Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
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 ...
politician. He was a member of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Finland
The Communist Party of Finland ( fi, Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, SKP; sv, Finlands Kommunistiska Parti) 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 ...
(SKP) and served as a Member of the
Parliament of Finland
The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. Th ...
from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1982 to 1983, representing the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL). After the SKP split in the 1980s, Kainulainen at first joined the
Communist Party of Finland (Unity)
The Communist Party of Finland ( fi, Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, SKP sv, Finlands kommunistiska parti, FKP) or New Communist Party of Finland ( fi, Uusi Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue, USKP sv, Finlands nya kommunistiska parti, FNKP) is a political ...
(SKPy). The SKPy split in 1988 as well and Kainulainen was one of the leading organisers of a new party,
Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism
Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism ( fi, Kommunistinen Työväenpuolue – Rauhan ja Sosialismin puolesta, KTP) is a communist party in Finland. It was founded in 1988 to secure the existence of an independent Marxist–Leninist ...
(KTP).
Kainulainen was a member of the Central Committee of the SKP from 1966–1969 and 1970–1981 and a member of the Political Committee from 1966–1969 and 1970–1981. Kainulainen was from June to August 2017 the oldest surviving MP together with Pentti Poutanen, who was born on the same day.
Early life
Kainulainen was born in a working-class family in
Malmi, Helsinki
Malmi (; sv, Malm) is a regional center and a major district on the north-eastern part of Helsinki, Finland. It has a population of 24,312 (2008).Aarne Saarinen. Kainulainen was a rhetorical man and easily conflict-prone. In the spring of 1968 he was sought to be dismissed from the SKP Political Committee. However, he survived with a warning. In the fall of 1968 Kainulainen supported the
Occupation of Czechoslovakia
Occupation commonly refers to:
* Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment
*Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces
*Military occupation, t ...
, which on the other hand SKP condemned. The Opposition
Tiedonantaja
''Tiedonantaja'' is a Finnish leftist monthly newspaper published in Helsinki, Finland. It is the party organ of the new Communist Party of Finland (SKP).
''Tiedonantaja's'' current editor-in-chief is Marko Korvela who was preceded by Erkki Susi ...
magazine, originated from the Tiedote (Newsletter) magazine of the Uusimaa District, was founded by Kainulainen in the autumn of 1967. As the first editor-in-chief he recruited his faithful assistant Tauno Wallendahr. Kainulainen was a key figure in the process of turning it into a joint publication of the entire opposition in the autumn of 1968.
At the 15th assembly of the SKP in 1969, Kainulainen led the opposition that was condemned by the majority. Opposition representatives marched out of the meeting after Kainulainen gave a sign. At the rebellion meeting in the Koitto House in Helsinki, Kainulainen supported the establishment of a new ideologically orthodox communist party, but was in a minority with his opinions. Kainulainen negotiated about the new party among others with the
Soviet Union Communist Party
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
, but the idea was not accepted by the Soviets. In April 1969, Kainulainen was elected as the executive committee secretary of the Communist Land Advisory Board, which was founded by the opposition.
In the 1970s Kainulainen continued his principled struggle against revisionism and he was alongside Taisto Sinisalo and Urho Jokinen one of the most visible figures in the taistoism movement. He was responsible for the opposition economy through many associations. In the elections of 1975, Kainulainen was elected to the parliament via the SKDL lists. He was a member of the legal committee. Kainulainen departed from parliament in the next elections, but returned to parliament in 1982 for a six-month term to replace Ilkka-Christian Björklund, who was appointed as General Secretary by the
Nordic Council
The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomo ...
. Under the leadership of Kainulainen, the SKP's Uusimaa district was firmly in the hands of the opposition and represented the left wing of the taistoism group.
Disputes with Taistoist-movement
By the 1980s Kainulainen had a falling out with the other taistoism members. Among others, he objected to the so-called "Third Line" tendency, which he found suspicious in the sense of Marxism–Leninism. Kainulainen was also opposed to Mikhail Gorbachevby's reforms in the Soviet Union.
In October 1985, the SKP sacked the district organizations of the opposition, including Uusimaa, under the leadership of Arvo Aalto. The separated ones initially operated under the name SKP Organizations and Kainulainen was elected to the Central Committee of Organizations in April 1986. Later, it was renamed as the Communist Party of Finland (Unity) (SKPy). Kainulainen was not elected to the new party's political committee.
New Party
The Marxism–Leninism communists disapproved the SKPy's revisionism and were bound for the creation of a new party led by Kainulainen. The Communist Workers' Party – For Peace and Socialism (KTP) was founded early in 1988. Kainulainen was KTP's most prominent politician and supporters of the party have been called, with regard to his name, the Kainus (kainuslaiset). Kainulainen served on the KTP Political Committee from the inception of the party until 2012 and on the party's central council until 2014.
Kainulainen died at age 95 on August 30, 2017. His wife Eila had died only two weeks earlier at the age of 91.Markus ja Eila Kainulaisen kuolinilmoitukset. Työkansan Sanomat 15.9.2017, s. 11.