Tuominen was born in 1894 in Kuotila to the family of a rural carpenter. In 1912 he moved to
Tampere to become a carpenter's apprentice and enrolled in the Workers' Institute, joining an affiliated club called the Saturday Society, where he began to follow world politics. Tuominen began reporting to the social democratic
Kansan Lehti (People's News), rising to editor-in-chief by March 1918 in the midst of the
Finnish Civil War. He was arrested by the
White Guards, eventually freed to enlist in the Finnish army. Discharged in late autumn 1918, Tuominen took up carpentry again, but came under the influence of
Otto Wille Kuusinen and the
Communist Party of Finland. Tuominen then formed the Finnish Socialist Labor party and began publishing the daily newspaper
Sumen Työmies (The Finnish Worker). In June 1921 he joined Kuusinen and
Yrjö Sirola in attending the
3rd World Congress of the Communist International, as a member of the Executive Committee. Tuominen met Lenin there, stating "Lenin proceeded from entirely different fundamentals than Stalin; namely, that the dictatorship of the proletariat should be applied to enemies and opponents and not to one's own comrades. He provoked discussion and debate among those around him, whereas Stalin tolerated only his own opinions, which were final." Tuominen became a member of Finnish Communist Party's Central Committee and the director of the Finnish bureau. Yet, Tuominen had doubts about the Comintern based in Moscow, "Whose bread you eat, his songs you sing." Though he had faith in Lenin and the ultimate triumph of communism, Tuominen had difficulty accepting "Everything that you do for the good of the Soviet Union and communism is acceptable, hence morally right." In 1956, Tuominen returned to Finland and published three books,
Sirpin ja vasaran tie (
The Way of the Hammer and Sickle) in 1956,
Kremlin kellot (
The Bells of Kremlin) in 1956, and
Maan alla ja päällä (
Underground and Above) in 1958. ==References==