FINLAND: Us Too

From their position on Russia’s doorstep the Finns could scarcely indulge in anything like Tito’s dramatics, but in their stolid way the Finns also had a word to say to Joe Stalin.

“The will of the people will be the deciding factor,” President Paasikivi had promised the two million Finns who trooped quietly to the polls last week to elect a new Parliament. It was the first Finnish election since the signing of the Russo-Finnish “mutual assistance” pact (TIME, April 19). Early returns indicated that the Communist-led Democratic Union had lost at least eight of their 51 seats, dropped from first place to third. Finland’s Agrarians and Social Democrats had gained enough to climb to first and second places.