Kahdentoista markan kapina? : vuoden 1956 yleislakko Suomessa

Abstract

Tomi Mertanen tarkasteli väitöstutkimuksessaan vuoden 1956 yleislakon poliittista tapahtumahistoriaa. Kyseessä on ensimmäinen tieteellisesti laadittu kuvaus yleislakon tapahtumahistoriasta. Mertanen selvitti lakon eri osapuolten keskinäistä vallankäyttöä lakon muodostaman poikkeustilanteen aikana. Lähtökohtana tutkimuksessa oli weberiläinen valtakäsitys, jossa valtio käsitetään pakkoyhteisöksi, jonka olemassaolon kansalaiset tunnustavat. Poliisi on tällöin yksi valtion vallankäytön elin.

The thesis at hand is the very first one which deals with the general strike of 1956 in Finland. It has not yet been studied beyond the level of master’s theses, a fact that makes this research definitely relevant. It aims at shedding light on a series of events in Finnish post-World War history which have gained a mythical ring. The Confederation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) declared a general strike as a countermeasure against the increasing of the prices of agricultural products by the Central Union of the Agricultural Producers (MTK) in January 1956. The strike, started on the 1st of May, was at no stage fully covering. Work was continued in any fields on strike, besides bus traffic was not disturbed by it. At the end of the first week the SAK tried to stop it by declaring that strike covered also the distribution of gasoline – a measure which caused serious clashes between the strikers and the policemen brought in to secure the operation of the gas stations. Both sides suffered from injuries. The strike lasted nearly three weeks and ended with an agreement on the 20th of March which brought a major crisis in the state’s finances. The theme of the thesis belongs to political history. However, it concerns also social history, history of mentalities and micro history. It focuses in the events in whole of Finland, and also in the events in Jyväskylä town. The theoretical point of departure is the division and use of power between the parties involved. The antagonism between the bourgeois and the leftist ideologies serves as a structuring principle, clearly perceivable during the strike. Mentalities are being dealt with according to the theory of ‘Otherness’.The main conclusion is that during the strike a situation of the so called ‘power dualism’ arose in which power was exercised simultaneously by the organs of official order and the strikers. The strikers took consciously to fighting against the police because they did not regard it as a representative of the state’s power but as one broker of the strike among others. The confrontation radicalised the atmosphere of the strike considerably. The government took a very passive stance during the strike, at times even siding with the strikers. This caused disagreement between the parties in the government.