Jaakko Mäki

Jaakko Mäki (; 2 January 187814 January 1938) was a Finnish coppersmith, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Vaasa Province South between August 1908 and September 1918. Mäki went to Soviet Russia during the Finnish Civil War and was executed there in January 1938 during Stalin's Great Purge.

Early life Mäki was born on 2 January 1878 in Kokkola in Ilmajoki municipality in western Grand Duchy of Finland. He was the son of a farmer and attended public school for a couple of years as well as vocational evening class. Mäki moved to Helsinki where he worked as a labourer on construction sites and joined the copper-tin-roofing trade union. He also received a degree from the Central School of the Arts.

Mäki worked as a coppersmith in Helsinki and Ilmajoki. Mäki fled to the USA where he held various jobs between 1902 and 1905. He was re-elected at the 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1916 and 1917 parliamentary elections. His main focus in parliament was reform of crofting law and was willing to work with bourgeoisie (right-wing) parties to achieve political consensus for change.

During World War I Finland became dependent on imported grain from Russia but these imports were interrupted by the February Revolution of 1917. Thus, when agricultural strikes began in Finland in May 1917, parties across the political spectrum recognised the importance of resolving them. The Senate appointed Mäki to a committee to mediate in labour disputes between agricultural workers and employers. In the summer of 1917, as the grain shortage and inflation worsened, particularly in cities, the relationship between urban workers and rural landowners/farmers became more antagonistic, inside and outside parliament. Workers accused farmers of hoarding food and landowners of profiteering from the war. In a parliamentary speech, Mäki accused Agrarian League leader Santeri Alkio of encouraging farmers to hoard and warned that workers wouldn't be allowed to die of hunger whilst granaries remained full.

Mäki was chairman of the SDP parliamentary group from 1917 to 1918. When parliament reconvened in November 1917 following the parliamentary election, the parliamentary leadership, which consisted solely of bourgeoisie parties despite the SDP being the largest party in parliament, suggested that the powers of the Russian Tsar be transferred to a three-member regency council. Mäki strongly objected to this and instead presented the Me vaadimme (We Demand) programme which, amongst other things, called for the publication of the Valtalaki constitutional law, eight-hour working laws and the abolition of the paramilitary guardianship councils (the precursor to the White Guards).

Mäki participated in the meetings of the Workers' Revolutionary Central which had been formed in November 1917 by the SDP, Red Guards and Helsinki Workers Council. He did not however take part in the council vote that called a general strike for 14 November 1917. Just prior to the general strike, Mäki and Aleksanteri Vasten travelled to Petrograd to procure weapons for the Red Guards but returned to Finland empty handed. Mäki had been highly critical of the fire brigades established by right-wing independence activists and had wanted the Red Guards established to protect workers. These fire brigades were the precursors to the paramilitary guardianship councils.

Mäki, like many SDP MPs, had opposed armed conflict and in January 1918 gave a speech in Ilmajoki in which he condemned all violence. The White Guard in Ilmajoki tried to arrest him but Mäki hid in Jurva before making it to the Red side. His son-in-law was amongst the White Guards pursuing him. On 28 January 1918, a number of MPs including Mäki were arrested by the Red Guards as they were on their way to a meeting of parliament at the House of the Estates and taken to Aleksanterinkatu police station for questioning.

Following the Finnish Revolution in January 1918, Mäki was appointed commissioner of the Agricultural Affairs Department in the Finnish People's Delegation's (the revolutionary government).

Personal life Mäki had four children in Finland - Veikko, Toivo, Helmi and Hilda. He was later married to Soviet citizen Eeva.