Frans Johan ”Janne” Myyryläinen (30 December 1881, Viipuri—8 May 1938,

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (, ; Karelian language, Karelian, Veps language, Vepsian and ) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022. ...

) was a

Finnish Red Guard The Red Guards (, ; ) were the paramilitary units of the labour movement in Finland during the early 1900s. The Red Guards formed the army of Red Finland and were one of the main belligerents of the Finnish Civil War in 1918. The Red Guards w ...

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 ...

and journalist who wrote under the pen name Juuso Matero. He was also a Red Guardian in

Kainuu Kainuu (), also historically known as Cajania (), is one of the 19 regions of Finland (''maakunta'' / ''landskap''). Kainuu borders the regions of North Ostrobothnia, North Savo and North Karelia. In the east, it also borders Russia (Republic o ...

and an officer Guardian in

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 ...

. He is best known as Jahvetti Moilanen, the leader of the 1922 pork mutiny or liquor rebellion.

Early life

He was born in

Vyborg Vyborg (; , ; , ; , ) is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, northwest of St. Petersburg, east of the Finnish capital H ...

Career

Myyryläinen worked as forest guardian and as a shopkeeper in Kainuu and as an inspector in the early 20th century. He became member in the Kainuu red guards. The opposition White Guard said that Myyryläinen was a dangerous man. During the civil war in 1918 Myyryläinen was arrested and tried. His punishment was two years in prison and he lost his civic confidence for 12 years but escaped and was recaptured. On his way to the

Hennala camp Hennala is a district in the city of Lahti, Finland. It is known of the Stora Enso packaging factory and the former Hennala Garrison which also worked as a concentration camp after the 1918 Finnish Civil War. Together with the garrisons in Riihim ...

Lahti Lahti (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Päijät-Häme. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lahti is approximately , while the Lahti sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mo ...

Myyryläinen was able to escape a second time and this time to

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 ...

. In Russia, he was in a red guard officer school. Later, he organized an underground movement in Kainuu.

Rebellion

Myyryläinen is known as the leader of the pork mutiny in 1922 in

Salla Salla, known as Kuolajärvi until 1936, is a municipality of Finland, located in Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The nearby settlement of Sallatunturi is ...

and in

Savukoski Savukoski (; ; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Lapland, Finland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is , which is the lowest in relation to ...

. Using the name Jahvetti Moilanen, he stood on a crate that had formerly contained pork and delivered a speech that called the 'Declaration of Battle of the Red Guerrilla Battalion of the North'. After the speech, some 300 workers joined the battalion and were armed and given money. The Battalion then returned to the border. On its way, it robbed a group of border guards and other workplaces. On February 7, the battalion, by that time numbering 240, crossed back to the Soviet Union. Information on the incident was received at

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland (Finland), Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately , while the Rovaniemi su ...

only on February 5 and the battalion slipped away before a group of the White Guard arrived. In the Soviet Union, Myyryläinen continued as a

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

teacher in the Russian part of

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

. Later, he worked as journalist in

using the name Juuso Matero.

Personal life

Myyryläinen was married two twice and had three children from his second marriage.

Arrest, death and legacy

During the

Great Purges The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the assassination of Sergei Kirov by Leonid Nikolaev ...

, Myyryläinen was arrested on May 5 and was executed on May 8, 1938, perhaps in

. During the

Khrushchev thaw The Khrushchev Thaw (, or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s when Political repression in the Soviet Union, repression and Censorship in ...

, a military tribune overturned the verdict against Myyryläinen on 21 May 1957. The location of his grave is unknown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Myyrylainen, Frans 1881 births 1938 deaths Military personnel from Vyborg People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Executed communists Finnish communists People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) Finnish emigrants to the Soviet Union Soviet rehabilitations Great Purge victims from Finland Finnish escapees Escapees from Finnish detention 20th-century Finnish journalists