Lauri Kantola (19 April 1908 – 13 April 1990) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

journalist and politician, born in

Reisjärvi Reisjärvi is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The ...

. He was a 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 ...

from 1962 to 1975, representing the

Finnish People's Democratic League Finnish People's Democratic League (, SKDL; , DFFF) was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic Party. It was founded in 1944 as the anti-communist laws in Finland were repealed due ...

(SKDL). Kantola was a member of the

Communist Party of Finland The Communist Party of Finland (, SKP; ) was a communist political party in Finland. The SKP was a section of Comintern and illegal in Finland until 1944. The SKP was banned by the state from its founding and did not participate in any elec ...

(SKP). He had joined the SKP in 1926, when it was still illegal in Finland. This led to a prison sentence from 1929 to 1933. From 1933 to 1938, Kantola studied at the

International Lenin School The International Lenin School (ILS) () was an official training school operated in Moscow, Soviet Union, by the Communist International from May 1926 to 1938. It was resumed after the Second World War and run by the Communist Party of the Soviet ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, after which he returned to Finland, where he was again imprisoned for political reasons from 1941 to 1944. The

Moscow Armistice The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on 19 September 1944, ending the Continuation War. The Armistice restored the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940, with a number of modi ...

of 19 September 1944 led to the legalization of the SKP and Kantola recovered his liberty and his political activities. He was a presidential elector in the

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

and

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

presidential elections.

References

1908 births 1990 deaths People from Reisjärvi People from Oulu Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Communist Party of Finland politicians Finnish People's Democratic League politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (1962–1966) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1966–1970) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1970–1972) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1972–1975) Finnish journalists Political prisoners in Finland Finnish prisoners and detainees {{FinnishPeoplesDemocraticLeague-politician-stub