The Society of Friends of Russian Freedom was an organization of British and American political activists and reformers who supported the Russian opposition movement against

Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority and ...

autocracy Autocracy is a form of government in which absolute power is held by the head of state and Head of government, government, known as an autocrat. It includes some forms of monarchy and all forms of dictatorship, while it is contrasted with demo ...

, broadly defined at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.

English society

The English Society of Friends of Russian Freedom was founded in April 1890."The Society of Friends of Russian Freedom," ''Free Russia,'' vol. 3, no. 11 (Nov. 1, 1892), pg. 1. In 1892, the executive committee of the society included William Pollard Byles,

Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse, FBA (8 September 1864 – 21 June 1929) was an English liberal political theorist and sociologist, who has been considered one of the leading and earliest proponents of social liberalism. His works, culminating in ...

, Mrs. Edwin Human, Mrs. Oharies Mallet, Marjory Pease and

Edward R. Pease Edward Reynolds Pease (23 December 1857 – 5 January 1955) was an English writer and a founding member of the Fabian Society. Early life Pease was born near Bristol, the son of devout Quakers, Thomas Pease (1816–1884) and Susanna Ann F ...

, G. H. Perris, J. Allonson Ploton, Herbert Rix, George Standring, Adolphs Smith,

Robert Spence Watson Robert Spence Watson (8 June 1837 – 2 March 1911) was an English people, English solicitor, reformer, politician and writer. He became noted for pioneering labour arbitrations. While refusing invitations to stand for Parliament, he was an infl ...

, Ethel Lilian Voynich and

Wilfrid Voynich Wilfrid Voynich (born Michał Habdank-Wojnicz; Деятели революционного движения в России: Био-библиографический словарь: От предшественников декабристов д ...

, and William W. Mackenzie. From 1890 to 1914 Society published ''Free Russia,'' a monthly newsletter edited by Sergei Stepniak and later Felix Volkhovsky.

American society

Formation

The Society of American Friends of Russian Freedom (SAFRF) was founded in April 1891 in Boston at the Russian émigré Stepniak-Kravchinskii instigation. The Society formed by the local old-time reformers and former abolitionists and also their children, who were active in various social movements. The most notable persons of the SAFRF were

Thomas Wentworth Higginson Thomas Wentworth Higginson (December 22, 1823May 9, 1911), who went by the name Wentworth, was an American Unitarianism, Unitarian minister, author, Abolitionism, abolitionist, politician, and soldier. He was active in abolitionism in the United ...

Julia Ward Howe Julia Ward Howe ( ; May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was an American author and poet, known for writing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as new lyrics to an existing song, and the original 1870 pacifist Mothers' Day Proclamation. She w ...

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet ...

, and

James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets to r ...

. Besides them, the Society received an enthusiastic response from Francis Jackson Garrison, the son of the famous abolitionist

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was an Abolitionism in the United States, American abolitionist, journalist, and reformism (historical), social reformer. He is best known for his widely read anti-slavery newspaper ''The ...

and the author and activist from Valley Falls, Lillie Wyman. According to F.F. Travis, they advised Stepniak "on how to proceed" with the Society and introduced him to the circle of Bostonian reformers. Higginson, Howe, Wyman, Francis Garrison, and Stepniak drafted the appeal of the SAFRF, "To the Friends of Russian Freedom," which was issued on April 14, 1891. The appeal signed 37 prominent Americans. From July 1891 till July 1894 the SAFRF published the monthly magazine ''Free Russia.''

Members

The total number of members of the SAFRF was 164 in 1891 and 142 in 1892. The most active members of the SAFRF were Francis Garrison as the treasurer, Edmund Noble as the secretary and editor of ''Free Russia,'' and Lazar Goldenberg as the publisher of the magazine. The circulation of the periodical did not exceed 3000 copies. The SAFRF was unable to generate critical mass in support of the "Russian cause" and in May 1894 the Executive Committee decided to suspend the American edition ''Free Russia.'' The decision was made public in the June-July edition of the paper.

Resurrection

In 1903 the suffragist activist Alice Stone Blackwell reorganized the SAFRF. An Indiana politician

William Dudley Foulke William Dudley Foulke (November 20, 1848 – May 30, 1935) was an American literary critic, journalist, poet, and reformer. Biography William Dudley Foulke was born in New York City on November 20, 1848. He graduated Columbia University in 1869 ...

became president. The society organized the propagandist campaign of the Russian émigré Breshko-Breskovskaia in 1904-1905 in the USA.

George Kennan George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly hist ...

, revealed in the New York Times on 24 March 1917 that

Jacob Schiff Jacob Henry Schiff (born Jakob Heinrich Schiff; January 10, 1847 – September 25, 1920) was a German-born American banker, businessman, and philanthropist. He helped finance the expansion of American railroads and the Japanese military efforts a ...

of Kuhn, Loeb Bank on Wall Street financed Russian revolutionaries through this organization. Schiff had been financing Russian revolutionaries since 1905.

Footnotes

External links

Free Russia journal at Archive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Society Of Friends Of Russian Freedom Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Political advocacy groups in the United States Propaganda organizations Russia–United Kingdom relations Russian Empire–United States relations Propaganda in the United Kingdom Propaganda in the United States