Oskari Tokoi

Oskari Tokoi
Chairman of the Senate of Finland
In office March 26, 1917 – September 8, 1917
Preceded by	Mihail Borovitinov
Succeeded by	Eemil Nestor Setälä
Personal details
Born	April 15, 1873 Kannus, Finland
Died	April 4, 1963(1963-04-04) (aged 89) Leominster, Massachusetts, United States
Political party	Social Democratic Party

Antti Oskari Tokoi (1873–1963) was a Finnish socialist who served as a leader of the Social Democratic Party of Finland. During the short-lived Revolution of 1918, Tokoi participated as a leading figure in the revolutionary government.

Painting of Oskari Tokoi, Speaker of the Finnish Parliament in 1913, for the gallery of Speakers of the Parliament

Biography

Early years

Oskari Tokoi was born as Oskari Hirvi in Perho, near Kannus in the Central Ostrobothnia region of Finland on April 15, 1873.

In 1891 Tokoi moved to America, where he worked as a miner in the West and was a member of the Western Federation of Miners. He returned to Finland in 1900 and worked as a farmer and a merchant.

Political career

In 1905 Tokoi was elected chairman of the workers' association of Kannus. In 1907 he was elected to the parliament (Eduskunta) as a representative of the Social Democrats. In 1913 he was elected speaker of the Eduskunta, and in 1917 head of the Senate of Finland. On 1 March 1918, a treaty between the socialist governments of Russia and Finland was signed in St Petersburg. The Treaty was signed by Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin from the Russian side and by Council of Peoples Representatives of Finland Edvard Gylling and Oskari Tokoi..

During the Finnish Civil War Tokoi sided with the Reds and worked as "comissar in charge of provisions". After the war, fearing punishment from the victorious Whites, he fled to Russia. Between 1919 and 1920, he worked as a political advisor to the Murmansk Legion which was organized by the British to fight the Bolsheviks. Because of his prominent involvement in the losing Red side of the Finnish Civil War, Tokoi still could not return to Finland, and moved first to England before spending a year in Canada. On November 21, 1921, Tokoi came to the United States via Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on his passport issued in England. He made his way to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where he was briefly incarcerated as a suspected "anarchist."

Upon his release, Tokoi became an editor at the Finnish language newspaper Raivaaja ("The Pioneer").

In 1944 the Finnish Parliament passed the so-called Lex Tokoi, by which Tokoi was exonerated of all charges related to the Finnish Civil War. After World War II he organized help for Finland among the Finnish-Americans. He visited Finland in 1957 for the 50th anniversary of the Eduskunta.

Death and legacy

Oskari Tokoi died on April 4, 1963.

Political offices

• Member of Parliament of Finland -- 1907 to 1918
• Speaker of the Parliament of Finland -- 1913
• Chairman of the Senate of Finland -- 1917

Memorials

• Tokoinranta, a quay in Helsinki, is named after him.
• The Oskari Tokoi Memorial is located in the Finnish Center at Saima Park in Fitchburg, MA
• Tokoi was honored with an Wäinö Aaltonen sculpture at Social Democratic Party headquarters in Helsinki.
• On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, Oskari Tokoi was honored with a memorial in Kannus, Finland.

Selected works

• Sisu: Even Through a Stone Wall (The Autobiography of Oskari Tokoi) (Robert Speller & Sons. 1957)
• Keski-Pohjanmaan Maakuntaliitto (Keski-Pohjanmaan Maakuntaliitto. 1953)

Further reading

• Cotter, Arthur The Finns (New York: The National Council, Department of Missions and Church Extension, 1923) [2]

External links

• Saima Park
• Raivaaja Publishing Company