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 (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...

autocracy Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perh ...

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 Sir William Pollard Byles (13 February 1839 – 15 October 1917) was a British newspaper owner and radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician. Background Born in Bradford, Yorkshire, in 1839, W P Byles was the son of William Byles, proprieto ...

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, 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 solicitor, reformer, politician and writer. He became famous for pioneering labour arbitrations. Life and career He was born in Gateshead, the second child of Sarah (Spence) an ...

Ethel Lilian Voynich Ethel Lilian Voynich, ''née'' Boole (11 May 1864 – 27 July 1960) was an Irish-born British novelist and musician, and a supporter of several revolutionary causes. She was born in Cork (city), Cork, but grew up in Lancashire, England. Voynich ...

and

Wilfrid Voynich Wilfrid Voynich (born Michał Habdank-Wojnicz; Telšiai, Деятели революционного движения в России: Био-библиографический словарь: От предшественников декабри� ...

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

Sergei Stepniak Sergey Mikhaylovich Stepnyak-Kravchinsky (russian: Серге́й Миха́йлович Степня́к-Кравчи́нский; July 1, 1851 – 23 December 1895), known in the 19th century London revolutionary circles as Sergius Stepniak, was ...

and later

Felix Volkhovsky Feliks Vadimovich Volkhovsky (russian: Феликс Вадимович Волховский; 1846 in Poltava – July 21 (August 3), 1914) was a Russian revolutionary, journalist and writer. Volkhovsky became involved in radical student poli ...

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) was an American Unitarian minister, author, abolitionist, politician, and soldier. He was active in the American Abolitionism movement during the 1840s and 1850s, identifying himself with ...

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" and the original 1870 pacifist Mother's Day Proclamation. She was also an advocate for abolitionism ...

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

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 that ri ...

. 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 a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he found ...

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 Edmund Noble (January 8, 1853 – January 8, 1937) was an Anglo-American author, journalist, philosopher and editor. Biography Edmund Noble was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1853. He was the son of John and Eliza Noble who were natives of En ...

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 Alice Stone Blackwell (September 14, 1857 – March 15, 1950) was an American feminist, suffragist, journalist, radical socialist, and human rights advocate. Early life and education Blackwell was born in East Orange, New Jersey to Henry Browne ...

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

Jacob Schiff Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ja ...

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