Page:Lars Henning Söderhjelm - The Red Insurrection in Finland in 1918 - tr. Annie Ingebord Fausbøll (1920).djvu/65

 sacks and bundles, on handbarrows, or in any way that suggested itself. This uproar kept on all night, and the militia-men rejoiced in their successful strike. On the Monday the Red Guard took possession of the post office, the banks, etc. In the evening the looting was madly continued. In the course of Tuesday Russian dragoon patrols interfered—it is stated: Ukrainians—and restored order in the course of the next day and night, much shooting.

The Labour Party, of course, dissociated itself from events at Åbo, and declared that they were provoked by the citizens themselves. Against this may be adduced what the soldiers at Åbo communicate in their own paper. In this it is said: "The Soldiers' Executive Committee knew beforehand what would happen, but on account of a private communication from the Finnish Revolutionary Committee no measures were taken."

Thus also the month of December passed in violent unrest and under unlimited mob-rule; we have only been able to report a few of the most sensational events here. The Red bands harried the country, the Russian bands harried the country, no resistance could be offered nor any effective defence set up. A couple of examples of some aspects of the activity of the Red, which have not yet been touched upon, may complete the picture. The Red Guard, which thought itself that it had a great task to accomplish, of course felt painfully the manner in which the bourgeoisie papers exposed its doings. At a public meeting held by the Red Guard at Tammerfors on the 29th November, the style of writing of the papers is sharply blamed and the assembly decide to administer a warning as "the papers cannot be stopped now during the armistice." Two weeks later Russian soldiers forbid the appearance of a Tammerfors paper as it had contained a paragraph stating that not all Russian soldiers