Preparations for including Finland into the USSR

1
Preparations for including Finland into the USSR

• At the very beginning of the Winter War
  the Labour People Front Committees were organised
  among those inhabitants of the east of Finland
  (from the district of Petsamo to North Ladoga),
  who hadn't been evacuated deep into Finland. The
  total number of them was more than 2 000 people.
  The aim of those Committees was the organisation
  of agitation and propaganda in support of the
  People's Government of Kuusinen programme
  throughout the Finland republic. Most of Finns
  (500 000) evacuated into Finland.
• Special brigades of the representatives of
  Terioki government (People's Government) were
  sent to form the Committees in the districts,
  occupied by the Red Army. The Karelian Communist
  Party and Soviet activists, speaking Finnish,
  were members of those brigades.
• By the beginning of January 1940 - 15 Committees
  had been formed in towns. After the war the
  Committees had to become the political foundation
  of Soviet democratic Finland.

2
The Finnish People's Army

• Before the beginning of military actions Finnish
  Peoples Army (FPA), which were consisted of
  Karelians, Finns and Ingermalands of Soviet
  Karelia and Leningrad region, was formed with the
  purpose to help the Peoples government of
  Kuusinen. Firstly it was said in Declaration of
  the Finnish Peoples government about the
  establishment of this army, and the information
  was pressed in Pravda newspaper, from December
  1, 1939.
• Finnish People's Army had to become national Army
  of Soviet Democratic Republic of Finland after
  the victory in the Winter War.
• Units of the Finnish People's Army were disposed
  along the whole length of the Soviet - Finnish
  front from the Barents Sea to Ladoga.
• It should be noted that to create FPA completely
  from the national staff did not manage. In
  Karelia the biggest repression were against
  Soviet Finns, who lived in the Republic.
• In 1937-1938 Stalin set the task for republican
  government to struggle against "Finnish bourgeois
  nationalism".The most Finns in Karelia were
  either repressed or killed. By the end of 1930s
  the number of Finns in Karelia reduced from 15000
  to 8300 people.

3
One of the Finnish Peoples Army officer,
Terijoki, December, 1939
4
Before the training skiing rush march one of the
subdivisions of I corps Finnish Peoples Army,
January 5, 1940
5
The Finnish People's Army

• According to archival documents by the beginning
  of March 1940 the total number of soldiers in the
  Finnish People's Army had been about 18-20
  thousand people. It included besides soviet Finns
  and Karelians (that is F.U. people) many Russian
  soldiers and officers. As a rule they
  changed  their Russian surnames into Finn
  surnames for example Russian man Ivanov became
  Finnish man Ivainen Petrov became Petrinen and
  so on.
• Before the Winter War one of the members Finnish
  People's Government Karelian Pavel Prokofiev
  became Finnish Paavo Prokkonen. Stalin wanted to
  show to the world opinion that Pro-Soviet Finnish
  People's Government has own Army. Therefore, the
  question about uniform for the soldiers of this
  Army was on the agenda. The soldiers and officers
  of Finnish People Army cound'nt wear the uniform
  of Red Soviet Army.
• By the end of September 1939 Red Army occupied
  the territory of East Poland where Belorushians
  and Ukrainans were lived, and seized some ware
  houses with Poland military uniforms. After that
  Poland symbols on this uniforms were taking down,
  and solders and officers of Finnish People's Army
  received this uniform.

6
Failure of Stalin's plans

• Finnish population in Finland did not support
  this pro-Soviet Finnish Government.
• At the middle of the Winter War, having failed to
  realise its plans, the Soviet Government set the
  Party-Soviet Karelian Leaders another task - to
  resettle all inhabitants from the 40 kilometres
  wide frontier zone before the beginning of a new
  attack in February 1940.
• Finns inhabitants of the eastern part of Finland
  occupied by the Red Army in 1939-1940 became the
  resettles. More that 2 000 Finns citizens moved
  to 3 settlements on the territory of Karelia.
• . In accordance with the Soviet-Finnish Treaty
  dated 12.03.1940 and the Resolution of Soviet
  Government dated 04.05.1940 the Finnish citizens
  were allowed to return to Finland. Most of the
  Finns took the opportunity.
•  Attitude towards Finnish language was changed.
  Before Winter War we can say about a Struggle
  against Finnish language and Finnish literatures
  in Karelia like bourgeois literature, but with
  first days of war Finnish become the second state
  language in the Karelian Republic.