Politics in Finland today and 50 years ago Political situation 50 years ago During World War II Finland had to go through the Winter War and the Continuation War against the Soviet Union. finland lost and because of that Finland was ordered to pay an indemnity to the Soviet Union. That was trains, ships, shoes, paper, wood etc. After having to manufacture them, Finland became an industrial nation in the 1950s. During the years 1944-1948 people in Finland were worried that the Soviet Union might try to attack, which was why President Paasikivi wanted to have good realtions with the Soviet Union. President U.K. Kekkonen did the same. His objective was not merely to passively carry out the Soviet Union's will but to actively secure its trust in the process. He tried to adapt a friendly policy toward the Soviet Union while denying the Finnish communists a monopoly on good Soviet relations. In the 1950s people also started to move to Sweden in the hope of a better job and more possibilities. It happened so fast that it soon lowered the population in Finland. The movement continued until the early 1970s. 40% of the Finns who moved to Sweden eventually returned to Finland. Later on in the 1950s Finland became a member of the United Nations, which is an organization to advance human rights and maintain international peace and security. The United Nations contains six principal organs that are the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice and Secretariat. Political situation today The life of Finns changed radically in the 20th century. After the war Finland began a difficult work of reconstruction. Gradually Finland developed into a modern industrialised welfare state. Back in the 80's Finland experienced a big push by developing a post-industrialised state and well functioning infrastructure. The success was bound to stop and in the early 90's it did. The fall of the trade to Soviet and badly timed liberalisation of money markets caused great economic problems. Unemployment jumped up to half a million. Now Finland has gradually recovered from this and exports are increasing while the inflation rate is the lowest in decades. As a member of the European Union since 1995, Finland is part of an influential body in world politics. Discussions about NATO membership makes Finland more associated with the West. In 1999 Finland joined the Economic and Monetary Union and adopted the common currency, the euro, in 2002. By Suvi, Johannes ja Annika