History of Finland IX: Enlightended dictator initiated economic growth

This is the ninth part of a blog series where I go through the significant stages of Finnish history. In the eighth post, I described how Finland's transition to a Grand Duchy of Russia led to the domination of bureaucrats who shared common interests with the Tsar, resulting in a halt in the country's economic development, a bleak future for young people from poor backgrounds, and an unprecedented increase in crime.

This changed during the Crimean War, in a pivotal moment, with the death of the old Tsar Nicholas I and the rise of the new enlightened autocrat, Emperor Alexander II. At the same time, Russia began to move towards a new economic system, namely a liberal market economy.

In Finland, this was reflected in the fact that the Senate was now dominated by individuals who were supportive of reforms, such as Johan Vilhelm Snellman, while the old mercantilists had to go. The new Tsar also appointed a liberal Baltic German as the Governor-General.

Under Snellman's influence, Finland began to build a railway network, which reduced the significance of waterways and brought increasingly larger areas into the sphere of economic progress. At the same time, the country's dependence on the old estates and their owners, who enjoyed various privileges and monopolies, diminished, which allowed for economic development to be furthered by a growing number of urban bourgeoisie and rural farmers. This also strengthened Finland's connection to Russia.

The convening of the Assembly of the Estates - after a long hiatus - in 1863 led to the creation of liberal legislation that allowed for free economic activity but bound the administration and the judiciary to the law. This led to the separation of political and economic power, and eventually in 1879, economic freedom was implemented, laying the foundation for the modern Finnish society.

As a result, large steam-powered sawmills were established in Finland's port cities and the value of sawn timber increased along the logging routes throughout Finland. The economic opportunities also attracted foreign entrepreneurs to Finland. Thus, Finland began its path towards becoming a forestry industry giant, and this was supported by the creation of a school reform.

At the same time, the use of child labor decreased, and gradually, rural-to-urban migration gained momentum because people had better opportunities to make a living in the cities. At the same time, the country's prosperity began its transition towards the southernmost parts of autonomous Finland - before that, the wealthiest region of the country had been Southern Ostrobothnia located in the western part of the country.

Finland also underwent a municipal reform, which was initiated because the central government wanted to transfer social, economic, and educational burdens to be organized by the rural population. The money saved from this was used to improve the prerequisites for industrialization in the country. As a result, in addition to the entrepreneurs getting richer, a new social group - the liberated industrial working class - emerged.

At the same time, the entire society was reformed. A police force was created, the Assembly of the Estates were institutionalized, private law was established, and criminal punishments were mitigated, based on the idea of turning prisoners into good citizens. All in all, Finland's future at this stage looked downright brilliant.

The original blog post in Finnish: 
Valistunut itsevaltias käynnisti talouskasvun 

All the blog posts in this series:
History of Finland I: How did Finland become culturally part of the West?
History of Finland II: From a hinterland of the Union into a modern state
History of Finland III: The legal and economic weakening of the position of the people
History of Finland IV: The bleakest time in Finnish history
History of Finland V: The pursuit of economic profit saved the country
History of Finland VI: Age of freedom and utility
History of Finland VII: The dictator of the era of Enlightenment promoted capitalist economy
History of Finland VIII: Joining of Finland to Russia led to an increase in crime
History of Finland IX: Enlightended dictator initiated economic growth
History of Finland X: The birth of Finnish identity
History of Finland XI: Finnish democracy and gender equality for women
History of Finland XII: Bloody civil war
History of Finland XIII: The far-right's rebellion
History of Finland XIV: The end of the first Finnish Republic
History of Finland XV: Paasikivi-Kekkonen doctrine
History of Finland XVI: Through rise and fall to a new kind of future