The Finn Eino Rahya, who was born in the Russian Empire, was destined to play a subtle, but important role in the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty. From his youthful years, carried away by the ideas of socialism, the son of a needy carpenter devoted his life to the struggle to change the political system, joining the Social Democratic Party in 1903 (he was then only 17 years old). Unfairly described in Western literature as a man with a hoarse voice, a hump and a sunken chest, Eino Rakhya was Vladimir Lenin's personal bodyguard and his liaison with the central committee of the RSDLP (b).
Labor career
Eino began his working career at the age of 13, when his father died after a work injury. His first place of work was a torpedo workshop. When, during the years of the Stolypin reaction, Eino was forced to leave Russia and settle in Finland, he, without wasting time, entered a technical school in Helsingfors, where he learned to be a metal worker. Subsequently, Rakhya worked as a turner, a stoker on the railway and merchant ships, a foreman at a factory in St. Petersburg, combining his labor activity with the fulfillment of secret orders of the Bolsheviks. After the February Revolution of 1917, Eino became an assistant director at the Lanskoy aviation plant, and he devoted the free time that appeared to fulfilling party orders.
At the same time, he was appointed assistant chief of a detachment of the workers' militia, which consisted of Finns who served on the Finnish railway. It was his unit that ensured security when Lenin arrived at the Finland Station on April 3, 1917.
Jail
In the biography of Eino Rahya there was a two-month period, which he spent behind bars. This episode happened in 1904, when representatives of opposition parties who were noticed in active illegal work were detained everywhere. Arrested on suspicion of illegal activities that undermined the foundations of the country's political system, he was beaten and starved for 60 days. The main goal of the authorities was to find out from Eino the names of his underground comrades-in-arms, but, failing to achieve success, they were forced to release him. After his release, Eino, unable to find a job in Kronstadt, moved to St. Petersburg and got a job on the Finnish railway.
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Smuggler
According to historian Yevgeny Lutsky, during the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, Eino Rahya headed the strike committee of the Finnish Railways and, together with comrade Hugo Yalava, organized a secret transportation across the border of forbidden literature, the finances of the Bolshevik party, and illegal weapons. In addition, thanks to their efforts, many underground revolutionaries, who managed to leave the territory of Russia in time, escaped arrest and hard labor. Eino continued his smuggling activities with the outbreak of the civil war in Finland, when, together with his brother Jukka, he acquired an armored train in the country of Soviets, as well as two armored cars, ten cannons with 3000 shells for them, 30 machine guns with 3 million cartridges, 15 thousand rifles. All these weapons were handed over to the representatives of the Finnish Red Guard,who appointed January 27, 1918, the day of the beginning of the socialist revolution in Finland.
Revolutionary
Although this Scandinavian coup was unsuccessful and quickly turned into a civil war, Eino Rahya managed to take part in it. From Jari Hanski's book "100 Wonderful Finns" we learn that at first he was a translator between the Soviet and Finnish Bolsheviks, and then Lenin appointed Eino commander-in-chief of the Red Guard, although he held this post for only 3 days. Eino Rahya was one of the most authoritative Red commanders, he had an airplane at his disposal, on which he made several reconnaissance flights over enemy combat positions, dropping bombs on them.
Lenin's messenger
In July 1917, when the detectives of the Provisional Government announced the hunt for Vladimir Lenin, it was Eino Rahya who was entrusted with the most important operation to illegally transport the future leader from Razliv to Finland. Together with a group of like-minded people, he organized Lenin's conspiratorial departure from the country under the guise of a steam locomotive driver. From that moment until the last day of the underground of Vladimir Ilyich, Eino was his personal bodyguard and constant liaison.
With his direct participation, Ilyich returned to Petrograd on October 7, 1917. Disguised as a Finnish pastor, he, under the reliable protection of Rahja, with transfers at the Raivola and Udelnaya stations, reached the capital by steam locomotives to lead the October Revolution.
Rakhya provided Vladimir Ilyich, who was hiding in the safe house, with operational information, supplied him with printed publications, as well as resolutions of meetings and rallies. Among other things, he was a link between Lenin and his party associates, who, with the help of the Finn, exchanged correspondence and articles.
According to the historian Heinrich Ioffe, it was Eino who accompanied the leader of the world proletariat when he, having scribbled on a piece of paper the phrase: “He went where you didn’t want me to go,” went to Smolny to make history.
Communist Party of Finland
Eino Rahja, together with his brother Jukka, were among the founders of the Finnish Communist Party, in which they held a strong position. However, in 1920, at one of the meetings of the party club, Jukka was killed, and Eino, suspecting the head of the CPF Otto Ville Kuusinen of organizing the crime, became his open opponent.
Wanting to get rid of his rival, Kuusinen in 1921 initiated the withdrawal of Rahja from the ranks of the Communist Party of Finland, not supported by the others, and he remained in it in the rank of opposition until his death. Eino died in 1936 from alcohol abuse and tuberculosis.
Ashkhen Avanesova