Finnish People's Delegation

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The Finnish People's Delegation (Finnish: Suomen kansanvaltuuskunta, Swedish: Finska folkdelegationen) was the government of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) created by a group of members in the Social Democratic Party of Finland during the Finnish Civil War from January to May 1918.

The Delegation was established as a communist rival to the Government of Finland and seized power in Helsinki at the start of the Civil War by supplanting Pehr Evind Svinhufvud's first senate and Parliament. It passed laws and enactments aspiring to a socialist reform of Finland as per the policy of the labor movement with support from the armed Red Guards. The Chair of the Delegation was the former Speaker of the Parliament Kullervo Manner.^[1] The Central Workers' Council operated alongside the Delegation but its role in the Reds' administration was minor. Soviet Russia was the only nation to recognize the Delegation as the government of Finland and its main supporter in the Civil War. The Delegation moved from Helsinki to Viipuri in April, from where its members fled to Petrograd after the defeat of the Red Guards.^[2]