Starting as a breakaway faction of the Agrarian League in 1959 as the Small Peasants' Party of Finland (Suomen Pientalonpoikien Puolue), the party was identified with the person of Veikko Vennamo, a former Agrarian League Member of Parliament known for his opposition to the politics of President Urho Kekkonen.

Vennamo resided as the head of The Department of Housing and Land Reform with relations to the Karelian refugees after the Continuation war.

In December 1957, Mr. Paavo Ojalehto from Northern Finland wrote a letter to the board of the members of the Agrarian League claiming, that the party secretary of the Agrarian League, Arvo Korsimo, did not meet the traditional moral values and did not appreciate chastity.

Vennamo was not allowed to take part in party the parliamentary group of the Agragian League in the parliament of Finland for a set period of time in 1958.

As Johannes Virolainen succeeded Sukselainen as the chairman of the Agrarian League and had the name of the Agrarian League changed to Center Party (Keskustapuolue) in 1965 to meet better the needs of the sons and daughters of the farmers, who sought work in the cities, towns and boroughs as an alternative to the emigration to Sweden.

The Finnish Rural Party started as a protest movement, with support from the unemployed and small farmers.

[3] The state-sponsored resettlement of veterans of World War II and evacuees from ceded Karelia into independent small farms provided an independent power base to Vennamo, who was nationally well known, having served as director of the government resettlement agency since the end of the war.

For the newly founded party, the main carrying force was Vennamo, who was charismatic, a good orator and a skilled negotiator.

As a protest movement without a charismatic leader, burdened with ministers participating in unpopular coalitions, the party gradually lost political support.

Agricultural changes proved hard for small farmers, who sold their farms and moved to the cities.