Page:Lars Henning Söderhjelm - The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918 - tr. Annie Ingebord Fausbøll (1920).djvu/36

 soldiers threatened instantly to set fire to the meeting-house, which was built of wood, if the representatives did not at once comply with the "People's" wish. As the soldiers were evidently in good earnest, the majority of the representatives decided to grant the increase in pay which was the object of the whole affair.

Events of this kind encouraged provisions for the maintenance of order. The successors of the police—the militia of the Labour Party—had proved incapable of doing anything. To this trouble was added a number of cares for the future. A German invasion in Finland was not excluded. At least it might be hoped that the Russian troops would evacuate Finland after an eventual separate peace. In both cases a removal of the Russian troops might then be thought of, and what this meant was seen from the communications about the retreat in Galicia after Kerenski's unsuccessful offensive in July. The whole population of Finland knew that the troops of Russian soldiers it saw in its villages might at any moment be changed into hordes of wild animals, just like those which had looted and burnt, committed murder and outrage in Tarnopol and other cities, and it did not wish to suffer such a fate without at least making some attempt at resistance.

Taking all this into account—the already prevailing anarchy, the mob-rule with its continual acts of violence, and the fear of possible Russian massacres, it was both reasonable and necessary to form protection corps of volunteers for the defence of the life and property of the population. It was just as natural that there should be a wish to recruit these corps from all sections of society and all parties. In many parts the organisation was begun in perfect harmony between the "Socialists" and "Bourgeois." Anyone would be able to see that the matter was urgent and of importance to everybody.