Eino Alfred Tainio (8 September 1905 – 23 July 1970) was a Finnish printer, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) and the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL), he represented Lapland Province between April 1945 and March 1970.[1] Prior to being elected, he was imprisoned for twelve years for political reasons.[1]

Eino Tainio
Member of the Parliament of Finland
In office
6 April 1945 – 22 March 1970
ConstituencyLapland Province
Personal details
Born
Eino Alfred Tainio

(1905-09-08)8 September 1905
Kemi, Russian Empire
Died23 July 1970(1970-07-23) (aged 64)
Petrozavodsk, Soviet Union
Political partyCommunist Party of Finland
Other political
affiliations
Finnish People's Democratic League
OccupationPrinter

Early life

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Tainio was born on 8 September 1905 in Kemi in the north-west of the Grand Duchy of Finland.[1][2] He attended folk school and artisan school.[1][2] He was a printer at Pohjolan Sanomat (1919-1921), Yhtyneet Painot OY (1921-1923) and the labour movement's printing house in Oulu (1923-1925).[1] Following military service, he was Pohjan Voima's editor and office manager in Kemi and Rovaniemi from November 1926 to July 1929.[1][3][4] Pohjan Voima was banned following the introduction of anti-communist laws in 1930.[4]

Tainio worked in the gymnastics and sports club in Kemi.[3] He was secretary of the Lapland branch of the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation from 1928 to 1929.[1]

Politics and imprisonment

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Tainio joined the Finnish Social Democratic Youth Union (SSN) in 1923 and was elected treasurer of its Karjalahti branch.[3][5] He joined the banned Communist Party of Finland (SKP) in 1926.[3] Tainio's first encounter with the Etsivä keskuspoliisi (EK) secret police (also known as Ohrana) was whilst he was carrying out military service in Oulu with the Pohja Jaeger Brigade (Pohjan jääkäripataljoona).[6] On 28 June 1926 Tainio and fellow soldier Ahti Näykki were arrested and accused of military espionage but were released after interrogation in Helsinki.[6][7][8] He and two other men were arrested in autumn 1928 by border guards in Kuusamo.[6] They were accused of trying to defect to the Soviet Union but were released after interrogation.[6]

In the early hours of 31 July 1929 the EK secret police raided Tainio's home in Kemi and arrested him.[9][10] On 1 November 1929 the Court of Appeal in Vaasa convicted Tainio of preparing for treason and sentenced him to three years imprisonment with loss of civic rights for a further six years.[11][12] He was imprisoned in Tammisaari concentration camp before being released in August 1932.[3][13] He was placed under surveillance by the EK secret police and blacklisted, preventing him from obtaining employment.[3] He was arrested by the secret police on 18 November 1933 for attending a clandestine meeting on the island of Kuivanuoro in Kemi.[14][15] On 28 March 1934 the Court of Appeal in Vaasa convicted Tainio of preparing for treason and sentenced him to five years imprisonment.[16][17] He was imprisoned in Tammisaari and Riihimäki Prison before being released on 31 October 1938.[3][18]

When the Winter War started in November 1939, Tainio condemned the Soviet attack on Finland.[19] Despite this, he was amongst hundreds of leftists who were imprisoned without charge by the state police (Valtiollinen poliisi) starting in December 1939.[3][20] After being released in May 1940 he worked for the Finland–Soviet Union Peace and Friendship Society (SNS).[3][19][21] He was arrested and imprisoned without charge again in September 1940.[3][19][21] With the outbreak of the Continuation War in June 1941, Tainio and other imprisoned leftist were forcibly conscripted into the Pärm battalion and sent to the front line.[3][21][22] He and others who refused to fight were sent back to the labour camps (Erillinen työkomppania) in Kangasjärvi and Koveri.[3][23] Following the defeat of the right-wing Finnish government by the Allies in 1944, the SKP was legalised and all political prisoners released in accordance with the Moscow Armistice. Tainio was released on 24 September 1944.[3][19][21] He had spent more than twelve years in prison for political reasons.[1][3]

Return to politics

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Tainio was a member of the central committees of the SKP and Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL).[1] He was the secretary of the Lapland branch of the SKDL in 1945.[1][21] He was elected to the Parliament of Finland at the 1945 parliamentary election.[24][25] He was re-elected at the 1948, 1951, 1954, 1958, 1962 and 1966 parliamentary elections.[26][27][28][29][30][31] He was not re-elected at the 1970 parliamentary election.[32] He was deputy chairman of the SKDL parliamentary group.[21] He was a presidential elector at the 1950, 1956, 1962 and 1968 presidential elections.[1][21]

Tainio was one of the leaders of the communist-led strike in Kemi in July/August 1949 that culminated on "Bloody Thursday" (veritorstai) when two strikers were killed by the police on 18 August 1949.[21] Following the 1968 Prague Spring, the SKP was critical of the Soviet-led military intervention. Tainio was a member of the dissident pro-Soviet Communists' Country-wide Advisory Committee (Kommunistien maatakäsittävän neuvottelukunnan) led by Taisto Sinisalo.[21]

Tainio died on 23 July 1970 in Petrozavodsk (Petroskoi) in the Soviet Union.[1] A monument to Tainio sculpted by Ensio Seppänen was erected in 1981 at the Meripuisto park in Kemi.[33]

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Kansanedustajat: Eino Tainio" (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Parliament of Finland. Archived from the original on 14 March 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b Karhunen 2021, p. 18.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Vaikka läpi harmaan kiven – Sivuja Eino Tainion elämästä" (in Finnish). Demokraattinen Sivistysliitto. 4 May 1992. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b Karhunen 2021, p. 25.
  5. ^ "Kemi's Karjalahti sos-dem". Uusi Pohjan Kansa (in Finnish). No. 31. Oulu, Finland. 9 February 1923. p. 2. Retrieved 15 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  6. ^ a b c d Karhunen 2021, p. 32.
  7. ^ "Sotilaspidätyksiä Oulussa". Pohjan Voima (in Finnish). No. 144. Oulu, Finland. 30 June 1926. p. 1. Retrieved 17 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  8. ^ "Oulussa pidätetyt sotilaat siirretty Helsinkiin". Pohjan Voima (in Finnish). No. 153. Oulu, Finland. 10 July 1926. p. 2. Retrieved 17 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  9. ^ "Ohrana vanginnut lehtemme Kemin toimiston hoitajan". Pohjan Voima (in Finnish). No. 174. Oulu, Finland. 1 August 1929. p. 2. Retrieved 15 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  10. ^ "Kemissä vangittu Pohja Voimaa sikäläisen konttorin hoitaja". Lapin Kansa (in Finnish). No. 84. Rovaniemi, Finland. 1 August 1929. p. 3. Retrieved 15 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  11. ^ "Tov. tainiolle 3 v. kuritushuonetta". Työn Ääni (in Finnish). No. 127. Vaasa, Finland. 4 November 1929. p. 1. Retrieved 15 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  12. ^ "Kemin seudun solut oikeudessa". Pohjolan Sanomat (in Finnish). No. 252. Kemi, Finland. 3 November 1929. p. 2. Retrieved 15 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  13. ^ Karhunen 2021, p. 48.
  14. ^ "Kyynelkaasupommi kommunistien kokoukseen". Suomen Sosialidemokraatti (in Finnish). No. 327. Helsinki, Finland. 2 December 1933. p. 6. Retrieved 15 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  15. ^ "Kommunistit pidätettiin". Uudenkaupungin Sanomat (in Finnish). No. 139. Uusikaupunki, Finland. 5 December 1933. p. 3. Retrieved 15 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  16. ^ "Valtiopetoksesta tuomittuja". Vaasa (in Finnish). No. 73. Vaasa, Finland. 28 March 1934. p. 2. Retrieved 15 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  17. ^ "Kuivanuoron kommunistipiirikokous". Pohjolan Sanomat (in Finnish). No. 73. Kemi, Finland. 1 April 1934. p. 1. Retrieved 15 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  18. ^ Karhunen 2021, p. 49.
  19. ^ a b c d Karhunen 2021, p. 68.
  20. ^ Karhunen 2021, pp. 18–19.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i Karhunen 2021, p. 19.
  22. ^ Karhunen 2021, p. 73.
  23. ^ Karhunen 2021, p. 75.
  24. ^ "De nya riksdagsmännen". Hufvudstadsbladet (in Swedish). No. 79. Helsinki, Finland. 22 March 1945. p. 7. Retrieved 17 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  25. ^ "Uuden eduskunnan kokoonpano". Laatokka (in Finnish). No. 74. Sortavala, Finland. 31 March 1945. pp. 2–3. Retrieved 17 January 2024 – via National Library of Finland.
  26. ^ Valtiopäivät 1948: Pöytäkirjat I - Istunnot 1-38 - Valtiopäivien alusta joulukuun 10 päivään (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Parliament of Finland. 1950. p. 9. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  27. ^ Valtiopäivät 1951: Pöytäkirjat I - Istunnot 1-48 - Valtiopäivien alusta joulukuun 10 päivään (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Parliament of Finland. 1953. p. 9. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  28. ^ Valtiopäivät 1954: Pöytäkirjat I - Istunnot 1-40 - Valtiopäivien alusta lokakuun 22 päivään (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Parliament of Finland. 1955. p. 9. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  29. ^ Suomen virallinen tilasto XXIX A:26: Eduskuntavaalit 1958 (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Statistics Finland. 1959. p. 57. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  30. ^ Suomen virallinen tilasto XXIX A:28: Kansanedustajain vaalit 1962 (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Statistics Finland. 1962. p. 60. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  31. ^ Suomen virallinen tilasto XXIX A:29: Kansanedustajain vaalit 1966 (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Statistics Finland. 1966. p. 66. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  32. ^ Suomen virallinen tilasto XXIX A:31: Kansanedustajain vaalit 1970 (in Finnish). Helsinki, Finland: Statistics Finland. 1970. p. 76. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  33. ^ "Kemin alueen patsaita ja muistomerkkejä" (in Finnish). Kemi, Finland: Kemi Municipal Councuk. Archived from the original on 5 July 2011.

Sources

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