916 and 1917 ration cards were brought in for sugar, milk products and meat. Without the card you could not buy, even if you had money Well documented.
The Food Act. Parliament passed a Food Act by 177 votes to 6. It took effect on 5 June 1917. From 17 June anyone who held more than 4 kilos of grain had to hand it over Well documented.
Work decides. In the summer of 1917 the bread ration depended on your work: 150 grams a day for light work, 240 grams for medium work and 300 grams for heavy work Well documented.
Less and less. In December 1917 the ration was cut to 200 grams, with another 100 grams on an extra card, much of it oats. By the spring of 1918 a coupon covered only about a tenth of a person’s daily need Well documented.

Butter, queues and the black market

The butter raid. On 9 August 1917 a crowd broke into a butter store in Turku and took 25,000 kilos of butter and 400 kilos of cheese. One source says it went to the City Food Board and was sold against butter ration cards. Another says hundreds of workers handed it out free Debated.
Queues. When a shop got a delivery, people queued for hours, and those who came late often went home with nothing. Women and children did much of the queuing Likely.
Hamstering. Townspeople travelled to the countryside to buy food straight from farmers, often at high prices. The Finnish word hamstraus, from the hamster that fills its cheeks, became common in these years Likely.
The black market. Rationing and price controls led to a black market, where food changed hands secretly at far higher prices. We have not found black-market prices for Turku Well documented.
Bark bread. In 1918 people in Kainuu, in eastern Finland, mixed ground pine bark into their bread. This pettu bread was an old famine food Well documented.

How much bread did you get? Choose a time and a kind of work. Each slice is 60 grams, a tenth of a normal day.Spring 1918 is drawn from the statement that a coupon covered only about a tenth of the need, so the grams are an estimate.

How do we know?

The rations and the rules come from the laws and official decisions of the time, summed up by the Finland 100 project. The butter raid is told differently in two sources. Everyday details such as queues and hamstering are general history of the period, and we have not found accounts specific to Turku.

Why it matters

Hunger was one of the reasons why the conflict of 1917–1918 became so bitter. Workers felt that the better-off still had food while they went hungry, and farmers and townspeople distrusted each other. Rationing came back during and after the Second World War (stop 40), and many families remembered the lessons of 1917.

Sources and further reading

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