Finland became a Duchy of Russia in 1809, previously ruled by Sweden. The Finnish language was codified by Agricola in the 16th C, but the first piece of Finnish  literature was not until the 'Kalevala' in 1835. The first novel was 'Seven Brothers' by Aleksis Kivi in 1870.

But the real flowering of Finnish literature (and the Finnish language) didn't take place until the early 20th C by which time an almost wholly agrarian population began to get an education, and simultaneously were finally freed from 'feudalism'. Finnishness was born, and independence achieved in 1917. Books and newspapers were the keys that unlocked this flowering. And it happened relatively fast.

The question is: could the Internet have this same unlocking role in a society largely trapped in corporate (inc. media) feudalism?

You can't be me, I'm taken