Ethnocultural Ambiguities and National Socialist State-building in the North: Finland and the Nordic Resistance Movement

This paper investigates the ethnocultural ambiguities of building a pan-Nordic National Socialist state by looking at the Nordic Resistance Movement’s (NRM) plans from the perspective of the organization’s Finnish members. The Nordic Resistance Movement is a National Socialist movement that was established in Sweden in 1997 and operates or has been operational in all Nordic countries. While the movement ostensibly strives towards a National Socialist state that would comprise the Nordic region in its entirety, the idea of including Finland in such an entity has proven to be controversial among the movement’s Finnish branch. Such ambiguity derives from the historical particularities of Finnish nationalism, which portray the country and its inhabitants as an ethnoculturally, if not racially, distinct unit within the Nordic region. While Finnish and other Nordic National Socialists have, more precisely, cooperated within the context of such groups as the Nordiska Rikspartiet, historical manifestations of Finnish nationalism have often also included an anti-Swedish component and the idea of incorporating Finland into a pan-Nordic state has been alien to such thought. This paper will, then, assess how the NRM’s Finnish members have sought to balance such a legacy with the wider organization’s objectives. It will first construct an historical overview of the key tenets of Finnish nationalism with particular attention to how the ideology has positioned Finland and Finns vis-à-vis the wider Nordic region. It will then look at how members of the NRM’s Finnish branch have viewed the idea of a pan-Nordic National Socialist state by investigating their official propaganda and internal discussions while also, if possible, interviewing former members. The paper will furthermore elucidate on such views by juxtaposing them against the NRM’s other branches’ perceptions of Finland’s role in the planned National Socialist state, effectively revealing whether various parts of the movement have, in fact, been pushing for a common goal in the first place. The paper will produce a novel analysis of an oft-spoken yet little researched topic and reveal how 21st century Finnish National Socialists navigate the crosscurrents of conflicting identities.