Karelian Labor Commune

TheKarelian Labor Communewas anautonomous regionestablished in 1920 following the successes of theRed Army's incursion into theRepublic of Uhtua, to undermine and discredit theseparatistmovements and to makeFinlandgive up on attempting to liberateEast Kareliashortly before the beginning of negotiations for theTreaty of Tartuand during theHeimosodat.Edvard GyllingandYrjö Sirola, former members of the government of theFinnish Socialist Workers' Republic, met withVladimir Leninin theKremlinto propose autonomy forKareliawithin theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.The Commune was founded on 8 June 1920 and was disestablished on 25 July 1923 and succeeded by theKarelian ASSR, following the end of the Heimosodat.
The Government of the Karelian Labor Commune was run by theKarelian Revolutionary Committee(Karrevkom), which was headed byEdvard Gylling, a former member of the government of theFSWR. Much of the leadership of the Karelian Labor Commune were that of Red Finns, who were expatriates that got government jobs, such asGylling,Aleksandr Šotmanand et cetera. Around 20,000 Finnish people, mostly people who were a part of theFinnish People's DelegationorRed Guardsfled to the Commune following or nearing the end of theFinnish Civil War.
The Capital of the Commune was chosen to bePetrozavodsk. This was a problem as this led to the formation of two administrative centers for the Commune, for the existence of theExecutive Committee of Olonets. The existence of two administrative centers led to infighting and petty disputes, such as the demarcation of the border based on either ethnic, legal/historical or economic boundaries.
The borders of the Karelian Labor Commune were drawn in such a way that theKarelian peopleand/orFinnish peoplewould form to be the majority of the region, as according to the census carried out in 1920, 145,753 people lived there, of which 60.8%, or 89,951 people, were ethnically Karelians.The bitter infighting led to the eastern border to run roughly along theMurmansk railroadfrom theWhite SeatoLake Onega, so thatShunga,Shyoltozeroand the mouth of theRiver Svirwould remain outside of the Commune, to limit the number ofRussian peoplewithin the borders of the labor commune.
Green represents areas under theKarrevkom/the Labour Commune and Red represents areas under the control of theOlonets Governorate. The borders which theExecutive Committee of Olonetswished for were those of theOlonets Governorateof that under theRussian Empire. As they saw it to be the legitimate option as the Governorate had never been formally dissolved and inde jurecontrol of theExecutive Committee of Olonets.
Gylling was infavour ofKarelizationorKarelianization, which in his words meant:
This led to the policy of regions that spoke majorityKarelian languageorFinnish languagewould only have their services in the Finnish language. The policy ofKarelizationwas meant to make theKarelian peoplenot support theKarelian United Governmentand theFinnish Governmentdue to their sponsoring ofanti-communistandseparatistmovements.
The 1.All-Karelian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Red Army Deputieswas held between 11 and 19 February 1921. The 1.All-Karelian Congress of Sovietselected the chairman of theKarelian Regional Executive Committee(Karoblispolkom), which had jurisdiction over all territory other than that in conflict with theExecutive Committee of Olonets.144 delegates took part in this session of congress and Edward Gylling was elected to be chairman of the Karoblispolkom.
TheAll-Karelian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Red Army Deputiesheld a congress inPetrozavodskbetween 1–3 July 1920 and it was ade factoelection between the 142 delegates representing 24 Karelianvolostsof the Karelian Labor Commune, within the congress the delegates represented around 105,000 Karelian people. The All-Karelian Congress of Soviets was held to see the opinions of regions relating to the subject ofindependence, joiningFinlandor staying in theRSFSR. The results of the congress were that 88.3% of all respondents were in favor of remaining a part of the RSFSR, 10.8% were in favor of independence, and 0.9% were in favor of joining Finland.
The congress was filled with regionalist debate, with theExecutive Committee of Olonetshaving wishes to stay within the RSFSR, while theWhite Kareliaregion wishing more for outright independence or joining Finland. The congress itself was promoted by theExecutive Committee of Olonetson April 28, 1920, when they adopted a special resolution in which a congress would be held on the subject of independence, joining Finland or staying within Russia for Karelia.The All-Karelian Congress of Soviets was however not only related to independence, as it also adopted an order for theKarelian Revolutionary Committeeto take measures to combathunger, in order to prevent afamine, restoreagriculture,fisheriesand theforestryindustry.
TheAll-Karelian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Red Army Deputiesbecame the supreme state power of the Karelian Labour Commune following a resolution on 8 June 1920 when the Karrevkom resigned due it having completed its temporary task.
TheKarelian Revolutionary Committee(Karrevkom) despite its continued authority over theExecutive Committee of Olonets, resorted to a JointPresidiumbetween the two groups, which was called aprovincial executive committee, alongside this a lot of political power was granted to aCouncil of People's Commissars(CPC).The formation of the Provincial Executive Committee did not solve a lot of problems, as areas which were inside theOlonets Governoratebut outside the reach of the CPC still were underde jurecontrol of theExecutive Committee of Olonets. These areas outside the Commune which retained their powers were neighbouring areas ofPetrozavodskandPovenets.
This led to the Administrative Commission of the Presidium proposing to include thePetrozavodskandPovenetsunincluded regions, this was rejected by all parties, including the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR, who rejected the proposal. This led to the proposal being given to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars, who rejected the proposal on 11 September 1920, the rejection to the proposal was signed byVladimir Lenin, and it was said to be a need for the preservation of the old province, and its subject economic, food and land departments.P.F. Anokhin was later elected the chairman of the Presidium in August 1920.
The Karelian Labor Commune was faced with alabor shortagedue to conflict in the region, this alongside the political motives of theBolshevik Partyhad established variousforced labor campswithin its territory, such as asawmillinNeglinkawhich was run by theChekauntil Gylling requested it for it to be run by theKarelian Economic Council.The extreme infighting within the Karelian Labor Commune led to the sporadic division of resources between theExecutive Committee of Aunusand theKarelian Economic Council, which was headed byŠotman. The Karelian Labor Commune had been given economic and administrative autonomy relating to their resources by the Government inMoscow.
The Karelian Labor Commune was not meant to be just limited to East Karelia or Karelia as a whole, the intentions reflecting the sometimes debated intentions of theKarelo-Finnish SSRin its expansion. It is often thought that the Commune was meant to be a runway for the expansion of the communist revolution to Finland.These ideas were killed with theSocialism in One Countrypolicy applied byStalin, in result of the Soviet failure in thePolish–Soviet War.