Во имя нигилизма. Американское общество друзей русской свободы и русская революционная эмиграция (1890-1930 гг.)

In 1904-1905 a new generation of American social reformers became the main force of the established Societies. These were settlement workers, progressive reformers, and municipal politicians. Jane Addams from Hull House (Chicago), Lillian Wald from Henry Street Settlement (New York), and Helen Dudley from Denison House (Boston) gave Breshko-Breshkovskaia a cordial reception. Their positive perception of Russian nihilists was informed by their close interaction with immigrants from the Russian Empire. The latter had spoken about the political persecution and repression in their homeland. Some revolutionaries were among the dwellers of the settlements too.

Like Breshko-Breshkovskaia, Nikolay Tchaikovksy relied on material support during his American campaigns in 1906-1907. According to his letters, he had expected to make much more money from the Americans than he finally did. Both individuals were connected with the Russian Socialist-Revolutionary Party. Moreover, Breshkovskaya and Tchaikovsky regarded their mission in America as an important party task. Their main goal was to collect money for the Russian Revolution. Their correspondence with other party members revealed their awareness of the money issue. “Go, go to America and bring back as much money as you can!” In such a manner, Felix Volkhovsky blessed Tchaikovsky and his intention to obtain funds in America for the Socialist-Revolutionary Party.

The “Sherlock Holmes of the Russian Revolution,” Vladimir Burtsev (1910), who had close ties with the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, toured the U. S., proving that American Friends of Russian Freedom continued to sympathize with Russian Revolutionaries. The president of New York society, a congressman from the Republican Party, Herbert Parsons, was Burtsev’s lawyer in the American court, where defamation action was considered. The action was brought by a penetration agent, Aleksandr Evalenko, since Burtsev had made charges against him for working for the Police Department of Russia.

From 191 1 to 1916 the Society continued its activities, but at a very low level. It was also the period of the revolutionary movement’s recession in Russia. Breshko-Breshkovsakia was sent into exile for a second time, Tchaikovsky abandoned his revolutionary activity, Volkhovsky died in 1914, while some others escaped to Western Europe, where they led a miserable political existence.

The downfall of the Russian autocracy was an important milestone for the American Friends of Russian Freedom. Initially the American Friends of Russian Freedom supported the Provisional Government and the new order in Russia, but, after the October Revolution, the Society was divided into two informal groups that held different views about the Soviet power. Participants in the War took an anti-Bolshevik stand, while American pacifists sympathized with the Soviet Russia. The settlements’ leaders found themselves in an embarrassing situation when the expulsion of Reds to the Soviet Russia began. The settlement workers were likewise sympathetic to anarchists. But the general atmosphere in the States was not welcoming. Besides, the authorities regarded most settlements as refuges for anarchists, communists, and socialists.

Under such conditions, it was not enough to be called just “Friends of Russian Freedom.” The critical attitude of Americans towards Soviet power divided the members of the SAFRF. One had to distinguish exactly what kind of Russian friend one was. Pro-Soviet progressive sympathizers founded the American Society for Cultural Relations with Russia. The main goals of this Society were social, not political.

Other Americans tended to take staunch anti-Soviet attitude. Such a view coincided with that of the American government, which pursued a tough policy of repression and watchful surveillance of any suspicious public figures. Documents from Emma Goldman’s archives reveal real anxieties about people’s contact with the anarchists. When the American Bureau of Investigation discovered that Alice Stone Blackwell was a friend of the anarchist Alexander Berkman, the agent carried out a detailed investigation of Blackwell’s activities. Although he concluded that Miss Blackwell was a person of a high moral character and excellent reputation in Boston, he noted her pacifist inclinations that could only cause her harm the early 1920s.

The loss of unity among members of the SAFRF made a new public campaign against Soviet Russia impossible. Moreover, American liberals and progressive workers tended to support the new power in Russia. They regarded the USSR’s new social policies as a continuation of the progressive reforms, which had been abruptly terminated in the USA. In 1924 the Friends of Russian Freedom dissolved their organization.