Many articles have appeared recently in the international press, and also from bourgeois governments, on the Finnish model. If someone reads Le Monde it is not difficult to realize that the Swedish model is more popular in France than in Finland. In Greece in order to privatise university education, they promote the Finnish model of testing for eligibility for scholarships in institutions of higher learning. In reality they use figures and systems not very well known in order to confuse their own readers. These countries have a long history in terms of the welfare State and mediating the contradictions in the class struggle. In most cases they have used figures referring to situations in the past. Swindling is the only intention these defenders have.
People think: “these countries in Scandinavia manage very well despite the crisis. We want to be like them”. In reality “these countries” are going to fall into the “chasm of collapse” from a great height.
There is no room for optimism in Finland amidst the unrest prevalent in the European Union.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finnish foreign trade collapsed also. 500,000 (20%) unemployment was the price of the crisis. The impoverishment of workers created the conditions for big profits to the industry during the years 1997-2000. Now unemployment is officially under 10%, but really it stands at about 12%. The unemployed are “seated” at training desks without any hope of finding a job.
It is true that Finland invests a great deal in research and development. It is a small country with a high level of division of labour and organic composition of capital. Moreover, it is dependant on exports. Its main competitors come from Sweden, but Finland has a smaller industrial base. On the other hand Finland's industrial base is younger and more modern than its western neighbour's. Its whole industry was born after WWII, focused on the paper and metal industrial sectors. Later on, a clever orientation towards high-technology innovations caused the big turn of the Nokia Tyre Company towards electronics. Afterwards, Nokia was listed on the biggest stock exchanges and now only 10% of its capital is under Finnish ownership. This was the price of globalisation, but the headquarters is still in Finland and the corporation pays its’ taxes to the Finnish state. When Nokia catches cold the stock market of Helsinki coughs up blood. When Nokia demands, Finland listens carefully.
The Economy - some figures
Recently the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) changed its prognosis for the current year. The figures leave no room for optimism. The prognosis for development in the EU is 1.2% and for Finland 2.1%. Imports will grow 6% and will nearly all be used in order to produce exports. A strong Euro and high oil prices do not allow possibilities for growth. The course towards recession seems real. The centrifugal forces have been strengthened after the referendums in France and Holland split the axis between Germany and France and paralysed plans for EU and monetary integration. According to a new inquiry the immediate exit from EMU (European economic and monetary union) would be advantageous for Germany, Italy and Holland.
Despite of the cuts, and all the other dirty projects of the bourgeoisie, until now, they have not gone very far towards their big targets: Elastic labor contracts, the question of regular jobs, or deregulation of opening hours in the stores are some of them. The solution to the problem of pensions, high unemployment, low consumption levels, slow economic growth, the productivity of labour and the competition are some others.
China was until now a very important area for the production and consumption of merchandise. The US Treasury notes were accepted by China, who deposited their profits in American banks. Thousands of Finnish jobs have escaped to China for these reasons.
Finnish investments in the paper industry are orientated a) towards China and b) towards South America. In the near future the option of India is also open. Investments inside Russia are conditioned and still shy, in spite of the fact that Russia has the biggest wood reserves in the world.
Politics
In politics the Finnish bourgeoisie has one eye on NATO, but has not yet joined it because of the strong opposition of the people. However it is getting close to making a deal via the EU. There is a new “police law” in Finland today. The issue is the “anti-terrorist” law. Freedom of assembly has been limited. The police have the institutional right to infiltrate leftist organizations, to tap phone calls and to inform the courts afterwards.
Rapid deployment troops are the embryo of EU military. They have the right to operate within a radius of 7000 km from Brussels. Finland committed itself to two task forces. One is with Sweden, Estonia and Norway. The agreement on this was signed on May 23, 2005 and the troops will be ready for attack operations by the year 2008. Pro-NATO politicians were rejoicing about there being a force under the NATO's command. In the other task force, Finland is participating with Germany and Holland. This agreement will be signed next autumn and the forces will be ready for attack operations by the year 2007.
The Province Troops (Maakuntajoukot) is a retreaded version of the notorious fascist National Guards (Suojelukunnat) from before the WWII. At the same time they are trying to create a new army against the enemy within. These Province troops are a voluntary based force. Recruitment is based on applications received from those interested. This project failed. The goal of 20,000 men country-wide by the year 2010 has is becoming a farce.
Strikes
All these mechanisms, which are mediating the contradictions and buffering the attempts of the working class to struggle, are in deep crisis. Inside the labour parties are many tendencies with huge disagreements on this issue. Finland is known as a country in which strikes seldom take place, not to mention a general strike. A turning point was clearly in sight last year and is this year as well. A huge quantitative as well as qualitative change is happening.
There were more strikes in this period than in the past ten years. Many unions refused to sign the agreement of the so-called tripartite committee.
These committees is composed of delegates from the employers, the employees and the state. And always agree on the basis of very conservative platforms, which tie down the workers for the three next years. During these three years any strike is illegal.
There were strikes, for example, in transportation, in which the strikers were fighting for the interests of those who were employed as part time workers, not directly for their own interests. This strike were declared illegal, the Union had to pay 200,000 Euros, but the workers didn’t give in. Two factors lend huge significance to the qualitative changes: a) solidarity strikes are coming back. This happened in the beginning of this summer (June 2005) on a trans-European scale. b) The accent placed on the strikes is bringing back the intervention of the classical industrial working class. Such was the case with the strike in the paper industry. This was the first strike under the shadow of globalisation of the struggles. Against the workers, was purely the power of the capitalists without any help from their tripartite committees or the state. When the devaluation of the currency is impossible, the worldwide concern of capitalists is to face the workers alone. The question here was not about the fate of the Finnish workers in the paper sector, but the risk for all of the workers of the world in this branch .
The most significant struggles of the Finnish working class were: a) 1948 in the Arabias’ factory. Factories were occupied and police were shot. One worker was killed in Kemi, North Finland. b) The General Strike in 1956. c) The so-called Medal revolution of 1977. d) Workers in the technical areas (draughtsmen, etc.) 1977. e) State workers in 1984. f) Nurses in 1995. g) Doctors in 2001, who struggled for 12 weeks.
Until the 70’s the emphasis in the strikes was in industry. After that, we have a transition to areas such as office workers. Now we are getting back to the factories. The capitalists know that they are gambling. That is why they declared a lockout, which was very expensive for them. This form of struggle is something very new for the Finnish capitalists, a new strategy for them. On the card table were big stakes for the future of the paper industry. The conditions in the recurrence of the labour in one country cannot be different from the conditions in a rival country.
A breakthrough took place in the workers' forms of struggle on Wednesday June 8, 2005, when an International meeting was held in Helsinki. The Finnish Paper Union called for a solidarity meeting and tens of unions around the world arrived and participated. From Germany the workers said that capitalists were demanding flexibility, a 40 hours work week instead of 38, with cuts in incomes totalling 10%. They said that a strike in Germany was also possible.
In Austria the same demands were instantly rejected by the workers. At the press conference were representatives from 20 different countries. None of them remembered anything like this ever happening in Europe before.
Also present were representatives from Canada, from the Miramich factory, owned by the Finnish UPM, on strike for the last six months.
The representative Iduigues Martins from the Brazilian SINAP Union said that because the norms for environment are really loose in Brazil and wages are very low, 100-150 Euros a month, the Finnish capitalists exploit the workers ruthlessly. “We expected better treatment and better social conditions in the factory from Scandinavians. We were wrong”, he said.
The situation is going to be similar in Uruguay were Finnish capitalists are going to invest soon for a one billion Euros factory.
At the Helsinki meeting of representatives from 14 European countries — among others Germany, Austria, and England- promised a strike of solidarity if employers do not end the lockout immediately in Finland. In Sweden they started a strike over overtime pay. After a six-week struggle the strike is over. The workers did not get much, but neither were they defeated. The capitalists did not win either. It was a confrontation in which the two contestants measured each other’s power. It was the first step, the first stage of a new era of struggles.
