After the 1918 Finnish Civil War, Willman and her husband, Voitto Eloranta fled to the Soviet Russia.

Willman joined the Social Democratic Party and worked as a writer in a leftist literary magazine.

In August 1906, Willman was involved with the Sveaborg rebellion, a mutiny of Russian sailors in the Suomenlinna seafort near Helsinki.

[1] During the 1918 Civil War, Willman worked as a journalist as her husband was a member of the Red Guard general staff at the Savo Front.

Russian court convicted Voitto Eloranta as the main instigator, although he denied involvement.