The Marshall Plan did not reach Finland

[Jopa79]

The Marshall Plan was a program for European recovery after the II World War. It was an economic assistance for the European countries suffering from the outcome of the war. The United States of America funded this program and they gave in today's money over 100 billion dollars for rebuilding Europe. However, there were nations who did not receive this aid for a reason or other.

Finland was involved in the World War II and the country was suffering heavily of the outcome. Barely maintaining its independence Finland had lost extensive land areas and nearly 20% of the total population had to leave their former homelands 'cause the cession of territories. Anytime during the country's history Finland has not been so near the total collapse, economic and humanitarian disaster. The need for this Marshall Plan was enormous in the country

From the picture above is seen the nature of the matter. To survive and remain among the nations, the president of Finland (J.K. Paasikivi in the center) has to listen and follow the instructions from Moscow. (presented by Allied Control Commission, Andrei Zdanov, left from Paasikivi). The Soviet Union resisted and rejected the Marshall Plan. Finland did not have any other possibilities than accompany with the Soviets and the Government of Finland had to reject the Marshall Plan.

Against all the fairness, in the outcome of World War II, in Finland the people were suffering and living under the rules of rationing, there was no Marshall Plan for the country, everything was done under the rules of Moscow and this event has its own political term, Finlandization. In practice it means, you have to do what the others say.

The Marshall Plan never reached Finland. Contrawise the Finnish activities during in the Winter War and in the Continuation War were judged in the Paris Peace Treaties in 1947. In the perspecetive of the "Great Powers" Finland was seen as a guilty. Finland was sentenced to pay war reparations for the Soviet Union and the country fullfilled this, being the only one in the history of the aftermath of the World War II.

 

[AjayAlcos]

Much insight has been made of the contributions of the Marshall Plan. However what tends to be overlooked is the nitty-gritty of what made the Marshall Plan so successful. As a whole, the average contribution to GDP by the Marshall Plan (in terms of actual capital infusion) was actually just roughly 2.5% of GDP (5% in the case of West Germany if I remember correctly). What made it successful rather was the reforms it encouraged, especially policies more suited to that of running a market-economy - such as ending price controls, reestablishing monetary stability, removing barriers-to-trade etc (the last two being conditional parts of the Marshall Plan).

Onto Finland, from what I'd read a couple years ago (from some piece about the historical development of the Scandinavian economies whose name eludes me), though the Finn's chose to decline the offer of inclusion into the Marshall Plan (for reasons you've stated above); it nonetheless mirrored fellow European countries in reducing tariffs and/or otherwise removing its barriers to trade (which helped in facilitating trade for Finland between both its Western & Soviet partners) starting 1957 as well as further diversifying industry into producing value-added industrial products and promoting policies aimed at encouraging investment (both from within Finland as well as foreign).

I can't help but agree however, that Finland really deserved to be included in the Marshall Plan, and without having to deal with coercive Soviet interests. Indeed, if Finland were to have received that infusion of American capital, it isn't hard to predict that the Finnish economy would've been able to stabilise its post-war currency earlier and recover much more quickly than it did in reality (and probably initiate those aforementioned reforms a few years early as well). Nonetheless in the grander scheme of things the Marshall Plan wouldn't have had that much effect on Finland in the long term; especially since the country in IRL brought itself back up just as effectively via prudent macroeconomic policies, technocratic stewardship, budgetary discipline and of course beneficial (rather 'quite advantageous' I must say) trade relationships with its surrounding partners - among other things that is (e.g. Marimekko & Saunas ).

 

[HuzzButt]

Finland joined the Nazis and declared war on Russia in a hare brained land grab scheme. The saying goes: play stupid games and win stupid prizes.

 

[The-Doc]

Finland joimed the Nazis and declared war on Russia in a hare brained land grab scheme. The saying goes: play stupid games and win stupid prizes.

Do you think that staying out of the war would have precluded further coercion from the USSR?

 

[HuzzButt]

Do you think that staying out of the war would have precluded further coercion from the USSR?

I think that retroactively trying to white wash the war of aggression against Russia and the alliance with the Nazis is just another stupid game.

 

[Antediluvian Monster]

I think that retroactively trying to white wash the war of aggression against Russia and the alliance with the Nazis is just another stupid game.

Giving transit rights for German troops was probably necessary in the aftermath of Winter War as a security guarantee after the prospect of alliance with Sweden faded away. Soviets were not exactly angels in this period and ignoring the threat of further escalation from them would have been suboptimal, certainly without historical hindsight.

But to be fair, Finnish leadership was way, way too eager to jump on the Nazi train after that. The focus should have been de-escalation and Germans should not have been permitted to attack USSR across Finnish border, only to transit to Norway. If USSR attacked anyway, any counteroffensive should have been limited to the pre-Winter War border, which was the British red line.

 

[Avernite]

I think that retroactively trying to white wash the war of aggression against Russia and the alliance with the Nazis is just another stupid game.

Alliance with the nazi's there was, but I have difficulty seeing the continuation war as not just that, a continuation of the previous winter war where the soviets were the agressor.

 

[Holmes]

View attachment 380353

The Marshall Plan was a program for European recovery after the II World War. It was an economic assistance for the European countries suffering from the outcome of the war. The United States of America funded this program and they gave in today's money over 100 billion dollars for rebuilding Europe. However, there were nations who did not receive this aid for a reason or other.
.

No, it was an economic plan for Western democratic** Countries to rebuild, to make democracy the prefered choice of those people. Their economy performed badly in first post war year, and US wanted democracy not autocratic governments to be in place, to prevent people from seeking autocratic governments*, democratic ones got finacial aid. US wanted peace and economic propserity out of self intrest and could best obtain that through democratcic economicly succesfull Europe. SU declined it and so did every soviet satalite nation,

* Countries that acepted it.Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom Western Germany.

**https://www.britannica.com/event/Marshall-Plan# Vid at start of article explain it all.

 

[LizarDAMN]

The pressure from USSR didn't exactly cease after the Winter War either. There where numerous incidents, like shooting down a civilian airliner, interfering Finlands diplomatic approaches to Sweden etc.

Most of the WW2 period Finland's future looked very dicey, but at the end everything up to the end of USSR went better than expected *insert meme here*.

 

[Jopa79]

- among other things that is (e.g. Marimekko & Saunas ).

You said it, let's add yet Nokia, in World War II Nokia made boots for the Finnish soldiers, but after a struggle of a few decades they were world's leading mobile phone manufacturer.

A few words of the original topic...in the Finnish view it would have been ok if just losing the Marshall Plan, but paying war reparations for the Soviets was beyond all reasons. Even more incomprehensible is the fact that the Western Allies approved and let this happen without trying to negotiate. Elsewhere in the Europe the recovery and the rebuilding were done with free American dollars. In Finland there was half a million evacuees from the areas handed over the Soviets and they needed to settle inland. After that Finland had to take the state debt to build up the industry which was needed for the payment of the war reparations.

The Finns declared the Continuation War for the reclaim of the lost territories -it was their right. But the war turned to be a bitter struggle of survival. By achieving a defensive victory in its own soil over the Soviets Finland avoided the doom of the Baltic States. Still the price was unreasonably hard. After realizing they had to do with their own without any foreign aid the Finns started the rebuild of the country. It is true that with the Marshall Plan the recovery would have been faster but the Finns had to go the way they were told.

After completed the payment of the war reparations in 1952 the developement in Finland was positive. The industry which was created inevitably now aided the Finns and they felt after the survival of the post-war years that a piece of sovereignty was won back. Doing things on its own Finland emerged among the other welfare states as a western democracy in the 1980s.

 

[AjayAlcos]

You said it, let's add yet Nokia, in World War II Nokia made boots for the Finnish soldiers, but after a struggle of a few decades they were world's leading mobile phone manufacturer .

You learn something new everyday. Cheers for the trivia .

A few words of the original topic...in the Finnish view it would have been ok if just losing the Marshall Plan, but paying war reparations for the Soviets was beyond all reasons. Even more incomprehensible is the fact that the Western Allies approved and let this happen without trying to negotiate. Elsewhere in the Europe the recovery and the rebuilding were done with free American dollars. In Finland there was half a million evacuees from the areas handed over the Soviets and they needed to settle inland. After that Finland had to take the state debt to build up the industry which was needed for the payment of the war reparations.

The Finns declared the Continuation War for the reclaim of the lost territories -it was their right. But the war turned to be a bitter struggle of survival. By achieving a defensive victory in its own soil over the Soviets Finland avoided the doom of the Baltic States. Still the price was unreasonably hard. After realizing they had to do with their own without any foreign aid the Finns started the rebuild of the country. It is true that with the Marshall Plan the recovery would have been faster but the Finns had to go the way they were told.

After completed the payment of the war reparations in 1952 the developement in Finland was positive. The industry which was created inevitably now aided the Finns and they felt after the survival of the post-war years that a piece of sovereignty was won back. Doing things on its own Finland emerged among the other welfare states as a western democracy in the 1980s.

It was indeed an unjust occurrence, and not just in the eyes of Finns I should add. Despite having to suffer under the depredations of the Soviets, Finland's post-war recovery without the tangible aid provided by the Marshall Plan exemplifies Finland's reputation for "sisu", especially considering the great amount of adversity it had to face before, during and after the war.

 

[Jopa79]

No, it was an economic plan for Western democratic** Countries to rebuild, to make democracy the prefered choice of those people. Their economy performed badly in first post war year, and US wanted democracy not autocratic governments to be in place, to prevent people from seeking autocratic governments*, democratic ones got finacial aid. US wanted peace and economic propserity out of self intrest and could best obtain that through democratcic economicly succesfull Europe. SU declined it and so did every soviet satalite nation,

* Countries that acepted it.Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom Western Germany.

**https://www.britannica.com/event/Marshall-Plan# Vid at start of article explain it all.

Yes, directly after the World War II in Finland everything was done to "reach" the western democracy, but this was prevented by the Soviets. Marshall Plan was offered for the Finns, but the government had to decline it, because of the Soviet pressure.

 

[HuzzButt]

Alliance with the nazi's there was, but I have difficulty seeing the continuation war as not just that, a continuation of the previous winter war where the soviets were the agressor.

It's easy: The Soviet Union invaded Finland in 39 but Finland invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

 

[LizarDAMN]

Yes, directly after the World War II in Finland everything was done to "reach" the western democracy, but this was prevented by the Soviets. Marshall Plan was offered for the Finns, but the government had to decline it, because of the Soviet pressure.

Yeah, Soviets even helped Kekkonen to maintain his dictatorship untill his health failed.

 

[AjayAlcos]

Yeah, Soviets even helped Kekkonen to maintain his dictatorship untill his health failed.

It would be more accurate to label him as a strongman rather than as a full-on dictator. But yeah, his authoritarian tendencies were unfortunate.

 

[Grosshaus]

No, it was an economic plan for Western democratic** Countries to rebuild, to make democracy the prefered choice of those people. Their economy performed badly in first post war year, and US wanted democracy not autocratic governments to be in place, to prevent people from seeking autocratic governments*, democratic ones got finacial aid. US wanted peace and economic propserity out of self intrest and could best obtain that through democratcic economicly succesfull Europe. SU declined it and so did every soviet satalite nation,

* Countries that acepted it.Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom Western Germany.

**https://www.britannica.com/event/Marshall-Plan# Vid at start of article explain it all.

Marshall plan was not restricted to democracies. It was enough to be non-communist to get it.

 

[LizarDAMN]

It would be more accurate to label him as a strongman rather than as a full-on dictator. But yeah, his authoritarian tendencies were unfortunate.

I drew the line when you get elected, again, as a president without actual voting, because you don't feel up to it.

 

[AjayAlcos]

I drew the line when you get elected, again, as a president without actual voting, because you don't feel up to it.

Fair enough.

 

[Jopa79]

Yeah, Soviets even helped Kekkonen to maintain his dictatorship untill his health failed.

The reign of Kekkonen is a great demonstration for the word Finlandization. He was a suitable man for the rulers in Moscow. The Finno-Soviet treaty of 1948 was a state agreement between Finland and the Soviet Union, Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. Because of this treaty Finland was bound strongly in the Soviet sphere of influence.

During the period of Kekkonen the Soviets secured their position in the Finnish internal and foreign politics. Without questioning Kekkonen followed and enforced the Moscow orders. The relations to the east was Kekkonen's major effort. As a clever politician Kekkonen was able to negotiate with the Soviets and Finland avoided the Soviet occupation, or invasion like it was in Czechoslovakia in 1968. At the same time Kekkonen was ruthless towards his opponents and he crushed them without hesitation. Kekkonen exploited his good personal relations with Moscow, edited and rewrote the constitution of Finland to his own liking. Kekkonen's excessive influence was harmful in politics, especially with the relations to the west. Still, during the Cold War era Finland was the only "western" border neighbour of the Soviet Union. Because of its location Finland ended up into the "power game" of the superpowers and the situation in Finland remained delicate for several decades. To improve the relations of the superpowers Helsinki held the summit of OSCE in 1975.

 

[AegonVLLI]

It's easy: The Soviet Union invaded Finland in 39 but Finland invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

And retaking the lands an illegal agressor took from you is a very good reason for that.