Shadowing Practice: How Finland defeated fascism - Learn English Speaking with Video
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In the 1930s, a far-right group in Finland captured this man, their former president, and took him and his wife from Helsinki to Hjonsu,
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a remote Finnish city almost 300 miles from their home.
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The group interrogated them, threatened them, and then released them.
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This was the Lapua movement, a violent conservative political movement that almost pushed Finland into authoritarianism.
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But then, something happened.
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But somehow they managed to stave off fascism and they've remained a stable democracy ever since.
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Today, Helsinki is a great city, capital of a nation that has stemmed the dangerous political current sweeping the rest of Europe.
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So how did Finland protect its democracy?
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And is there something the world can learn from this moment in history?
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To understand how we got there, let's go back to 1918.
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The recent rise in communism had countries terrified all over Europe, and Finland was no exception.
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I do think that the history begins from the Finnish Civil War of 1918.
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There were two sides, the reds or the communists versus the whites, the conservatives.
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And going forward, those colors are going to be important for keeping track.
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They clashed in the war with very heavy bloodletting.
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Finland broke away from red Russia, mercilessly exterminated its own reds, and in 1919 became at last an independent nation.
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And even though the whites won, a lot of people remained really nervous about communism in their country, especially with the new Soviet Union as their direct neighbor.
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Those most radical whites sought to create what was called a white Finland, which usually meant some kind of authoritarian state, but that didn't come about.
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And throughout the 1920s, we can see a simmering resentment against the republic.
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And that all came to a head in 1929 in, you guessed it, Lapua.
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Lapua is in South Ostrabovnia, one of the most conservative regions in Finland.
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So when a communist youth group holds a march there, they know exactly who they're provoking.
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That was the tinder that was needed to light the fire.
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The rally was violently subdued and the communist youth were thrown out.
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So news of what happened in Lapua spread really quickly throughout the country
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and it radicalized an entire nationalist faction of the whites.
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And it was called the Lapua movement.
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Within a year, the Lapua movement had populist support across the country.
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Their supporters included not just the far right, but also more center-right and moderate elites, politicians, and prominent business owners.
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A lot of these more moderate elements thought that they could use the Lapua movement, harnessing their passion and their popularity.
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And they were also hesitant to push back against them.
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And there was one more group that we're gonna have to keep an eye on.
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They're called the Civic Guard.
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They have two roles.
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They are an auxiliary defense force that trades its members in military tactics,
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and they are also an organization which is there in case the Reds would rise again.
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So they were naturally really sympathetic to the Lapua movement's anti-communist cause, but a lot of them didn't subscribe to their more authoritarian goals, which is something we're going to keep an eye on for later.
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By the summer of 1930, the Lapua movement planned a demonstration called the Peasants March, and made a really specific reference in mind.
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Benito Mussolini's March on Rome in 1922, when he used the threat of mass violence to pressure Italy's king into making him prime minister, bringing the fascists to power.
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One just can't dismiss the importance of the March on Rome to the entire European contemporary far-right.
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That's when they organized the so-called Peasants March on Helsinki,
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sending tens of thousands of people into a demonstration that some of them hoped would actually turn into a coup.
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But instead the government met with them and passed laws that made communists ineligible for elections and criminalized communist propaganda.
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At this point, the Lapua movement was at the height of its power and support amongst the conservatives in Finland.
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But at their core, they were a violent and extremist group.
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and it continued to be driven in part by radical members who acted independently and without restraint.
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And they showed absolute intolerance for those who opposed them.
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Kidnappists really became their hallmark.
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The idea was basically symbolic.
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You kidnapped someone who you thought a sympathizer of the left or a member of the political left.
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And then the persons were usually taken by car or by some other means towards the east, towards the Soviet Union.
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The message is crystal clear.
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If you're a communist, you don't belong in Finland.
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And then in October of 1930, the radicals of the Lapua movement kidnapped someone who wasn't just an ordinary rival.
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They kidnapped Karlo Juhos Daburi.
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That's the guy you saw at the beginning of the video.
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And not only was he a former president, he was the first president of Finland's republic.
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And for a lot of people, that went a step too far.
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That clearly was a provocation by the movement that went against the sense of decency of most of their supporters even.
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And that marks the decline of the movement.
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In the 1931 elections, the Lapua movement made their last real political game.
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They managed to help tip a close presidential election in favor of P.E.
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Svinufud.
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P.E.
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Svinufud is then elected president of the republic and is the absolute darling of the political right.
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I even found this really interesting photo of Svinufud at the Peasants March.
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So we know that he really was participating in the Lapua movement.
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But Svinufud was also more traditional than the radical whites.
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In the end, Swin'Hughud will back the Republic and the law and rule of law,
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rather than any hopes and dreams of the most radical whites." So in 1932, even though the president they had helped elect was in power,
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the Lapua movement wasn't getting what they wanted.
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In a final act of desperation, they tried to stage a coup.
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A group gathered in Mansala, near Helsinki, with the goal of gathering the civic guard to march on the capital and overthrow the Republic.
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But when they called on the Civic Guard, something else happened that they had never considered.
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The majority of the Civic Guards do not respond to the call for uprising.
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No one goes anywhere and we'll stay at home and we'll stand down.
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And then the nail in the coffin.
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The Lapua movement's former darling President Svinifud gave a radio address, telling the group to stand down.
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I want to be very friendly to all the security workers and others who have been coming to you with the military.
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And to ask them, as in the article in the previous article, to be heard by the law, and to return home to the local government.
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You could name it the swan song of the Lapua movement.
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And just like that, the violent extremist group was done.
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They lost the support of the masses, the politicians, and the military.
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And the Lapua movement was banned.
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And Finnish democracy has been stable ever since, even surviving the Second World War.
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Fascism and communism have been rejected by democratic pins.
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Some of the details and events of the Lapua movement have uncomfortable echoes with recent experiences in the US.
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Democracy at one level is about the rule of the people, it's about elections, it's about popular involvement, absolutely.
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But in order to sustain that project of popular engagement and popular decision making,
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you need to have unelected officials who manage the guardrails.
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I think this places a spotlight on the question of who appoints officials.
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Because one of the things we forget, or at least take for granted, is how many non-partisan systems you have to have in place to have a healthy democracy.
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But one of the largest reasons the Lapua movement failed was because it crossed the line.
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It became too violent and too extreme too quickly.
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So it lost mass support and with it, the elites.
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And there's one more key lesson from the Lapua movement that is thankfully a lot more hopeful.
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We remember the fascists of Italy and the Nazis of Germany, but in reality almost every European country had their own far-right movements
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and organizations which all dreamed of taking state power either through violence
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or through some other means and almost all of them failed.
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Context & Background
In the video titled "How Finland defeated fascism," the speaker discusses Finland's historical struggle against the rise of fascism during the interwar period. They detail the events of the 1930s when the Lapua Movement, a far-right political group, sought to impose authoritarianism on Finland. The dialogue highlights the nation's journey towards maintaining its democratic values against extremist forces. Understanding this context not only helps learners grasp the historical significance but also enhances their English language skills through exposure to complex political narratives.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- “They clashed in the war” - A phrase that can be used to describe conflicts in general.
- “Managed to stave off” - Useful for discussing prevention or avoidance of certain situations.
- “Radical members who acted independently” - This phrase illustrates individual actions within a group context.
- “Passed laws that criminalized” - Essential for talking about legislative actions.
- “The message is crystal clear” - A common expression to emphasize clarity in communication.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively practice your English speaking skills using this video, follow this shadowing technique. Shadow speaking involves listening to a speaker and mimicking their speech, which aids in improving pronunciation, tone, and pacing.
- Watch the Video: Begin by viewing the video without subtitles to grasp the overall message.
- Listen Actively: Listen to the speaker's intonation and stress patterns. Pay attention to how they articulate each phrase from the transcript.
- Repeat in Real Time: Use a shadowing app or any recording device to repeat what you hear. Try to match the speed and emotion of the speaker.
- Break it Down: Focus on the top phrases listed above. Practice saying them in different contexts to increase familiarity.
- Feedback Loop: Record yourself speaking and listen for areas of improvement, comparing your speech to the original.
Using the shadowing technique will not only enhance your english speaking practice but will also deepen your understanding of historical narratives, making the learning process engaging and relevant.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was called · was needed · was violently subdued |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | organization which is · goals, which is · those who opposed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | they've remained · has stemmed · has been |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.