themselves about political movements, but now a class consciousness began to appear. In 1904, there had been 99 Social Democratic labor societies with a membership of 16,000, but the year following saw the number of societies rise to 177 and the membership to 45,000, while in the years immediately following the growth continued to remain rapid. The biggest victory for the Social Democrats came when the tenant farmers joined them. Parallel with the political activity was the development of the labor union movement, whose most noteworthy organizational achievement was the founding of SAK, the Finnish Federation of Labor, in 1907. Thus the bottom class, with socialism as its torchbearer, awakened to the political, social and economic ways of thought. Some of their leaders, among them Valpas-Hänninen, carried on a hard class struggle action on the Marxist lines; another leader, Yrjö Mäkelin, gained fame as an interpreter of national ideals, and when he analyzed them even his opponents listened. (In 1956, the Social Democratic Party was Finland's largest.)

The elections for Finland's unicameral parliament took place in 1907. The campaign was heated, and the outcome was a surprise to everyone. Of the 1,125,000 entitled to vote, 899,000 voted. The Social Democrats won 80 seats, or two-fifths of the total number, the Old Finns 59, the Young Finns 26, the Swedes 24, the Agrarian League 9, and a party founded on the eve of the election, the Christian Labor League, 2 seats. The results clearly indicated the scant support for the Mechelin Senate: only 50 members out of 200 belonged to parties represented in that government. Of the bourgeois opposition parties, the Old Finns had come out well, thanks to their tight organization as well as their clearly drawn social and linguistic program. The amazing results achieved by the Social Democrats showed everyone that there was opposition in the country to the prevailing social abuses, and that the workers' party was expected to correct the abuses.

The Parliament met at the end of May, 1907, and a straightforward fighter for justice, the Young Finn member P. E. Svinhufvud, was chosen Speaker. One of the most important issues discussed in the 1907 Parliament was the prohibition question. Although the chairman of the trade and industry committee, Stahlberg, who was most closely responsible for the Senate stand in the matter, opposed complete prohibition on the grounds that it would probably be impossible to achieve and would benumb the sense of obedience to law, Parliament nevertheless enthusiastically passed a law to prohibit all sales of alcoholic beverages. However, since the Senate suggested it be vetoed, and since the Czar was of

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