The Radical People's Party was founded after the end of the Continuation War as Ernesti Hentunen began arranging a new political organization.
[4] Radical People's Party took part in the March 1945 parliamentary elections with no success, but the failed effort did not discourage the activists.
At this stage, the radical party was very pro-Soviet Union and it thought that it was possible to oust the hated rulers with the help of USSR.
[7] The Radical People's Party changed its attitude of the Communists and the Soviet Union very quickly when Hentunen noticed that his thoughts got no sympathy from the far left.
The party turned into a sharp opposition of the Popular Front approach adopted by the government, which included the communists, social democrats, liberals and centre.
In November 1946, the party organised an event at the anniversary of the October Revolution in Helsinki and, in his speech, Hentunen mainly criticized the USSR.
[8] The party's Foreign Policy Agenda (1947) called for the return or independence of Karelia which was lost in the war.
[9] On 22 August 1947, the Radical People's Party was going to organise a speech event at the Helsinki Railway Square.
The state police Valpo and the Ministry of the Interior, however, decided to intervene, and the government ordered to take Hentunen in preventive detention.
The speaker, on the other hand, fell ill, and could not arrive at the square where thousands of eager listeners had gathered.
[10] The hardships of Hentunen became a popular issue on the Finnish press and the radical party received media attention throughout Europe.
[13] Radical People's Party opposed the Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 (YYA) of 1948 between Finland and Soviet Union.
[14] In April 1948, the SKP-led Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL) made a parliamentary query of the radical's activities, which it described as an example of abuse of freedom of expression.
In the March annual meeting, Kaponen made an initiative to establish a new, more serious-minded, newspaper which would replace Totuuden Torvi.
He appealed to court to invalidate the decisions of the annual meeting and convened an extraordinary party congress on 16 May.
In case of loss in the court, the meeting also set up a new association, Riippumaton Radikaalinen Puolue (Independent Radical Party).
Later in July the District Court of Helsinki declared the March annual meeting invalid due to errors in some minor technicalities.
[21] The program of the Radical People's Party was first published in November 1944 as a paid notice in the Helsingin Sanomat.
[22] The purpose of the association was to develop state capitalism by giving land to the landless, nationalising industrial plants and companies and to rearrange the monetary system.
The party wanted to limit farm size to 5-15 hectare, and to seize the land of the church, local companies and municipalities.
[22] The other demands of the party were, among other things, amnesty for military deserters and war-time prisoners, and the establishment of People's Militia to replace the army.
[24] In 1948, a heading in Totuuden Torvi read as follows: "Radical means: To go deep in the roots of problems and to improve them at a fast pace.
[4] The Radical People's Party got most of its funds from the economically successful Totuuden Torvi, with the rest coming from Hentunen himself.
The paper's style departed radically from the other publications of the time, and it irritated leading politicians from the far left to the far right.
After the cancellation of Totuuden Torvi, the Radical People's Party announced its policy through flyers and numerous speech events.
Hentunen subsequently printed flyers named Kansa huutaa ("The people shout"), which were also banned.
[30] The Radical People's Party began to prepare for the March 1945 parliamentary elections in January.
The party offered an electoral coalition to the Finnish People's Democratic League and the Socialist Parliamentary Group (also known as the Sixes).
Their purpose was to participate in elections around the country, but eventually the party only managed to present lists in Uusimaa.
In the Häme North constituency all the radical lists and candidates were rejected due to errors contained in the papers.