Young Finns

the members of an opposition nationalist movement that existed in the Grand Duchy of Finland from the late 1880’s until 1918.

In opposing the religious and conservative program of the Finnish Party, or Old Finns, the Young Finns adopted liberal-bourgeois views on social, political, and cultural questions. Such prominent cultural figures of late 19th-century Finland as the writers M. Canth and J. Aho, the artists A. Gallen-Kallela and P. Halonen, the Jarnefelt brothers, and the composer J. Sibelius belonged to the Young Finns.

In 1902 the Young Finns, together with the Swedish People’s Party, founded the Constitutionalist Party; K. Ju. Stahlberg, P. Svinhufvud, Ju. Castren, and E. Setala were among the political figures who joined the new party. From 1907 to 1917 the Young Finns held between 23 and 27 seats in the Diet. In 1918 a split occurred in the movement. The liberal wing, headed by Ståhlberg, founded the republican National Progressive Party in December 1918, while a minority of the Young Finns joined the monarchist National Coalition Party.