“On 30th November 1939 at 06:50 a.m. the Soviet Army attacked Finland on all fronts with infantry, navy and air force, without a declaration of war.” (By Elina Ritala.)
To garner support for Finnish people’s struggle in the Winter War, Finnish Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner made a radio speech (RealAudio, 1′ 51″, from www.sodatkuvina.cjb.net/laulut.htm) to the people of the United States of America on the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) on 3 December 1939.
The following is my transcript of the original broadcast. All mistakes — and punctuation decisions — are entirely mine.
ANNOUNCER:
Hello NBC, here is Finland calling. We are broadcasting a statement by the Finnish Foreign Minister, Mr Väinö Tanner.
FOREIGN MINISTER VÄINÖ TANNER:
At the post to which I have been called, I have to try to the best of my abilities to act in such a manner that Finland — which wishes to carry out works of peace — might as soon as possible see Her relations with the Soviet Union became once again peaceful.
I may repeat here what I said yesterday to certain foreign correspondents: the Finnish government will not refuse to take part in negotiations for the restoration of peace.
Nevertheless, anyone who believes that the Finnish people can be brought by the threat of force — and the terror already launched — to make concessions that will denote in reality the loss of the independence, is mistaken.
We shall defend ourselves against such forcefull methods that we can’t bring ourselves to believe that the civilized Western world will not find some means which are more powerful than its invaluable sympathy.
When these means are found, liberty-loving nations all over the world can be certain that Finland’s independence will be preserved, and that the sphere of liberty will not be threatened by a shrinkage in this corner of the world.
Haven’t I heart this very same phraseology recently on a rather different context? Shame, shame on Bush, Rumsfeld et al.
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