The World - News from Oct. 14, 1985

The Finnish Communist Party defied Moscow and initiated a large-scale purge of hard-liners that could soon lead to two rival Communist parties in Finland. The party Central Committee decided at a meeting in Helsinki to expel eight of the party’s 17 district organizations, officials said, a move that could lead to the expulsion of individual members. The party long has been split into a Eurocommunist majority and a hard-line minority supported by Moscow. The Soviet Union has warned the Finns that a purge of hard-liners could adversely affect relations between the two countries.