The Lapua Movement (Finnish: Lapuanliike, Swedish: Lapporörelsen) was a radical Finnish nationalist, fascist, pro-German and anti-communist political movement founded in and named after the town of Lapua. Led by Vihtori Kosola, it turned towards far-right politics after its founding and was banned after a failed coup d'etat attempt in 1932. The movement's anti-communist activities continued in the parliamentarian Patriotic People's Movement.

At the 6th World Congress of the Communist International Joseph Stalin ordered all communist parties around the world to accelerate class struggle. The order led to a higher level of communist activity in Finland in 1929 like the so-called "Red Day" of August 1st when communists organized countrywide protests. A general strike was also declared in November, although it failed to garner support and only 5–10% of workers participated in it.

The movement originated in November 1929, after Finnish communist youth paraded in the conservative and religious town of Lapua enraged pro-White Guard locals, who subsequently attacked the performers physically. The momentum from this event was the catalyst for the formation of the Lapua Movement. It was initially dominated by anti-communist nationalists, emphasizing the legacy of the nationalist activism, the White Guards and the Civil War in Finland. The movement saw itself as the defender of what was won in the Civil War, supporting Lutheranism, Finnish nationalism, and anti-communism.

Many politicians and high-ranking military officers were initially sympathetic to the Lapua Movement, as anti-communism was the norm in the educated classes after the Civil War. However, excessive use of violence made the movement less popular within a few months.

During the Civil War, Ostrobothnia had been one of the most important strongholds of the White army, and anti-communist sentiments remained extremely strong. Late in November 1929, the Young Communist League of Finland arranged meetings and protests in Ostrobothnian Lapua. As the nationalists saw it, the communists had "mocked God, the Lutheran Church, the 'bourgeois' fatherland, the Finnish army and General Mannerheim". This infuriated many of the townspeople, who put a violent end to the meetings. Anti-communist violence was hailed as justified and praiseworthy. On 1 December an anti-communist meeting was held, attracting more than 1,000 people demanding an end to all communist activities. The movement quickly spread around the country, and in some provinces people other than communists were targeted as well, for example the group "Patriotic Citizens of Viitasaari" wanted to purge Jews and Freemasons from the country.

Between God and Satan, white and red, no middle road exists. The hour of our destiny has arrived, we must align ourselves with one or the other. Two spirits are fighting today for world supremacy, one of them destructive, the other constructive. The [former's] aim is to enable someone—a Dictator-Jew or some small faction?—standing on the ruins of burnt-down homes and bloodstained churches, to exert tyrannical power at will in the name of the ‘proletariat’ while in fact solely pursuing his own interests. The second spirit, by contrast, endeavors to preserve those values already created, and to build a new Finland based on godliness and the rule of law…There are only two kinds of people: the righteous and the godless. The divine world order and the teachings of the Christian Church know of no third possibility.

After the events in Lapua, local politicians Kustaa Tiitu and Artturi Leinonen called a "national assembly" to the town to discuss the growing communist agitation. The assembly was attended by some two thousand people from across the country, and it drew up a list of demands, which was delivered to the government. The demands were to remove communists from Parliament and the military, to forbid speech that "desecrated the foundations of the Finnish people's sense of morality and justice" and to stop the Communist Party, which had already been banned, from operating in Finland. Other assemblies were quickly organized in different parts of the country, and they all sent similar demands with some also adding that they were prepared to save the country "by other means", as well, should the government fail to act.

The parliament quickly accepted amendments to the Associations Act, but amendments to the Freedom of the Press Act failed to gather sufficient support. Radicals among the Movement answered by attacking the communist paper Työn Ääni directly. The night of March 28th 1930 thirteen men broke into the paper's facilities and destroyed their presses. On April 4th seventy-two men publicly declared themselves responsible for the attack, but only the actual perpetrators and the main organizer, Yrjö Nikula, were charged. The trial, which was held in Vaasa two months later, turned into a riot. After the judge called an intermission and people were leaving the courtroom, Työn Ääni employee and witness in the case, Eino Nieminen, was surrounded by supporters of the Movement, who accused him of being a "red officer". Nieminen was dragged to the street and beaten badly along with three other communists. Asser Salo, Työn Ääni attorney, was abducted in a car to Lapua.