Adolf Pietarinpoika Taimi (21 September 1881 – 1 November 1955) was a Finnish-Soviet

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

and a member of the People's Delegation during the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

. After the civil war Taimi fled to Soviet Russia where he was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of Finland.

Life

Adolf Taimi was born and raised in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. He joined the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...

in 1902. As a member of the party's Bolshevik wing, Taimi was first arrested in 1906. He was deported to the city of Nikolsky, Leningrad Oblast. Later he fled back to Saint Petersburg where he met

Nadezhda Krupskaya Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya ( rus, links=no, Надежда Константиновна Крупская, p=nɐˈdʲeʐdə kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvnə ˈkrupskəjə; – 27 February 1939) was a Russian revolutionary, politician and politic ...

, who sent him to

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 ...

because of his linguistic skills. In Helsinki, Taimi worked in a

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

shipyard and was active in the Bolshevik Military Committee. He also had contact with Finnish Social Democrat radical circles. In 1912 Taimi was arrested again and exiled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

for four years. During his exile Taimi studied Marxist literature. After the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

Taimi returned to Saint Petersburg, where the Bolsheviks sent him back to Helsinki in April 1917. In Finland, Taimi's mission was to make contact with Bolshevik soldiers and Finnish Social Democrats. He took part in the Social Democratic Party conference in June and November. Taimi urged Finns to revolution in his speeches. In December, he encouraged the Labour Guards to operate independently if necessary. In January, Taimi was elected an "additional member" of the party's committee. He worked all the while in close cooperation with the Bolshevik-led Helsinki Council. During the Civil War Taimi was the delegate for internal affairs of the Finnish People's Delegation in which he had connections to the Red Guards. When the delegate for Internal Affairs, Supreme Commander of the Red Guard Eero Haapalainen, was deposed because of heavy drinking, his replacements were Taimi, Eino Rahja and Evert Eloranta. After the end of the civil war, Taimi fled to Soviet Russia where he was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of Finland in 1918. In 1923 he allied with Otto Wille Kuusinen and Kullervo Manner against Eino Rahjaa who was accused of being unsuitable for the party leadership. He was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party in 1924. Taimi worked in the underground organizations of the Finnish Communist Party in Finland in 1922–1923 and 1927–1928. He was also active in the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

. He was arrested in Finland in 1928 and received a long prison sentence. Taimi was released after the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

along with Toivo Antikainen. Both were deported back to the Soviet Union. Taimi settled in the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic. Occupied by prison time and disputes with other Finnish Communists, he was not able to rise to the higher ranks of the Communist Party of Finland. Taimi published his memoirs in 1954 in Finnish.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taimi, Adolf 1881 births 1955 deaths Politicians from Saint Petersburg People from Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd Old Bolsheviks Communist Party of Finland politicians Finnish People's Delegation members Finnish emigrants to the Soviet Union Finnish exiles First convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Second convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Third convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Fourth convocation members of the Soviet of Nationalities Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic Recipients of the Order of Lenin