White Finns Adventure in Karelia 1921–22

White Finns’ Adventure in Karelia (1921–22) 

the incursion of White Finnish armed bands into Soviet Karelia from October 1921 to February 1922. It was organized with the assistance of the imperialists of the USA and England, who used kulak political gangsterism in Karelia and the great power and expansionist goals of the Finnish bourgeoisie in the struggle against Soviet Russia.

In March 1920 a kulak conference in Ukhta chose a Provisional Karelian Government, and in October 1920 the Karelian Union, which included representatives from the Finnish government, was formed. In the fall of 1921, kulak rebellions broke out in Karelia under the slogan of uniting Karelia with Finland, and the invasion by White Finnish detachments began. A Provisional Karelian Committee was set up to head the anti-Soviet struggle. By the end of December 1921, White Finnish detachments (5,000–6,000 men) moved to the line of Olanga, Kokosal’ma, Maslozero, Tun-guda, Rugozero, Segozero, and Porosozero, killing communists and Soviet workers. From November 1921, units of the Red Army began to arrive to aid the weak border and local detachments; by the end of December more than 8,500 men, 166 machine guns, and 22 artillery pieces were concentrated there. Power was turned over to the military-revolutionary committee, whose military leaders were S. S. Kamenev and A. I. Sediakin. A blow from Petrozavodsk delivered by the Soviet troops in December and January defeated the main forces of the interventionists. On February 7 the northern group freed Ukhta, the center of kulak rebellions. On February 17 military operations ceased. The rout of the White Finns’ adventure in Karelia foiled the attempts at intervention along the northwestern borders of the Soviet republic.

REFERENCES

Gardin, E. S. Razgrom belofinskoi avantiury (1921–22). Petrozavodsk, 1947.
Khesin, S. S. Razgrom belofinskoi avantiury v Karelii v 1921–22. Moscow, 1949.