Captain Johan Kock (4 June 1861 – 13 April 1915) was a Finnish soldier who had been decommissioned from the

Finnish army The Finnish Army ( , ) is the army, land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, Combat engineering, engineer ...

in Viipuri in 1897. Kock was a revolutionary who was the leader of the Finnish Labour Corps from 1905 to 1906.

Biography

Kock was born in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. In 1900 Kock was a reporter in Viipuri. He organised routes to smuggle revolutionary writings from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

via Finland to

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. In 1905 during the general strike the academic society and labor protested together against the Russian

czar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

. Kock became the leader of the national guard during the strike. Kock gained the support and trust of the general governor Ivan Obolensky. Nevertheless, Obolensky negotiated with the Constitutionals how to solve the strike by political means. The Academic society could not accept Kock's leadership: university students and polytechniques split off, founding their own organisation under the leadership of

Gösta Thörsleff Gösta is a male given name, a variant of Gustav. Notable people with the name include: People * Gösta Alexandersson (1905–1988), Swedish actor *Gösta Åsbrink (1881–1966), Swedish gymnast and modern pentathlete * Gösta Andersson (skier) ...

. The Constitutionals wanted to end the strike on 5 November, but the Labour Corps to continue. Kock, who supported the strike, attended the negotiations to end the strike. The strike ended on 6 November, and on the next day Kock pulled his troops from the

police stations. Kock took part in the Sveaborg Rebellion in 1906 in the Sveaborg fortress (renamed "Suomenlinna" in Finnish in 1918). When the rebellion failed, Kock fled the country along with other activists to

and from there to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

before moving to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He died in 1915 in

Fitchburg, Massachusetts Fitchburg is a city in northern Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The third-largest city in the county, its population was 41,946 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Fitchburg State University is located here. History ...

Matti Kurikka Matti Kurikka (January 24, 1863 Maloye Karlino, Tsarskoselsky Uyezd, Saint Petersburg Governorate, historical Ingria – October 4, 1915 Westerly, Rhode Island, United States) was a Finnish journalist, theosophist, and utopian socialist. Kur ...

delivered the eulogy at Kock's funeral shortly before his own death.

References

External links

* * 1861 births 1915 deaths Military personnel from Helsinki Emigrants from the Grand Duchy of Finland to the United States Raivaaja editors {{Finland-bio-stub