FROM NATIONAL TO INTERNATIONAL – KONRAD ZILLIACUS AND THE FINNISH CAUSE
Keywords:
Grand Duchy of Finland, nationalism, internationalism, activism, Russo-Japanese war, revolutionary parties, Russification, elites, minoritiesAbstract
In October 1904, while the Russian Empire fought against Japan in the Russo-Japanese war (1904–1905), representatives of the Russian revolutionary parties and national minorities of the Russian Empire gathered in Paris. Their aim was to build a common strategy for overthrowing the Tsarist regime. For this, the Paris Conference tried to unite the opposition forces from right to left. A Finnish journalist, writer and political activist, Konrad (Konni) Zilliacus (1855–1924) played an important role in organising this international event. Zilliacus’s attempts to unite the opposition forces of the Tsarist regime, as well as his cooperation with the Japanese military attaché Motojiro Akashi, have been discussed in several studies, especially in Finland. However, Zilliacus’s thoughts on nationalism and international cooperation are less discussed. The paper analyses the concepts of nationalism and internationalism in the context of Swedish-speaking elite in Finland, as well as in Konrad Zilliacus’s writings and political activism. As a journalist, writer and political activist, Zilliacus represented the younger generation of the Finnish elite, which did not accept the Tsarist regime’s unification attempts. The first Russification period (1899–1905) radicalised Konrad Zilliacus, who decided to seek support from the Russian revolutionaries. He believed that the Russo-Japanese war would lead to a revolutionary upheaval in the Empire, and this would help Finland in its struggle for autonomy. Zilliacus creates an interesting case in the discussion of national and political radicalism. Analysing his writings in the newspapers and his memoirs, the paper investigates what kind of nationalist and internationalist Konrad Zilliacus was.References
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