Edvard Otto Vilhelm Gylling (30 November 1881 – 14 June 1938) was a prominent
Social Democratic
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
and later
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
politician in
Finland, later leader of
Soviet Karelia
The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelo-Finnish SSR; fi, ; rus, Каре́ло-Фи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, r=Karelo-Finskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Resp ...
.
He was born in
Kuopio
Kuopio (, ) is a Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia. It has a population of , which makes it the most populous municipality in Finland. Along with Joensuu, Kuopio is one of the major urban, economic, and cult ...
. He was a member of
Parliament of Finland for the Social Democratic Party of Finland 1908–1917 and active during the
Finnish Civil War as ''Commissar of Finance'' for the
Revolutionary "Red" Finnish government. On 1 March 1918, a Treaty between the socialist governments of
Russia and
Finland was signed in
St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. The Treaty was signed by
Vladimir Lenin and
Joseph Stalin from the Russian side and by Council of Peoples Representatives of Finland Edvard Gylling and
Oskari Tokoi.
[''Vying Foreign Services'' (Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland)]
/ref>
After the Reds lost the war, Gylling fled to Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
but later moved to the Soviet Union. He became one of the main leaders of the Karelo-Finnish ASSR
The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ( rus, Каре́льская Автоно́мная Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, r=Karelskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respub ...
as Chairman of Council of People's Commissars of the Karelo-Finnish SSR 1920–1935.
He was accused of nationalism, removed in 1935 and arrested in 1937 as a part of the Finnish Operation of the NKVD. There are some contradictions concerning Gyllings death. According to earlier Soviet sources, Gylling died in August 1944, but according to other sources he was actually executed earlier, 1940 or 1938. According to the most recent information, the most likely date of his execution was 14 June 1938. Gylling was posthumously rehabilitated by the Soviet authorities on 16 July 1955.
References
Related Reading
*Cotter, Arthur ''The Finns'' (New York: The National Council, Department of Missions and Church Extension, 1923
*Ylarakkola, Arvo ''Edvard Gylling: Ita-Karjalan rakentaja'' (Finn-kirja (1976)) Finnish
*Hodgson, John H ''Edvard Gylling ja Otto W. Kuusinen asiakirjojen valossa 1918–1920'' (Tammi. 1974) Finnish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gylling, Edvard
1881 births
1938 deaths
People from Kuopio
People from Kuopio Province (Grand Duchy of Finland)
Swedish-speaking Finns
Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians
Communist Party of Finland politicians
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1908–09)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1909–10)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1911–13)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1913–16)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1916–17)
Members of the Parliament of Finland (1917–19)
Finnish People's Delegation members
University of Helsinki alumni
Academic personnel of the University of Helsinki
Great Purge victims from Finland
Soviet rehabilitations
People from the Republic of Karelia
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Finnish amputees
Finnish Marxists
Finnish statisticians
Finnish communists