Agnes Elvira Maria Willman (10 August 1875 – 17 April 1925) was a Finnish

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and a revolutionary

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

who was one of the most prominent women of the early Finnish labour movement. Willman is also considered as the first female working-class writer in Finland, despite coming from a bourgeois background. After the 1918

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 ...

, Willman and her husband, Voitto Eloranta fled to the

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. They were both later accused of being involved with the

Kuusinen Club Incident 300px, The Kuusinen Club was located in Kamenno-ostrovski prospekt 26–28, in Saint Petersburg The Kuusinen Club Incident () was the murder of eight members of the Finnish Communist Party in the Kuusinen Club (their Petrograd office), on 31 Aug ...

, a murder of eight Finnish communists. Eloranta was executed in 1922 and Willman in 1925.

Life

Elvira Willman was born in the Western Finnish town of

Uusikaupunki Uusikaupunki (; , ) is a list of towns in Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland regions of Finland, region, northwest of Turku and south of Pori. The municipality has a pop ...

. After her parents' divorce, Willman moved 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 ...

, graduating from the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

-speaking high school in 1894. She studied languages, history and literature at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

and spent the season 1899–1900 in the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. Back in Finland, Willman was active in the liberal

Young Finnish Party The Young Finnish Party or Constitutional-Fennoman Party ( or ) was a liberal and nationalist political party in the Grand Duchy of Finland. It began as an upper-class reformist movement during the 1870s and formed as a political party in 1894. ...

organizing resistance against the

Russification of Finland The policy of Russification of Finland (; ; ) was a governmental policy of the Russian Empire aimed at limiting the special status of the Grand Duchy of Finland and possibly the termination of its political autonomy and cultural uniqueness in 18 ...

. She soon got interested of the labour movement. Willman joined 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 Form ...

and worked as a writer in a leftist literary magazine. In August 1906, Willman was involved with the Sveaborg rebellion, a mutiny of Russian sailors in the

Suomenlinna Suomenlinna (), or Sveaborg (), is a sea fortress composed of eight islands, of which six have been fortified. Located about 4 km southeast of the city center of Helsinki, the capital of Finland, Suomenlinna is a popular destination for bot ...

seafort near Helsinki. She was one of the mutineers contacts in

and Willman's apartment was used as a meeting place. During the 1918

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, Willman worked as a journalist as her husband was a member of the

Red Guard The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

general staff at the Savo Front. As the war was turning against the Reds, Willman fled to the Soviet Russia with her children and Eloranta soon followed. Both joined the exiled Communist Party 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 ...

and became affiliated with the party opposition standing against the central committee. On 31 August 1920, the conflict escalated as eight central committee members were murdered in their office. Russian court convicted Voitto Eloranta as the main instigator, although he denied involvement. Eloranta was executed in November 1922, but Willman was released as no evidence was found against her. Willman moved to Moscow where she was arrested again in July 1924. She was convicted on 13 April 1925, and executed four days later.

Works

Wllman's work addresses issues of women's rights and even deals with queer issues. She debuted with the play ''Lyyli'', premiered in the National Theatre of Finland in 1903. It is a story of a working-class woman named, Lyyli who is first seduced and then left by an upper-class man. The 1907 play ''Kellarikerroksessa'' (In the Basement) focuses on prostitution and queerness. The novel ''Vallankumouksen vyöry'' (The Tide of Revolution) is partly autobiographical reflecting the days of the 1906 Sveaborg rebellion, although the story itself takes place in the 1917

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

. The novel includes a short scene of male-male attraction. *''Korpisuolaiset'' (1895) *''Lyyli'' (1903) *''Rhodon valtias'' (1904) *''Lucretia Borgia'' (1904) *''Kellarikerroksessa'' (1907) *''Juopa'' (1908) *''Rakkauden orjuus'' (1916) *''Veriuhrit'' (1917) *''Vallankumouksen vyöry'' (1918)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willman, Elvira 1875 births 1925 deaths People from Uusikaupunki People from Turku and Pori Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) Finnish communists Finnish journalists Finnish feminists Finnish dramatists and playwrights Finnish women dramatists and playwrights Socialist feminists University of Helsinki alumni University of Paris alumni Executed Finnish women Finnish women journalists Executed communists Finnish people executed by the Soviet Union Finnish people convicted of murder Finnish people convicted of war crimes People convicted of murder by the Soviet Union People executed for war crimes