Forwarded from Beorn and The Shieldmaiden
A short history of Finnish-Russian relations
Continued from part 1.
🔹1938 Finland prepared again to invade Russia, with the help from Germany that was preparing to conquer the Soviet Union.
🔹1939 - 1945 Finland had two wars with the Soviet Union. A "Winter War" and "Continuity War". First was being caught pants down when Ukrainians fought against the Finns. And second one was Finland's invasion of Russia and participation in encircling of Leningrad and killing civilians in the city by being responsible in holding the northern side of the city.
After the war, Finland was forced to give up territory as the US president Roosevelt insisted on it to Stalin. And Finns blame Russia for that, not the USA as they should.
🔹And to add, in 1938 Finland demonstrated to international media their capability to strike Leningrad (St.Petersburg) from their side of the border.
The Soviet Union took that as an alarming threat and started negotiations with Finland for border move. Where the border was to be moved to the west (toward Finland) by 42 km from west side of Leningrad, and in exchange Finland to receive twice as much territory a little further North. This so that Finland would not be able strike at Russia's second largest city, and having a small demilitarised buffer zone around it.
Four rounds of negotiations were held, the Soviet Union did shrink the border shift demands considerable, but Finns laughed and were trying to do only 3-5 km in very small areas to straighten the border.
The fifth negotiations round didn't come, as in Soviets' minds the Finns didn't take the threat they posed to Russia seriously.
And so, the Winter War was started. Where Soviet Union decided to take the border shift unilaterally.
NOT THE WHOLE OF FINLAND, and Finland's independence was NEVER UNDER THREAT!
All that Russia asked for was to take seriously Russia's security concern after what Finland demonstrated in the first place, and building invasion bases against Russia's border in 1938.
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🦇 The map shows the first offer to Finland by the Soviet Union before the Winter War, from our past post on the topic.
👉 Read also our prior post On February 1, 1809, Russian emperor Alexander I established the Parliament of Finland.
@BeornAndTheShieldmaiden
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Continued from part 1.
🔹1938 Finland prepared again to invade Russia, with the help from Germany that was preparing to conquer the Soviet Union.
🔹1939 - 1945 Finland had two wars with the Soviet Union. A "Winter War" and "Continuity War". First was being caught pants down when Ukrainians fought against the Finns. And second one was Finland's invasion of Russia and participation in encircling of Leningrad and killing civilians in the city by being responsible in holding the northern side of the city.
After the war, Finland was forced to give up territory as the US president Roosevelt insisted on it to Stalin. And Finns blame Russia for that, not the USA as they should.
🔹And to add, in 1938 Finland demonstrated to international media their capability to strike Leningrad (St.Petersburg) from their side of the border.
The Soviet Union took that as an alarming threat and started negotiations with Finland for border move. Where the border was to be moved to the west (toward Finland) by 42 km from west side of Leningrad, and in exchange Finland to receive twice as much territory a little further North. This so that Finland would not be able strike at Russia's second largest city, and having a small demilitarised buffer zone around it.
Four rounds of negotiations were held, the Soviet Union did shrink the border shift demands considerable, but Finns laughed and were trying to do only 3-5 km in very small areas to straighten the border.
The fifth negotiations round didn't come, as in Soviets' minds the Finns didn't take the threat they posed to Russia seriously.
And so, the Winter War was started. Where Soviet Union decided to take the border shift unilaterally.
NOT THE WHOLE OF FINLAND, and Finland's independence was NEVER UNDER THREAT!
All that Russia asked for was to take seriously Russia's security concern after what Finland demonstrated in the first place, and building invasion bases against Russia's border in 1938.
♦️♦️♦️
👉 Read also our prior post On February 1, 1809, Russian emperor Alexander I established the Parliament of Finland.
@BeornAndTheShieldmaiden
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Forwarded from Beorn and The Shieldmaiden
On February 1, 1809, Russian emperor Alexander I established the Parliament of Finland
Finland was under Swedish rule for 600 years. After the Russian Empire won the Russo-Swedish War of 1808–1809, the Treaty of Fredrikshamn made all of Finland part of the Russian Empire.
For the Russian Emperor, this region became a testing ground for enlightenment ideas.
Alexander established the Grand Duchy of Finland as part of the Russian Empire and even expanded its borders by annexing the Karelian Isthmus, which Russia had conquered from Sweden at the beginning of the 18th century, to the principality.
Finland retained the influence of the Lutheran Church and the established administrative culture.
Finland had its own customs, postal service and justice bodies; the principality's income did not flow into the general imperial treasury, but was used for its own needs.
The Finnish parliament, the Landtag, symbolised Emperor Alexander's ideas about the supremacy of law over autocracy.
Source
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👉 51 years later, in 1860, the Russian Emperor Alexander II introduces Finnish Marka as the Duchy's currency, adopting the gold standard for it in 1878, thus building further the statehood of Finland. In 1918, after Lenin granted them independence and own state, the grateful Finns organise the genocide of Russians in Vyborg.
In 1941, the Finns were at the forefront of the Nazi "drang nach osten" and held the genocidal blockade of Leningrad. But thanks to the Art of Timely Betrayal in 1944, the Finns managed to end up on the side of the victors in World War II.
And Finland kept on the good side of USSR/Russia right up until 2023, when it joined the new "drang nach osten" alliance, commonly known as NATO.
@BeornAndTheShieldmaiden
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Finland was under Swedish rule for 600 years. After the Russian Empire won the Russo-Swedish War of 1808–1809, the Treaty of Fredrikshamn made all of Finland part of the Russian Empire.
For the Russian Emperor, this region became a testing ground for enlightenment ideas.
Alexander established the Grand Duchy of Finland as part of the Russian Empire and even expanded its borders by annexing the Karelian Isthmus, which Russia had conquered from Sweden at the beginning of the 18th century, to the principality.
Finland retained the influence of the Lutheran Church and the established administrative culture.
Finland had its own customs, postal service and justice bodies; the principality's income did not flow into the general imperial treasury, but was used for its own needs.
The Finnish parliament, the Landtag, symbolised Emperor Alexander's ideas about the supremacy of law over autocracy.
Source
♦️♦️♦️
👉 51 years later, in 1860, the Russian Emperor Alexander II introduces Finnish Marka as the Duchy's currency, adopting the gold standard for it in 1878, thus building further the statehood of Finland. In 1918, after Lenin granted them independence and own state, the grateful Finns organise the genocide of Russians in Vyborg.
In 1941, the Finns were at the forefront of the Nazi "drang nach osten" and held the genocidal blockade of Leningrad. But thanks to the Art of Timely Betrayal in 1944, the Finns managed to end up on the side of the victors in World War II.
And Finland kept on the good side of USSR/Russia right up until 2023, when it joined the new "drang nach osten" alliance, commonly known as NATO.
@BeornAndTheShieldmaiden
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Forwarded from Class Consciousness Project
From Manchester to Liverpool: The New Gentrifiers
It started in Manchester.
When the City of London and its satellite sectors realised remote work could be done from anywhere, the privileged layers, labour aristocracy and 'white collar' professionals (tech, finance, media) looked north. Manchester became the “second city” for corporate capital: cheaper land, lower wages, and a ready-made cultural scene built off the bones of a once-industrial working class.
Those remote London workers, still on southern salaries, flooded in. Developers followed, selling the “northern lifestyle” through glass towers and build-to-rent schemes. Rents exploded. Local workers were priced out of their own neighbourhoods while being told it was “regeneration.”
The numbers prove it: Manchester now has more build-to-rent homes than any city outside London — over 13,000 units across 34 schemes. Average private rents hit £1,319 a month in 2025, up nearly 5% in a year and far above local wage growth. City-centre population has more than doubled since 2001, driven by high-income professionals, while Salford and Ancoats house prices have tripled over a decade. Meanwhile, the number of affordable homes built lags far behind demand. Liverpool is now showing the same pattern: office take-up up 12.5% in 2024, average rent rising 9.4% year-on-year, and average house prices climbing 11.7%, while thousands sit on social housing waiting lists.
Now, Liverpool is next in line.
Office take-up is surging. Prime spaces snapped up by insurers, tech start-ups, and regional branches of London firms. Property prices climbing faster than wages. The city centre refitted for tourists, students, and the new corporate middle class.
This is the latest stage of Britain’s managed gentrification: the transformation of once-industrial, working-class cities into playgrounds for capital. Corporate money doesn’t “revive” these cities, it colonises them. The industries replacing dock work and factories aren’t building livelihoods; they’re building portfolios.
Liverpool, like Manchester before it, is being sold as a “success story” of post-industrial Britain. But regeneration for who? The same class that gutted these places now returns to profit from their shells. The native working class is still locked out—by rent, by wages, by design. As in London and Manchester, Liverpool’s workers are being pushed to the edges of their own city, priced out of the centre they built. The poorer districts are left to rot, overseen not by councils but by landlords, contractors, and private firms who now run what’s left of public life. What once belonged to the people is now divided up by whoever can turn a profit from the decay.
From empire to empire-builders: the City of London didn’t forget the North—it came back to buy it.
The Class Consciousness Project
It started in Manchester.
When the City of London and its satellite sectors realised remote work could be done from anywhere, the privileged layers, labour aristocracy and 'white collar' professionals (tech, finance, media) looked north. Manchester became the “second city” for corporate capital: cheaper land, lower wages, and a ready-made cultural scene built off the bones of a once-industrial working class.
Those remote London workers, still on southern salaries, flooded in. Developers followed, selling the “northern lifestyle” through glass towers and build-to-rent schemes. Rents exploded. Local workers were priced out of their own neighbourhoods while being told it was “regeneration.”
The numbers prove it: Manchester now has more build-to-rent homes than any city outside London — over 13,000 units across 34 schemes. Average private rents hit £1,319 a month in 2025, up nearly 5% in a year and far above local wage growth. City-centre population has more than doubled since 2001, driven by high-income professionals, while Salford and Ancoats house prices have tripled over a decade. Meanwhile, the number of affordable homes built lags far behind demand. Liverpool is now showing the same pattern: office take-up up 12.5% in 2024, average rent rising 9.4% year-on-year, and average house prices climbing 11.7%, while thousands sit on social housing waiting lists.
Now, Liverpool is next in line.
Office take-up is surging. Prime spaces snapped up by insurers, tech start-ups, and regional branches of London firms. Property prices climbing faster than wages. The city centre refitted for tourists, students, and the new corporate middle class.
This is the latest stage of Britain’s managed gentrification: the transformation of once-industrial, working-class cities into playgrounds for capital. Corporate money doesn’t “revive” these cities, it colonises them. The industries replacing dock work and factories aren’t building livelihoods; they’re building portfolios.
Liverpool, like Manchester before it, is being sold as a “success story” of post-industrial Britain. But regeneration for who? The same class that gutted these places now returns to profit from their shells. The native working class is still locked out—by rent, by wages, by design. As in London and Manchester, Liverpool’s workers are being pushed to the edges of their own city, priced out of the centre they built. The poorer districts are left to rot, overseen not by councils but by landlords, contractors, and private firms who now run what’s left of public life. What once belonged to the people is now divided up by whoever can turn a profit from the decay.
From empire to empire-builders: the City of London didn’t forget the North—it came back to buy it.
The Class Consciousness Project
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Forwarded from Ian Foster ☭
Whenever the right of Imperialism designs policies and optics to appeal to working class voters you should be very sceptical and avoid it like the plague. The material base of their agenda will be pro status quo, they will not challenge the economic system, the relations of production will not be questioned. This is the deception of Reform UK. It is the consequence of liberal formalism, in reality you can choose who to vote for, but not what to vote for. It's all form and excludes substance. The core Imperialist policies are baked in and not amenable to democratic tampering.
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Forwarded from Joti Brar
This little speech I gave to a Resist (remember them?) conference back in 2021) is a wee blast from the past. Reposting because the fundamental point I was making remains true:
We are not interested in 'uniting the (self-identifying, imperialist-friendly) left'. We want to unite the maximum possible number of workers AGAINST BRITISH IMPERIALISM.
Our allies in this struggle are not the bought-off Labour and trade union bureaucrats (who must be swept away) but the masses of exploited people all over the world who are facing the same murderous exploiters and colonisers.
Imperialism gains much of its domestic strength by looting the resources of the whole world. Its machinery of wealth extraction and social control must be dismantled from both ends if we are ever to know liberty; if our children and grandchildren are going to have the chance to grow up in peace and dignity.
Whenever anyone talks to you about 'unity', always remember to ask: WITH WHOM and FOR WHAT? Otherwise you will find you have been tricked into keeping quiet about everything important in the interests of not upsetting some group of charlatans who are actually working for your class enemies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZHY_JfOPw0
We are not interested in 'uniting the (self-identifying, imperialist-friendly) left'. We want to unite the maximum possible number of workers AGAINST BRITISH IMPERIALISM.
Our allies in this struggle are not the bought-off Labour and trade union bureaucrats (who must be swept away) but the masses of exploited people all over the world who are facing the same murderous exploiters and colonisers.
Imperialism gains much of its domestic strength by looting the resources of the whole world. Its machinery of wealth extraction and social control must be dismantled from both ends if we are ever to know liberty; if our children and grandchildren are going to have the chance to grow up in peace and dignity.
Whenever anyone talks to you about 'unity', always remember to ask: WITH WHOM and FOR WHAT? Otherwise you will find you have been tricked into keeping quiet about everything important in the interests of not upsetting some group of charlatans who are actually working for your class enemies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZHY_JfOPw0
YouTube
Forget about uniting the left
Workers Party deputy leader Joti Brar explains to delegates at Resist Fest how its not the self-identifying ‘left’ that we need to unite, but the genuine forces for socialism.
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Forwarded from The Communists
Minister Zhao Fei from the Chinese Embassy addresses the CPGB-ML’s October Revolution celebrations in Southall tonight. Other speakers and guests tonight include the Cuban ambassador Ismara Vargas Walter and representatives from the Russian, Laotian, and Venezuelan embassies, fraternal party JVP from Sri Lanka, and comrades Vikki and Ranjeet from the CPGB-ML.
Standing room only in Saklatvala Hall!
Standing room only in Saklatvala Hall!
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Forwarded from Joti Brar
https://youtube.com/shorts/A83dHYvJ7F0?si=-QIowIdQwWZoHmnp
Anna Louise Strong’s work remains essential reading for those who want to know the reality of Soviet and Chinese socialism in the Stalin and Mao era. I especially recommend When Serfs Stood Up in Tibet and The Stalin Era.
Anna Louise Strong’s work remains essential reading for those who want to know the reality of Soviet and Chinese socialism in the Stalin and Mao era. I especially recommend When Serfs Stood Up in Tibet and The Stalin Era.
YouTube
Anna Louise Strong
An older video I made in collaboration with Esme Louisee of Kinky History in honor of Women's History Month! figured I should post it here. Miss Anna Louise ...
Forwarded from USSR Pictures
Formation of personnel of the 1st Guards Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet. USSR, Sevastopol, 1944. Photo by Evgeny Khaldey
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Forwarded from USSR Pictures
Soviet officers in front of the Motherland Calls monument in Volgograd. USSR, 1970s
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Forwarded from USSR Pictures
Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, Joseph Stalin, Sergo Ordzhonikidze, and Stanislav Kosior among a group of soldiers and workers (1927)
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Forwarded from Joti Brar
https://thecommunists.org/2025/11/24/leaflets/newark-leaflet-make-britain-great-for-workers/
The decline we are seeing in Newark is repeated across the rest of Britain’s former industrial heartlands, and it will not be reversed under conditions of capitalist imperialism. When we wake up and realise the con we have been subjected to, we must work together for a completely different type of society – one where people’s needs decide everything and the economy is organised rationally.
The decline we are seeing in Newark is repeated across the rest of Britain’s former industrial heartlands, and it will not be reversed under conditions of capitalist imperialism. When we wake up and realise the con we have been subjected to, we must work together for a completely different type of society – one where people’s needs decide everything and the economy is organised rationally.