A large group of

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

students occupied the Old Student House on November 25, 1968. The house was the designated location of the festivities for the Student Union's centennial celebration, scheduled the day after. The action was in protest at what they saw as a 1950s style "white tie party", and an uprising against the values which this stood for. The group entered by breaking in through a

French window A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security by ...

at 17:13

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

. The happenings immediately made nationwide headlines. The action has been seen as being inspired by the May 1968 unrest in France, and other political movements around Europe in the same year, including the Spring of Prague. In 2008, Laura Kolbe, a professor of European history at the University of Helsinki and also a member of the centrist, agrarian Centre Party, described the Vanha occupation as "the ripples of the European student movement in Finland". The dissidents' main demands concerned democratic reforms to the university's administration. However, some of the participants also demanded the founding of Marxist-Leninist study-circles in the departments and faculties, abolishing compulsory membership of the Student Union and changing the political alignment of the monthly student magazine ''Ylioppilaslehti''. Banners carrying these proclamations were hung from the Student House's balcony and speeches were made. However, not all of the youth involved were communists; people aligned with the centrist-agrarian Centre Party participated as well. The Student Union relocated its 100th year celebration to the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It al ...

, and the "Vanha occupation" was relatively short-lived. After having spent the night at the Student House, people began to dissipate the next day. By the evening the remaining occupants had cleaned up after themselves and left the building altogether. Helsinki's Swedish-language newspaper HBL wrote "people became tired and went home after having stayed up for a day, sat on the floor, drank red wine and kissed". The generation of students and other young radicals who participated in the events have underlined the significance of the occupation as a symbolic revolt against the values of the previous generation. Indeed, many of the people involved became leading figures in

Finnish politics The politics of Finland take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy. Finland is a republic whose head of state is President Sauli Niinistö, who leads the nation's foreign policy and is the supreme commander of t ...

and the financial sector, including the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

politicians Erkki Tuomioja, Ilkka Taipale and

Ulf Sundqvist Ulf Ludvig Sundqvist (22 February 1945 – 22 April 2023) was a Finnish politician who served as chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, a minister in four cabinets in the 1970s and a banker in the 1980s. Political career Sundqvis ...

, bank manager

Björn Wahlroos Björn Arne Christer Wahlroos (born 10 October 1952 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Swedish-speaking Finn, best known as a banker, investor and the chairman of the Board in Sampo Group and UPM-Kymmene. Before switching to banking Wahlroos worked as a ...

and diplomat Markus Lyra. HS-raadin vastaukset kysymykseen: Onnistuivatko Vanhan valtaajat tekemään maailmasta paremman?
(in Finnish) However, 40 years after the events, only 36% of the Helsingin Sanomatbr>board
of selected Finnish intellectuals believed the events had any positive effect on the Finnish society.

References

{{1968 protests 1960s in Helsinki Political history of Finland 1968 protests November 1968 events in Europe 1968 in Finland

See also

References