100-year Anniversary of the Birth of V.J. Sukselainen, Founder of Väestöliitto

Vieno Johannes Sukselainen was born in Paimio on 12 October 1906. His mother was a
single woman who worked as a seamstress. Sukselainen matriculated from high school
in 1927 and earned his masters degree in 1931. Sukselainens doctoral dissertation,
Co-operatives as a business model, was approved in 1939. Sukselainen traveled to
various countries during the 1930s to conduct research for his dissertation, including
Germany, Switzerland, France and Sweden. He was actively involved in student politics
and later in the 1930s also got involved in the activities of the Agrarian League. Although
neither farmer nor Member of Parliament, Sukselainen was elected chairman of the
Agrarian League in 1945. His chairmanship lasted nearly two decades, until 1964, and
his contributions were mainly in the area of political economy and social policy.
Sukselainen was a member of parliament almost without interruption from 1948 to
1978, and was Speaker in 1956-58, 1968-69 and 1972-75. Sukselainen occupied the
post of Minister of Finance in 1950-51 and 1954, Minister of the Interior in 1951-53,
and Prime Minister in 1957 and 1959-61. He also served as a university lecturer and
professor of political economy throughout the 1940s and 50s, director of the Social
Insurance Institution of Finland in 1954-71 and Chancellor of the University of
Tampere in 1969-78. A founder of the Family Federation, Sukselainen was also its
? rst chairman from 1941 until 1971.
Sukselainen and Elma Bondn, M.A., married on 6 July 1938 and had four children.
V.J. Sukselainen died in 1995.