Aarne Armas Saarinen (5 December 1913 – 13 April 2004) was a Finnish

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

leader, who was a member of the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral and Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that ...

for the People's Democratic League. He was also the leader of the Communist-led Construction Trade Union 1954–1966, the chairman of the

Communist Party of Finland The Communist Party of Finland (, SKP; ) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944. The SKP was banned by the state from its founding and did not participate in any elec ...

1966–1982 and the vice-chairman of the People's Democratic League 1976–1985.

Political views

Saarinen was a

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...

who joined the local labor union branch in 1934. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he fought for the Finnish troops. Saarinen was later known as one of the most prominent Communist leaders outside the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

. He was considered as a

Eurocommunist Eurocommunism was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties, which said they had developed a theory and practice of social transformation more relevant for Western Europe. During the Cold War, they sough ...

who had sceptical views over the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Saarinen condemned the 1968

invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The in ...

and during the 1970s, he resisted the efforts of the Stalinist extremists like Taisto Sinisalo to increase the Soviet influence in Finland.

Other

Saarinen was an enthusiastic pipe smoker. In 1988 he founded the ″Society of Considerate Smokers″ together with the Finnish author and film director

Jörn Donner Jörn Johan Donner (5 February 1933 – 30 January 2020) was a cinema of Finland, Finnish writer, film director, actor, film producer, producer, politician and founder of Finnish Film Archive. He produced Ingmar Bergman's film ''Fanny and Alexan ...

.″Tupakkateollisuuden kuolemankauppiaat″
Erkki Aurejärvi . Retrieved 18 July 2016.

References

External links

* 1913 births 2004 deaths People from Ingå People from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Communist Party of Finland politicians Finnish People's Democratic League politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (1962–1966) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1966–1970) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1972–1975) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1975–1979) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1979–1983) Finnish trade union leaders Finnish military personnel of World War II {{FinnishPeoplesDemocraticLeague-politician-stub