Takeover of Vanha
Helsinki's Swedish-language newspaper HBL wrote "people became tired and went home after having stayed up for a day, sat on the floor, drank red wine and kissed".
These include: Maarit Sinervo, Tarleena Sammalkorpi, Antti Kuusi, Nils Torvalds, Anssi Sinnemäki, Juhani Koskinen, Matti Viikari, Matti Wuori, Peter von Bagh, Liisa Manninen, Johan von Bonsdorff, Marianne Laxén, Marja-Leena Mikkola, Jaakko Laakso, Pentti Saarikoski, Pentti Saaritsa, Kari Aronpuro, Jarkko Laine, Jussi Kylätasku, Jaakko Pakkasvirta, Riitta Suominen, Ilkka Taipale, Matti Salo, Kai Linnilä, Kati Peltola, Valdemar Melanko, Kimmo Kevätsalo, Atte Blom, Erkki Tuomioja, Ilkka-Christian Björklund, Hannu Taanila, Jyrki Vesikansa and Risto Volanen.
The communists split definitively into two camps: the majority (saarelaiset), following the chairman Aarne Saari, and the fiercely left-wing taistolaiset, led by the vice-chairman Taisto Sinisalo.
[12] Laura Kolbe, professor of European history at the University of Helsinki, analyzes that the effects of the Old Conquest mostly focused on customs, sexual behavior and morality.
[13] According to Professor Timo Vihavainen, Kekkonen's sympathy for radical students opened the way for the young generation to leadership positions in society quite quickly.
A few of those who took part in the takeover of Vanha, one of whom was Erkki Tuomioja, entered the parliament in the very next election in 1970, and many other leading figures of the radicals were placed in visible and well-paid positions and activities in the early years of the 1970s.
[14] Doctor of Political Science Jukka Tarkka [fi] has characterized the takeover of Vanha as a watershed in the history of the Finnish student movement: it ended the happy hippie phase of radicalism and was a leap into the new decade.
Indeed, many of the people involved became leading figures in Finnish politics and the financial sector, including the Social Democratic Party politicians Erkki Tuomioja, Ilkka Taipale and Ulf Sundqvist, bank manager Björn Wahlroos and diplomat Markus Lyra.
