Red Declaration

The Red Declaration (Finnish: punainen julistus) is a document published in Tampere on 1 November 1905.

The text was drafted by Yrjö Mäkelin, the chief editor of the Tampere social democratic newspaper Kansan Lehti on 30 October, during the time of the general strike in response to the Russian Revolution.

It was read out by poet Kössi Lindström on the balcony of Tampere Town Hall on 1 November.

The declaration was printed on red paper, from which it got its name; this was not an intentional reference to the political left.

One of the consequences was a parliamentary reform that gave workers - and even women - the right to vote.