Strike War in Finland
The present wave of strikes in Finland would give Russia the excuse to intervene if intervention was what she wanted and if, in such circumstances, she bothered about the formality of an excuse. Wisely deciding not to base its actions on unpredictable Russian reflexes, the Finnish Government has gone vigorously about its job of bringing back to work the Communist-lcd strikers. This is a delicate business, since in the immediate post-war years the Com- munists took the opportunity to annex the key positions in the Trade Unions and, as we in Britain have good reason to know, active Communist leadership can, for a time at any rate, effectively overcome the dead-weight of union loyalty to Social-Democratic Government. The theoretical reason for the strikes is the devalua- tion of the Finnmark (from 547 to 643.8 to the pound) which took place in the beginning of June, and which has caused a propor- tionately slight rise in certain imported goods. This has been made the occasion for sweeping demands for wage increases which, if granted, would plunge Finland back into the inflationary morass from which she has still not completely extricated herself. How far the policy of devaluation succeeds in reviving Finland's flagging export trade in timber and timber-products remains to be seen. Certainly the experiment will nowhere be watched with greater interest than in this country, where devaluation is a widely-recom- mended panacea which, if it ever takes place, may be expected to produce some of the same• repercussions as in Finland.
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