If I understand your question here, I believe that Finland did have to stand up to Stalin, yes.

Stalin, like Hitler, was bent on expansion. If Finland had given in, Stalin might have taken that as a sign of weakness, either way, I think Stalin was determined to expand to the detriment of his weaker neighbours eventually anyways.

Sadly when he did, America and the West didn't care. Though I believe Churchill wanted to ally with Finland and rush to her aid against 'the big bully' even if it meant going through neutral Sweden to do it(that doesn't sound too bright), but in the end, no-one did.

Ok, that's not totally true. I've been told that with a common enemy, the Finns and Japanese were relating to eachother.

Like when the US invaded Canada unsuccessfully 5 times in the War of 1812(though not in my American history book shockingly enough), the vastly outnumbered gave the invader a bloody nose.

This unbelievably fantastic effort by the vastly outnumbered, under-armed(weapons from almost every major power) not only convinced Stalin his army needed over-hauling, but, and many may not know this, was also one of the reasons Hitler felt confident enough to go ahead with his own plans, alot of his fears of Russia diminished by Finnish success.

Definately, eventhough no-one else came to her defense as the Allies did for Poland, Finland couldn't just roll over and keep giving in. Each time she did, that would be like letting the opposing side in a chess match start a new game with some pieces already placed closer.

After the first time, did Finland try to make a defense pact with anyone like Poland did?