Public Support for the Boer Republics During the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902. Risk Factors for the Russian Government

During the Second Boer War, the Russians initiated a concerted campaign in support of the independence of the two southern African republics, which were then engaged in a confrontation with the British Empire. In historiography, the campaign has been primarily associated with conservative publications and personalities, given the prominent role played by the pro-government press in its conduct. Some scholars have posited that the pro-Boer movement in the Russian Empire was a deliberate ploy by the government to deflect attention from the country’s intractable political and economic challenges. However, the documents emanating from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, in conjunction with the materials produced by the Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, indicate that the government exercised control over expressions of solidarity with the defenders of the two distant republics, utilising both the police and censorship. It was evident to officials that public interest in the Anglo-Boer War was being exploited not only by those of a moderate monarchist disposition, but also by those aligned with the extreme right, as well as by opponents of autocracy and supporters of national movements. The persistent demands by sections of the public for intervention in the South African conflict by diplomatic or even military means were interpreted by the ruling circles of the Russian Empire as an attack on the state’s monopoly on determining foreign policy. In consideration of the surviving archival documents and memoirs of contemporaries, it can be discerned that the government sought to prevent and suppress what was deemed to be “demonstrations”, that is, public politicised actions of solidarity with the anti-imperialist struggle of the peoples of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.