Ida Aalle-Teljo 1875-1955

Ida Aalle-Teljo was a Finnish politician and influencer of the labour movement, who was one of Finland’s first members of parliament. She was one of the most important female influencers of the early Finnish labour movement, also known as a campaigner for voting rights and, in her later years, as one of the developers of the Finnish old people’s home movement. Aalle-Teljo was a member of the SDP’s parliament from 1907 to 1917.

In the summer of 1904, workers’ activists set up secret proletarian committees in Helsinki, led by the women of the Helsinki Workers’ Association under Aalle-Teljo. She was arrested several times while organising the strikes. In the run-up to the 1918 civil war, the Social Democratic Women’s League was opposed to armed confrontation,
and by the outbreak of the war Aalle-Teljo was known as a staunch opponent of women taking up arms.