Jahvetti’s Letterbox and Finnish War Propaganda on the Radio

During World War II, radio was recognised globally as an essential propaganda machine used by all sides. At the time in Finland, one particular radio programme, Jahvetin kirjelaatikko (Jahvetti’s Letterbox), aimed to discuss and resolve citizens’ everyday worries and to simultaneously utilise a network of secret proxies who could gather information about and help to manipulate public opinion. Javetti’s Letterbox came to be the most popular broadcast in Finland during the so-called Continuation War of 1941–1944 against the Soviet Union and provides evidence of radio’s power in information warfare where citizens’ trust in Finland’s battle was at stake.


Introduction
The findings of this article are mainly based on research conducted out by Lasse Vihonen which were first published in his 2010 book Radio sodissamme 1939-1945(Radio in our wars, 1939-1945).
Vihonen's original work builds on two major sources of information: documents in various archives, mainly the National Archive of Finland, and the existing literature on the subject which has been published in Finnish only. Along with some substantial additions and adjustments, the information on the radio presenter Yrjö Kilpeläinen a.k.a. Jahvetti and his connection to the secret VIA organisation is for the first time presented here in English for the international research community. Indeed, to our knowledge, there has been no research on the subject published in English at all. This article will examine the way Finnish radio propaganda operated during the war, how it sounded, what kind of language was used and how it commented on news from abroad and enemy propaganda. We will first give a brief overview of the political circumstances before and during the two conflicts between Finland and Soviet Union during the World War II era, i.e. The Winter War and The Continuation War. Finnish war history has been widely studied in Finland; the Winter War is generally regarded as one of the great stories constituting the nation. 1 Our focus will shift to portraying the character of Jahvetti, his personal style in radio broadcasts, his role as a popular voice trying to create unity among the social groups of the nation and his later influence on Finnish broadcasting legislation. Afterwards, we will explain the secret VIA proxy network in order to give readers a broader view on the state's propaganda efforts in war time Finland.
The existing sources we have studied include various publications, documents in the National Archive of Finland (NAF) and sound recordings from the Sound Archive of Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle. Of the available literature Jahvetti's biography by Simppa (the pen name of Simo Juntunen) and Valtion Tiedoituslaitoksen salainen sotakronikka (The secret chronicles of the National Information Centre) by Eino Jutikkala deserve particular mention. The documents in the NAF contain the VIA organisation's archive including its staff catalogue, correspondence, news reports and opinion surveys. Of particular interest in the archive is a series of bulletins containing information gathered from foreign broadcasts on a daily basis during the war years. Jahvetti's Letterbox papers have been organised as a separate collection in NAF including radio programme manuscripts and correspondence. With a few exceptions, Jahvetti's Letterbox broadcasts have survived only as manuscripts in the NAF containing hundreds of items. For sound, only two broadcasts originally on lacquer discs exist in Yle's Sound Archive as authentic audio recordings. 2

Propaganda and transnational radio
Our topic can be approached using at least two theoretical research frameworks. First, Propaganda Studies can enlighten us on the motives, practices, forms and narratives of the phenomenon of propaganda. Second, International Radio Broadcasting (IRB) and Transnational Radio Histories are of relevant research fields where we can apply theories of social construction and media system dependency. 3 It is useful to look more precisely at the terms 'propaganda'.
Short argued in 1983 that the concept of propaganda was essentially about the persuasion of the audience (in both totalitarian and democratic societies). 4 In 2012 Jowett and O'Donnell made a clear distinction between propaganda and persuasion, in fact, they asserted that propaganda is a subcategory of persuasion: 'Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behaviour to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.' 5 The space reserved for this article prevents a detailed discussion on the very essence of propaganda, but it may be noted that in the 1930s the term carried less pejorative connotations in Finnish society than today. For example, the term was officially used in the names of organisations, such as 'Puolustusvoimien propagandaosasto' (Finnish Army Propaganda Division) or 'Propagandaliitto' (The Propaganda Union) which was established for the purposes of international marketing for the Olympics to be held (before being cancelled) in Helsinki in 1940. However, during the war years the word 'propaganda' was replaced with a word 'tiedotus' (information) in many cases. Indeed, when studying texts and documents from the era of World War II, one cannot help but notice how the word is often replaced by euphemisms such as 'public service', 'information', 'education', 'psychological warfare', et cetera.
War propaganda on Finnish radio covered both international and domestic broadcasts.
While our focus is on domestic activities, which were very much influenced by the broadcasts and propaganda from abroad, it is useful to note that Finland took part in international radio broadcasting (IRB) during World War II as well. During the Winter War, the Propaganda Office's AM-broadcasts were aimed especially at British audiences but were received as far away as Italy and Romania. Yleisradio even inquired about the possibility of relaying broadcasts to the US via the BBC, but was turned down. Correspondents reporting for NBC and CBS from Helsinki became an important medium through which to conduct propaganda and on the eastern front broadcasts were targeted at the Red Army mainly from Vyborg. Later, when it became clear that the effects of IRB remained modest, the propaganda office chose a strategy to inform Swedish media in the hope of benefitting from the help of its non-belligerent neighbour to get out the Finnish position. 6 The other relevant aspect of IRB is the extent to which Finnish audiences listened to foreign radio stations during the war. For example, in line with media system dependency theory, Wasburn argues that listening to IRB increases during major world crises. 7 Looking at the number of radio licences purchased in Finland we see they more than doubled from 230,900 in 1938 to 496,500 in 1944. 8

Finland's path until 1940
After declaring its independence on 6 December 1917 from the collapsing Russian Empire in Once in a while the proxies were ordered to interview people on pre-written topics. For example, several times the agents were asked to ask whether the interviewees believed that Germany would be able to beat the Soviet Union in a war. The interview was to be conducted in such a delicate manner that the person interviewed should not be able to discern the spying function of the discussion. In this way, these discussions and the reporting were quite similar to the Wartime Social Survey conducted by the British government during the war. 15 The abstracts of VIA reports were not only available to high level government officials and military leaders, Jahvetti also had access to reporting and was able to use the information on the radio. 16

Jahvetti and his Letterbox
Yrjö Kilpeläinen (1907Kilpeläinen ( -1955, also known as Jahvetti, was born in modest circumstances in the  The first Jahvetti's Letterbox programme was broadcast on 23 August 1940 during the Interim Peace. For Finland, this period was internally challenging: as a result of the Moscow Peace Treaty more than 400,000 citizens from Karelia province had to be relocated to housing all over the country. Moreover, orphans and invalids had to be taken care of and vast amount of damaged property required replacement and refunding. These problems raised many questions among the general public which the national broadcaster Yleisradio aimed to answer during the Letterbox programme. 18 Jahvetti's Letterbox was already popular with audiences when the Continuation War against the Soviet Union broke out. As part of Operation Barbarossa, Finnish Army troops had begun to proceed from the eastern side of Lake Ladoga towards the Svir River on 10 July 1941. As Kilpeläinen was drafted into the army, the production responsibility of the programme was handed over from Yleisradio to the VIA organisation. The Letterbox was broadcast once a week for ten to fifteen minutes. 19  (Dear friends and fellow-villagers! The Finnish people have just had one of their most remarkable historic anniversaries when we celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of our honoured Field Marshal. And, this event has been given an appropriate value also outside our country as well, which is best shown by the fact that the German chancellor made his first trip to Finland on that very day.) 22 It is worth noting that Jahvetti acknowledged Hitler's first and last visit to Finland with just one sentence. As a social democrat, he probably was not willing to praise the dictator more than that. The Letterbox programme did not limit itself to covering domestic debates; when commenting on foreign broadcasts, the claims made by Soviet propagandists were often easy to disprove, as they were usually somewhat blatant and unreal. British propaganda was a more difficult challenge as it was mostly based on factual events and figures. In the later phase of the war, British broadcasts continuously spoke of the military potential of the Allies compared to Germany and encouraged the Finns to 'jump off the sinking ship before being demolished on Germany's side.' 23 As increasing numbers of Finns listened to British radio towards the end of the war, Jahvetti was ordered to launch counterstrikes against the Brits in his act. 24

Jahvetti's mail and correspondence
One of the most popular parts of Letterbox was when Jahvetti answered listeners' questions.
The public was encouraged to send in questions on any subject addressed to Jahvetti at the national broadcaster Yleisradio from where they were redirected to the VIA office. In the office, Kilpeläinen's two assistants sorted the letters into twelve categories to be sent on to (The lads from KPK 3469 inquire again about the corner dance question which we have already chatted about. Since we have previously explained our opinion on this game of joy issue in theory and in practice, all we can say is 1) the current times, the war times are not dancing times, and 2) it is officially forbidden, therefore it is not allowed unofficially to chase anybody accompanied with music either. The authorities have paid necessary attention to this matter and recently a group of individuals suffering from 'dancing mania' in Vyborg had to take responsibility for their act.) 25 Overall, Jahvetti received some 100,000 letters from the public during the period in which the programme was broadcast. The sheer amount of correspondence did not allow for a response to every message individually on air, but all enquiries always received a written reply. Such replies numbered 70,000 so we can assume that approximately 30,000 letters were answered during the broadcasts. 26

Jahvetti's popularity and feedback
The Letterbox programme gained huge popularity among audience and quickly became the most listened to programme on Finnish radio. This is not really surprising given that the topics covered touched almost everybody in war time Finland. The majority of the listeners were drawn to Kilpeläinen's chatty style. However, there was also some criticism. The critics (presumably authorities and employers) claimed that Kilpeläinen was not objective enough and tended to twist his answers in such a way that the authorities and employers had a hard time running their business. Koskiluoma admitted that in many ways the listeners were also to blame for this. Finally, he specifically mentioned one farmer's concern: 'Jahvetti causes a lot of trouble to farming as he encourages workers to stand up for their rights and their entitlement to free time.' 28 It can be argued that such a comment is evidence of the role which Jahvetti's Letterbox played in the 'fight for the souls of the nation'. In other words, for a small country like Finland, it was crucial to reach out to as many citizens as possible to justify acts of war and for them to all do their part for the common cause. VTL's motto 'For a more equitable Finland' emphasised the role of social justice in propaganda. It may not be an exaggeration to claim that Jahvetti's Letterbox partly helped Finland remain unified and hold on to its democratic constitution through World War II and the political turmoil that followed.

Dogfight on the airwaves
In addition to V.I. Lenin's beloved cinema, radio had become an important means of communication for the Soviet Union to bridge the vast distances within the country. Compared to printed newspapers, the medium of the wireless had the advantage of being able to carry a message to the masses, including illiterate citizens, rapidly and at a considerably low cost. Understanding this opportunity, the Soviet government had built a network of powerful transmitters by the mid-1930s. 29 During the war years 1941-1944, the Russians recruited several Finnish-born propagandists to work for them. Soviet transmitters managed to broadcast on the Finnish radio frequency used by the AM-station in the town of Lahti. On the same wavelength the Russians could interrupt and comment on the Finnish radio broadcast. Once the interruption was noted, the Finns would start a counter-propaganda offensive, first by playing a special record manufac- Juttele sinä vaan, kyllä sinut tunnetaan. Ja vaikka sen valeheksi vannotkin, niin kyllä sua kuunnellaan! (Just rave on, we sure know you. Even though it is just a lie you swore, we listen!) 31 This counter-propaganda announcement was followed by loud music in order to block the Russian interference. There were several occasions when Kilpeläinen was on duty, and he would start arguing live on air with the speaker from the Soviet side. Listeners would particularly remember the broadcast quarrels between Jahvetti and Finnish-born Soviet propagandist Armas Äikiä. Due to the challenging nature of this warfare with words, only Kilpeläinen was considered eloquent enough to be allowed to perform on air in these propaganda battles.

Lex Jahvetti
When the hostilities between Finland and the Soviet Union ended with the Moscow Armistice on 19 September 1944, Finnish radio immediately stopped its Anti-Soviet propaganda. Perhaps surprisingly, Jahvetti's Letterbox programme was allowed to continue broadcasting until January 1945. Obviously, Kilpeläinen was not allowed to mock the other side in the same manner as he Kilpeläinen proposed a bill to change the way Yleisradio's Administrative Council was appointed whereby Parliament rather than government could decide. The bill was passed into law in 1948 and since then has been colloquially referred to as 'Lex Jahvetti'. 33 As Kilpeläinen had planned, the new Council suspended Wuolijoki in June 1949. In this way Kilpeläinen had once again been able to make his mark on Finland's radio scene.
A mark that has proved to be long-lasting: after seventy years, the Administrative Council, the highest decision-making body of the national broadcaster Yle, is still elected by the Finnish Parliament.