Lived ideology in sibling letters. The formation of the right-wing radicalism and siblinghood of Armi Hallsten-Kallia and Rauno Kallia in the 1920s and 1930s

The doctoral thesis investigates how the siblings Armi Hallsten-Kallia (1897–1956) and Rauno Kallia (1901–1948) articulated and reproduced Finnish nationalist and radical right-wing ideologies in their correspondence. The study focuses on lived ideology in the context of siblinghood. Its two subjects are part of the history of Finnish right-wing radicalism and fascism. However, their paths to and within this camp differed. Like many male extreme right-wingers of his generation, Rauno was active in a series of domestic organisations: the student organisation Academic Karelia Society (Akateeminen Karjala-Seura), the fascist Lapua Movement (Lapuanliike) and its successor party, the Patriotic People’s Movement (Isänmaallinen Kansanliike). Armi, on the other hand, adopted fascist views while being engaged in international activities and through theoretical reflection. The correspondence critically fostered her rightwing views. The confidential correspondence created an emotional space for the siblings to forge their ideological identities.

The thesis explores the ideologies and life courses of the two Hallsten siblings by pair biographical means, identifying both shared and dissimilar views and experiences. Armi and Rauno shared the Finnish nationalist views of their childhood family and the values of interwar “White Finland”, and they were both involved in civic and political activism. The main differences pertain to gender and respective spheres of activity. The central themes of the thesis include the issue of gender and the relationship between nationalism and internationalism.

The thesis approaches these themes through the lens of the sibling correspondence. The letters are analysed with reference to the Hallstens’ published writings, the historical context and the meanings of siblinghood, as discussed in historical sibling research. The analysis will allow us to reconstruct the formation of their ideological identities, to understand their choices and to see how they lived their ideologies. But it will also bright to light two complex individuals who were much more than their ideologies, and, in so doing, offer a novel interpretation of Finnish fascism in the 1920s and 1930s.