Page:Lars Henning Söderhjelm - The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918 - tr. Annie Ingebord Fausbøll (1920).djvu/43

 in order to provide against every contingency, for great events may lie in wait for us." On the next day the "Leading Committee of the Labour Guards Corps" makes the following announcement: " Great events may call upon us before we expect it, and then the Labourers' Guards Corps must be ready to accomplish their task so that we can be on a level with circumstances."

This is an invitation to revolution. Revolution against what? The word was meaningless, as in reality all the claims for reform, preferred by the Labour Party, had already found, or were on their way to finding, a solution in the Lantdag. But something else was on the books. The most democratic of all election acts had pronounced its sentence, and it went against the Labour Party. It was therefore necessary to bring off a coup by which the party could get into power again in spite of the plainly manifested will of the people. The ballot was no good any longer, the "other means of power" were now looked to with confidence. These, however, were for the time being in the hands of a band of men who were the country's enemies, if anyone was, for they were the rifles of the licentious bands of Russian soldiers. With these it was intended to fight and to cow the people in its own country. That, however, is not revolution, it is treason. And the reason for entering into this mad game? Lust of power together with the fascinating attraction of events in Russia. Besides this, the Labour >arty had now wrought up its own adherents to such a pitch that they obstinately demanded victory, power, and the complete subjection of the "bourgeoisie."

A journal belonging to the staff of the Red Guard at Tammerfors shows how the organisation of the corps was carried out. At a meeting on the 6th October, a committee was elected for the securing of weapons from the Russian soldiers. Simultaneously majors were appointed.