was armed with only 20–30 military rifles. In early January, the commander-in-chief Ali Aaltonen went to Saint Petersburg to acquire weaponry from the Bolsheviks. On 13 January, Aaltonen informed the general staff of the cargo of 10,000 rifles and 10 artillery pieces which would be brought to Finland within a couple of weeks. At the same time, the Protection Corps was preparing to receive 60,000 rifles from Germany. Up to this point, many of the largest Workers' Order Guards were occupied by radicals who were pushing the Finnish labour movement towards an armed conflict. They were no longer under the authority of the Social Democratic Party or the Trade Union Federation. In order to keep the labour movement united, the party leadership was forced to negotiate with the revolutionary guards. Many of the leading Social Democrats, such as Väinö Tanner, Taavi Tainio and Evert Huttunen, were moderate and opposed armed revolution and the acts of the Order Guards. In 19–23 January, violent clashes between the Workers' Order Guards and the Protection Corps occurred in eastern Finland in Vyborg and Luumäki and in the western part of the country in Kiikka. In Vyborg, the second largest city in Finland, the Protection Corps was trying to seize control but was expelled from the town. Another serious incident was in Luumäki, as the Protection Corps seized 200 rifles at the Taavetti railway station. Two days later, the Workers' Guards attacked the Protection Corps in order to take the guns back. Finally, on 25 January, the Senate declared the Protection Corps to be government troops. The Social Democrats and the labour movement interpreted this as a declaration of war against the working class. As a result, the Workers' Order Guards and the Helsinki Red Guard were merged into the paramilitary Red Guard of Finland (Suomen Punainen Kaarti) and the revolution was proclaimed in the late evening of 26 January by lighting a red lantern as a sign on the tower of the Helsinki Workers' Hall. The order for the mobilization came on the next morning from the executive committee of the Trade Union Federation, coinciding with the spontaneous clashing of Red Guards and the Protection Corps. 1918 Civil War Commanders The first commander-in-chief of the Red Guards was the former Russian Army lieutenant Ali Aaltonen, who was elected during the general strike in November 1917. As the Civil War started, the task was given