Fact checking facts about "russification" of Finland
1. Hurr durr Nicholas 2 wanted to turn everyone into Russians.
False: He wanted to liberate Finnish people from swedish aristocracy
>Nicholas II said that the core of Finland’s problem was that "the Swedes are striving to regain their former dominant position in Finland, misleading a broad section of the people. Against such gentlemen, decisive action had to be taken."
2. Hurr durr bobrikov was a dictator who suppressed free speech.
Misleading: He targeted swedes and their allies who were advocating for separatism and called Finnish and Russian people mongol barbarians and were closely associated with Germany which posed a security risk
>Of the 116 newspapers published between 1899–1905, 46 (39.7%) were temporarily suspended and 26 (22.4%) permanently shut down. The language distribution of all newspapers published was as follows: 78 Finnish-language (67.2%) and 38 Swedish-language (32.8%). Although most of the suspended papers were Finnish, the relative share of Swedish-language papers was greater. Of all Swedish-language papers during this period, 30% were permanently closed and 52.6% suspended temporarily, whereas the corresponding figures for Finnish-language papers were 19.2% and 33.3%. In the early phase of mass closures, attention was directed especially at Swedish-language papers, six of which were shut down in 1900, while only one Finnish-language paper was closed.
>In Kotka and Käkisalmi, the closures carried out by the governor-general strengthened the position of the Old Finnish press.
>Arbetaren and, outside Helsinki, Länsi-Suomen Työmies, Kansan Lehti, and Itä-Suomen Työmies did not receive a single warning from Bobrikov throughout the entire period, nor were they ever shut down. It appears that political censorship from Russia had little effect on the workers’ press.
1. Hurr durr Nicholas 2 wanted to turn everyone into Russians.
False: He wanted to liberate Finnish people from swedish aristocracy
>Nicholas II said that the core of Finland’s problem was that "the Swedes are striving to regain their former dominant position in Finland, misleading a broad section of the people. Against such gentlemen, decisive action had to be taken."
2. Hurr durr bobrikov was a dictator who suppressed free speech.
Misleading: He targeted swedes and their allies who were advocating for separatism and called Finnish and Russian people mongol barbarians and were closely associated with Germany which posed a security risk
>Of the 116 newspapers published between 1899–1905, 46 (39.7%) were temporarily suspended and 26 (22.4%) permanently shut down. The language distribution of all newspapers published was as follows: 78 Finnish-language (67.2%) and 38 Swedish-language (32.8%). Although most of the suspended papers were Finnish, the relative share of Swedish-language papers was greater. Of all Swedish-language papers during this period, 30% were permanently closed and 52.6% suspended temporarily, whereas the corresponding figures for Finnish-language papers were 19.2% and 33.3%. In the early phase of mass closures, attention was directed especially at Swedish-language papers, six of which were shut down in 1900, while only one Finnish-language paper was closed.
>In Kotka and Käkisalmi, the closures carried out by the governor-general strengthened the position of the Old Finnish press.
>Arbetaren and, outside Helsinki, Länsi-Suomen Työmies, Kansan Lehti, and Itä-Suomen Työmies did not receive a single warning from Bobrikov throughout the entire period, nor were they ever shut down. It appears that political censorship from Russia had little effect on the workers’ press.
