Hertta Kuusinen

Hertta Elina Kuusinen (14 February 1904, Luhanka – 18 March 1974, Moscow)[1] was a Finnish Communist politician. She was a member of the central committee (1944-1971) and the political bureau of the Communist Party of Finland; member of Finland's parliament, the Eduskunta (1945–1972); general secretary (1952–1958); and leader of the parliamentary group of the Finnish People's Democratic League.

Hertta Kuusinen in East Berlin on the 3rd congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (1950)

Early life

Born in 1904, she was the daughter of Soviet politician and one-time Finnish communist leader Otto Ville Kuusinen.[2] Hertta Kuusinen moved to the Soviet Union after her father in the 1920s. She worked for the Comintern beginning in 1922, witnessed Hitler's rise in Germany during 1932–1933,[1] and taught in the International Lenin School from 1933–1934. Kuusinen returned to Finland in 1934 to work underground for the illegal communist party. Instead she ended up in prison for over ten years.

Career

Kuusinen became known for being the leading female communist in post-war Finland. In 1948, she became only the second woman to serve as a Finnish cabinet minister.[3]

Hertta Kuusinen with Mikhail Suslov.

The political climate in Finland changed after World War II. Kuusinen was released; and in the first post-war elections held in 1945, she was elected to the Eduskunta from the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL) list.[3] She was General Secretary of the SKDL from 1952 to 1958, when the SKDL became the largest party in the Eduskunta with 50 of 200 seats. She was a member of Parliament until 1972, and also held the record in personal votes (58 770 / 1948) received in parliamentary elections that stood until the 2007 election.[4] Between 1969 and 1974, Kuusinen served as the chairperson of the Women's International Democratic Federation.[3]

Personal life

Kuusinen was married to communist politicians Tuure Lehén (1923–1933) and Yrjö Leino (1945–1950).[1]

Death

She died in Moscow on 18 March 1974, aged 70.

gollark: Ah, but it has to be bootable *by UEFI/MBR*, that's the hard bit.
gollark: Yes, a valid picture-y image file which can also be booted from.
gollark: You could make a *zip* file which is both bootable and extractable, but that's because of a weird zip quirk.
gollark: Evil idea: somehow make a valid image file you can also boot from if you `dd` it straight to a disk.
gollark: I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux,is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux.Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free componentof a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shellutilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day,without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNUwhich is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users arenot aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just apart of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the systemthat allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run.The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself;it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux isnormally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole systemis basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux"distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.

References
  1. Hertta Kuusinen. Edustajamatrikkeli. Kansanedustajat 1907 –. Eduskunta (Parliament of Finland). (in Finnish)
  2. Kimmo Rentola, Finnish communism, O.W. Kuusinen, and their Two Native Countries in Communism, National & International. SHS. Studia Historica 58. Helsinki 1998: 161-162
  3. Pirkko Kotila, "Hertta Kuusinen - The 'Red Lady of Finland,'" Science and Society, Vol. 70, No. 1, January 2006: 46-71
  4. Pirkko Kotila, Hertta Kuusinen - the leading communist woman in Finland in the post-war era, People of a special mould? International conference on comparative communist biography and prosopography Manchester, 6th - 8th April 2001: http://www.kansanarkisto.fi/pirkkoma.htm

Further reading
  • Hertta Kuusinen Papers, Kansan arkisto (People's archive) Helsinki, Finland
  • Pirkko Kotila, "Hertta Kuusinen - the leading communist woman in Finland in the post-war era" "People of a special mould"? International conference on comparative communist biography and prosopography Manchester, 6–8 April 2001
  • Pirkko Kotila, "Hertta Kuusinen - The 'Red Lady of Finland,'" Science and Society, Vol. 70, No. 1, January 2006: 46-71
  • Brita Polttila, Hertta Kuusinen - Ihmisen tie. Helsinki: Tammi, 1975
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