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The Old Foe Again: The Pictorial Image of the Ruskie (ryssd) in the Finnish Sports Journal 1939-1940
Explanations of the Figures
Figure 54
In the first cartoon a Russian soldier has succeeded in capturing a field kitchen from
the Finns and is happily salivating and shouting: “A vot! Now I'll be promoted to
the rank of the Provisions-Commissar” (Suomen Urheilulehti, January 1, 1940).
The hidden message is that the Red Army was physically weak and undernourished
because proper rations were not distributed, instead they were given vodka. Here
one can see two soldiers saying ‘AAH1’, i.e. we are getting sufficient rations at last.
In reality, the POWs the Finns captured were usually in quite bad shape physically
and mentally. This was largely because Red Army provisions were inadequate in
winter conditions and the Army had prepared for an easy and smooth victory.
Although the Red Army had hundreds of tanks, the soldiers remained hungry and
not so enthusiastic about winter warfare.
Figure 55
The title of the caricature is: Mr Molotov’ present nightmare (Ibid.: January 2,
1940). When the Russians bombarded Helsinki, the Finnish air defence was very
effective and the bombardment caused only some minor damage. ‘The figure shows
both Russian incompetence and carelessness and Finnish preparedness.
Figure 56
Once more the field kitchen is in action (Ibid.: February 2, 1940). After fierce
fighting on the northern front (at Suomussalmi), it was discovered that Russians
ate almost everything they could find: in this cartoon they are shown cooking and
eating washing powder (called “LUX”) after having robbed a food shop. The laugh¬
able consequences can readily be seen.
Figure 57
This cartoon is very different from the others. There is a light touch of self-assured
humour in it, showing Finnish soldiers marching to the front in regular forma¬
tion while a Finnish street sweeper enigmatically asks: “Poland lasted only two
weeks, I wonder how many weeks the Soviet Union can last?” (Ibid.: February 15,
1940). This optimistic question bordering on prophesy was obviously inspired by
the Finnish success on the front at the time: the Red Army had suffered heavy losses
in December 1939 and January 1940. One implication is that the Finnish soldier is
the opposite of the Russian and is competent and gallant. It was calculated that one
Finn equalled ten “Ruskies’, and one Finnish sportsman-soldier even more (Ibid.:
February 1, 1940).
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