In his study, Kemppainen applies the critique of the anthropologist and sociologist Bruno Latour who has emphasized the entanglement of scientific, political and religious ideas in the modern culture. Latour stresses the historical continuums instead of sudden cultural revolutions and turning points. Inspired by Latour this study sees phenomena like gender, politics and religion as intersectional concepts instead of separate categories.
The thesis explores socialism through three entangled thematical unities that arise from the texts of Pärssinen, Tihlä and Willman. The first chapter focuses on the questions regarding the status of women, family and sexuality. Social discussion in the beginning of the 20th century was strongly gendered, and women concentrated mainly on themes of social and family politics. In this sense, Pärssinen, Tihlä and Willman were no exception although they brought some radical perspectives to the discussion in relation to the atmosphere of the period in question.
The second chapter deals with the three authors’ relation to the church and the educational institutions. The Finnish Lutheran church had a strong impact on the contents of education during the time. Values and morals were determined mainly by the religion taught by the church. Furthermore, the church’s interpretation of Christianity highly defined the discussion on family, the female ideal and the boundaries of appropriate sexuality. The socialists questioned the church’s power as religious authority and Pärssinen, Tihlä and Willman also regarded the church as an institution of capitalist oppression.
The third chapter raises the subject of the three authors’ own religious conceptions. This chapter examines closer how different interpretations of socialism and religion were able to supplement each other in the ideology of the early 1900s. The study indicates that religious ideas significantly molded the ideological content of the working class movement. It also shows how new religious ideas, such as Tolstoyism and western esoteric conceptions such as Theosophy which came to Finland in the late 19th century, could be harnessed as the driving force of the socialist revolution.
Central to the study is the concept of lived religion, which has been gaining more visibility in religious studies and historiography over the past decades. It has been used to describe how individuals and communities construct their identity and motivate their social activities through religion.
The results of the study show the ideological development of the Finnish working class movement in a vastly different light compared to previous research of history. In Finnish studies on the history of ideas womens’ interpretations on socialism have hardly been displayed and the conception of the ideological development of the working class movement has mainly been constructed through the male leaders of the Social Democratic Party. By highlighting the ideas of female socialists this thesis indicates that women defined socialism from their own premises and had a significant role in constructing the socialist ideology.
The conclusions of the study differ particularly regarding the interpretations concerning religion. Finnish historians have emphasized that religious ideas in the working class movement were superseded by the scientific ”naturalism” and the materialist class struggle before the first parliamentary elections of 1907.
By exploring the writings and biographical sources of Pärssinen, Tihlä and Willman the study points out that the assaults on the Lutheran church did not represent a straightforward shift from religious conceptions to scientific worldview and materialist socialism. It was rather an integration process where religion, science and politics were tightly entangled.
The doctoral dissertation of M.A. Mikko Kemppainen in the field of history titled Sosialismin, uskonnon ja sukupuolen dynamiikkaa – 1900-luvun alun työväenliikkeen naiskirjailijat aatteen määrittelijöinä will be publicly examined in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tampere University starting at 12 o'clock on Friday 11 September in Pinni building auditorium 1100, Kanslerinrinne 1. The Opponent will be University Lecturer Seija Jalagin from University of Oulu. The Custos will be University Lecturer Mervi Kaarninen.
The event can be followed via remote connection
The dissertation is available online at
http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-5976-87-8
Photo: Sanna Siitarinen