Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1944, Page 204
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LE NORD
has in the war and thus the need for employment is there
comparatively greater. The case seems to be such, but in reality
Finland has also to find possibilities of subsistence for less qual-
ified workers, such as war-widows, disabled men, and growing
up orphans, all individuals of more restricted capabilities. The
question of employment is not only a simple sum of division
with the total population as divisor.
Some special problems may further be mentioned. Fewer
industries for substitute articles have been founded in Finland
than in Sweden and the question whether their activities should
continue or be stopped after the war probably will not be a
great problem in Finland. A fair number of distilleries have been
built in connection with cellulose mills; probably they will
not be difficult to maintain in the future. Production of war
material, conducted by the State, will be much more difficult
to settle. Should these state industries be transformed for peace-
time production — further investments would be required for
the purpose — or should they be reserved for future war-time
production? The necessary investments, in the former alternative,
would be competitive, and private enterprise might suffer; in
the latter alternative, winding up will be expensive, the tech-
nique must be kept alive, and the labour required should not
be allowed to lose its skill.
In this connection the question arises of the relationship be-
tween the State and private enterprise in general. To what ex-
tent should the State create employment and to what degree
should it direct private enterprise? The reply to the former ques-
tion should be that the State in Finland, as in Sweden, work out
a plan for investigations to be kept in readiness to be put for-
ward in case unemployment arises, but private enterprise must
be the lodestar and a sign of the success of peace economy. To
the latter question, again, there is but one reply: objects for in-
vestments are numerous in Finland — rebuilding delayed build-
ing activities, the development of export, increased autarky,
just to mention a few examples — and the danger of over-in-
vestment is so great in proportion to material resources and na-
tional income that it may cause an inflation. State control and
continued rationing seem therefore in some form unavoidable for
a long period. To begin with peace economy must thus, probably,
be a planned economy in many respects. If a definite peace be
established, it will differ greatly in aims, and, it is to be hoped,