Yrjö Raikas

Yrjö Ilmari Raikas was a Finnish 1930s and 1940s right-wing extremist politician.

Life

Raikas passed the matriculation exam in 1908, graduated as an agronomist in 1913 and graduated as a bachelor of philosophy in 1914.
Originally Raikas had worked as an entrepreneur but his company had bankrupted in the 1930s Great Depression. In the Finnish civil war Raikas fought on the White side as the commander of the second company of the third battalion of the Karelian guard regiment. He was wounded on March 2, 1918. Raikas was awarded ”for his proven cold-bloodedness and courage in battle” 4th class Cross of Liberty. Raikas belonged to the board of the Alliance of War of Freedom Disabled.

Political activism

Raikas worked for a long time with Arvi Kalsta in the 1930s. He led the Finnish People's Organisation after Kalsta left the position. He had already worked as the editor-in-chief of a party newspaper Hakaristi. After a split in the party, Raikas formed Finnish Labor Front with his supporters. In 1941 Raikas formed the National Socialists of Finland and founded the Kansallissosialisti newspaper whose circulation was 11,000. The National Socialists of Finland operated until September 1944, when it was abolished pursuant to Article 21 of the peace treaty concluded between Finland and the Soviet Union. At the same time, Raikas was arrested together with a few other Finnish National Socialists and was ordered to be deported to the countryside.