Strange Redmates

Domestic politics in Finland has for years been based on two cardinal considerations: 1) that no Communists enter the Cabinet, and 2) that no Social Democrats become Premiers. The policies were well founded. In 1948, the last time that Communists were in the Cabinet, they tried to turn Finland into a Soviet satellite. As for the Social Democrats, the Russians developed a special loathing for them in the mid-50s and, as next-door neighbors, were able to bully the Finns into keeping them out of power. But last week, as a new four-party coalition government formally took office, Finland's two basic policies were completely reversed. For the first time in 18 years, Communists were included in the Cabinet. And a Social Democrat took over as head of the government.

The first signs of a break with the past had come in March's national elections when the Social Democrats won 55 seats in the 200-seat unicameral

Parliament, jumped ahead of the Center (formerly Agrarian) Party and the Communists to become Finland's largest party. That raised the question: What would the Russians say about their old enemies? Just about everybody in Helsinki is convinced that what the Russians told Finnish President Urho K. Kekkonen was that the Social Democrats could form a Cabinet, but only if they included Finland's Red comrades.

In any case, the Social Democrats' Rafael Paasio, 63, who became Premier, gave three ministries--social welfare, price administration, and communications--to the Reds while keeping six for his party. The Center Party got five ministries and the Radical Socialists one. Many Finns were openly nervous at having the Reds in the Cabinet again, but President Kekkonen was blandly confident about the future. "Finnish democracy," he said, "will continue during the life of this government and thereafter."

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