Hella Wuolijoki moved in pursuit of her university studies from Estonia to Helsinki in 1904. Four years later she received her master’s degree, the first Estonian woman to do so. She abandoned her postgraduate studies in folklore to concentrate on providing for her family as a businesswoman.

The international connections Wuolijoki made while active in the business world proved useful for her involvement in politics. She stayed out of the 1918 Finnish Civil War and its aftermath but ensured that the fate of the reds, the losing party, was known in other countries. During the Winter War (1939-1940), Wuolijoki played an active part in negotiating peace terms with the Russians in Stockholm, all with the approval of the inner circle of the Finnish government.

During the Interim Peace, Hella Wuolijoki was in favour of maintaining relations with the Soviet Union. However, her level of contact with Russians during the Continuation War (1941–44) was held to be treasonable and she was sent to prison for the years 1943–44. After the war her political influence was considerable. She was an important figure in the establishment of the left wing party, the Finnish People’s Democratic league (SKDL), and a grey eminence in J. K. Paasikivi’s government. Wuolijoki was a member of the Finnish parliament from 1946 to 1948, representing the SKDL party.

In her role as Director-General of the Finnish Broadcasting Company from 1945 to 1949, Hella Wuolijoki modernised the radio's programming, steering it towards societal debate and national enlightenment. According to YLE Teema's Sininen Laulu - The Story of Finnish Arts webpage, "The main principles of Wuolijoki's programme line-up were shaped by a belief in the civilising and democratic mission of radio, and, after the propaganda of the war years, radio’s freedom to speak the truth. She placed great emphasis on a high artistic standard of radio production and brought into the schedules clearly committed programmes on the politics of the day. Wuolijoki also had the idea for programmes targeted at certain social groups such as Farmer's Hour and Worker's Hour."

The weekly political party representatives’ discussion programme, Pienoisparlementti (‘Parliament in miniature’), was one of Hella Wuolijoki's own productions. In addition to discussion programmes, Wuolijoki introduced radio theatre, increased the activity of the radio orchestra, and founded a Swedish-language programme division alongside the Finnish language programming.

Hella Wuolijoki was also a popular playwright. For political reasons, she mostly wrote her plays under a pseudonym. Her first play, the Estonian language Talulapsed (‘The children of the house’), was published in 1912 and staged at the Estonia Theatre the following spring. However, the play, was banned after the premiere on the grounds that it was excessively nationalistic. The Finnish translation, Talon lapset, met the same destiny at the Kansan Näyttämö (‘people’s stage’) in Helsinki two years later. Wuolijoki's last play to be set in Estonia, Palava maa (‘A land in flames’), which depicted the events of 1905, was written in Finnish. In the 1930's the themes and events of her plays shifted to Finland.

In her works, she presented women in strong societal and working life roles, and her plays brought a fresh approach to the traditional theatrical depiction of society. Hella Wuolijoki's more familiar plays are the Niskavuori series, Juurakon Hulda (adapted as the English language film The Farmer’s Daughter) and Mr. Puntila and his Man Matti, which she co-wrote with Bertolt Brecht.

Sources (mainly in Finnish):

Korhonen, Anna ’Hella Wuolijoki Yleisradion pääjohtajana’. YLE Teema Sininen Laulu – Suomen taiteiden tarina Accessed 22.9.2014 (’Hella Wuolijoki – The Finnish Broadcasting Company’s Director-General’ on ‘The Blue Song – The story of the Finnish arts’).

Koski, Pirkko ‘Hella Wuolijoki’ in Finnish National Biography online. Accessed 30.11.2014.