Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, the first head of state of an independent Finland, influenced the achievement and strengthening of national independence during three phases. He was the most prominent figure in the legal battle that led to separation from Russia. He was the leader of the Senate that proclaimed independence and crushed revolution, and he secured the support of Germany in order to strengthen the nation's defences. In the early 1930s, first as prime minister and then as president, he was in charge of enacting anticommunist legislation, and he then curbed the right-wing radicalism culminating in the Mäntsälä revolt and led Finland's foreign policy onto the path of Nordic cooperation. Because of his strict opposition to communism and the Left in general, he did not become a president of all the people, although as the amiable 'Ukko-Pekka' (Old Man Pete), he did enjoy wide popularity.

Without a father and grandfather

Svinhufvud's childhood was marked by the loss of his father and grandfather. His father, the sea captain Pehr Gustaf Svinhufvud, drowned at sea off Greece at the age of 27 when Pehr Evind was only two years old. Svinhufvud spent his early childhood at the home of his paternal grandfather Pehr Gustaf Svinhufvud, a province treasurer of Häme background, at Rapola in the Sääksmäki district, where the family had lived for five generations. Pehr Gustaf Svinhufvud af Qvalstad, an army lieutenant in the reign of Charles XII, had moved there from Sweden after the Great Northern War of 1700 - 21 as a living-in son-in-law. The family had been ennobled in 1574.

Rapola was forcibly auctioned when the grandfather shot himself. Still under school age, Svinhufvud moved to Helsinki with his mother and his one-year-older sister. The family spent their summers at Kangasniemi. Svinhufvud's mother worked for four decades at an office of the Hypoteekkiyhdistys, a mortage association, and did not remarry.

Though his mother tongue was Finnish, Svinhufvud attended the Swedish-language high school, Helsinki's Ruotsalainen normaalikoulu. In 1878, at the age of 16, enrolled at the Imperial Alexander University of Helsinki. There he first completed a Master of Arts degree; his main subject was Finnish, Russian and Scandinavian History, which was taught by Georg Zacharias Yrjö-Koskinen. After this, he took out a Master of Laws degree. Svinhufvud's military service was confined to a total of twelve weeks of reserve exercises completed during three summers.

Svinhufvud's career in the law followed a normal course: he was advanced step by step at the Turku Court of Appeal, worked as an attorney and served at district courts. One may view as the only exceptional aspect the fact that he was appointed a member of the Senate's law-drafting committee at the relatively young age of 31. Svinhufvud participated for six years in the planning of an extensive reform of taxation. He found the work deadening and moved to the Court of Appeal as an assistant judge in 1902, his long-term goal being the tranquil life of a rural judge. He married his third cousin Ellen Timgren, whose relatives included many lawyers.

As head of his family, Svinhufvud participated in a Diet session - in the Estate of Nobles - for the first time in 1894. His main contribution was to champion the rights of the Finnish language, but he did not rise to any prominent position in the Diet of Estates.

A conflict of loyalties produces a politician

Svinhufvud's successful though somewhat pedestrian legal career was cut short by a political conflict caused by Russia's attempt to absorb the autonomous Grand Duchy more thoroughly through the russification of Finland's legal system and society. Developments set in train by the February Manifesto of 1899 forced Svinhufvud to face hard political choices. In his view, the members of the Court of Appeal had to adhere to the constitution and not to illegal decrees. A practical problem was what attitude to adopt towards the implementation of illegal military call-ups.

Some inhabitants of Helsinki lodged a complaint with the Turku Court of Appeal concerning the violence employed by the Russian governor of Uusimaa Province to break up a demonstration held in 1902 to protest against the call-ups. The Court of Appeal initiated proceedings against the governor. Governor-General Nikolay Bobrikov demanded that they be stopped, and when this did not happen, he used a decree which the Finnish side regarded as illegal to dismiss sixteen officials of the appeal court. The members dismissed constituted a majority on the court's decision-making bodies. Svinhufvud was regarded as the key figure in the appeal court's resistance.

Originally a moderate of the Finnish Party (Suomalainen puolue: the 'Old' Finns), Svinhufvud turned into a strict constitutionalist who regarded the resistance of judges and officials as a question of justice and did not believe that political expediency offered compromises. After his dismissal, Svinhufvud moved to Helsinki as an attorney and participated in the political activities both of the Diet and of a secret society, the Kagal, which led passive resistance. He went a step further when, at the request of activists, he acted as defence lawyer for Lennart Hohenthal, the murderer of the procurator Eliel Soisalo-Soininen. He considered that Finland, fighting for its life, was "entitled to use all means employed by a state to defend its existence and by a people [to defend] its nationhood".

As a politician of theYoung Finns (Nuorsuomalaiset), Svinhufvud played a key role in the birth of a new parliamentary system, and he was elected as an MP. After being chosen as a judge in the Heinola judicial district, he attempted to keep out of the front line of politics. He was nevertheless elected as speaker of the first single-chamber parliament, because the Social Democrats, who had emerged as the largest party, considered him "the best-known opponent of illegality". He was speaker for many years, and it is largely thanks to him that matters have been dealt with in a comparatively dignified style ever since during plenary sessions of parliament.

Svinhufvud's parliamentary opening speeches, in which he laid emphasis on legality, led to dissolutions of parliament. At the opening of the 1909 session he stated, "The parliament of Finland is beginning its work at a time when the mood of the Finnish people is darkened by the knowledge that representations on Finnish affairs to His Exalted Majesty are still being made in accordance with a system that is incompatible with Finnish law and is in practice destructive." The Tsar immediately dissolved parliament. The same thing happened the following year.

Before holding them, Svinhufvud had his opening speeches approved in closed sessions of parliament. He was, however, the most uncompromising, consistent and relentless advocate of legality, and he would not countenance tactical concessions. When Svinhufvud announced before the opening of the 1913 session that he was not going to remain silent about illegalities this time either if he were elected as speaker, the Social Democrats voted for a man of their own, fearing that parliament would again be dissolved. Thus Svinhufvud was not re-elected to the post.

Svinhufvud has been criticised on the grounds that his tough speeches effectively made parliament's normal reform work more difficult. But in fact his uncompromising behaviour constituted one of the leverage points that the resistance movement used in order to concentrate its power and lead Finland towards independence. The history of 20th-century Europe contains other similar cases where individuals were forced to decide what attitude to adopt towards an order forcibly maintained by a foreign power which they regarded as an occupier. This situation of choice was felt especially keenly in occupied countries during and after the Second World War. On the one hand there is the path of collaboration and on the other that of passive or active - often underground - resistance. Depending upon the situation, the personality and especially the final outcome of historical developments, history passes different judgments on decisions involving different ways of acting. Svinhufvud's uncompromising line as a defender of Finland's legal rights during the period of autonomy enjoyed approval in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, but not in the postwar decades. In the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism, his reputation began to rise again.

Having been left a parliamentary backbencher, Svinhufvud concentrated on his post as a judge in the Lappee judicial district. But he had become the embodiment of Finnish resistance, and the Russians finally laid hands on him when martial law was declared in Finland on the outbreak of the First World War and Russians began to be appointed to official Finnish posts on the basis of the so-called 'Equality Law'. Svinhufvud refused to obey the orders of the Russian procurator Konstantin Kazansky, which he considered illegal, and this led to his being arrested while hearing a case and exiled to Tomsk in Siberia in November 1914.

In his Siberian exile, Svinhufvud lived a fairly free life, hunting, maintaining a correspondence with his homeland and keeping abreast of the Finnish press. His wife Ellen ran a boarding house at their home at Kotkaniemi in the Luumäki district and visited her husband several times. In Siberia, Svinhufvud learned to repair his own clothing and footwear. He also maintained secret contacts with activists leading the Jäger (jääkäri) movement. When he left Finland, he had already promised to return "with the help of God and Hindenburg". When news of the February Revolution reached Kolyvan, where Svinhufvud was then in exile, he walked to the town's police station and bluntly announced, "The person who sent me here has been arrested. Now I'm going home." At Helsinki Railway Station, the returning exile was greeted as a national hero.

Independence is secured with Germany's support

Immediately after his return to Finland, Svinhufvud was appointed to the post of procurator of the Senate, an office equivalent to that of the current chancellor of justice. One of his duties was to investigate the illegalities of the russification period, and this led to fairly major purges in the ranks of officialdom. As chancellor of justice, Svinhufvud hesitated over a major decision for the only time in his life. With the 'Power Law' of 18 July 1917, the Finnish parliament, which had a leftist majority, transferred 'supreme' (i.e. Imperial) power to itself in matters of domestic politics. However, the Russian Provisional Government did not confirm the law, instead ordering the dissolution of parliament. It was up to the Senate to decide on the implementation of the dissolution order, and the procurator had to give his opinion as to the legality of the decision. Svinhufvud did not approve of the Power Law and wanted parliament dissolved. However, his independent line was difficult to reconcile with the statement of grounds contained in the Provisional Government's dissolution manifesto. In Svinhufvud's view, the dissolution order was illegal; but he also presented arguments in its favour, and when the Senate decided by a vote of 7 to 6 to promulgate the manifesto, he did not record a dissenting opinion in the minutes.

When the Bolsheviks toppled the Provisional Government in the October Revolution, the Finnish Senate did not recognise them as holding supreme power in Finland and declared that the union of Finland and Russia had ended. In the midst of revolution, the Finnish Left organised a general strike. On 15 November 1917, parliament proclaimed itself the holder of supreme power in Finland. It then chose an 'Independence Senate'; as the chairman of this body (i.e. the prime minister), Svinhufvud presented a declaration of independence to parliament. He also went personally to St Petersburg on the last day of the year to seek a promise from Lenin, the leader of the Soviet Government, that Finland's independence would be recognised. And in fact, the Council of People's Commissars of Soviet Russia did grant official recognition on 4 January 1918.

Finland did not have an army of its own. Svinhufvud's Senate began to create a police force, authorised General Gustaf Mannerheim, who had returned from Russia in December 1917, to take charge of the government's military preparations and requested Germany to repatriate the Finnish Jäger Battalion, which had been trained and had fought in that country, and to send other military aid.

After the socialists proclaimed a revolution in Finland late in January, Svinhufvud initially led the Senate from underground in Helsinki. He sent requests for intervention to Germany and Sweden. During the uprising, the Reds looted Svinhufvud's home at Kotkaniemi. In early February, Svinhufvud's attempt to escape from Red-controlled Helsinki by air failed when his plane was forced to turn back because of engine trouble. In early March, Svinhufvud finally succeeded in fleeing from Helsinki to Tallinn aboard the icebreaker Tarmo, which had been captured from its Russian sentries by members of the Civil Guards. He went on from there to Berlin. A few days before Svinhufvud's arrival, Edvard Hjelt, Finland's envoy to Germany, had concluded agreements with that country which tied Finland militarily, politically and economically to Germany. Svinhufvud's role in the conclusion of these agreements is unclear, but it is probable that he knew and approved of their contents. The secretive arrangement was evidently intended to avoid the head of government's compromising himself by binding Finland to Germany.

The events of autumn 1917 and spring 1918 changed Svinhufvud in six months from a republican who believed in peaceful legal struggle into a monarchist who supported the vigorous use of force. The liberation war that had started in order to expel Russian troops and the revolution that had developed into an armed conflict merged into a bloody civil war in which the Russian forces supported the Reds, and German troops participated by - amongst other things - capturing Helsinki. The war ended in victory for the legal government led by Svinhufvud.

Revolution and war also prompted the government to consolidate the position of the state leadership. In May, Svinhufvud was elected as the country's "supreme wielder of power", i.e. as the first head of state. He adopted an active role in this post, appointing Juho Kusti Paasikivi as prime minister and himself taking on the direction of Finland's foreign policy as head of state. In coping with the aftermath of the revolution, he attempted to speed up the work of the courts dealing with political crimes, and in autumn he pardoned over 36,000 Red prisoners; at the same time most sentences were reduced.

Svinhufvud trusted firmly in German support to safeguard Finland's independence. He attempted to obtain a military alliance with Germany; but when nothing came of this, he directed the transformation of Finland's constitution into a monarchical one. He took an active part in trying to have a German king elected for his country, travelling in person to Berlin and asking Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II for his son Oskar as King of Finland. For a long time, the monarch project left its stamp on Svinhufvud's later reputation. He pushed the orientation towards Germany - and in general the line of action that he considered essential - with great energy. For him, monarchism was a method of ensuring German support, and not vice versa. At no stage was Svinhufvud a royalist.

Germany's defeat in the First World War led to the abandonment of Finland's German orientation. Having been elected King of Finland, Prince Friedrich Karl of Hesse refused to accept the crown after taking advice. Then Svinhufvud resigned as regent in December, and the country reverted to the path of republicanism. As a condition for his resignation, Svinhufvud insisted on a change of direction in foreign policy: namely, that General Mannerheim, who had maintained close contact with the First World War victors, should be chosen as his successor. At the same time Svinhufvud resigned from the post of procurator, from which he had been given leave; thus he finally became a private citizen again.

Strengthener of the spirit of national defence

After retiring from the national stage, Svinhufvud was general manager of Suomen Vakuus, a credit institution established in Turku, for several years; but the experimental enterprise was not a success. After a couple of years as a banker, he used a pension granted by the State to retire to Kotkaniemi in the Luumäki district. This property had belonged to Svinhufvud's predecessor as judge of the Lappee Circuit and was something of a hobby farm. When asked on a previous occasion how worthwhile farming Kotkaniemi was, Svinhufvud replied, "Very much so - I pay the bills, and Ellen gets the income."

Svinhufvud had already joined a Civil Guard unit while in Turku. In Luumäki this became his most important interest. In five years he went from private to sergeant-major, conscientiously proceeding from rank to rank and also participating in the management of the organisation. An old hunter, he took up shooting practice energetically, developing into a successful competitive marksman. Svinhufvud became an embodiment of the young republic's spirit of national defence, the folksy 'Old Man Pete' with his rifle and Civil Guard uniform, and his personal example made a great contribution towards extending the work of the Guards units. He believed that making Finland's independence secure required the participation of the entire bourgeois section of the nation in the strengthening of the country's defences.

Svinhufvud was a rank-and-file member of the conservative National Coalition (Kokoomus). The party chose him as a candidate for the 1925 presidential elections, and he received the backing of 68 members of the electoral college. During the college's consultations it appeared, however, that he did not have sufficient support, and his party's college members already voted in the first round for another Kokoomus member, Hugo Suolahti.

When anticommunist activities became organised in the Lapua movement, President Relander appointed Svinhufvud prime minister in 1930. At the first meeting of his government, Svinhufvud gave a speech in which he revealed his double-strategy policy, aimed at rooting out communism and maintaining the rule of law. "Since the government is acting to crush treasonous forces, the government regards it as essential that all acts and measures deviating from legality on the part of individual citizens and groups of citizens be stopped immediately", he stated. Opposed to Svinhufvud's insistence on legality was the "we do what we want" attitude of the Lapua movement's extremist elements.

By order of the government, all communist MPs were arrested; when parliament deferred a decision on this matter, President Relander dissolved the house at the prime minister's request and ordered new elections, in which the non-socialist groupings obtained the two-thirds majority necessary for the passing of the legislation.

In the 1931 presidential elections, Svinhufvud mainly relied on the Kokoomus Party, but as the candidate of a coalition that transcended party boundaries, he gained 64 electoral college members. In the third round, the Agrarian Party (Maalaisliitto) gave him its backing, and thanks to this he was elected with 151 votes, the president of 1919 – 25, Ståhlberg, receiving 149.

A strong president

The first thing that Svinhufvud did as president was to appoint Mannerheim, who had been out of the service of the State since 1919, as the chairman of a reformed Defence Council. He also gave Mannerheim wide powers to direct the preparation of the defence forces in case there should be a war.

President Svinhufvud was faced with his most serious challenge in late February/early March 1932. Civil Guards had gathered at Mäntsälä, 50 km north of Helsinki, to prevent a meeting addressed by Social Democrats. There the Civil Guards staged a revolt, and the leaders of the Lapua movement began to go along with them by demanding the government's resignation. With the threat of an uprising, Svinhufvud took the operative control of the government, army and Civil Guards into his own hands. The turning point came with the president's broadcast speech, in which he called on the rebels to surrender and ordered all Civil Guard members who were heading for Mäntsälä to return to their homes. "Throughout my long life, I have struggled for the maintenance of law and justice, and I cannot permit the law to now be trampled underfoot and citizens to be led into armed conflict with one another", he said. He took a personal stand against the rebels: "Since I am now acting on my own responsibility, beholden no-one, and have taken it upon myself to restore peace to the country, from now on every secret undertaking is aimed not only at the legal order but at me personally as well - at me, who have myself marched in the ranks of the Civil Guards as an upholder of social peace." He added, "Peace must be established in the country as swiftly as possible, and the defects that exist in our national life must thereafter be eliminated within the framework of the legal order."

The revolt was made dangerous by the fact that many generals approved of its demands. Plans by former activists to make Mannerheim the dictator of Finland had reached a fairly advanced stage. But Svinhufvud's radio broadcast broke the back of the revolt; after his speech, the Civil Guards who were setting out for Mäntsälä from all over the country turned back, and the rebels surrendered.

Svinhufvud also had to snuff out rebellion in his own family, as his son Eino had announced that he was leaving to support the men of Mäntsälä. "I say that you're not going anywhere," Svinhufvud exclaimed. "What's happening at Mäntsälä is tantamount to mass insanity. The infection's not going to spread to this family." Father and son engaged in a loud argument, and the son gradually gave in.

The difficult aftermath of the Mäntsälä revolt and the economic depression led to the resignation of the government headed by Juho Sunila of the Agrarian Party. It was succeeded by a minority government led by Toivo Kivimäki of the Progressive Party (Edistyspuolue). There are good reasons for calling this a 'presidential' government. Svinhufvud played an active role in dealing with many important domestic issues. The government was in power for almost four years, and this meant a stabilisation of parliamentary conditions, as the previous record had been less than two years. The Kivimäki government made many attempts - though without success - to strengthen the position of the head of state and the government vis-à-vis the parliament. Svinhufvud also suffered a personal setback in his rather high-handed attempts to resolve the language issue at the University of Helsinki.

With the assistance of Mannerheim and Paasikivi, foreign policy began purposefully to take on a Nordic orientation during Svinhufvud's presidency. Attempts were made to develop relations with Sweden in all areas, and especially in that of defence policy. Svinhufvud left the practical management of foreign policy to his foreign ministers AarnoYrjö-Koskinen and, particularly, Antti Hackzell. Svinhufvud did not make a single state visit, and none were made to Finland during his term. He did, however, make a number of private visits - to Estonia and Sweden in particular.

After the 1936 parliamentary elections, Svinhufvud at first agreed that the Social Democrats, who had won 83 seats, should be included in the government, but he then took back his promise. This drew criticism both for excessive use of his presidential powers and an imprudent way of proceeding. Svinhufvud justified his stand mainly on the grounds that the Social Democratic Party (Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue: SDP) had a "Marxist" platform, but he was influenced even more by the experiences of spring 1918 and by the overblown programme of Väinö Tanner's Social Democratic government of 1927.

The exclusion of the SDP from the government had a decisive effect on the 1937 presidential election. The SDP made it its goal to get rid of Svinhufvud, promising its support for the candidate of the Agrarian Party if that party would form a joint government with it. The Agrarian Party agreed to this. In the first round of electoral college voting, Svinhufvud received 94 votes, while Ståhlberg won 150. In the second round, the SDP transferred its allegiance to the Agrarian Kyösti Kallio, who was duly elected.

Svinhufvud was dissatisfied with the choice, because he considered Kallio too weak. "As a counterweight, a democratic system requires that the reins be held firmly in the hands of strong personalities," he stated. At his resignation as president, Svinhufvud summed up his political testament: "First the borders must be secured, then the loaf made wider."

Svinhufvud again retired to Kotkaniemi as a private citizen. But during the final stage of the Winter War, he travelled to Germany to seek support for Finland. However, Hitler declined to receive him, as did Mussolini in Rome, where Svinhufvud also went. He did, however, meet Pope Pius XII.

In autumn 1943, during the Continuation War, Svinhufvud wrote a work entitled Kansallinen ohjelma (National Programme), which was printed in a small edition. It was based on the creation of a Greater Finland through the energetic waging of war. At Svinhufvud's funeral in the following year, emphasis was laid on an uncompromising attitude towards the Soviet Union, and prime minister Edwin Linkomies, who was present, regarded this as inappropriate right at a time when peace feelers were being put out.

The return of constitutionalism

There is a strong dichotomy in Svinhufvud's posthumous reputation. On the one hand, his solid defence of legality, his fearless activities in safeguarding Finland's judicial system - activities which led to personal sacrifices and exile in Siberia - and his resolute crushing of the Mäntsälä revolt have continually attracted positive criticism.

On the other hand, there has been negative criticism of his blinkered politics and especially of his total reliance on Germany in 1918. In the decades following the Second World War, neither strict constitutionalism nor friendship with Germany was in vogue. The rejection of the SDP in the 1930s was also considered a mistake, since it had been seen a few years later how important the unity of opinion strengthened by the centre-left government was in the Winter War.

Now that the Soviet Union and international communism have collapsed, his actions are being seen in a new light again. Today his active anticommunism and what he did to strengthen the young republic's defences seem apt and even exceptionally far-sighted policies.

In his social outlook, Svinhufvud was an 'old-style judge', whose sense of justice, powers of discernment and folksy comportment were a historical heritage from rural police chiefs and judges. Behind the 'Old Man Pete' image adopted especially in his later life was an intelligent jurist whose sense of political tactics was remarkably well developed. The deceptiveness of the outer layer was akin to that of the 'Grandpa' role adopted in later life by the Nobel Prize winning author F. E. Sillanpää. Svinhufvud can be regarded as a fairly learned practical lawyer; after all, his basic training was broad, and in addition he spent six years as a law-drafter, amongst other things doing preliminary work on the great tax reform of his era. Although the extent of his reading became narrower especially in his old age, as an intelligent, practical man, he was able to quickly recognise the requirements of a political situation.

Beneath his seemingly unpolitical exterior, he had a strong and well-functioning view of how the State should be run. In many respects, this view can be regarded as fundamentally conservative. He was not a supporter of the 'night-watchman' State; rather, he considered that a strong State was necessary in order to maintain defences and the judicial system - but also to eliminate defects in society.

Svinhufvud's influence on politics was based largely on his unwavering, resolute and fearless character, on his personal authority. He held fast under all circumstances to principles that he had adopted and promoted his political objectives with very great energy. In this sense, he reminds one of the founder of the United States of America, George Washington. Where others took cover, submitted and manoeuvred, Washington and Svinhufvud remained standing and showed their fellow citizens the way in the fight for independence.

As a leader, Svinhufvud created his own general staff, and he gave its members great freedom of action. He led by adopting stances, drawing lines, creating a grand strategy, not by interfering in details. His influentiality was based not on a wide and constantly maintained network of persons or power but on clearly expressed principles. In crisis situations he intervened with a firm hand in the day-to-day operational leadership as well.

The great turning point in Svinhufvud's ideological world occurred at a time of anarchy and Red revolution in 1917 - 1918. He was transformed from a republican fighter for justice into a strong head of state, a supporter of energetic defence efforts and help from outside powers. Idealism gave way when faced with the realities of power politics.