1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, 2 00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: a podcast that usually isn't about shooting people. I'm your host, 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: Margaret Kiljoy, and that is the sketchiest introduction that I 4 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: will probably ever do for this show. My guest today 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:24,680 Speaker 1: is also not sketchy, and his name's Carl. Hi, Carl. 6 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 2: Hey, it's so good to be here, and it's good 7 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 2: to see you again. It's been a little while and 8 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 2: it's a real treat to be on the show today. Yeah, 9 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 2: I would say, yeah, shooting people is a sketchy thing. Sadly, 10 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:37,360 Speaker 2: within history sometimes it's been less sketchy to shoot them 11 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:38,880 Speaker 2: than to not. But that's a different topic. 12 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: That's the main topic we're going to talk about today. 13 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: Cool and Carl is the host of in Range TV, 14 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 1: which is a not just YouTube show where you can 15 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: learn about firearms. Is that a decent way to send 16 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: that up. 17 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 2: Yeah? I think so. It's a firearms channel at sensibly, 18 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 2: but I think it's much more a cultural historical channel 19 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 2: that deals with the topic of firearms through a different lens, 20 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:09,120 Speaker 2: is kind of the way I put it. So we 21 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 2: try to deal with these topics in a way that 22 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,119 Speaker 2: frequently other people who deal with firearms, don't approach them 23 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 2: from and I think that's part of the reason maybe 24 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 2: I'm here today. 25 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, it is. I think the audience knows. I don't 26 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 1: tell my guests what they're going to be on to 27 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: talk about, but Sophie knows. Sophie is our producer, Hig. 28 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 3: Sophie, Hi, I do know. And then I liked that 29 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 3: description of your channel, Carl. I feel like that, really 30 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:33,120 Speaker 3: like that. That really sums it up. 31 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 2: Thank you. 32 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 3: That's great. 33 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, folks have it. 34 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 3: I was gonna say, I am here though, and we 35 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 3: are here, and. 36 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: And who else is? 37 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 3: But it's it's our editor, Ian, That's where. 38 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: You're going for right It is. Ian isn't here with 39 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: us on the zoom, but here's what Ian is with 40 00:01:54,920 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: us spiritually always yes present. So everyone has to say 41 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: Hi Ian Hi Ian, Hi Ian Hi Ian. Well, and 42 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: our theme music was written for us by unwoman. So 43 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 1: this week and next week, because we're going to do 44 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 1: a four part we're going to talk about two extraordinary 45 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: people who had a lot in common and an awful 46 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: lot not in common, who are more or less on 47 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: opposite sides of a war. Carl, have you ever heard 48 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,920 Speaker 1: of the Great War? The World War It's sometimes called. 49 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 2: Oh the first you need Part one of World War Two. Yeah, 50 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 2: I've heard of that. 51 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: Well, that's what I was going to get to is 52 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,399 Speaker 1: actually it has a lesser known sequel called World War 53 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: two Electric Boogaloo, which is like a straight to DVD 54 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: thing that not too many people have heard of. 55 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's kind of one of those niche hipster wars. 56 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,119 Speaker 2: Yeah we should probably. Yeah, you hear about the Great 57 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 2: War all the time, but that that hipster stuff. You know, 58 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:53,920 Speaker 2: you got to go to special niche war markets for 59 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 2: that kind of content exactly. 60 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:00,239 Speaker 1: And that's what we are this week because today, Yeah, 61 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: I'm just kind of curious when you figure out what 62 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: we're talking about. One of the people that we're going 63 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: to talk about was a five foot three Finnish farmer 64 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: with a Mosin Nagant, which is an old bolt action 65 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: rifle in the Peri skis, who didn't want anyone to 66 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: invade and conquer his country. The other person we're going 67 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: to talk about was two inches shorter, still, a five 68 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: foot one Ukrainian gun manufacturer lady who also had a 69 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:28,800 Speaker 1: Moson Neagaunt, who also didn't want anyone to invade and 70 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: conquer her country. Both of them, by strange accidents of history, 71 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: were working counter to Hitler's plans. Although the Ukrainian woman 72 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: was absolutely the more anti fascist of the two. The 73 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: finn Simohuha is sometimes credited as the most successful sniper 74 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: in history. The Ukrainian Ludmila Pavlchenko is universally considered the 75 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: most successful woman sniper in history. It's actually completely possible. 76 00:03:57,600 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: The numbers and all this stuff is really blurry. It's 77 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: only possible she has more confirmed sniper kills with a 78 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: rifle than Simo because his count also includes his prolific 79 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: submachine gunning. You ever heard of these folks. 80 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 2: I've heard of both of them. I'm more familiar with Simo. 81 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 2: Although I'm familiar with both of them, I'm excited to 82 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 2: learn more about them. It is true about Simo, though, 83 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 2: I do know this, Like when you said about his 84 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:24,159 Speaker 2: submachine gun kills, the Finns during the Winter War and 85 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 2: the Continuation War were greatly armed with submachine guns, and 86 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 2: it was part of what educated the Soviet army, let's say, 87 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 2: on the value of those those types of weapons. Yeah. 88 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: No, it's interesting because it seems like the rifle they 89 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 1: used was a Russian design, and then the submachine gun 90 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: that everyone used was a finished design. 91 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 2: Or at least a derivative thereof. Yeah, so the finish 92 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 2: was the Saomi, and then you later see the PPSh 93 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 2: forty one and the forty three, and they the forty 94 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 2: one is definitely similar the drum magazine. In fact, in 95 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:58,840 Speaker 2: the Soviet weapon is nearly identical to the finish one. 96 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, makes a lot of sense. So first we are 97 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,200 Speaker 1: going to talk about Simo, which means we're going to 98 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: get to talk about my second favorite country to nerd 99 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: out about. The first one, as any listeners probably caught 100 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: on as Ireland. But the first country that I nerded 101 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:20,160 Speaker 1: out about when I was a kid, it is Finland. 102 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: I don't know why. I mean, I do know why, 103 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: but it's it's a weird story. 104 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 3: Okay, what is it? 105 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 2: Okay? 106 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: When I was fourteen years old, I was at a 107 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: very large concert in Washington, DC, and I was crowdsurfing 108 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:37,279 Speaker 1: to Blondie and I fell on top of a very 109 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: cute fourteen year old girl who was from Finland, and 110 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: we dated for many years, and I went and visitor 111 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,919 Speaker 1: in Finland. See some of the more interesting parts of 112 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 1: that story I have to cut out because it would 113 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: show who her family is. 114 00:05:53,920 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 3: I'm just saying that is a meat cute. 115 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 2: That seems like such a sweet story actually, and that 116 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:03,600 Speaker 2: and that gets you to Finland, which is a place 117 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 2: that I feel like so many people don't even know exists, 118 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 2: which is a weird statement, you know how that works? Like, no, 119 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:10,719 Speaker 2: it is one of those countries that's kind of like 120 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:13,320 Speaker 2: off the radar for lack of a better term, although 121 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,240 Speaker 2: a little more so recently with everything going on with Russia. 122 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:19,359 Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. I guess the whole 123 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 1: NATO thing. Have you ever been to Finland? 124 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 2: Either of you? A number of times? Three, three or 125 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:26,479 Speaker 2: four times? 126 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:33,120 Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, Sophy never Well, it's nice. The sun either 127 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:35,480 Speaker 1: doesn't go down or it doesn't come up, depending on 128 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 1: your timing, which I think for most people means the 129 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:41,200 Speaker 1: sun never goes down, because I don't know a lot 130 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 1: of people who travel to Finland in the winter unless 131 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: they live in Finland. You ever gone in the winter. 132 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: I've only gone in the summer. 133 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 2: But the one time I went in the winter, it 134 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 2: was one of those incredibly mild winters, so I did 135 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:56,840 Speaker 2: not experience like true Finnish winter. Yeah, so I got, 136 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:58,800 Speaker 2: I got the real, the real, simple taste of it. 137 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:00,600 Speaker 1: Yeah. 138 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:02,359 Speaker 2: So Finland. 139 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: I think you're absolutely right. Finland is a sort of 140 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: overlooked country. And I think what a lot of people 141 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: assume that they know about Finland is not true. Finland 142 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: is not the country that people might assume it is. 143 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: Finland has only been a country for less than half 144 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: the time that the US has been a country. And 145 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: it's not Scandinavian. That is the one big thing that 146 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:27,680 Speaker 1: I think people misunderstand about Finland, or at least Americans 147 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 1: misunderstand about Finland. It's a far northern country. It is 148 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,800 Speaker 1: not on the Scandinavian peninsula. It is I mean neither 149 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 1: Iceland or Denmark. But those are Scandinavian countries because they're 150 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: culturally Scandinavian. All of these like whenever I talk about 151 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: like what counts as what and like lines on a map, 152 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: it's all bullshit. And this whole story is about how 153 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: all that stuff's bullshit, but also how it matters. So 154 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: the rest of Scandinavia, they're all Germanic pagans like fore 155 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: and Odin and Lokian shit. Well, I mean not now, 156 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: but historically some of them still are. Finland is considered Nordic, 157 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: but it is not considered Scandinavian. It has always had 158 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: its own thing going on, like really had its own 159 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: thing going on. There are only a few other places 160 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: like Estonia and Hungary that are linguistically related to Finland 161 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: to any appreciable degree. And it's an odd man out 162 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: from Europe, just part of why it's so fucking cool, frankly, 163 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: although it is also part of why it has suffered 164 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: at the hands of other countries so many times. Finnish 165 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: paganism is a combination of polytheistic, like it has lots 166 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: of gods, but it's also animistic in that there are 167 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: spirits and everything in the world. Animals are considered sacred, 168 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: and each type of animal has its own like animal mother, 169 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:47,439 Speaker 1: a sort of guardian spirit for all of that animal 170 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: that is distinct from the gods themselves. As best I 171 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: can tell, and I'm not actually an expert on Finnished paganism, 172 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:55,680 Speaker 1: as best as I can tell, it's actually because there's 173 00:08:55,679 --> 00:08:59,320 Speaker 1: like multiple religions that are all kind of like trying 174 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 1: to share the same and like some of them are 175 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,080 Speaker 1: more animistic, and some of them are more polytheistic. That's 176 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:08,200 Speaker 1: my like, that's my best inference based on what I've read. 177 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 1: But I haven't had as many conversations with Finns about 178 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: their paganism. 179 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:14,000 Speaker 2: It does. 180 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:16,679 Speaker 1: Have you ever heard of the finish afterlife? The pagan afterlife? 181 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 2: Actually, that's not something I'm familiar with. I'm familiar with 182 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 2: some of the similarities of Greater European paganism in Finnish paganism, 183 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 2: for example, like thor and Percle, which is one of 184 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 2: their curse words, which is the lightning god. That's interesting, 185 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 2: but not about the afterlife. 186 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:35,320 Speaker 1: So no bed was the first finished word I learned 187 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 1: after kitos, which means thank you. The word for like 188 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: basically goddamn. It is the word for the old. Uh yeah, 189 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: one of their old gods. The afterlife is called Twanala, 190 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: which is and the reason it's my favorite is because 191 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:54,439 Speaker 1: it's when you die, you're dead, like more or less. 192 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:56,560 Speaker 1: Like it's not technically that when you die you go 193 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:59,960 Speaker 1: to a dark underground and you sleep without dreaming forever. 194 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:03,960 Speaker 1: So like when you die, you're dead, and there's like 195 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:05,880 Speaker 1: some gods that look over it, and like, you know, 196 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: there's all the stories about people like going there and 197 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: getting stuck there and retrieving wisdom and all that shit. 198 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:14,960 Speaker 1: But like, good bad, it doesn't matter. When you die, 199 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: you are fucking dead. I love it. 200 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 2: It's the strongest spiritual form of ambient. 201 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:26,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Finnish is a Uralic language, which the only 202 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: real relations to it being Estonian and Hungarian. And the 203 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:33,400 Speaker 1: way that a finn once told me, because I was like, 204 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:35,839 Speaker 1: I went there and people were like, oh, Finish is 205 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:38,040 Speaker 1: like nothing like any other language. And then I was like, wait, 206 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:40,200 Speaker 1: I read a book it says it's like Hungarian, and 207 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:44,440 Speaker 1: this old Finnish man was like, yeah, it was. Actually 208 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: my partner's dad was like, if you're on one mountaintop 209 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:51,440 Speaker 1: and a Hungarian is on the other mountaintop like yelling, 210 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:55,080 Speaker 1: I guess you could maybe think it was finish. That 211 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:59,960 Speaker 1: was the way to describe the difference. Uralic language is 212 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: come from a language called proto Uralic, which was spoken 213 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: in the Ural Mountains, which is a mountain range that 214 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: runs through chunk of Russia. Basically because actually everyone moves 215 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:12,200 Speaker 1: around all the time and nationalism is garbage, Finnish wasn't 216 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:14,960 Speaker 1: a written language for a long ass time. In the 217 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: sixteenth century, folks were like, well, what if we want 218 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,080 Speaker 1: to write the Bible? And they were like, oh shit, 219 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:22,640 Speaker 1: I guess we need a written language, right, So it 220 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,439 Speaker 1: started being written, but only in religious context. They didn't 221 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: really the modern written Finish was not developed until the 222 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: nineteenth century. Everyone was writing Swedish. It wasn't that people 223 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 1: weren't I mean, I'm sure a lot of people weren't literate, 224 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:37,679 Speaker 1: but it was all ruled by Sweden at this point. 225 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:41,200 Speaker 1: So the modern written Finish was developed in the nineteenth 226 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 1: century as part of this urge to create a Finnish 227 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 1: nationalism to escape centuries of Swedish and Russian colonization. I know, 228 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,120 Speaker 1: I just talked shit on nationalism, but it means different 229 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:52,120 Speaker 1: things in different contexts. It's a different thing when you're 230 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: talking about colonized people versus anyway whatever. People probably heard 231 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: me rant about that before. If not, yep, okay, great, And. 232 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:05,400 Speaker 2: Still to this day in Finland the two national languages 233 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 2: are Finnish and Swedish. Yeah, those are the ones you're 234 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:09,840 Speaker 2: supposed to learn in school. Although everyone knows. 235 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:14,200 Speaker 1: English, yeah, and only six percent of people have finishes 236 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:16,960 Speaker 1: I mean as Swedish as their like first language. It's 237 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 1: pretty much a leftover. There's like class shit in there too. 238 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all on the street signs though, So when 239 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 2: you're like, when you're wandering around, you'll see Finnish and 240 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:27,320 Speaker 2: Swedish right next to each other, and Swedish is easier 241 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:29,600 Speaker 2: as an English speaker to try and figure out, so 242 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 2: I can sort of decipher things through Swedish. 243 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's actually that's a really good point I learned. 244 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: One of the things I learned, I've been a Finland 245 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 1: bunch of times, and one of the times, people will 246 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:41,439 Speaker 1: come up to me and they would like, oh, I'm 247 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: going to get this all wrong. It's been a while 248 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: since I've been there, and they if people come up 249 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:47,840 Speaker 1: to me and talk to me, And so for longest time, 250 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: I was saying enpoo sumalainen, which I thought meant I 251 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 1: don't speak Finnish. Eventually, and everyone as soon as I 252 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 1: said that, people would turn around and walk away. And 253 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:00,440 Speaker 1: then eventually I learned I was saying, and I don't 254 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,319 Speaker 1: speak Finnish people. But then I learned that if I 255 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: just said I don't speak Finnish in English, they would 256 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: talk to me, whereas if I didn't want to talk 257 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:09,400 Speaker 1: to them, I would say I don't speak Finnish and 258 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:11,560 Speaker 1: Finnish and then they would turn around and leave, especially 259 00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:15,160 Speaker 1: if I said I don't talk Finnish people anyway. Right, 260 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,320 Speaker 1: So is a fucking cool language. I am not good 261 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:22,200 Speaker 1: at speaking it, as we have discovered. I know how 262 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:25,440 Speaker 1: to say beer and thank you and cuss. There are 263 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:28,959 Speaker 1: no gendered pronouns in Finnish. The same word is used 264 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 1: for men and women. Lots of languages do this, actually, 265 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: probably the majority of languages in the world do this, 266 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: but almost no Western languages. The only exceptions that I've 267 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:41,680 Speaker 1: ever been able to find of Western languages that have 268 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 1: no gendered pronouns are Finnish and Hungarian and Bosque and 269 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,240 Speaker 1: except Have you ever heard about the secret gendered pronoun 270 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:52,520 Speaker 1: in Finnish? 271 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 2: No? 272 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,560 Speaker 1: Okay, One time a drunk Finn told me that there's 273 00:13:57,559 --> 00:13:59,679 Speaker 1: a secret, and I'm going to tell you the secret, 274 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 1: but can't tell anyone. There's one gendered pronoun in Finish. 275 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:07,080 Speaker 1: It is rarely used, and it is used for the 276 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 1: gender my useless piece of shit husband. And whenever I 277 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:18,559 Speaker 1: and I've checked this by talking to Finns about it, 278 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:20,640 Speaker 1: and they always start off by saying no, there's no 279 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: gender pronouns and finish, and I'm like, well, what about 280 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: my useless piece of shit husband pronoun? And then, especially 281 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,280 Speaker 1: if they're drunk, they'll admit it that there is this 282 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:33,480 Speaker 1: secret gender pronoun. I can't remember what it is. And 283 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: I tried googling this and I did not come up 284 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: with success. And I wrote my finish friend, and I 285 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: think my finished friend is sick of me asking this 286 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:43,680 Speaker 1: kind of question and didn't get back to me before 287 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: the time of recording. 288 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 2: So just be a couple little things like this. For example, 289 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 2: there's another word that's just one word that means sitting 290 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 2: at home drunk in your underwear. Yeah, it's just one word. 291 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:57,400 Speaker 2: So you say that one word and everyone knows what 292 00:14:57,440 --> 00:14:59,600 Speaker 2: you're doing that night, for example. So there's like little 293 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 2: secret like that. 294 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, totally, spoon theory is written into the finish. This 295 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: is going to turn into a weird Margaret or whatever 296 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: spoon theory has written into it, though like, I don't 297 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:10,560 Speaker 1: have the spoons to do it. I'm too tired. You 298 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: can say anyoxa, which again I might be completely butchering. 299 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 1: I learned this when I was sixteen years old and 300 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 1: have not checked since but this, you know, this idea 301 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: of like I don't have the energy, and you can 302 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: say it in a way that like, if you say 303 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:25,640 Speaker 1: it in English, I don't have the energy, people are like, ah, 304 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:29,680 Speaker 1: you lazy bum get up. At least in the nineties, 305 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 1: I think that culture is caught on to the fact 306 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 1: that sometimes people literally don't have the energy to do 307 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:41,520 Speaker 1: things anyway. Fins historically were wild and scary to the Scandinavians. 308 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,200 Speaker 1: Fins were seen as wizards by the Norse. If a 309 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: fin shows up in a story, you know that something 310 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: spooky is about to happen. But this is also a 311 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,480 Speaker 1: conflation of the Fins with the Sami people, which is 312 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 1: an indigenous group in the northern in like Lopland. Right 313 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,400 Speaker 1: that the Scandinavians weren't really good at making these distinctions, 314 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:03,360 Speaker 1: and neither is anyone else, because the samiyear and oppressed 315 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 1: people who get complated with the Finns. Finnish also only 316 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,520 Speaker 1: became one culture really recently, and it's still in many 317 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 1: ways not necessarily one culture. The indigenous Sami of the 318 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:17,360 Speaker 1: north exist, and then even in southern Finland there are 319 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 1: multiple regions with their own ethnicities and languages. Even if 320 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:23,000 Speaker 1: most of them are Finnic, right, like you have the Karelians, 321 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: the Ingredians, and the Ingreans were almost completely genocided by 322 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: Stalin and we're going to talk about that, and that 323 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: is going to be a really major factor in understanding 324 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,040 Speaker 1: what we're going to talk about, which is clearly Finland 325 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 1: and World War Two. We've clearly painted at that. But 326 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 1: you know what isn't Finland in World War two? Any ideas? 327 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 2: But it's the sponsors that support this podcast. 328 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:53,920 Speaker 1: That's right, all of them. Actually, I don't know what 329 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:57,480 Speaker 1: Nokia is doing in Finland back then. I don't know. 330 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: Kia might not have started till later. There actually could 331 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:04,800 Speaker 1: be sponsors that were on World War Two. I just 332 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:06,119 Speaker 1: did that annoying thing where it's like I knew I 333 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:07,800 Speaker 1: pronounced it like fins and that's not true. I just 334 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 1: fucked it up. I should just say no Kia. Uh, 335 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:12,480 Speaker 1: but that's not who we're sponsored by, unless it is. 336 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 2: I don't fucking know. 337 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:16,760 Speaker 1: Here's some ads that let me feed my dog. 338 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:21,480 Speaker 2: And we're back. 339 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,879 Speaker 1: They were a tire manufact o Kia was, Yeah. I 340 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:27,400 Speaker 1: think they did other shit too, But I remember one 341 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 1: time I was at this like squat and I was 342 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 1: like standing on this tire and I said no Ken. 343 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:32,600 Speaker 1: I was like, that's funny. That's a phone, and they're like, 344 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:34,359 Speaker 1: it's not a phone, it's a tire, and I was 345 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:35,240 Speaker 1: like that makes sense. 346 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:39,239 Speaker 2: Like Mitsubishi's used to be used to make zeros, used 347 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 2: to make wet talk about that anymore. The zero aircraft 348 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 2: from the Japanese. Oh shit, yeah, they made they made 349 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 2: the zeros. If you if you email them about they 350 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 2: just don't reply. 351 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of World War two stuff that 352 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 1: people don't like to admit that they were making, including 353 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:55,720 Speaker 1: if you ask Finland what it was doing during World 354 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,399 Speaker 1: War Two, they don't like talking about it for some 355 00:17:58,440 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: weird reason. 356 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:01,959 Speaker 2: But it's an interesting situation and they were. They were 357 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 2: in a tenuous place that put them in a really 358 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:05,680 Speaker 2: interesting predicament. 359 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:11,359 Speaker 1: That is the main subject of today. Yeah, so the 360 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 1: actual areas of what includes Finnish culture doesn't really line 361 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,720 Speaker 1: up with a modern map. You've got folks speaking Miankili 362 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,440 Speaker 1: in northeastern Swedish in Sweden, which is a Finnish dialect 363 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: sort of another Finnic language, and then in Karealia, which 364 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:28,159 Speaker 1: is now mostly part of Russia, and then Ingria is 365 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,879 Speaker 1: entirely in Russia, so lines on maps don't define culture 366 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:36,639 Speaker 1: very successfully, right, But in the nineteenth century, Finland is 367 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,399 Speaker 1: trying to become Finland, and so a poet whose name 368 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: I forgot to write down goes around and collects the Kalabala, 369 00:18:43,359 --> 00:18:47,000 Speaker 1: which is the Finnish great epic of all their myths 370 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: and shit, and it kind of turns it into a 371 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:52,120 Speaker 1: single narrative. So in some weird ways, it's like, oh 372 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,199 Speaker 1: the like all the traditional mythology is actually only from 373 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:57,680 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, but it draws on oral tradition before that. 374 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:02,320 Speaker 1: These days, Finland is probably known for being happy, except 375 00:19:02,359 --> 00:19:05,200 Speaker 1: that it has a really high suicide rate, although lower 376 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:08,160 Speaker 1: than the US is. And it's known for being a great, 377 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 1: great social democracy, except that the social democracy is falling 378 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: apart and fascists are gaining more and more power. It's 379 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:17,200 Speaker 1: also known for producing very great black metal, no notes 380 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 1: this is true, and for being the place that gives 381 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 1: the world, gives the world the sauna, and for having 382 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:26,440 Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty thousand lakes a lot of fun. 383 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 2: The times that I spent there, I came to actually 384 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:31,400 Speaker 2: appreciate the suna. The sound is a really nice thing. 385 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 2: So there's a real something there. The going from the 386 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 2: cold water to the hot sana and back and forth 387 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 2: again really is invigorating. Whether it is just a chemical 388 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 2: inducing moment or really healthy for you, I don't know, 389 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:47,199 Speaker 2: but it's nice and there's just a public element to it. 390 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,000 Speaker 2: There's a fact there's a public sauna in Helsinki that 391 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,360 Speaker 2: you can go to and like, for example, they don't 392 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,200 Speaker 2: have hang ups like about like public nudity like we 393 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:56,359 Speaker 2: would in the US, where people just all body types 394 00:19:56,359 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 2: and everyone's together in one space. Yeah, and nobody really 395 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 2: looks at each other and it's not but if it 396 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:02,879 Speaker 2: was here it would be weird. So that's an example 397 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:04,720 Speaker 2: of our culture does form things. 398 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:11,719 Speaker 1: No totally, that is a yeah, yeah, I don't know. 399 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: I agree. So Finland started off through most of the 400 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 1: medieval era and stuff. It was like fairly tribal. The 401 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,800 Speaker 1: southern folks started becoming more sedentary and agricultural, but were 402 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: still like theoretically divided into what gets called tribal as 403 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:27,080 Speaker 1: a really blurry word that gets used a lot of 404 00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 1: different ways. Whereas the northern Sami we're like we're good, 405 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:32,040 Speaker 1: We're just gonna keep hunting, fishing, like I don't know 406 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:35,639 Speaker 1: about agriculture shit. And then in the thirteenth century, the 407 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:40,320 Speaker 1: Christians were like, well, we don't want cool, pluralistic religious systems, 408 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:42,600 Speaker 1: so we're going to kill you all until you join 409 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: our blood drinking cult. So they had the Northern Crusades, 410 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:51,880 Speaker 1: the lesser known Crusades, and they conquered Finland for Sweden, 411 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: and basically Finland became European at this point, and it 412 00:20:56,359 --> 00:21:00,920 Speaker 1: also became Catholic. Then the Protestant Reformation hit the North hard, 413 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:03,920 Speaker 1: and Finland went Lutheran because the Swedish king went Lutheran 414 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: during the nineteen forties when most of our story takes place, 415 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 1: Like ninety six percent of Finns are Lutheran, which I 416 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:13,359 Speaker 1: do not know a ton about. But it's not anti 417 00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: science or anti abortion, so okay. 418 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:17,280 Speaker 2: It tends to be more chill. 419 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,000 Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, that seems to be the Yeah, it's 420 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 1: like seems like in the like Catholic light kind of category. 421 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. It's a high church with a lot of 422 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:26,679 Speaker 2: pomp and circumstance, but a lot what seems like a 423 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,359 Speaker 2: lot less awfulness in it. I mean not that there isn't, 424 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:32,520 Speaker 2: but it's less right, and so yeah, I think we 425 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 2: forget because it was long ago. But like in Europe, 426 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:38,160 Speaker 2: just like in so many other places in the world, 427 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:41,639 Speaker 2: Christianity was spread by sword and gun, and Finland and 428 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 2: Norway and Sweden, all those places were crushed under that 429 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 2: similar type of the theocratical war. 430 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:51,159 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, totally, and I mean and then even the 431 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,600 Speaker 1: places that were each doing the conquering are then going out, 432 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:55,840 Speaker 1: like like Sweden conquering them, but Sweden had just been 433 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: conquered by Christianity. And then I don't actually know who 434 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:00,960 Speaker 1: conquered Sweden with Christianity. I assume it was the English, 435 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: but I haven't. I don't know, but it's like it 436 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:09,000 Speaker 1: happened to them too. It's this gift that keeps on giving. 437 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:11,719 Speaker 2: What's super interesting about that. I don't know if when 438 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 2: you were there, if you went to Helsinki and saw 439 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 2: the history museum, But when you go through, at the 440 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:18,359 Speaker 2: bottom floor is like the oldest elements, and then it 441 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 2: goes up and as you go up, different floor, as 442 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 2: it goes to more modern and closer to a current time. Okay, 443 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 2: when you get to the floor, When you get to 444 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,639 Speaker 2: the floor, it's like it says the Christian era, and 445 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:29,720 Speaker 2: then when you go to the floor above it, it's interesting, 446 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:31,720 Speaker 2: it's a word phrase that would never be used here. 447 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:34,359 Speaker 2: They refer to it in the museum as the post 448 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,920 Speaker 2: Christian era. I thought that was something. 449 00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I I guess when I was younger, I 450 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:44,399 Speaker 1: probably I went to some like museums and shit. When 451 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:45,960 Speaker 1: I went there as an adult, I was a fucking 452 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: crusty piece of shit, and I was like, I have 453 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:52,000 Speaker 1: more memories of being passed out drunk and a gutter 454 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 1: outside a gay bar in Helsinki has some good conversations 455 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:00,080 Speaker 1: with folks. Well passed out drunk and a gutter. I 456 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: know that passed out and talking don't whatever. Anyway, So 457 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:08,160 Speaker 1: Finland kept having it rough. It was a poor outpost 458 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: of an empire, and that tends to go rough. About 459 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 1: a third of the population died two years in two 460 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,439 Speaker 1: years during a famine from sixteen ninety five to sixteen 461 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,520 Speaker 1: ninety seven. It was a really cold summer followed by 462 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:25,320 Speaker 1: a really hot winter that just fucked everything up, plus 463 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:28,240 Speaker 1: snowing and floods and the combo move of the little 464 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:30,639 Speaker 1: ice age happening, and then a whole bunch of volcanoes 465 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: had gone off all around the world, and it was 466 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:35,359 Speaker 1: bad and people were like eating each other and shit, 467 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: not the majority of people, but that was the thing 468 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:41,240 Speaker 1: that happened and it was really bad. 469 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:41,960 Speaker 2: But don't worry. 470 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: It stayed really bad for Finland because Russia kept invading 471 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,440 Speaker 1: and conquering in the eighteenth century in two events known 472 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 1: as the Greater Wrath and the Lesser Wrath. 473 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 2: I had never heard of that. That's yeah, that's fun, 474 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:59,680 Speaker 2: as though Lesser Wrath is any somehow not any worse. 475 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like how the 476 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: Great War it doesn't actually seem that bad when you 477 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: hold it up to World War Two, but it was 478 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,399 Speaker 1: absolutely an completely horrendous thing, you know. 479 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:09,399 Speaker 2: Oh, I think you could argue in some ways, I 480 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 2: mean obviously. 481 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:10,840 Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough. 482 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:12,640 Speaker 2: I don't know if those worse are good or better 483 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 2: in terms of war, but the Great War in some 484 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:17,520 Speaker 2: ways was even more horrific in certain instances. 485 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, fair enough. So the Greater and Lesser Wraths 486 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:24,360 Speaker 1: involved Russians going around with axes murdering hundreds of peasants 487 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:25,960 Speaker 1: that ago like they would just like walk up to 488 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 1: a village and kill everyone with axes with a plague 489 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:33,360 Speaker 1: happening at the same time. Then in eighteen oh nine 490 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,640 Speaker 1: Russia got Finland and held it the wraths. They didn't 491 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:39,800 Speaker 1: really successfully hold it, and Russia held Finland for more 492 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 1: than one hundred years. During this time, you start getting 493 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 1: finished nationalism though, like let's be free idea, and a 494 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 1: big part of the like leftist and labor thing for 495 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: decades was fighting against Russification. So the very idea of 496 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:58,359 Speaker 1: making a Finland was a worker's idea and a socialist idea, 497 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:04,080 Speaker 1: especially social democracy that was like always the most common 498 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:08,680 Speaker 1: wave of like I'll talk sometimes about how overall socialism 499 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,879 Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century had like three sides. There was anarchism, 500 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: there was authoritarian communism, there's social democracy, and the dominant 501 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:20,640 Speaker 1: strain in Finland I think the entire time has been 502 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:26,920 Speaker 1: social democracy. So in their own internal elections before Finland 503 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: becomes free, they become the first European power to give 504 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,560 Speaker 1: women the right to vote. Literally, women have had the 505 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,960 Speaker 1: right to vote in Finland since before there was a Finland. 506 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:42,760 Speaker 1: And nineteen seventeen is a year that comes up a 507 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:45,359 Speaker 1: lot for some weird reason, was a good year for 508 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:49,159 Speaker 1: leaving Russia. Finland was torn between the Social Democrats and 509 00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:53,000 Speaker 1: right wing parties as Communists took control of Russia. The 510 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:55,919 Speaker 1: right wing of Finland recently. Previously, the right wing of 511 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,240 Speaker 1: Finland was the like we love Russia part right, but 512 00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: then when the Communie to control of the Soviet Union, 513 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,680 Speaker 1: they were like, we're not so sure about Russia anymore. Actually, 514 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:07,760 Speaker 1: we want to be free too, So they like show 515 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:09,359 Speaker 1: up in the Social Democrats like, wait, you want to 516 00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:11,879 Speaker 1: be free too, We actually, like finally fucking agree that 517 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:13,400 Speaker 1: we want to be Finland, and they were like, yeah, 518 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,760 Speaker 1: we totally want to be Finland totally. This is an 519 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,280 Speaker 1: employ to join the German Empire. I swear we're not 520 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 1: just looking for a different boot to lick. And they 521 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: were like, sweet, I don't know why you brought that 522 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:25,560 Speaker 1: up about the German Empire. It seems completely unrelated, but sure, 523 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:30,720 Speaker 1: let's be free. So Finland declared it's independence. And this 524 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:33,399 Speaker 1: was before the Bolsheviks were like we want all power forever, 525 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:37,320 Speaker 1: fuck everyone, right, or kind of before they had conquered 526 00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:39,560 Speaker 1: all power. So Lenin was like, chill, you can go 527 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:43,720 Speaker 1: your own way. It's cool. It helped I think this 528 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 1: is my inference a really large chunk of the Soviet 529 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,879 Speaker 1: forces in the northwestern Russia where the sailors who skewed 530 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,680 Speaker 1: heavily anarchist, and anarchists tend to be a little bit less, 531 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:58,600 Speaker 1: making everyone be Bolsheviks kind of one of their things. 532 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:03,919 Speaker 1: So you have a newly through free Finland and they're like, okay, 533 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:07,480 Speaker 1: are we a socialist workers republic in a social democratic 534 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:11,120 Speaker 1: form or are we a puppet state of the German monarchy? 535 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:16,080 Speaker 1: And they had a war about it. The Reds were 536 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:20,440 Speaker 1: mostly social Democrats and only a minority of them wanted 537 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,159 Speaker 1: to join the Bolshevik thing going on next door. They 538 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:26,360 Speaker 1: wanted no dictatorship of the proletariat. They only wanted democracy. 539 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 1: They kind of they specifically were like, basically, we want 540 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,720 Speaker 1: like a France or USA without private property, like with 541 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,480 Speaker 1: where where workers own the means of production instead of 542 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:38,400 Speaker 1: like one dude owns everything. 543 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:41,600 Speaker 2: You know, Yeah, you could. You can still see bullet 544 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,399 Speaker 2: holes in buildings in Helsinki from the Reds in the 545 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:45,160 Speaker 2: White Civil War. 546 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, I believe it. 547 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 2: And it's another thing that I thought was super interesting 548 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:53,160 Speaker 2: was in Helsinki is that while it's no longer necessarily 549 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 2: that same level of direct conflict the areas that were 550 00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:58,919 Speaker 2: quote white in the areas that were quite red in 551 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,320 Speaker 2: terms of like in terms of possession of the city 552 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,960 Speaker 2: still have a different vibe when you're in them even now. 553 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:09,680 Speaker 2: That makes architecturally, yeah, yeah, like restaurants, even down to basics, 554 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,359 Speaker 2: like just the general let's put it this way. Some 555 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:14,920 Speaker 2: places are just way more bohemian feeling and they still 556 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 2: feel that way. Yeah, and it's leftovers that resonate from 557 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:19,440 Speaker 2: like that long ago. It's really interesting. 558 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:21,639 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that that makes all of sense to me. 559 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:25,239 Speaker 1: This was a nasty civil war and the way it 560 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:27,359 Speaker 1: used to get explained to me was like, well, some 561 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:29,679 Speaker 1: Finns were capitalists and some were Soviets, and they had 562 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: a war, and the capitalist one. This is not a 563 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:37,920 Speaker 1: very good way of understanding the civil war. It was Bolsheviks. Sorry, 564 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:39,960 Speaker 1: it was not Bolsheviks as social democrats. And then the 565 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:45,600 Speaker 1: capitalists who won militarily were heavily supported by Germany. Basically, 566 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,560 Speaker 1: Germany conquered Finland at the behest of the upper classes 567 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: of Finland. Then the whites were like, hey, Germany, do 568 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 1: you want to help us get rid of this red problem? 569 00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: And they're like, yeah, as long as our prince gets 570 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,680 Speaker 1: to be whatever anyway. So the Reds were volunteered, the 571 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 1: Whites were conscripts. The Reds included thousands of women fighting 572 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:08,880 Speaker 1: in the army the Soviets. The Soviets off to the side, 573 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 1: were split. I actually had just assumed that they basically 574 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,360 Speaker 1: were the main Red Army in supporting the Red Army. 575 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:17,360 Speaker 1: They mostly kind of stayed out of it. Some supported 576 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 1: the Reds, some worked against the Reds and effectively sided 577 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 1: with the Whites. The Soviet soldier station in Finland who 578 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,840 Speaker 1: sided with the Reds were buying large these anarchists two 579 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:30,920 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty anarchists sailors in the Battle of RUSSOVESI was, 580 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,440 Speaker 1: I don't know, the main largest force of Soviet forces 581 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:39,000 Speaker 1: I found fighting in the Civil War. I'm sure there's others. 582 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,920 Speaker 1: And this is while the anarchists were still sometimes part 583 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: of the Red Army. That changes, and we'll talk about 584 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,880 Speaker 1: it in the next week's episodes. I don't know if 585 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: anyone on the show has picked up that I'm not 586 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: really excited about Bolshevism, that they tend to kill everyone 587 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: that they disagree with. But if you're ever in the 588 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: middle of a revolution and you're like man, I wish it. 589 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 1: I hope someone betrayed, Like I hope someone uses this 590 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 1: as an opportunity to just like kill everyone who disagrees 591 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:10,160 Speaker 1: with them. Well, then you should befriend the Bolsheviks, the 592 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 1: group that won the Civil War. You would think it 593 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: would be the Finns because they were both sides of 594 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,080 Speaker 1: the fight. But it was not the Finns who won 595 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:21,800 Speaker 1: the Civil War. It was the Germans. The conquering Whites 596 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 1: rounded up the Reds and their families and just fucking 597 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:28,040 Speaker 1: murdered them or just left them to starve. More than 598 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,320 Speaker 1: ten thousand Red prisoners were left to starve to death 599 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:34,720 Speaker 1: in prison camps, and the White Field commanders got shot 600 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: the shoot on the spot declaration, which was fairly literal, 601 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,680 Speaker 1: and it told them to execute anyone they wanted. Yeah. 602 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: I had this moment where I didn't really know about 603 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: this right when I was when I you know, went 604 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 1: to Finland and until like some of the more recent times, 605 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,520 Speaker 1: I went to this anarchist festival called Most of Pispola, 606 00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:57,640 Speaker 1: and Pistola is a working class suburb of Tampaday, and 607 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:00,120 Speaker 1: at one night I was like walking home from the 608 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:01,760 Speaker 1: party at two in the morning and like the sun's 609 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,080 Speaker 1: still on the horizon because it's fucking Finland and it's 610 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: cool as shit. And there's this big hill that runs 611 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:08,720 Speaker 1: to the middle of town and I walk up to 612 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: the top of it by myself, and there's just this 613 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,400 Speaker 1: big monument and it's just a monument to the murdered Reds, 614 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: and I just had this, like, I don't know, introspective 615 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: moment thinking about that war and thinking about how, as 616 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 1: likely as not, I would have been fucking one of 617 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:25,720 Speaker 1: those dead people. 618 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:29,880 Speaker 2: You know. Yeah, it makes the things like that make 619 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:32,200 Speaker 2: this palpable, don't it doesn't It It's like when you 620 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:33,840 Speaker 2: see it and you, like I said, you can see 621 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,440 Speaker 2: the bullet hole and the glass of the building, or 622 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,240 Speaker 2: the vibe of just different neighborhoods in the city that 623 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 2: is still still resonate from one hundred years ago, really, 624 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:46,440 Speaker 2: but it still has that effect indelible fingerprint on the 625 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 2: on the society in it. Yeah, and I don't I 626 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:53,240 Speaker 2: don't know, like you mentioned earlier, like how things are 627 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,600 Speaker 2: sometimes devolving there in terms of authoritarianism, and it's it 628 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,960 Speaker 2: doesn't really go away. It just it just gets quiet 629 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 2: for a little while and then it comes. 630 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:04,560 Speaker 1: Back totally and The only positive thing is so, does 631 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:06,560 Speaker 1: you know all the social Democrats have just been murdered 632 00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:08,120 Speaker 1: and all their families have got murdered, right, And it 633 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:12,080 Speaker 1: actually doesn't even take a generation before social democracy is 634 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,880 Speaker 1: a major force in Finland again, you know. Yeah, the 635 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,000 Speaker 1: Whites win, and since they were boot liquor fox didn't 636 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,880 Speaker 1: actually believe in a free Finland, they elected the parliament 637 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:25,960 Speaker 1: elected a German prince as the King of Finland. Fortunately, 638 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: Germany then immediately lost World War One and the German 639 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:34,400 Speaker 1: Empire collapsed. Finland became a republic and kind of in 640 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:38,200 Speaker 1: the weird way, like the moderates won the war, like 641 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: the side that wasn't one of the sides won the 642 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 1: war because the Whites and the Reds kind of both 643 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:48,880 Speaker 1: lost bootlocking the Germans and the atrocities that the Whites 644 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,360 Speaker 1: had committed lost the Whites a lot of popular support, 645 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:53,960 Speaker 1: and the Reds had lost all their popular support because 646 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,920 Speaker 1: they were dead or in exile. And so you get 647 00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,800 Speaker 1: the moderates, the center and the center left, who more 648 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,360 Speaker 1: less have traded Finland off between each other ever since. 649 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 1: So Finland messy place, beautiful place, lots of lakes between 650 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:12,360 Speaker 1: the wars, World War one and World War Two. In 651 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 1: case anyone forgot what the two wars were, they're numerically named. 652 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:17,600 Speaker 1: It's easier to remember which one came first, which one 653 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:19,920 Speaker 1: came second. Wouldn't it be awful if they were a 654 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:22,360 Speaker 1: countdown instead, like we'd started off with like World War 655 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 1: nine or something. 656 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 2: You know, well, then you know how many are left. 657 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:29,040 Speaker 2: That's true, which is kind of nice until you get 658 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:30,520 Speaker 2: to zero, and then you just don't know what's going 659 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:30,880 Speaker 2: to happen. 660 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: I believe Fenris Fenrier is going to eat the sun. 661 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,440 Speaker 2: And then oh yes. 662 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: So between the two wars, two things of importance to 663 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:46,320 Speaker 1: our story happened. First, Finland actually managed a kind of reconciliation. 664 00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:50,560 Speaker 1: I first, when I first started reading about Simo, I 665 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,240 Speaker 1: was like, I thought this reconciliation thing was a lie, 666 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: and so I kept reading more and more about it, 667 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:56,320 Speaker 1: and I actually don't think it's a lie. I think 668 00:33:56,320 --> 00:34:00,000 Speaker 1: it's true. By nineteen thirty seven, the centrist and often 669 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,280 Speaker 1: center right Agrarians and then the center left Social Democrats 670 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:06,520 Speaker 1: were running the government in coalition. The far right is 671 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:10,080 Speaker 1: on the decline, as is authoritarianism on both sides of 672 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:13,839 Speaker 1: the spectrum. The far right parties aren't officially banned, even 673 00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:15,520 Speaker 1: though they just try to stage a coup in like 674 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:19,600 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty two or something like that. But the Communist Party, 675 00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:23,560 Speaker 1: the Bolshevik Control Party, is officially banned, and so the 676 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:29,960 Speaker 1: Center is holding stuff. But the other thing that happened 677 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:32,960 Speaker 1: that I think is really important to understand for this story, 678 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:36,080 Speaker 1: so Finnish culture and language extends beyond the borders of 679 00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:39,239 Speaker 1: what managed to carve itself out of Finland. You've got 680 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:41,719 Speaker 1: some Finns in northeast Sweden, and more importantly, you've got 681 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 1: all these Fins over in Russia, and not just like 682 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:46,040 Speaker 1: Finns who showed up there, but like Finns who've been 683 00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:49,640 Speaker 1: there for ever or at least hundreds of years, right, 684 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 1: the Angrian Finns who are mostly Lutheran, and I couldn't 685 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:57,120 Speaker 1: tell you their average politics. And also in Russia you 686 00:34:57,160 --> 00:34:58,920 Speaker 1: do have all of these Reds who were fleeing the 687 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:03,120 Speaker 1: White terr and most of these Reds that start off 688 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:05,360 Speaker 1: actually fairly moderate. There are social Democrats who want to 689 00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:07,960 Speaker 1: use democratic state focused means to a chief workers control, 690 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:11,239 Speaker 1: but they'd just been fucking massacred by the landowners, and 691 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:13,440 Speaker 1: so for a lot of them Bolshevik had a sudden 692 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:14,240 Speaker 1: and new appeal. 693 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:14,840 Speaker 2: You know. 694 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: They were like, oh, maybe this thing that won and 695 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:20,799 Speaker 1: has a bunch of power sounds good to us, Right, 696 00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:23,800 Speaker 1: So a lot of the Reds went over and became Bolsheviks. 697 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,759 Speaker 1: But there's a problem with Bolshevism, a problem made worse 698 00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:31,520 Speaker 1: by repeat villain of the pod, the Man of Steel himself, 699 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:35,680 Speaker 1: Joseph fucking Stalin. So if he was the first behind 700 00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:39,640 Speaker 1: the bastards about Stalin, No, but it was like the 701 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:43,279 Speaker 1: one of the first five. Okay, it's the maybe the 702 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,080 Speaker 1: furthest back I ever listened to was the like Stalin's 703 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:47,600 Speaker 1: drinking party thing. 704 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,799 Speaker 3: Hey, for Solomon's like a like a like a like 705 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:53,759 Speaker 3: what you would equival it to, like the worst frack 706 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:54,680 Speaker 3: guy you ever met. 707 00:35:55,560 --> 00:36:01,279 Speaker 1: Yeah, So he was like, what if what if I 708 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 1: just kill all the fins and then destroy their culture? 709 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:05,600 Speaker 1: And so he did. 710 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:09,200 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's the FRACKI equivalent to, Eh, like, oh, 711 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:13,560 Speaker 3: what if we're just like go throw toilet paper at 712 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:14,080 Speaker 3: their house? 713 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:16,720 Speaker 1: Yeah? 714 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:21,200 Speaker 2: Yeah. His sociopathy seemed to be his hobby, did it not? 715 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:22,560 Speaker 2: In a recurring theme? 716 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:25,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much, And he's good at coming up with 717 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,320 Speaker 1: excuses for it. That he comes up with I think later, 718 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:31,360 Speaker 1: so he decides to kill all the Fins and destroy 719 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,040 Speaker 1: their culture, including the Finnish communist in exile, the like 720 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:37,960 Speaker 1: loyal Bolsheviks. I suspect that no ideology has killed more 721 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:43,839 Speaker 1: Communists than authoritary communism. Specifically, I was just there's gonna 722 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:45,560 Speaker 1: be so many times in this note whatever I think 723 00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:48,000 Speaker 1: people have caught on my position on all of this. 724 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:52,120 Speaker 1: Stalin was like, we've got to destroy Finnish culture, language traditions. 725 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:54,840 Speaker 1: And while we're at at people the Ingri and Finns 726 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,640 Speaker 1: who lived in the area that's now Saint Petersburg, since 727 00:36:57,719 --> 00:36:59,840 Speaker 1: they've lived there since before there was a Saint Petersburg, 728 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:04,200 Speaker 1: they're like, I want to say, seventeenth century migrants to 729 00:37:04,239 --> 00:37:06,120 Speaker 1: that area, and then Saint Petersburg came like the next 730 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:09,440 Speaker 1: century or some shit. In nineteen twenty six, there's one 731 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:12,239 Speaker 1: hundred and fifteen thousand of these Angryan Fins living in 732 00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:13,920 Speaker 1: this area where they have lived for hundreds of years. 733 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:17,040 Speaker 1: They have their own Finnic language, in their own culture. 734 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:21,160 Speaker 1: Nine years later, there's only seven thousand of them left. 735 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:29,960 Speaker 1: So this is a pretty successful genocide. This genocide was 736 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:33,799 Speaker 1: centrally managed and considered with the specific goal of assassinating 737 00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:37,520 Speaker 1: the male population and destroying them utterly. Those who weren't 738 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:40,160 Speaker 1: killed were usually deported since Stalin was like, well, we 739 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 1: need this buffer zone. Russia's obsessed with these buffer zones, 740 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,200 Speaker 1: and they were like, we need this buffer zone between 741 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:50,440 Speaker 1: US and Finland where there's no Fins because they might 742 00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:54,000 Speaker 1: be loyal to Finland, right, and so he sent folks 743 00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:57,360 Speaker 1: to Siberia Kazakistan. If he didn't just fucking kill them, 744 00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:00,960 Speaker 1: Settlers from elsewhere in Russia took their homes and farms 745 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:05,360 Speaker 1: and shit. All the Lutheran churches and the Finnish language schools, radio, 746 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:09,480 Speaker 1: and newspapers were all shut down. Today, the population of 747 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:13,560 Speaker 1: Angrian Finns is about twenty five thousand. There are only 748 00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:19,000 Speaker 1: seventy living speakers of the Angrian language. Left and the 749 00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: communist exiles. I think that they had started off helping 750 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:25,359 Speaker 1: all of this happen, right, to like prove that they're 751 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:29,640 Speaker 1: good and loyal. They got purged after they helped purge 752 00:38:29,719 --> 00:38:31,040 Speaker 1: the other Fins. 753 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:36,400 Speaker 2: Weirdly, it doesn't seem like there's an authoritarian movement or 754 00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:39,000 Speaker 2: government in this world that doesn't result in genocide. It 755 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,600 Speaker 2: doesn't matter if it's colonial Spain invading what is now 756 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:45,239 Speaker 2: New Mexico, or Russia with Finland, it always is the 757 00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:48,239 Speaker 2: same thing over and over again. Yeah, whether it's killing 758 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:50,399 Speaker 2: people or cutting their hands off or their feet off, 759 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,040 Speaker 2: or taking away their language or putting them in camps, 760 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:55,319 Speaker 2: it's the same thing. It doesn't matter if it's called 761 00:38:55,960 --> 00:39:00,920 Speaker 2: Stalinism or communism or Nazism or whatever. Always results in 762 00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:01,799 Speaker 2: the same shit. 763 00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:04,359 Speaker 1: Absolutely, I don't. 764 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:07,200 Speaker 3: I don't think I really absorbed. I like when when 765 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:11,640 Speaker 3: you're I have the script, when you were saying seventy 766 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:15,879 Speaker 3: seven zero living speakers left of that of language, Yeah, 767 00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:20,160 Speaker 3: you said, yeah, that is that is that is so sad. 768 00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:24,120 Speaker 1: I know, and most of them are older. And that 769 00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:26,759 Speaker 1: mean you know that happens to so many languages. But 770 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:29,200 Speaker 1: it's just like it's it happens to those languages because 771 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:33,160 Speaker 1: of combinations of colonization and genocide, and like, yeah, but 772 00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:38,080 Speaker 1: you know we have two lingo Is that one of 773 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:39,080 Speaker 1: our sponsors? 774 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:43,960 Speaker 3: No, Robert and I got an ad who was it 775 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:45,680 Speaker 3: for it? Well, we did do it. We just did 776 00:39:45,719 --> 00:39:49,200 Speaker 3: do an ad on by the bastards for some language thing. 777 00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:50,840 Speaker 1: It might have been Rosetta Stone. 778 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:52,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it was Rosetta Stone. 779 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:55,680 Speaker 2: So yeah, Rosetta s don't can put out a series 780 00:39:55,719 --> 00:39:58,200 Speaker 2: of saving the languages of genocide. 781 00:39:58,719 --> 00:40:00,359 Speaker 1: Yeah cool? 782 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:00,920 Speaker 2: Hello. 783 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:06,640 Speaker 3: Yeah, also Rosetta Stone paycral for that idea. 784 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:11,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's actually that could actually sell. Yeah they should. Yeah, 785 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:13,160 Speaker 2: I trademarking that you should. 786 00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:17,480 Speaker 3: I think you should be free car last to go 787 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:18,759 Speaker 3: to the trademark. 788 00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:21,600 Speaker 1: We'll be back after that. Yeah, all right. 789 00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:23,200 Speaker 2: A word from our sponsor. 790 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:28,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, our only sponsor, mosen Nagaunt. If you want a 791 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:31,280 Speaker 1: bolt action rifle that you can think is more useful 792 00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:35,239 Speaker 1: in the modern world than actually is that is we 793 00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:37,680 Speaker 1: probably shouldn't be sponsored by firearms. Never mind, We'll just 794 00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:43,920 Speaker 1: use whatever ads come up randomly. Here you go, and 795 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:50,160 Speaker 1: we're back. So you know, it's nineteen thirty nine. War 796 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:52,880 Speaker 1: is brewing. Hitler is in power. He's looking for allies. 797 00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:56,279 Speaker 1: Who does he find. No, not the Fins. That's going 798 00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:04,080 Speaker 1: to come later. Spoiler alert. Joseph fucking Stalin. We have 799 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:07,440 Speaker 1: talked about the Molotov ribbon Trump packed before on this podcast. 800 00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:09,880 Speaker 1: You can cross it off your BINGO cards now because 801 00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:13,160 Speaker 1: we're talking about it now. It is the Stalin and 802 00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:16,160 Speaker 1: Hitler are allies for a while packed. It was signed 803 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:18,919 Speaker 1: on August twenty third, nineteen thirty nine, between Ribin Trump, 804 00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:22,040 Speaker 1: who was a Nazi, and Molotov, the Soviet foreign minister. 805 00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:25,640 Speaker 1: To the public eye, this was a non aggression pact, 806 00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:28,960 Speaker 1: but secretly it was more than that. It was an 807 00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,200 Speaker 1: agreement of how the two powers were going to carve 808 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:34,479 Speaker 1: up Eastern Europe, like who gets what when they start 809 00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:39,080 Speaker 1: conquering shit. This secret element wasn't revealed until after the war. 810 00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:42,319 Speaker 1: Hitler's big weakness. As far as I understand, I'm not 811 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:44,640 Speaker 1: a huge World War two understander in the way that 812 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,920 Speaker 1: there are many people who that is their life's blood. 813 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:53,120 Speaker 1: Hiller didn't have oil and Russia had oil. Sort did 814 00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:54,640 Speaker 1: a remania. I think it was his ally, but he 815 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:58,480 Speaker 1: wanted more fucking oil, right. Russia had sent so much 816 00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:02,120 Speaker 1: material assistance to Hitler's war machine, just running trains across 817 00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:04,000 Speaker 1: the whole their massive country to make sure Hitler at 818 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:07,719 Speaker 1: everything he needed to start World War two. A week later, 819 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:13,439 Speaker 1: Hitler invaded Poland. Two weeks after that, Russia was like, sick, 820 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:17,560 Speaker 1: me too, and they also invaded Poland and the Polish defenses, 821 00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:20,120 Speaker 1: who initially thought the Bolsheviks were gonna come and help them. 822 00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:23,080 Speaker 1: We're like, hooray, the Soviets are here. We're like, wait, 823 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:25,320 Speaker 1: why are you shooting at us? We're not the Nazis. 824 00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:30,279 Speaker 1: And then the Soviet Union invaded Poland and conquered it 825 00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:35,720 Speaker 1: alongside their allies Hitler and held joint military parades and shit. 826 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:39,239 Speaker 1: This does not undermine the bravery of the people in 827 00:42:39,239 --> 00:42:41,760 Speaker 1: the Red Army, who later are the people who bled 828 00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:44,040 Speaker 1: the most to destroy Nazism. But it is a thing 829 00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:50,360 Speaker 1: that's worth fucking understanding about their leader. So Stalin stopped 830 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:54,240 Speaker 1: putting anti fascism into the party jargon. The new enemy 831 00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:59,640 Speaker 1: was Western Powers, as like France and England, and in 832 00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:03,719 Speaker 1: their secret pact they decided something that's gonna have a 833 00:43:03,719 --> 00:43:08,719 Speaker 1: lot of importance to today's story. They said, Russia, you 834 00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:13,560 Speaker 1: can have Finland as well as Estonia and Latvia and Lithuania. 835 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:18,239 Speaker 1: But those aren't as involved in the story. And even 836 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:20,520 Speaker 1: before the secret part of it, it was known just that 837 00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:23,960 Speaker 1: the Stalin was siding with the fucking Nazis. Pushed a 838 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:26,480 Speaker 1: lot of the Finnish communists over to the social democrat 839 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,920 Speaker 1: side of things. Already there's not a ton of Bolsheviks 840 00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:35,360 Speaker 1: or like communists like Communist party communists in Finland. But 841 00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:39,120 Speaker 1: seeing all this happened, like the Finns are like, oh, 842 00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:43,759 Speaker 1: actually maybe this like powermonger is not our friend. So 843 00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:46,920 Speaker 1: on October fifth, only a couple weeks after they'd invaded Poland, 844 00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:50,279 Speaker 1: the USSR was like, hey, Finland, can we like, can 845 00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:53,120 Speaker 1: we have party you just we want to set up 846 00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:56,360 Speaker 1: some military bases all your neighbors. Let us do it, 847 00:43:56,520 --> 00:44:00,759 Speaker 1: just give us control of huge trunks of Finland. And 848 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:05,120 Speaker 1: even the Finnish communists were like, oh, this is Russia 849 00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:08,040 Speaker 1: doing an imperialism. This is the part that I like, 850 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:10,600 Speaker 1: I wasn't certain about this whole, like the communists actually 851 00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:12,959 Speaker 1: were against Russia thing, because I like, it's not usually 852 00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:14,960 Speaker 1: the way things go. But I read this like thirty 853 00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:21,000 Speaker 1: fucking page academic paper about communism in Finland during this era, 854 00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:24,359 Speaker 1: because that's whatever. I can't complain. I do it for work. 855 00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:25,799 Speaker 1: It is the best job anyone has ever had in 856 00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:28,600 Speaker 1: the history of this world. Thank you, Sophie. So the 857 00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:32,359 Speaker 1: communists are like, this is Russia doing an imperialism. There 858 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:36,080 Speaker 1: was a few tankies, there's a few holdouts who are like, actually, 859 00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,520 Speaker 1: the Finnish government, including the Social Democrats are the same 860 00:44:38,560 --> 00:44:40,680 Speaker 1: as the fascists, since they won't just turn Finland over 861 00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:44,720 Speaker 1: to Stalin, who is allied with the fascists. But don't 862 00:44:44,719 --> 00:44:47,680 Speaker 1: pay attention to that part. Finland said no to the 863 00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:52,160 Speaker 1: Russians and so and then they started mobilizing for war 864 00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:55,120 Speaker 1: because they were like, oh, fuck, this is going to 865 00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:58,719 Speaker 1: go really bad. We just told Stalin no, that's like 866 00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:01,319 Speaker 1: not a he's like more like a yes man guy, 867 00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:01,960 Speaker 1: you know. 868 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:06,040 Speaker 2: Yeah. Stalin's not known for his his tolerance of no. 869 00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:08,120 Speaker 2: He's not really into consent, never was. 870 00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:15,440 Speaker 1: No, he's a free thinker. He's a strong whatever, fucking 871 00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:17,800 Speaker 1: piece of shit. So Finns. So the Fins are like, 872 00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:19,640 Speaker 1: all right, we're gonna mobilize for war. And the first 873 00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:23,480 Speaker 1: thing they do, just whatever, they arrest a couple hundred 874 00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:28,040 Speaker 1: Communist leaders, finished communist leaders on suspicion they'd sided with Russia, 875 00:45:28,560 --> 00:45:32,840 Speaker 1: but even the police reported quote, the will to defend 876 00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:35,680 Speaker 1: the country, or at least loyalty towards the government has 877 00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:39,600 Speaker 1: gained a footing even among the communists. And so then 878 00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:42,080 Speaker 1: they let them all go except like one guy. I 879 00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:43,680 Speaker 1: don't know, there's like probably one guy who was like, 880 00:45:43,719 --> 00:45:45,719 Speaker 1: fuck you, I love Stalin. You know, I don't know. 881 00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:49,440 Speaker 1: Even a bunch of Communist officers who had received training 882 00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:53,040 Speaker 1: in the USSR were like, no, we are fucking defending Finland. 883 00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:57,239 Speaker 1: Fuck the USSR. They just purged all my friends. And 884 00:45:57,960 --> 00:46:01,520 Speaker 1: I really didn't expect this part. I really thought that 885 00:46:02,640 --> 00:46:04,360 Speaker 1: the Reds of Finland were like in a roll and 886 00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:11,279 Speaker 1: help the Soviets in the coming war. They didn't. They 887 00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:16,719 Speaker 1: were really principal. Russia was like, all right, give us 888 00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:21,920 Speaker 1: some Finland. And then it was like what the fuck. No, And. 889 00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:28,080 Speaker 3: I love when you summarized history in like such a 890 00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:32,200 Speaker 3: casual way. They're like they're like, nah, nah, we're doing that. 891 00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:35,880 Speaker 2: Noah, bro' I'm not into that. How about you keep 892 00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:37,680 Speaker 2: your Russian hands off of my Finland. 893 00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:41,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. The first time I ever like had someone 894 00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:43,120 Speaker 1: get mad at me about this. I used to do this. 895 00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:45,960 Speaker 1: I did this tour talking about anarchism and fiction and 896 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:49,040 Speaker 1: I had ended up giving a conversation about Louise Michelle, 897 00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:51,200 Speaker 1: who we've covered on this and just part of the 898 00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:53,400 Speaker 1: Paris Commune. And I referred to the Paris Commune like 899 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:56,200 Speaker 1: really quickly and haphazardly, where I was like, and the 900 00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:58,440 Speaker 1: government was out of town, so people were like, we're 901 00:46:58,440 --> 00:46:59,759 Speaker 1: gonna have a party, but then they weren't sure it 902 00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:01,640 Speaker 1: was a be a communist party or socialist party, and 903 00:47:01,640 --> 00:47:03,759 Speaker 1: then they kind of got into some arguments about it, 904 00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:06,320 Speaker 1: and then the Germans invaded, and someone was like, really 905 00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:08,160 Speaker 1: mad that that was the way I summed up the 906 00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:12,040 Speaker 1: Paaris Commune. Someone listening is really mad about how I 907 00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:15,279 Speaker 1: just summed up the start of the Winter War, And 908 00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:16,200 Speaker 1: I don't it's cool. 909 00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:18,400 Speaker 3: What's cool as you're no longer on Twitter? 910 00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:21,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, the Winter's gone. 911 00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:25,759 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's x dot com. Now everyone knows that. 912 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:27,640 Speaker 1: It's just you know, it sounds like something you can't 913 00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:28,560 Speaker 1: go to in a library. 914 00:47:29,440 --> 00:47:31,480 Speaker 2: No, you just now, you just now, you just z 915 00:47:31,800 --> 00:47:34,640 Speaker 2: your authoritarian dreams. Oh my god, you to become Z. 916 00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:36,800 Speaker 1: Yes, Sophie, I think it's a Yeah. 917 00:47:36,719 --> 00:47:38,839 Speaker 3: Margaret, that was such a good joke and I just 918 00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:40,879 Speaker 3: want to compliment you on it. Thank you so. 919 00:47:40,920 --> 00:47:48,200 Speaker 1: Much, thank you. I appreciate it. So have you ever 920 00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:50,520 Speaker 1: thought about the comparisons between the Winter War and the 921 00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:51,600 Speaker 1: modern Ukrainian War? 922 00:47:53,760 --> 00:47:57,239 Speaker 2: Actually, I have to admit I have. Yes, there's there's 923 00:47:57,239 --> 00:47:57,920 Speaker 2: a lot going on. 924 00:47:58,200 --> 00:48:03,080 Speaker 1: Huh, they're so fucking but what I've got. If I'm 925 00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:04,640 Speaker 1: missing anything, please let me know if you want to 926 00:48:04,640 --> 00:48:06,640 Speaker 1: expound upon any of it. What I've got is that 927 00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:09,520 Speaker 1: Russia's main justification for this war was your border is 928 00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:12,120 Speaker 1: too close to our cities, and we don't want the 929 00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:14,640 Speaker 1: West to come attack us. And then a little bit 930 00:48:14,640 --> 00:48:17,560 Speaker 1: of a but come on, we used to that part 931 00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:20,560 Speaker 1: used to belong to us anyway, And then also a 932 00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:24,200 Speaker 1: bunch of complete nonsense about how you're actually a fascist country, 933 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:28,879 Speaker 1: so we should have to denazify you. And in this case, 934 00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:30,759 Speaker 1: in the Winter War, this was based on how seven 935 00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:32,960 Speaker 1: years earlier some far right people tried to stage a 936 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:36,040 Speaker 1: coup and they lost, and then they stopped being particularly 937 00:48:36,080 --> 00:48:40,200 Speaker 1: politically relevant. God, that's even the same fuck number, almost 938 00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:44,880 Speaker 1: the same number of years as the Madden Euromaidan, whatever 939 00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:48,680 Speaker 1: the protests in Ukraine. I'm not as good at modern 940 00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:51,520 Speaker 1: history current events. Is that what you call modern history 941 00:48:51,600 --> 00:48:55,560 Speaker 1: current events? I'm not as good at current events. Also, 942 00:48:56,320 --> 00:48:57,800 Speaker 1: the people who are going to take up arms to 943 00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:01,080 Speaker 1: defend Finland include people from every part of the political spectrum, 944 00:49:01,280 --> 00:49:04,319 Speaker 1: the far right, the far left, the center right, the 945 00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:07,160 Speaker 1: center left and the center all about to pick up 946 00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:10,040 Speaker 1: guns and fight alongside of each other, which is like 947 00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:13,600 Speaker 1: fucking Ukraine also Russia. Things is going to be easy, 948 00:49:13,840 --> 00:49:17,400 Speaker 1: and then they meet an intensely fierce defense and their 949 00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:19,080 Speaker 1: first attack is going to be utterly defeated. 950 00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:22,840 Speaker 2: Yeah. Like like when you put that into modern you 951 00:49:22,880 --> 00:49:27,000 Speaker 2: have essentially you have Zelensky commanding Azov Battalion. How bizarre 952 00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:31,479 Speaker 2: is that fighting against the Wagner Group? Yeah, from Russia? Right, Yeah, 953 00:49:31,520 --> 00:49:35,399 Speaker 2: what a mix of political ideologies, all sorts of things 954 00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:39,680 Speaker 2: mixed together for Ukrainian defense. It's it isn't that different, 955 00:49:39,680 --> 00:49:40,840 Speaker 2: You're right, it's spot on. 956 00:49:41,239 --> 00:49:41,399 Speaker 3: Yeah. 957 00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:43,080 Speaker 1: And it's like I did an interview with a friend 958 00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:46,320 Speaker 1: who was delivering an aid and to the front lines 959 00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:49,440 Speaker 1: in Ukraine, and you know, and they're queer, and they 960 00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:52,080 Speaker 1: were talking to a queer army commander and they were 961 00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:54,160 Speaker 1: like they came out to the to the guy and 962 00:49:54,200 --> 00:49:56,680 Speaker 1: we're like, oh good, I usually have to hide who 963 00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:59,360 Speaker 1: I am. And they're like, that's great. When you deliver 964 00:49:59,440 --> 00:50:02,319 Speaker 1: to the next place, don't tell them this. They're bad, 965 00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:06,120 Speaker 1: you know, Like it's fucking weird. 966 00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:08,520 Speaker 2: But at the same time, and I'm not giving them 967 00:50:08,560 --> 00:50:12,600 Speaker 2: any difference because that ideology doesn't was deserve any difference. Yeah, 968 00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:14,640 Speaker 2: but at the same time, they've been crack troops to 969 00:50:14,680 --> 00:50:17,359 Speaker 2: defending eastern Ukraine, which is a weird problem to think about. 970 00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:22,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it Yeah, And so the comparisons to this 971 00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:26,040 Speaker 1: because one of the things I really like about today's 972 00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:30,760 Speaker 1: story is that it's fucking messy. It is not politically simple, 973 00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:32,799 Speaker 1: and the reason I love context anyway, that's like the 974 00:50:32,840 --> 00:50:35,600 Speaker 1: fucking fun of this. But like, and also I think 975 00:50:35,640 --> 00:50:37,360 Speaker 1: the thing that you can get other than just listening 976 00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:42,680 Speaker 1: to another podcast bestimo or something, right, but I think 977 00:50:42,719 --> 00:50:44,600 Speaker 1: you have to like get a sense of all this 978 00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:47,320 Speaker 1: stuff in order to like figure out who these people 979 00:50:47,360 --> 00:50:49,960 Speaker 1: were and why they were fighting, and like what it 980 00:50:50,040 --> 00:50:52,040 Speaker 1: meant to different people to be fighting at different times 981 00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:55,759 Speaker 1: in different ways. So Russia is gearing up for war 982 00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:58,799 Speaker 1: after Finland says no to their demands, and then one 983 00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:00,400 Speaker 1: of the problems that they run into as they have 984 00:51:00,440 --> 00:51:03,080 Speaker 1: to be like, wait, hold on, stop purging all the Fins. 985 00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:06,640 Speaker 1: We need enough Finns who are loyal to us to 986 00:51:06,719 --> 00:51:09,200 Speaker 1: shore up some political legitimacy for when we try to 987 00:51:09,239 --> 00:51:13,319 Speaker 1: take over Finland. So then they like stop purging the 988 00:51:13,360 --> 00:51:18,200 Speaker 1: rest of the Fins, and then there's this whole thing 989 00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:22,080 Speaker 1: with a false flag attack that isn't as interesting to me. Basically, 990 00:51:23,520 --> 00:51:26,319 Speaker 1: Russia shells itself and it's like the Fins did it, 991 00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:30,280 Speaker 1: and then attacks. November thirtieth, nineteen thirty nine, the USSR 992 00:51:30,280 --> 00:51:33,560 Speaker 1: attacks Finland and their plan is to set up a 993 00:51:33,560 --> 00:51:37,280 Speaker 1: puppet government, and they do right. Whenever they're conquering places, 994 00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:39,200 Speaker 1: they're like, aha, this is now though I didn't even 995 00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:40,960 Speaker 1: write down the name of it, because this puppet government 996 00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:45,000 Speaker 1: is so irrelevant. It didn't last. But the Red Fins 997 00:51:45,040 --> 00:51:48,319 Speaker 1: didn't rush to join the puppet puppet government, and the 998 00:51:48,760 --> 00:51:54,440 Speaker 1: Soviets scarcely had enough Fins left to manage this puppet government. Instead, 999 00:51:54,480 --> 00:51:57,560 Speaker 1: the communists and the socialists, the workers and intellectuals alike, 1000 00:51:57,840 --> 00:51:59,960 Speaker 1: they rush to the front lines to defend Finland from 1001 00:52:00,040 --> 00:52:03,640 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union. At least one Spanish Civil War veteran 1002 00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:06,239 Speaker 1: who was finished came back and told everyone what he 1003 00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:08,440 Speaker 1: had seen in the war and seen what a piece 1004 00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:11,600 Speaker 1: of shit Stalin was firsthand, and how he'd betrayed the revolution. 1005 00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:15,680 Speaker 1: So the puppet government had no fucking support or very 1006 00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:18,160 Speaker 1: little support. There were a couple of the communists who 1007 00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:22,000 Speaker 1: went off to it or whatever. The US star doesn't care. 1008 00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:25,400 Speaker 1: They're not actually trying to set up a red government 1009 00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:30,719 Speaker 1: in Finland. They're trying to fucking conquer. And so I 1010 00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:32,640 Speaker 1: can't get into the mind of Stalin on this one. 1011 00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:36,600 Speaker 1: At the start of one of the harshest winters in years, 1012 00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:46,520 Speaker 1: he invades Finland. It fucking winter. The Finns, there's not 1013 00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:50,320 Speaker 1: a lot of things. They're known for, skiing, snow hunting, 1014 00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:56,080 Speaker 1: and fucking pure and raw emotionless heartiness and maybe saunas. 1015 00:52:56,719 --> 00:52:59,600 Speaker 1: That's what Finland's known for, which. 1016 00:52:59,440 --> 00:53:01,360 Speaker 2: I think you just summed up the word a Finnish 1017 00:53:01,440 --> 00:53:04,520 Speaker 2: word sea su, which doesn't really translate into English, but 1018 00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:06,759 Speaker 2: that's kind of like they're oh yeah, sea sue is 1019 00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:10,880 Speaker 2: this weird untranslatable form of Finish fortitude based on all 1020 00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:11,960 Speaker 2: those things you just brought up. 1021 00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:15,279 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not gonna go well, Okay, wait, I'm gonna 1022 00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:19,080 Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you my favorite Finish joke. There's two 1023 00:53:19,120 --> 00:53:21,920 Speaker 1: brothers they haven't seen each other in twenty years, and 1024 00:53:21,960 --> 00:53:25,800 Speaker 1: they decide to go ice fishing. Have you heard this? Okay, 1025 00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:27,920 Speaker 1: So they show up, they cut a hole in the 1026 00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:29,760 Speaker 1: ice and they start fishing. They haven't said a word, 1027 00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:32,400 Speaker 1: you know. Finally, a couple hours go by, and one 1028 00:53:32,400 --> 00:53:35,240 Speaker 1: I was like, he passed me a beer, passing the beer. 1029 00:53:35,840 --> 00:53:37,960 Speaker 1: A couple hours go by, Hey pass me beer, passing 1030 00:53:38,040 --> 00:53:39,640 Speaker 1: the beer. A couple hours go by, and he's like, 1031 00:53:40,560 --> 00:53:43,520 Speaker 1: how you been, And the other brother looks and says, 1032 00:53:44,120 --> 00:53:45,960 Speaker 1: christ did we come here to talk or did we 1033 00:53:45,960 --> 00:53:48,560 Speaker 1: come here to fish? 1034 00:53:48,680 --> 00:53:52,120 Speaker 2: That's so finish. Yeah, you can sit at a table 1035 00:53:52,160 --> 00:53:53,759 Speaker 2: with a fin for an hour and not say a 1036 00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:56,400 Speaker 2: thing and that's totally normal and fine. It's just how 1037 00:53:56,440 --> 00:53:59,640 Speaker 2: it works, like that's that's awesome that if you've been 1038 00:53:59,640 --> 00:54:02,000 Speaker 2: there and around Finnish people, that is spot off. 1039 00:54:01,880 --> 00:54:03,359 Speaker 3: And like America needs that. 1040 00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:04,400 Speaker 2: I know. 1041 00:54:04,560 --> 00:54:07,640 Speaker 1: It's like I'm not trying to talk shit here, like, no. 1042 00:54:07,680 --> 00:54:09,960 Speaker 2: This isn't a negative at all. No, I don't think 1043 00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:10,359 Speaker 2: it's neat. 1044 00:54:10,440 --> 00:54:10,480 Speaker 3: No. 1045 00:54:10,719 --> 00:54:13,000 Speaker 2: I was there. I was there having lunch one time 1046 00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:15,120 Speaker 2: with a bunch of my finn friends and and I 1047 00:54:15,239 --> 00:54:17,160 Speaker 2: just wasn't having the spoons as we were discussing, and 1048 00:54:17,200 --> 00:54:19,439 Speaker 2: I just picked up my plate and went to another 1049 00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:22,320 Speaker 2: table and sat by myself. Yeah, and all the finish 1050 00:54:22,440 --> 00:54:24,160 Speaker 2: there was one other person that was America like what's 1051 00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:26,040 Speaker 2: wrong with him? And the Fins are like, that's fine, 1052 00:54:26,080 --> 00:54:27,680 Speaker 2: leave them alone. That's that's not a problem at all. 1053 00:54:28,120 --> 00:54:31,359 Speaker 2: Over there. That's how it works. Yeah, that's he that's 1054 00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:33,560 Speaker 2: that's not a problem. And that's how that's how it 1055 00:54:33,640 --> 00:54:34,080 Speaker 2: vibes there. 1056 00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:37,640 Speaker 1: Yeah. And obviously all cultural norms are exaggerations and bell 1057 00:54:37,719 --> 00:54:39,640 Speaker 1: curves and all that sh and like you know. 1058 00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:41,120 Speaker 3: But. 1059 00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:48,640 Speaker 1: The most presented as the archetype of this style of behavior, 1060 00:54:49,680 --> 00:54:56,520 Speaker 1: the shootiest, huntiest moose, huntiest skiest, heartiest of all, the 1061 00:54:56,600 --> 00:55:00,959 Speaker 1: five foot three farmer and hunter named Simo Howe, who 1062 00:55:01,600 --> 00:55:05,920 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about on Wednesday. Eh, eh, a 1063 00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:07,000 Speaker 1: whole episode of context. 1064 00:55:07,120 --> 00:55:10,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm excited. I mean, I know the basics of 1065 00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:11,440 Speaker 2: this guy, but I don't know what the depth you're 1066 00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:13,239 Speaker 2: going to go into. But what I can do is 1067 00:55:13,239 --> 00:55:16,719 Speaker 2: as a as a just a preview as for sure, 1068 00:55:16,840 --> 00:55:21,560 Speaker 2: is how do you describe this person other than badass? Yeah? 1069 00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:28,520 Speaker 1: Well, if people want to see badass shooty stuff. I 1070 00:55:28,520 --> 00:55:32,200 Speaker 1: don't know if you have any skiing content, but I 1071 00:55:32,200 --> 00:55:34,960 Speaker 1: would bet money there's videos of you shooting in the snow. 1072 00:55:35,400 --> 00:55:37,160 Speaker 1: How can people look up what you do? 1073 00:55:38,400 --> 00:55:41,280 Speaker 2: Ah, that's pretty easy. You can just go to nrange 1074 00:55:41,320 --> 00:55:44,160 Speaker 2: dot tv, which is a little website and All of 1075 00:55:44,160 --> 00:55:48,480 Speaker 2: my decentralized distribution points are there, although all of you 1076 00:55:48,520 --> 00:55:50,200 Speaker 2: will click on YouTube because that's what we do as 1077 00:55:50,239 --> 00:55:54,960 Speaker 2: consumers there. But I am decentralized and also completely demonetize, 1078 00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:58,600 Speaker 2: completely crowdfunded and crowd supported, so I really don't have 1079 00:55:58,600 --> 00:56:02,359 Speaker 2: any overlords besides viewers hopefully that want to support my work. 1080 00:56:02,440 --> 00:56:04,359 Speaker 2: So in range dot tv is where you can find 1081 00:56:04,360 --> 00:56:04,840 Speaker 2: my stuff. 1082 00:56:06,040 --> 00:56:10,960 Speaker 1: Hell yeah, Sophie. What about you to see pictures of 1083 00:56:11,040 --> 00:56:11,359 Speaker 1: your dog? 1084 00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:13,040 Speaker 3: Oh, they can see it on Instagram. But I want 1085 00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:16,399 Speaker 3: to plug specifically a series that Garrison Davis just did 1086 00:56:16,520 --> 00:56:19,359 Speaker 3: on It could happen here, updating folks and what's been 1087 00:56:19,400 --> 00:56:23,000 Speaker 3: going on since cop City got approved to be built 1088 00:56:23,080 --> 00:56:27,640 Speaker 3: in Atlanta. Three episodes are out as of last week. 1089 00:56:27,719 --> 00:56:29,600 Speaker 3: If you're listening to this in modern times, If not, 1090 00:56:29,719 --> 00:56:32,400 Speaker 3: go back and listen to it. Gear has been covering 1091 00:56:33,360 --> 00:56:36,920 Speaker 3: cop City for I don't know two years now, and 1092 00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:40,600 Speaker 3: they've done a really good job of making you feel 1093 00:56:40,640 --> 00:56:43,920 Speaker 3: like you're there and giving a clear visual understanding of 1094 00:56:43,920 --> 00:56:45,399 Speaker 3: what's going on. So check it out. 1095 00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:50,120 Speaker 1: Hell yeah, And if you want to follow me, you 1096 00:56:50,200 --> 00:56:53,920 Speaker 1: can google my name and I do too many different 1097 00:56:53,920 --> 00:56:56,040 Speaker 1: things and so you'll find a lot of them. My 1098 00:56:56,120 --> 00:56:59,279 Speaker 1: most recent book is called Escape from Inseill Island, and 1099 00:56:59,320 --> 00:57:04,239 Speaker 1: it is aner story in which protagonists have to escape 1100 00:57:04,280 --> 00:57:09,400 Speaker 1: an eyelid. It's full of in cells You on Wednesday by. 1101 00:57:12,000 --> 00:57:14,520 Speaker 3: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a production of 1102 00:57:14,560 --> 00:57:17,640 Speaker 3: cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, 1103 00:57:17,800 --> 00:57:21,080 Speaker 3: visit our website Coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out 1104 00:57:21,160 --> 00:57:24,520 Speaker 3: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get 1105 00:57:24,560 --> 00:57:25,360 Speaker 3: your podcasts.