Social Democrat Party of Finland shifts focus to power, abandoning historical commitment to social equality and solidarity

A prominent Social Democrat spent a week sober in 1974 at his family’s request but ultimately justified his daily drinking by stating that he couldn’t leave his constituents alone with their problems. He had risen high in his party by echoing all the opinions of the party leadership. The words he feared most were “Vote according to your conscience.”

A few years ago, this Social Democrat attended Flow Festival, taking selfies and feeling empathy for himself, as he wasn’t noticed by anyone else. Jokes about Social Democrats used to require sentences, but not anymore. Nowadays, Social Democrat jokes are as follows: Tytti Tuppurainen, Antti Lindtman, and Permit Paper.

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) was founded as the Finnish Workers’ Party in the late 19th century. The party aspired to foster equality, solidarity, and similar values in Finland, and to cherish something akin to the environment. The Social Democrats have always been slow to adapt, but they eventually realized that if workers were accustomed to being flexible under capitalists, they should be too. After this awakening, the Social Democrats became as pliable as a mattress, into whose folds their ideologies disappeared. An underpaid cleaner always picked out these ideologies whenever the party leadership needed to give a speech about nothing.

The SDP discovered that it loved power more than people. People were seen as demanding, dissatisfied children, whereas power was a silent, growing entity in their lap. If a Social Democrat hinted positively at the party’s old ideologies, they were labeled as “far-left,” because a proper Social Democrat is someone whose thoughts are unknown, even to themselves.

The last far-left representative was former Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Despite the SDP’s attempts to confine the skeleton of socialism to the basement, Marin would occasionally drag it out. The SDP is fortunate that Marin, like the party and its ideology, is now behind them, with the skeleton of socialism flying around the world giving speeches on equality, the environment, or anything else.

The SDP is voting in favor of the emergency law because it dreams of a better future as a support party for the National Coalition Party. Marin’s leftist tendencies crystalized in a strong identification with the losers, where she considered herself the biggest loser because the media had treated her poorly.

Over the past weekend, Riikka Purra posted a photo of herself and Petteri Orpo at Ruisrock on X and Facebook. In the photo, Finland’s rulers looked like children who were allowed to go on their first daycare outing. If Marin had been in the photo, journalists would still be analyzing it.

The Social Democrats have learned their lesson. After Marin, they want to be unnoticeable, which is why the party’s chairman is now some guy, and the parliamentary group’s chairman is someone named Tuppurainen. They are both embodiments of modern Social Democracy, impossible to hate because it’s hard to remember who you were supposed to hate.

When Riikka Purra’s True Finns came to power, it triggered a chain reaction. The National Coalition Party rushed further to the right, the Swedish People’s Party was fine with everything, and now the Social Democrats are following in fear of being branded as traitors, i.e., losing their support and power.

Even the governing Swedish People’s Party has given its MPs free rein on how to vote in the border law vote on Friday. The SDP is voting in favor of the emergency law because it dreams of a better future as a support party for the National Coalition Party. If an SDP MP wants to vote against the border law, they need to apply for written permission, which is granted after consideration and following pressure.

If a lack of historical backbone is an ideology, as it increasingly seems to be, the SDP is one of Finland’s most ideological parties.