Summary:
Tapio Palomaa, Demonstrations in Transition – Public Displays of Political Opinion Preceding the Great Strike in Oulu in 1905
The year 1905 was the pinnacle of a period of demonstrations beginning from the February Manifesto of 1899 in Finland. It was during this time that demonstrations became one of the most important forms of collective action by the Finnish political parties and associations. It was the Workers’ Association that organised the most demonstrations in Oulu before the Great Strike in 1905. The demonstrations were disciplined, and they were based on practices of collective action already familiar from the international workers’ movement. It was in the interest of the workers’ associations to present themselves as serious political actors in the Finnish society. Flags, songs and slogans standardised by the workers’ movement also strengthened a sense of community in the attendants.
The Constitutionalist movement in Oulu organised two major demonstrations in 1905, criticising the politics of Russification and Finnish appeasement towards Russian administration. The demonstrations consisted of constitutionalist speeches, nationalist songs and poetry and hails to the Fatherland and the Diet of Finland. The Constitutionalists borrowed features from the 19th century nationalist movement and popular enlightenment. Like the marches of the Workers’ Association, the meetings of the Constitutionalist movement were highly organised. Clear distinction between the realm of politics and mundane chores of life was visible in both types of demonstrations.
The citizens of Oulu also took part in collective action outside the boundaries of highly organised demonstrations in 1905. In January and in July thousands of people gathered in the streets to criticise the Russian administration and those in favour of appeasement. Majority of the attendants were workers, but the Workers’ Association of Oulu strictly denied being responsible for the demonstrations. The citizens occupied important public spaces and verbally and physically challenged police officers and Russian soldiers, thus distinguishing these events from the more traditional forms of collective action. The bourgeois newspapers in Oulu condemned the new forms of demonstration as reckless and irrational. Nevertheless, the events forced the established political elites to reconsider their ideas on political representation.
