Page:Lars Henning Söderhjelm - The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918 - tr. Annie Ingebord Fausbøll (1920).djvu/40

 people," and therefore all disturbing elements, all robbers and incendiaries, were welcome for the support of the approaching revolution. By painting the citizens as Russian bureaucrats and oppressors of the purest water the end was gained, the Russian military gang and the Finnish labourers presented a common front against the upper class. The situation became clearer, the somersault had come off successfully, the Finnish patriots, who with their life and liberty had defended their country against Russian oppression, who had greeted the Russian revolution with rejoicings, had now been made into "black counter-revolutionists," "the executioners of the people," worse than Russian agents of the gendarmery. The situation was ripe for the resurrection of the Red Guard to fight against the Protective Corps.

The Russians understood the intention to act. In October a representative of the Russian Working-men's and Soldiers' Council in Finland says at a Congress of Councillors in St. Petersburg: "Finland stands on the threshold of civil war, Finland's bourgeoisie is armed, and on the point of assaulting the Finnish proletariat. It is the duty of the council to disarm Finland's bourgeoisie and hand over the weapons to Finland's proletariat."

In the course of the summer the first corps of the Red Guard was formed. In October an appeal was issued from the leaders of the Labour Party to form such corps all over the country.

The elections for the new Lantdag took place on the 1st October. The independence of Finland was included in the programme of all parties, but in reality a trial of strength was imminent between the "Bourgeois" and