Tatu Ahponen lives in Tampere, Finland. He is a member of the Left Alliance and a deputy member of the party council.
In recent years, the air of optimism surrounding the European Union has been replaced by continual crisis management. Yet the pandemic, the financial crisis, and Brexit have all spurred even further integration — and the Left lacks a coherent response.
Lots of myths and half-truths circulate about Nordic countries like Finland. But make no mistake: socialists and militant workers built the Finnish welfare state — not an enlightened or pro-business elite.
Finland’s millionaire prime minister sought to reorganize the welfare state along the lines of a private business. But his hard-line policies and failed assault on health care have revitalized the Finnish left.
The Communist Party of Finland was founded 100 years ago today. Its fate was tightly wound up with the Soviet Union across the border.
The Finns rose to become one of Europe’s most prominent right-populist parties. Then they joined government.