page_title: Young Communist League of Finland
section_title: Initial period
hierarchical_section_title: Young Communist League of Finland / History / Initial period
caption_attribution_description: Suomi: Kotkan Nuorten Työläisten Opintoyhdistys vappuna lippuineen ja banderolleineen.
context_page_description: The Young Communist League of Finland was the youth organization of the Communist Party of Finland 1925-1936. The organization was clandestine, but had a significant impact in Finnish society. SKNL was a section of the Communist Youth International.
context_section_description: The work of SKNL was difficult due to the repression by the state machinery. However, in the period 1925-1926 SKNL cells were set up around the country. As of September 1925 the SKNL had cells in the Helsinki, Tampere, Pori, Vaasa, Lappeenranta, Vyborg and Kuopio regions. In total there were 40 cells, with 149 members. The SKNL was active in the 1927 parliamentary election, campaigning for the Socialist Electoral Organisation of Workers and Smallholders. The youth activist Toivo Latva was elected to parliament.
  The first conference of SKNL was held in Moscow, August 1927. At that time, the organization had 94 cells and 358 members. The second conference, which was attended by eight delegates, took place in connection with the congress of the Communist Youth International in August 1928. By then the membership had reached approximately 600, out of whom 20% were women.
  In early 1928 SKNL experienced setbacks, when police arrested dozens of communists after information had been revealed by the arrested SKP organizer Jalmari Rasi. SKNL cadres such as Jaakko Kivi, Väinö Vuorio and Emil Paananen were arrested. Eino Lehto and Nestori Parkkari remained at large for a brief period, before going into exile in the Soviet Union. In May 1929 the SKNL organizer Matti Dahl was caught by police, and documents seized from him were used to arrest SKNL activists such as Eino Hellfors, Jussi Siltanen, Aino Kallio and Toivo Lång.
  The first congress of SKNL was held in Stockholm, Sweden, August 10-August 15, 1929. The delegates from Finland travelled by boat from Helsinki or, clandestinely, by motorboat from Jakobstad. The delegates residing in the Soviet Union travelled via Germany. In total there were 22 delegates at the congress. Initially the Stockholm City Library had been selected as the congress venue, but in order to avoid police infiltration the venue was shifted to a private residence. Whilst the congress reaffirmed its commitment to the legacy of the Communist Youth International, it did also criticize the International for not paying enough attention to the sections working in illegal conditions. The congress elected a Central Committee of the SKNL. The new leadership got into trouble as soon as they returned Finland. The police was able to identify several congress participants. In late 1929 the leadership of SKNL included Heikki Ilvesviita, Toivo Karvonen, Tatu Väätäinen, Paavo Kivikoski, Aatto Sallinen, Aili Mäkinen, Airi Virtanen and Reino Tynkkynen.
  1929 saw a rise in clashes between communists demonstrators and police forces. SKP and SKNL formed special defence groups to engage in street-fights with the police. In response, police raided the offices of various organisations connected to SKP and SKNL in Helsinki. Many SKNL cadres were arrested. SKNL also argued intensely against the so-called vacillators, the Left Group of Finnish Workers, which split from the communist controlled fronts after getting fed up with the Comintern's Third Period policies.
caption: Members of the Kotka Young Workers Study Circle, May Day 1928
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