The Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Finnish: Suomen sosialistinen työväentasavalta, Swedish: Finlands socialistiska arbetarrepublik) was a short-lived (1918) Finnish socialist government, established by a revolution just prior to the Finnish Civil War and in the aftermath of the October Revolution. It did not assume this name until 28 January 1918, by decree of the Helsinki Soviet (then called the People's Council of Helsinki).
The revolution was initiated by the pro-Bolshevik Finnish People's Delegation. People's councils (kansanvaltuuskunta), which would today be called Soviets, were organized by Finnish Socialists, with the Soviet of Helsinki as the seat of government. The Socialist Republic's program and draft constitution were written by Otto Ville Kuusinen, who later also founded the Finnish Democratic Republic, Joseph Stalin's puppet regime during World War II.
The Marxist concept of dictatorship of the proletariat was absent from the program, despite the interest among some Finnish socialists in establishing one. The Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic was nevertheless supported by the RSFSR, which also supported Communist governments in Hungary and Bavaria. The new state negotiated a treaty of friendship with the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic (RSFSR), finalized on 1 March and signed in Saint Petersburg. Vladimir Lenin, the leader of Soviet Russia, forced Finnish socialists to adopt the name "Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic".[1]
The establishment of the Workers' Republic caused the Finnish Civil War. The Finnish Socialists began the war almost completely in control of the country's industrial south, while their White enemies controlled the larger, but sparsely populated northern regions. The entry of German-trained White Finns, and the German army itself, into Finland forced the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic to rely heavily on Soviet aid, military and economic, which was sparse as the RSFSR was busy with the Russian Civil War.
The Finnish Civil War ended in the defeat of the Finnish Red Guards at the end of April 1918 by the Finnish White Guards. The latter were supported by the armed forces of the German Empire. Tens of thousands of Social Democrats fell victim to the White Terror, the rest going underground or fleeing the country. In the months that followed, the party split, and a faction of refugees formed the Communist Party of Finland while in exile in Moscow.