Reinhold Konstantin Svento (until 1938 ''Sventorzetsky'', July 24, 1881,

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

- March 30, 1973

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Karelia. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lappeenranta is approximately , while the Lappeenranta sub-r ...

) was a Finnish politician who served as a speaker of the Finnish Social Democratic Party between 1922 and 1945 and MP from 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 It was founded in 1944 as the anti-communist laws in Finland were repealed due ...

1945-1948, 1944-1948 as II

Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

in three Governments and 1948-1951 as

Envoy Envoy or Envoys may refer to: Diplomacy * Diplomacy, in general * Envoy (title) * Special envoy, a type of Diplomatic rank#Special envoy, diplomatic rank Brands *Airspeed Envoy, a 1930s British light transport aircraft *Envoy (automobile), an au ...

of Finland to

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. Svento, also a member of the

Helsinki City Council The City Council of Helsinki ( , ) is the main decision-making organ in the local politics of Helsinki, Finland. The City Council deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport. The 85-seat Council's members ...

, also acted as a five-times electoral in

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

Biography

Sventorzetsky graduated from the

University of St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

in 1907 and worked as an official in General Governor's Office, but had to resign in 1914 at the request by Governor Franz Seyn. After the

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 ...

, Social Democrat Sventorzetski served as a journalist for several Social Democratic journals. In the parliamentary election in 1922 he was elected to the parliament from the constituency of the Mikkeli County. Sventorzetsky wrote to the Social Democratic main vocalist newspaper

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

from 1918-1920 and 1924-1944. In the 1920s, Sventorzetsky belonged to the left of the SDP and to the so-called Huplian Opposition. He was elected to the party committee at the 1926 party congress. That same year, Sventorzetsky objected to his party's move to the government. Sventorzetsky, representing the moderate opposition in the 1930s, was one of the leading foreign policy experts in the party. From the 1920s Svento supported the cooperation between Social Democrats and Agrarian League. In 1937, Svento published the book ''The Worker and Peasant'', in which he considered the government of the Social Democrats and the Agrarian League essential for the maintenance of a democratic society under the pressure of

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

and

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. In the following year, Finland's foreign policy appeared, in which Svento warned of the difficult position of Finland in the event of a possible war. Svento did not believe the importance of ideological issues in foreign policy and he favored a neutral balancing between the great powers. In the negotiations between Finland and the

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 the autumn of 1939, Svento demanded absolute neutrality from Finland. After the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

he considered the conflict as a major

imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

of the

Great power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power ...

s. During the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

., Svento was involved in the

peace opposition Peace opposition (, ) was a Finnish cross-party movement pushing for Finland to step out of the Continuation War (1941 to 1944). From 1943 to 1944, the "Peace opposition" united bourgeois politicians such as Paasikivi, Kekkonen and Sakari Tuomioja ...

movement. After the Continuation War, Svento moved to the People's Democratic League with many other Social Democratic party leaders who were divided in the party's policy. As a

in April 1948, Svento was a member of the Negotiation delegation considering the Finno-Soviet Treaty. In September 1955, he was a member of the delegation led by President J. K. Paasikivi, with whom the Soviet Union agreed to return the Porkkala Base back to Finland. At the end of her public career, Svento was part of the Finnish delegation to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

in 1955-1958. Reinhold Svento and First Foreign Minister

Carl Enckell Carl Johan Alexis Enckell (7 June 1876 – 26 March 1959) was a Finnish politician, diplomat, officer and businessman. Enckell followed his father's footsteps in the Russian military and rose to the Imperial Russian Guard. As he was not satisf ...

often used to talk and exchange correspondence with each other in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. Both had served as civil servant at the Minister–Secretary of States Office in

. The role of Svento and Enckell as assistants and advisers to J. K. Paasikivi also underlined the fact that the head of the Political Department's highest official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was held throughout their ministry without the holder.

Max Jakobson Max Jakobson (September 30, 1923 – March 9, 2013) was a Finnish diplomat and journalist of Finnish-Jewish descent. Jakobson was an instrumental figure in shaping Finland's policy of neutrality during the Cold War. Max Jakobson was born in ...

: ''Pelon ja toivon aika: 20. vuosisadan tilinpäätös II'', s. 153. Helsinki: Otava, 2001. Reinhold Svento received the honor of the Minister in 1971.

Family

Reinhold Svento's first spouse from 1907 to 1953 was Antti Hackzell's sister Evi Hackzell. Their son was Truvor Svento, a promising composer who fell in the Winter War. Their daughter Marina married Lieutenant General,

Mannerheim Cross The Mannerheim Cross (, ), officially Mannerheim Cross of the Cross of Liberty (, ) is the most distinguished Finnish military honour. A total of 191 people received the cross between 22 July 1941 and 7 May 1945, with six of the recipients receiv ...

Knight Martti Miettinen. Reinhold Svento's second spouse since 1968 was Helvi Inkeri Dillström

References