Otto Wille Kuusinen unmasked

Abstract

The review of the book by the Finnish researcher A. Uitto “‘Finn-eater’ Otto Wille Kuusinen” (St. Petersburg, 2017) is dedicated to the analysis of the author’s contribution to the study of the biography of the well-known Finnish and Soviet social, political and state figure O. W. Kuusinen (1881–1964). He became a member of Parliament in 1908, led the Social Democratic Party in 1911–1913, and then, in 1918, became a member of the revolutionary government of Finland and even drafted a “red” constitution. Then, most of his life was connected with the Soviet Union,where he eventually became a member of the Presidium of Central Committee of the Communist Party. Such an interesting historical personality could not but attract the attention of researchers. A. Uitto had been collecting the material for this study for 30 years. The author set himself the task of “making a general presentation” about O. W. Kuusinen on the basis of the documents of the era he studied and “today’s concepts”. However, as is often the case, too broad a statement of the issue had a negative impact on the main topic. As a result of a comprehensive comparative approach to the evaluation of the work, it turned out that A. Uitto has not achieved his stated goal. Moreover, the book does not answer such fundamental questions as how Kuusinen personally created his own destiny and the fate of the people around him. The material of the work under review points to A. Uitto’s limited understanding of the subject of his research, which causes evidently negative attitude to the book. The corresponding critical remarks may be of interest to the author if he continues his further research of this issue.