Fine Distinction

Finland owes its precarious freedom, says President Urho K. Kekkonen, to the ability "to live on fine distinctions." In foreign affairs, the tiny nation follows a policy of friendly neutrality toward its giant Soviet neighbor, but in its internal politics, Finland has steadfastly denied power to the Communists. In parliamentary elections last week, Finland again demonstrated its gift for fine distinctions: it slapped down local Communists with out overtly offending Moscow.

The elections were the latest installment of a political cliffhanger that began last fall when Moscow started making menacing noises suggesting a Soviet military move against Finland. At the time, President Kekkonen rushed to Siberia for a soothing meeting with Nikita Khrushchev, assured him of Finland's firm friendship with Russia, and returned home with a ringing plea that Finnish anti-Communists ought to quit public life. Only a few took his advice. In presidential elections last month, Kekkonen himself was overwhelmingly re-elected as the man who could get along with Moscow. In last week's parliamentary race (parliamentary and presidential elections are held separately in Finland), Kekkonen's moderate Agrarian Party again did extremely well, while anti-Communists showed that they were still very much a factor in Finnish politics.

New Majority. Throughout the campaign, the chief argument of all non-Communist political parties had been that the Communist vote must be held down, else Moscow might demand the inclusion of Reds in the Finnish Cabinet. Without mentioning Russia, political advertisements boldly warned that a vote for the Communists was a vote for "dictatorship." Newspapers and broadcasters loudly urged "sofa loungers" to get out and vote, since a light turnout would only aid the efficiently mobilized Communist Party. The Reds fought hard: in northernmost Lapland, the Communists cornered almost all the local taxis to shuttle their supporters to the polls.

Taxis and all, the Communists managed to win about 22% of the vote--1% less than in 1958. But because of the record turnout of 2,270,000 voters (83% of the electorate), the Reds lost three of their 50 seats in the 200-seat parliament. Among the losers: Party Chairman Aino Aaltonen, who had held his seat from the city of Turku since 1945. The defeat dropped the Communists to second place in parliament, topped by Kekkonen's Agrarians, who were able to gain six seats for a new total of 53. A more serious loss was suffered by the fellow-traveling Independent Socialists: twelve of their 14 representatives were defeated. The strongly anti-Communist Social Democrats picked up only one seat for a new parliamentary total of 38. Net: a one-vote leftist majority was replaced by a 13-vote majority of centrists, which promised to free Finland from years of legislative paralysis.

Moscow reaction was mixed. Pravda, the party organ, professed to find satisfaction in the fact that Russia's archenemies, the Social Democrats, lost slightly in the total popular vote compared with 1958. Izvestia, the government mouthpiece, was unhappy, accused "right-wing bourgeois groups" of using "all means, including provocations," to defeat Finland's Communists.

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