Bourgeois with a Heart

In 1918 Hjalmar Linder was the richest man in Finland, owning much land and many factories. At the end of World War I, as Germany convulsed in defeat and revolution, Civil War broke out in Finland. Linder's brother-in-law General Mannerheim advised him to flee to Sweden. When he returned after the conflict, he went looking for his workers in the prison camps. He was shocked by the inhumane conditions they faced, and wrote an article in Hufvudstadsbladet, the main Finnish newspaper in Swedish, with the title "Nog Med Blodbad!" ("Enough with the Bloodbaths") on May 25th 1918. He said the White Terror must end because prisoners were dying like flies. As a result, he was accused of sympathy with Communism, received death threats, and fled abroad. In 1921 Hjalmar Linder committed suicide, penniless in Marseilles, slashing his wrists. This edition presents Hjalmar Linder's text, introduced by Minna Henriksson, as well as a series of correspondences.