The Fennoman reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004
(provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Fennoman

Fennomans were a loose political group in Finland propagating the Finnish language during the language strife. Their opposition, the svecomans tried to defend the status of Swedish, but eventually had to give in.

Many of the first generation of fennomans were originally Swedish-speaking (mother tongue), but not all. Those Fennomans originally Swedish-speaking learned Finnish, and made a point of using it both in the society and at home, giving their children what they missed themselves: the Finnish mother tongue.

Several of the Fennomans were of Finnish or bilingual homes. Even such may have had originally Swedish surnames, as it was very common in Finland those days.

Most of the fennomans also finnicized their family names, particularly beginning from the end of 19th century.

The fennoman motto was coined by Adolf Ivar Arwidsson:

"We are not Swedish,
we will not become Russian,
so let's be Finnish"

In the last years of 19th century, and in the first years of 20th, Fennoman movement transformed into two political parties: the Old Finnish Party and the Young Finnish Party.



List of prominent fennomans

See also: History of Finland