Juho Rikard Merinen (20 October 187320 April 1918) was a Finnish trade unionist, politician and 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 ...

, the national

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

of Finland. A member of 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 ...

, he represented Turku Province North between May 1907 and July 1908. He was executed by the White Guard 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 ...

Early life

Merinen was born on 20 October 1873 in

Tyrvää Tyrvää (; ) was a municipality in the Satakunta region, Turku and Pori Province, Finland. It was established in 1439 when the Tyrvää parish was separated from the parish of Karkku. In 1915, the market town of Vammala was separated from Tyrvä ...

. He was educated at folk school and Satakunta Agricultural Society's sculpture school. He worked as a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

and a

farmhand A farmworker, farmhand or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including har ...

in Tyrvää.

Trade unionism, politics and death

The Stormi Workers' Association (Stormin työväenyhdistystä) was founded in May 1906. Merinen, together with his brother August Merinen and Kalle Tyrvää from Laukula, were the key figures behind the association and Jussi was its first chairman. Merinen was a speaker at the first general

crofter A croft is a traditional Scottish term for a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a ten ...

s meeting (Ensimmäinen yleinen torpparikokous) organised by the Social Democratic Party in 1906. He was elected to the

at the 1907 parliamentary election. He also contested the

1908 This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January ...

1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...

and

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

parliamentary elections. Following the outbreak of the

, the local branch of the social democrats took over the function of the local municipal council. None of the members of the Stormi Workers' Association met with the local

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

delegation nor were they appointed to the institutions set up by delegation. Stormi Workers' Association members weren't

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 ...

officers either. Later, the Red Guards established a regional council in Stormi, primarily for

civil administration Civil authority or civil government is the practical implementation of a state on behalf of its citizens, other than through military units (martial law), that enforces law and order and that is distinguished from religious authority (for exampl ...

purposes, which included members of the Stormi Workers' Association. After their victory in the Battle of Karkku in April 1918, most of the leaders of the Stormi Workers' Association were killed by the White Guard. Merinen was executed by the White Guard on 20 April 1918 in Tyrvää. He was buried at Tyrvää Church. In September 2018 a new

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

to 527 Reds killed in the civil war, including Merinen, was inaugurated at Tyrvää Church.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merinen, Jussi 1873 births 1918 deaths 20th-century executions by Finland Carpenters Executed Finnish people Farmworkers Finnish trade unionists Finnish murder victims Members of the Parliament of Finland (1907–1908) People executed by Finland by decapitation People from Satakunta Politicians from Turku and Pori Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) People killed in the Finnish Civil War (Red side) People killed by the White Guard (Finland) People murdered in Finland Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians Political prisoners in Finland Executed trade unionists

Early life

Trade unionism, politics and death

See also

Notes

References