Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1939, Page 402
LE NORD
392
The result of the elections may
be employed as a basis for certain
conclusions as regards the Govern-
ment and the Diet. The present Go-
vernment already had a powerful
majority in the previous Diet. This
majority is now greater than ever
and the Government has gained the
confidence of the electorate.
The result of the elections has
brought about no change in the
composition of the Government,
and as at present there appear to
be no questions over which the
Government itself should disagree,
it is probable that the present Go-
vernment will continue its work
during the life of the present Diet
without meeting with any major
difficulties.
Foreign Affairs overshadowed
the importance of the elections this
summer. This has its origin first
and foremost in the fact that at the
Moscow negotiations between the
Great Powers, the question of gua-
rantees to certain of Russia’s neigh-
bours — neighbours who have
asked for no guarantees — have
been, in one form or another, con-
tinuously before the public eye.
The inveigling of Finland into
the politics of the Great Powers in
this manner has had a summary
influence on public opinion in this
country. This influence has been
apparent in the public utterances
of members of the Government
during the summer. Prime Minister
Cajander, for example, who, owing
to the illness of President Kallio,
has deputised for the President
during the past summer, stated at
Savonlinna, at the tercentenary
festivals of the town on 29th July
when speaking on the international
situation, as follows —
“The Great Powers are building
up alliances which are gradually
influencing the entire world. The
rights of the weak are not often
afforded sufficient respect when
they clash with those of a more
powerful neighbour.
Of late, Finland too has been
drawn more closely into the cross-
currents of such divergent interests
and is now in a position which is
not without parallels to those events
the memory of which we are now
here to celebrate.
With the spread of German in-
fluence and the possible further ex-
tension of that influence eastwards,
the U. S. S. R., in order to protect
her own interests, is attempting to
extend her sphere of influence to
those independent states which line
her eastern frontiers. These states,
she fears, may, in the event of a
future conflict, come under the in-
fluence of opposing forces.
Ever since the late spring of last
year we in Finland have had a cer-
tain preliminary consciousness 01
these attempts. These endeavours
were given new impetus when the
Western Powers, Great Britain and