Anthem of the Karelo-Finnish SSR

Hymn text:

Oma Karjalais-suomalaiskansamme maa,
Vapaa Pohjolan Neuvostojen tasavalta.
Kotimetsaimme kauneus oin kajastaa
Revontultemme taivaalta leimuavalta.

Chorus:
Neuvostoliitto on voittamaton,
Se kansamme suur-isanmaa ijat on.
Sen Tiena on Kansojen Kunniantie,
Se Karjalan Kansankin voittoihin vie.

Isanmaa Kalevan, kotimaa runojen,
Jota Leninin Stalinin lippu johtaa.
Yli kansamme uutteran onnellisen
Valo kansojen veljeystahdesta hohtaa.

Chorus.

Kotimaamme loi uudeksi kansamme tyo,
Tata maata me puollamme kuin isat ammoin.
Sotasuksemme suihkavat kalpamme lyo.
Asemahdilla suojaamme Neuvasto-Sammon.

Chorus.

Translation from Finnish:

Music: Karl Rautio
Text: Armas Yaikia

The native country of our Karelo-Finnish people,
Free Northern Soviet Republic.
The beauty of our native forests is reflected at night
On our Northern Lights burning in the sky.

Chorus.
The Soviet Union is invincible
This is the eternal land of the great ancestor of our people.
His path is the path of honor of nations,
He and the people of Karelia will lead to victories.

Fatherland of Kaleva, homeland of runes,
Which Lenin-Stalin banner leads.
Over our hardworking happy people
the light of the peoples of the brotherhood of the star shines.

Chorus.

Our homeland was created again by the labor of our people,
We defend this country like our fathers in ancient times.
Our military skis rush, our sword strikes
We will defend the Soviet Sampo with weapons.

Chorus.

Anthem music:

Anthem History:

Workers of all countries, unite!

16th Republic

During the leadership of N. S. Khrushchev and L. I. Brezhnev, the People's Republic of Bulgaria was unofficially called the 16th republic. Firstly, for the close ties and strong friendly relations between the USSR and Bulgaria. And secondly, because Todor Zhivkov, who headed Bulgaria for 35 years, at one time submitted a request for its entry into the USSR, which, however, was rejected.

The real 16th republic was the Karelo-Finnish SSR, which in 1940–1956 had the status of a union republic. In 1956 it became part of the RSFSR as an Autonomous SSR. From that time until the collapse of the USSR, the number of republics was 15.

Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Finnish: Karjalais-Suomalainen Sosialistinen neuvostotasavalta) - one of the sixteen republics of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1956.

Creation

On March 31, 1940, at the VI session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, a law was adopted on the transfer to the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of assets transferred from Finland after the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940. territories (the Karelian Isthmus (after the Great Patriotic War it became part of the Leningrad region) and the Northern Ladoga region, as well as the transformation of the KASSR into the Karelo-Finnish SSR. The capital of the KFSSR remained the city of Petrozavodsk.

According to some historians, the KFSSR posed a threat to Finland, as it could be a potential “background” for its accession to the USSR. This theory is supported by the fact that earlier, on December 1, 1939, the so-called The People's Government of the Finnish Democratic Republic is made up of Finnish communists, headed by O. Kuusinen, who later headed the KFSSR.

After this, the Murmansk region existed as an exclave of the RSFSR, not connected with the rest of its territory, just as before 1938 the Murmansk Okrug was an exclave of the Leningrad region, not connected with the rest of the region.

During the Soviet-Finnish War of 1941-1944. a significant part of the Karelo-Finnish SSR (including territories that did not previously belong to Finland) was occupied by Finland. At this time, the capital of the republic was Belomorsk, which the Finns could not take. Finnish troops were defeated in Karelia in the summer of 1944 as a result of the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk operation.

In 1944, as part of the all-Union administrative reform, the Vyborg and Kexholm (Priozersky) districts were transferred from the KFSSR to the RSFSR and became part of the Leningrad region.

National composition

The “titular” Karelian and Finnish population, unlike other Soviet republics, constituted a national minority throughout the existence of the republic. In 1939, even before the Soviet-Finnish War and the annexation of the Vyborg Isthmus and Ladoga region, the share of the Baltic-Finnish population (Karelians, Finns and Vepsians) in the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was 27, and according to the 1959 census, conducted after the abolition of the republic, this the number dropped to 18.3. The Finnish and Karelian population of the western lands of Karelia, annexed in 1940, were evacuated in advance to the central regions of Finland, and returned in 1941-42. during the Soviet-Finnish War of 1941-1944, finally left Karelia in 1944. In connection with this, there was a joke at that time that “there are only two Finns in the Karelo-Finnish Republic: the Financial Inspector and FINkelstein, and in general they are the same Human".

Abolition

On July 16, 1956, the KFSSR was again demoted in status to the ASSR and returned to the RSFSR. At the same time, the word “Finnish” (Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) was removed from its name.

During the existence of the Karelo-Finnish SSR, after the Baltic republics and Moldova joined the Union, the coat of arms of the USSR depicted 16 ribbons with the motto “Workers of all countries, unite.” After the abolition of the KFSSR in 1956, there were 15 ribbons; this was the last change to the coat of arms of the Union before its collapse.

Hymn

Oma Karjalais-suomalaiskansamme maa, Vapaa Pohjolan Neuvostojen tasavalta. Kotimetsäimme kauneus öin kajastaa Revontultemme taivaalta leimuavalta. Neuvostoliitto on voittamaton, Se kansamme suur-isänmaa ijät on. Sen Tienä on Kansojen Kunniantie, Se Karjalan Kansankin voittoihin vie. Isänmaa Kalevan, kotimaa runojen, Jota Leninin Stalinin lippu johtaa. Yli kansamme uutteran onnellisen Valo kansojen veljeystähdestä hohtaa. Neuvostoliitto on voittamaton, Se kansamme suur-isänmaa ijät on. Sen Tienä on Kansojen Kunniantie, Se Karjalan Kansankin voittoihin vie. Kotimaamme loi uudeksi kansamme työ, Tätä maata me puollamme kuin isät ammoin. Sotasuksemme suihkavat kalpamme lyö. Asemahdilla suojaamme Neuvosto-Sammon. Neuvostoliitto on voittamaton, Se kansamme suur-isänmaa ijät on. Sen Tienä on Kansojen Kunniantie, Se Karjalan Kansankin voittoihin vie.

Translation

The native country of our Karelo-Finnish people, the Free Northern Soviet Republic. The beauty of our native forests at night is reflected in our Northern Lights blazing in the sky. The Soviet Union is invincible, This is the eternal land of the great ancestor of our people. His path is the path of honor of peoples, He will lead the people of Karelia to victories. The Fatherland of Kalev, the birthplace of runes, Which Lenin-Stalin's banner leads. The light of the peoples of the brotherhood of the star shines over our hardworking happy people. The Soviet Union is invincible, This is the eternal land of the great ancestor of our people. His path is the path of honor of peoples, He will lead the people of Karelia to victories. Our homeland was once again created by the labor of our people. We defend this country like fathers in ancient times. Our military skis rush, our sword strikes. With weapons we will defend the Soviet Sampo. The Soviet Union is invincible, This is the eternal land of the great ancestor of our people. His path is the path of honor of peoples, He will lead the people of Karelia to victories.

From now on there will be 15 Union republics. The Karelo-Finnish SSR, formed after the war with the “White Finns”, was again turned into the Karelian ASSR as part of the RSFSR

The Reds proclaimed the first socialist republic in 1918. But the Finnish Whites, led by the Tsarist General Carl Gustav Mannerheim, won the civil war. By attacking Finland in 1939, the USSR staged the emergence of a “democratic republic” and its “people’s government” under the chairmanship of the Moscow Comintern member Otto Kuusinen in the “liberated” Terijoki (Zelenogorsk). The Kremlin actually continued the civil war, Sovietizing another part of the Russian Empire. But, unlike the Baltic countries, Finland, with the same commander Mannerheim, did not surrender - they only seized a tenth of its territory, thereby expanding the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, transformed in 1940 into the Karelo-Finnish SSR. This was partly how they saved face: they say, this was the goal of the military campaign. The puppet “people's government” was dissolved, Kuusinen headed the KFSSR, the very name of which was reminiscent of the possibility of the neighboring country joining the Soviet Union.

The Finns considered their participation in the war against the USSR on the side of Germany as a “continuation.” They crossed the old border, capturing the “Karelian-Finnish” capital of Petrozavodsk. After the defeat of the Hitler bloc, Finland avoided occupation, and then earned the full trust of Moscow. Why now threaten the best of the capitalist countries with the title of their union republic? There was nothing Finnish in the Karelo-Finnish SSR from the very beginning - the inhabitants of the annexed lands moved deep into Suomi. And there is not much Karelian: the “first titular nation” already makes up less than 20% of the population. The Karelians have become strongly assimilated; the Russian language is spoken everywhere. In addition, the strategic Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg was transferred to the Leningrad region after the war.

By downgrading the USSR to the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the red ribbon with the inscription “Workers of all countries, unite!” is removed from the Soviet coat of arms! in Finnish. This is the last change in the composition of the USSR until its collapse. The only monument to the abolished 16th Union Republic will remain the Friendship of Peoples fountain at VDNKh, built in the early 1950s: in order to maintain symmetry, the gilded figure of the “Karelo-Finnish” will not be removed there.

Phenomena mentioned in the text

Good Neighbor Finland 1948

Finland, officially recognized as an ally of Nazi Germany, concludes a friendship treaty with the USSR. The preamble specifically states the small northern country's desire to "stay out of the disputes between the great powers." In a world divided into two warring camps, the task seems obviously impossible

Russia instead of the USSR. Gorbachev's departure 1991

All former Soviet republics are leaving the USSR, getting rid of the definition of “Soviet socialist” in their full names. Instead of the Ukrainian SSR - Ukraine, instead of the Byelorussian SSR - Belarus. The RSFSR is now also Russia, or the Russian Federation, but it is both instead of the RSFSR and instead of the entire USSR

VSKhV/VDNKh 1939

The All-Union Agricultural Exhibition is opening on the northern outskirts of Moscow. The exhibition, later expanded to cover the entire “national economy”, will serve as a ceremonial showcase of socialism

Media concept In the modern history of Karelia’s statehood there are many bright and at the same time ambiguously assessed pages

These undoubtedly include Karelia’s status as a union republic within the USSR from March 31, 1940 to July 16, 1956, when it bore the name of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (KFSSR). (Let us note in parentheses that in 1991, for six months during the slogan proclaimed by Boris Yeltsin: “Take as much sovereignty as you can swallow,” there existed, which many people forget, at least nominally, the Karelian Soviet Socialist Republic But we’ll talk about the time of the “parade of sovereignties” another time). Moreover, the history of the creation of the Karelo-Finnish SSR, and the history of this state formation itself, and the reasons and circumstances of its transformation again into the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic deserve to be known, if only because, as Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky said:

The past must be known not because it passed, but because, when it left, it did not know how to remove its consequences.

Following this aphorism implies that in our present not everything is well, as it is today, the causes of this trouble are in the past, and to eliminate them it is necessary to know the reliable past, which is one of the fundamental pillars of developing socially beneficial policies and development society.

The fact that the formation of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the consequences of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939 - 1940 is a generally accepted truth, but it is often interpreted in a very primitive way: the Soviet Union, with aggressive goals, allegedly attacked a small independent country without any reason in order to “Sovietize it”, and when this could not be done “on the spot”, he created an artificial formation - the KFSSR to continue his aggressive policy. In fact, the history of the emergence of this national entity is far from simple and has a long history, although it is closely connected with the Soviet-Finnish war.

"Let's start from the stove"

The prerequisites for Finnish statehood were formed precisely in the Russian Empire. The Grand Duchy of Finland became part of Russia after the Russo-Swedish War of 1808 - 1809. Finland enjoyed broad autonomy, having its own bank, post office, customs, and, since 1863, also an official Finnish language.

A month and a half after the October Revolution, on December 6 (19), 1917, the Finnish Parliament under the leadership of Per Evind Svinhufvud approved the declaration of state independence of Finland. Just 12 days later - December 18 (31), the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Republic adopted a Decree recognizing the independence of Finland, signed personally by V.I. Lenin.

On such favorable soil, the ideas of brotherhood of the Finno-Ugric peoples, the ideas of independence of the Grand Duchy of Finland and the unification of the Finno-Ugric peoples around it are formed.

It was these ideas that the leaders of Finland tried to implement after the collapse of the Russian Empire. Most of us know about the intervention of the troops of the Entente countries - France and Great Britain, during the Civil War. However, the Finnish intervention on the Northwestern Front remains, as a rule, an unknown page of history.

During the interwar period (from 1918 to 1939), irredentist sentiments were strong in Finland: nationalists dreamed of creating a “Greater Finland”, which would include the Soviet part of Karelia and other territories.

Two civil wars

The Soviet government planned to start a socialist revolution in Finland with the help of its Finnish supporters. The uprising broke out in Helsinki on the evening of January 27, 1918. The same date is also considered the date of the beginning of the Finnish Civil War.

The Red offensive attempt in the northern direction failed, and in early March the Whites, under the command of General Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, launched a counteroffensive.

April 26, 1918 The Soviet government of Finland fled to Petrograd, on the same day the White Finns took Viipuri (Vyborg), where they carried out mass terror against the Russian population and the Red Guards who did not have time to escape. The civil war in Finland was virtually over; on May 7, the remnants of the red units were defeated on the Karelian Isthmus, and May 16, 1918 A victory parade was held in Helsinki.

Meanwhile, the Civil War had already flared up in Russia with the active intervention of the Entente countries...

Having gained independence and waging war against the Red Guards, the Finnish state decided not to stop at the borders of the Grand Duchy of Finland. At that time, among the Finnish intelligentsia, the ideas of panphilanism, that is, the unity of the Finno-Ugric peoples, as well as the idea of ​​Greater Finland, which was to include the territories adjacent to Finland inhabited by these peoples, - Karelia (including the Kola Peninsula), Ingria, gained great popularity among the Finnish intelligentsia (surroundings of Petrograd) and Estonia. The Russian Empire was collapsing, and new state formations arose on its territory, sometimes considering a significant expansion of their territory in the future.

Thus, during the Civil War, the Finnish leadership planned to expel Soviet troops not only from Finland, but also from territories whose annexation was planned in the near future.

Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army, General Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/5414/45838865.15/0_d3674_5123924f_orig

So February 23, 1918 at the Antrea railway station (now Kamennogorsk), Mannerheim pronounces the “Oath of the Sword”, in which he mentions:

I will not sheathe my sword... until the last warrior and hooligan of Lenin (who actually gave Finland independence - our note) is expelled from both Finland and Eastern Karelia.

War on Soviet Russia was not declared, but since mid-January (that is, before the start of the Finnish Civil War), Finland secretly sent partisan detachments to Karelia, whose task was the actual occupation of Karelia and assistance to Finnish troops during the invasion. The detachments occupy the city of Kem and the village of Ukhta (now the town of Kalevala). On March 6, a Provisional Karelian Committee was created in Helsinki (occupied at that time by the Reds), and on March 15, Mannerheim approved the “Wallenius Plan” aimed at the invasion of Finnish troops into Karelia and the seizure of Russian territory along the line Pechenga - Kola Peninsula - White Sea - Vygozero - Onega lake - Svir River - Lake Ladoga. Units of the Finnish army were supposed to unite at Petrograd, which was supposed to be turned into a free city-republic controlled by Finland.

From September 1919 to March 1920 The Red Army completely liberates Karelia from the interventionist forces of the Entente, after which it begins the fight against the Finns. By July 21, the Red Army liberated most of Russian Karelia from Finnish troops. Only the Rebolskaya and Porosozerskaya volosts remained in the hands of the Finns.

In July 1920, peace negotiations between Soviet Russia and Finland begin in the Estonian city of Tartu (where a peace treaty between Soviet Russia and Estonia was signed five months earlier). Representatives of the Finnish side demand the transfer of Eastern Karelia. In order to secure Petrograd, the Soviet side demands from Finland half of the Karelian Isthmus and an island in the Gulf of Finland. Negotiations lasted four months, but on October 14, 1920, a peace treaty was signed. Finland as a whole remained within the boundaries of the Grand Duchy of Finland.

Finnish occupation of Karelia. Territories occupied at different times (dates of occupation are indicated) are highlighted in light yellow. http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/4910/45838865.15/0_d383b_5b4f97b5_orig

The Treaty of Tartu was intended to put an end to hostilities between Russia and Finland. However, peace did not come here either. The Finnish leadership viewed it as a temporary truce and did not at all plan to renounce its claims to Karelia. Finnish nationalist circles perceived the Tartu Peace as shameful and longed for revenge.

November 6, 1921 Finnish partisan detachments begin an armed uprising in Eastern Karelia, on the same day the Finnish army under the leadership of Major Paavo Talvela crosses the border. Thus, Finnish intervention in the Russian Civil War is resumed, although in the North-West the Civil War had already ceased by that time (not counting the Kronstadt uprising of 1921). The Finns counted on the weakness of the Red Army after the Civil War and a fairly easy victory.

Light yellow shows the territory occupied by the White Finns as of December 25, 1921 http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6208/45838865.16/0_d3a46_1c2700f9_orig

December 26, 1921 Soviet units strike from Petrozavodsk, and after a week and a half they occupy Porosozero, Padany and Reboly, and on January 25, 1922 they occupy the village of Kestenga. On January 15, in Helsinki, Finnish workers hold a demonstration in protest against the “Karelian adventure” of the White Finns. On February 7, Red Army troops entered the village of Ukhta, the North Karelian state dissolved itself, and its leaders fled to Finland. By February 17, 1922, the Red Army finally drives the Finns beyond the state border, and military operations essentially stop there. On March 21, a truce was signed in Moscow.

After the spring of 1922, the Finns no longer crossed the Soviet border with weapons. However, the peace between neighboring states remained “cool”. Finland’s claims to Karelia and the Kola Peninsula not only did not disappear, but on the contrary, began to gain even greater popularity, and sometimes turn into more radical forms - some Finnish nationalist organizations sometimes promoted the ideas of creating a Greater Finland to the Polar Urals, which should also include Finno-Ugric peoples of the Urals and Volga region were included. Quite powerful propaganda was carried out in Finland, as a result of which the Finns formed an image of Russia as the eternal enemy of Finland.

Before World War II

In the 1930s The government of the USSR, observing such unfriendly political rhetoric from its northwestern neighbor, sometimes expressed concerns about the security of Leningrad, just 32 kilometers from which the Soviet-Finnish border passed (some Finnish irredentists even supported the idea of ​​seizing the territories around Leningrad and its subsequent destruction). If Finland joined the anti-Soviet bloc, which happened in 1941, the security of Leningrad would be under serious threat.

Since 1936 the head of German military intelligence V. Canaris, his assistants - the head of the Abwehr-I department Hans Pickenbrock and the head of the Abwehr-III department Franz Eckart von Bentivegni repeatedly met in Finland and Germany with the head of Finnish intelligence Colonel Svenson and his successor Colonel Melander, during which the parties exchanged military information about the USSR (in particular, about the Leningrad Military District, the Baltic Fleet). Even before the outbreak of World War II, the exchange of information about the USSR and the armed forces of the USSR between Finland and the Third Reich was regular.

Declassified archival documents of the Finnish intelligence services confirm that in the period from 1918 to 1939 alone, 326 people were sent to the USSR on instructions from the Finnish intelligence services, many of whom acted for years, repeatedly moving across the Soviet-Finnish border line.

July 20, 1939 The Finnish government announced that it renounces all cooperation with the USSR in the event of aggression by Germany against Finland and will consider any assistance to the USSR as aggression.

Since September 19, 1939 Soviet border guards noted the strengthening of border security against the section of the Karelian border detachment (strengthening surveillance of the Finnish border guard over the territory of the USSR, supplying Finnish border posts with weapons and ammunition), the arrival in the Pitkäranta and Salmi area of ​​up to a regiment of field troops and one scooter company of the Finnish army.

In order to prevent the rapid capture of Leningrad, the USSR government in October 1939 offered Finland an exchange of territories: Finland was proposed to cede half of the Karelian Isthmus and a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland, in exchange the Soviet Union undertakes to give Finland twice the territory in Karelia.

Negotiations begin, during which the USSR puts forward even more favorable conditions for Finland, but the Finnish side rejects all proposals, apparently already counting on getting much more together with the Nazis, the negotiations reach a dead end. It is known that during the negotiations, the German envoy to Finland Blücher, on behalf of the German government, demanded that the Finnish Foreign Minister Erkko not allow an agreement with the USSR. And due to the obvious impossibility of a peaceful resolution of the situation, on November 30, 1939, the Soviet-Finnish war began.
Despite the obvious failures of the Red Army in the first stage of the war, in early March 1940, Soviet troops reached Vyborg, and the Finnish government agreed to sign peace before the Red Army entered Helsinki. However, the peace conditions were much more difficult for Finland - the USSR no longer demanded half of the Karelian Isthmus, but all of southwestern Karelia, including Vyborg, Kexholm (Priozersk), Sortavala and Suoyarvi, as well as the eastern part of the Arctic volost of Salla, moreover, without compensation .

HISTORY OF THE KARELO-FINNISH SSR

The Finns signed peace on the terms of the Soviet Union, and as a result, 11% of the territory of Finland, including the second largest city - Vyborg, and almost half a million Finnish residents became part of the USSR, however, almost all of them moved to other regions of Finland, and a considerable part of them did this under duress from the Finnish authorities. This was the retribution of the Finnish people for essentially Nazi ideas.

Taking these features into account, the leadership of the USSR decided to create the Karelo-Finnish USSR. There were reasons for making such a decision, since a whole range of problems were being solved:

• socio-economic development of one of the regions of the Soviet state;
• creating an instrument of political pressure on a neighboring state that openly pursues an anti-Soviet policy;
• using the very fact of creating a new state entity for propaganda purposes.

And it should be noted that a number of serious problems were solved, moreover, in a very short time. The territories included in its composition were actively involved in the national economy of the new union republic, which, although they accounted for only one third of the former territory of Karelia, they produced approximately three-quarters of all industrial and agricultural products, almost 90% of electricity, and 277 enterprises were located , 178,000 hectares of well-maintained arable land (do not forget that until 1944 the republic included the Vyborg and Kexgolm (Priozersky) districts). The republic took first place in the country in cellulose production. Its population from January 1939 to the beginning of 1941 increased from 468,898 people to 696,997 people. As a result of the implementation of a set of socio-economic measures, the Karelo-Finnish Republic became the eighth largest union republic.

And we must assume that the positive development of the KFSSR would have continued, but the Great Patriotic War began and the territory of the republic became a theater of large-scale military operations.

In the summer and autumn of 1941, most of the republic was occupied by Finnish troops allied to the Germans (contrary to popular belief, the Finns crossed the old border, and how), German units also operated in the northern part of the republic. It was possible to completely liberate the KFSSR only in the summer of 1944. The republic contributed to the overall victory of the Soviet people in the war. In the first month of the war alone, the USSR Armed Forces received over 10 thousand volunteers from it, an underground movement was launched in the occupied territories, and combat partisan groups operated. In the unoccupied territories, the population of the Karelo-Finnish SSR ensured the operation of the most important communications routes, participated in the construction of the Belomorsk - Obozerskaya railway line, which connected the Kirov and Northern railways to ensure the delivery of goods from Central Russia to Murmansk and back, including those received from the allies by land -Liza.

After the war, the population of the KFSSR began to restore the national economy, however, it should be noted that the economic potential of the republic decreased significantly due to the transfer of the Vyborg, Kexgolm (Priozersky) and Yaskinsky districts to the Leningrad region in November 1944.

In the fifties, relations began to improve between Finland, led by Y.K. Paasikivi, and then Urho Kekkonenen and the USSR led by N.S. Khrushchev.

January 1, 1956 The USSR returned to Finland ahead of schedule the territory of Porkkala it had received under the peace treaty and approved Finland's neutrality. According to the plan of the Soviet leadership, the transformation of the KFSSR into the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was supposed to consolidate positive trends in relations between states, show the Finns that the USSR did not have aggressive goals towards Finland, and at the same time put an end to the attempts of the Finnish side to once again raise the issue of revising borders and annexing Karelia .

Officially, the USSR Law of June 16, 1956 “On the transformation of the Karelo-Finnish SSR into the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and on the inclusion of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic into the RSFSR” interpreted the validity of the abolition of the KFSSR as follows:

Taking into account the wishes of the workers of the Karelo-Finnish SSR, taking into account the national composition of the population, the commonality of the economy, close economic and cultural ties of the Karelo-Finnish Republic with the RSFSR, the Supreme Council of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics decides:

Article 1. Satisfy the request of the Supreme Council of the Karelo-Finnish SSR to transform the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic into the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

On March 31, 1940, at the VI session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, a law was adopted on the transfer to the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the territories of the Karelian Isthmus and Northern Ladoga region transferred from Finland after the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940, in accordance with the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940 also about transformation
KASSR to the Karelo-Finnish SSR. The capital of the KFSSR remained the city of Petrozavodsk.
According to some historians, the KFSSR posed a threat to Finland, as it could be a potential “background” for its accession to the USSR. In favor of this theory, an argument is given that earlier, on December 1, 1939, the so-called The People's Government of the Finnish Democratic Republic of Finnish communists led by
O. Kuusinen, who later headed the KFSSR.
In 1937, the areas of the Kalinin region inhabited by Karelians formed the Karelian National Okrug, which existed until 1939. The circumstances surrounding the dissolution of the district are unknown. Presumably, the planned annexation of Finland in 1939.
The “titular” Karelian and Finnish population, unlike other Soviet republics, constituted a national minority throughout the existence of the republic. In 1939, even before the Soviet-Finnish War and the annexation of the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga region, the share of the Finno-Ugric population (Karelians, Finns and Vepsians) in the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was 27%, and according to
In the 1959 census, conducted after the abolition of the republic, it dropped to 18.3%. The Finnish and Karelian population of the western lands of Karelia annexed in 1940 (more than 400 thousand people) were evacuated in advance to the central regions of Finland. In this regard, at that time there was a joke that “in the Karelo-Finnish Republic there are only two Finns: the Financial Inspector and FINkelstein, but in general they are one and the same person.”
On July 16, 1956, the KFSSR was again demoted in status to the ASSR and returned to the RSFSR. At the same time, the word “Finnish” (Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) was removed from its name.
One of the monuments of the Karelo-Finnish SSR is the “Friendship of Peoples” fountain at VDNKh in Moscow. The 16 female figures in the fountain ensemble symbolize the Union Republics of the USSR. One of them is the Karelo-Finnish SSR, which has not existed since 1956, the rest became independent states in 1991.
It would be interesting to see today the independent state of the Karelo-Finnish Republic.
Yuri Andropov in 1947-1951 He was the Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Karelo-Finnish SSR.

The formation of the Karelo-Finnish SSR is directly related to the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940.
After it was not possible to conclude an agreement with Finland on military assistance and the deployment of Soviet bases on the country’s territory, as happened with the Baltic states, as well as the concession of the Karelian Isthmus and the Peninsula to the Soviet Union
Hanko, in exchange for twice the territory north of Lake Ladoga, Moscow decided to carry out a military occupation of Finland. On November 26, 1939, NKVD officers carried out a provocative shelling of Soviet positions near the border village of Maynila. After this, the Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations with Finland, and on November 30 the Red Army began
large-scale invasion of Finnish territory. A month earlier, the Finnish People's Army Corps was formed in the USSR, designed to become the troops of the puppet pro-communist government of the Finnish Democratic Republic, led by a prominent figure of the Comintern, Otto Kuusinen.
On November 23, the political department of the Leningrad Military District sent the following instructions to the troops: “We are not marching as conquerors, but as friends of the Finnish people... The Red Army supports the Finnish people, who stand for friendship with the Soviet Union... Victory over the enemy must be achieved with little bloodshed.” .
However, it was not possible to win with little blood. The frontal assault on the Mannerheim line failed. In the first three weeks, the Red Army failed not only to reach Helsinki, as planned, but even to break through the first line of Finnish positions. On the Karelian Isthmus, by December 21, 1939, the Soviet offensive had completely stopped. On December 26, Soviet troops went on the defensive.
The auxiliary strike, delivered in difficult areas north of Lake Ladoga, ended in complete failure. Two Soviet divisions were surrounded and almost completely destroyed. In total, five Soviet divisions were surrounded and almost completely destroyed in that area before the end of the war. The lack of preparation for combat operations in general and in winter affected
conditions in particular. Only after bringing in reinforcements did the Red Army resume its offensive on the Karelian Isthmus. Every day for several days, Soviet troops rained down 12 thousand shells on the fortifications of the Mannerheim Line. On the morning of February 11, a general offensive began. On the first day, the divisions of the 7th Army were able to wedge themselves into the defense system of the Summsky fortified junction, the fall of which the front command hastened to notify Moscow on the same day. In reality, the amount was only withdrawn on February 14th. By the end of February, Soviet troops reached Finnish rear defensive positions in the Vyborg area. Battle for
this city continued until the conclusion of the truce.
Subsequent failures of the Finnish army on the Karelian Isthmus forced Helsinki to hesitate between concluding a difficult peace and the possibility of continuing resistance with the help of the Western allies. Mannerheim feared that the fatigue of the Finnish troops, who had already brought all their reserves into action, could lead to the fact that the front was about to collapse.
The peace signed in Moscow was difficult for Finland. The new border roughly corresponded to that established by the Treaty of Nystadt in 1721 after the Great Northern War.
The Finnish Democratic Republic was no longer remembered, but the Karelo-Finnish Union Republic and the 71st Special Division remained, as it were, “an armored train on a siding.” In case of a favorable military-political situation, it was always possible to join the rest of Finland. Stalin wanted the government in Helsinki to remember this.
Stalin's new ally Hitler watched with a grin at Stalin's attempts to defeat Finland. Maybe it was then that he became convinced
in its victory in the war with the USSR.

Victor Suvorov. The Last Republic
A “government” of NKVD and GRU officers was created. Otto Kuusinen was appointed “President” (his wife at that time worked in the illegal station of Richard Sorge), the ministers were Soviet communists of Finnish origin. The “Red Army of Finland” was created, which was supposed to victoriously enter Helsinki and support the “rebellious proletariat”, and our Red Army was supposed to help our “class brothers” a little.
The entire population of Finland was already divided into whites and reds. The so-called “White Finns” were subject to isolation and liquidation. What awaited them was the same as the Polish officers. By the way, the division into whites and reds was carried out in all territories adjacent to our borders: in 1920 we fought against the “White Poles”, in 1921 - against the “White Finns” and “White Karelians”, in 1927 - against the “White Chinese generals”. The very term “White Finns” indicated that our goal was to turn them into Reds.
The fighting in Finland ended on March 13, 1940, and already in the summer the three Baltic states: Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia surrendered to Stalin without a fight and became the “republics” of the Soviet Union.