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Russian Manipulation of the French Press, 1904-1906

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

James William Long
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The Russian government had at various times subsidized the French press before 1904 but not for any long period or on such a large scale as was attempted from 1904 to 1906. During these critical two years the tsarist government appropriated over two and a half million francs for the French press. The French government acted as the catalyst by demanding that Russia “subsidize” the French press every time disturbing news reached Paris.

The Franco-Russian alliance suffered serious stresses and strains from 1904 to 1906, mainly because of divergent foreign policy objectives. French policy directed by Foreign Minister Théophile Delcassé aimed at the preservation of the European balance of power and the advancement of French imperial interests in the Mediterranean.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , June 1972 , pp. 343 - 354
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1972

References

1. For an excellent account of French foreign policy during this period based on numerous unpublished sources see Andrew, Christopher, Théophile Delcassé and the Making of the Entente Cordiale (London and New York, 1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2. France, Ministére des Affaires Étrangéres, Documents diplomatiques français, 1871-1914, ser. 2 (1901-11), vol. 4 (Paris, 1930), p. 422.Google Scholar

3. Delcassé reluctantly abandoned his neutral policy by permitting the Baltic Fleet under Admiral Rozhdestvensky to use French colonies as ports of call en route to the Pacific. He expressed his predicament to Maurice Paléologue: “If we refuse [to give support], think of the capital Germany will make out of it. It would mean the end of the alliance.” See Paléologue, Maurice, The Turning Point, trans, by Appleby Holt, F. (London, 1935), p. 126 Google Scholar. Many Russian newspapers criticized Delcassé’s mediatory role in the Dogger Bank incident in October 1904 by asserting that France should have severely reprimanded England for threatening to blockade the Russian fleet.

4. In January 1905 A. L. Guernaut, head of the department in the Ministry of Finance dealing with foreign loans, warned Finance Minister Maurice Rouvier (who had also just become premier) that Russia might not be able to pay the interest on the debt contracted in France. He advised that France’s policy of “indefinite” lending to Russia be stopped and that the Russian government be informed that its appeals for French credit had reached their limit. See the note from the Direction du mouvement général des fonds, January 1905, in France, Archives Nationales, Finances, F30 329.

5. Paléologue, Turning Point, p. 78.

6. Documents diplomatiques français, 5: 387.

7. Kokovtsov, Vladimir N., Iz moego proshlogo, 2 vols. (Paris, 1933), 1: 27.Google Scholar

8. Preobrazhensky, E. A., ed., Russkie finansy i evropeiskaia birzha v 1904-1906 gg. (Moscow, 1926), p. 99 Google Scholar. This collection of documents includes many related to the Russian government’s policies and attitudes concerning the French press.

9. “S. Iu. Vitte, frantsuzskaia pressa i russkie zaimy,” Krasnyi arkhiv, 1925, no. 3 (10), p. 40.

10. “Perepiska S. Iu. Vitte i A. N. Kuropatkina v 1904-1905 gg.,” Krasnyi arkhiv, 1926, no. 6 (19), p. 69.

11. Raffalovitch, Arthur, L’abominable vçnalitç de la presse (Paris, 1931), pp. 12–13 Google Scholar. This book contains extensive correspondence of Russian finance officials pertaining to the subsidization of the French press.

12. In Paris Manasevich-Manuilov bribed the press and even published a short-lived journal, La Revue Russe, with the purpose of counteracting intrigues against Russia. His activities did not go unnoticed, because La Petite Rçpublique reported on February 5, 1905, that “he is the one who has undertaken ‘to organize’ the French press for Russia.” Some French journalists were on the payroll of the Zagranichnaia Agentura. Notable ones included Jules Hansen, who wrote for many papers, Gaston Calmette of Figaro, and Raymond Recouly of Le Temps and later foreign editor of Figaro. Recouly even had a code name, Ratmir. See Agafonov, Valerian, Zagranichnaia okhranka (Petrograd, 1918), pp. 36, 41, 60-62, 369Google Scholar; and Okhrana Archives (Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace), Vb, 5; VIIIa, 2; and IXb, 2B.

13. Preobrazhensky, Russkie finansy, p. 102.

14. Neymarck, Alfred, Finances contemporaines, 7 vols. (Paris, 1902-11), 6: 65.Google Scholar

15. Delaisi, Francis, La démocratie et les financiers (Paris, 1910), p. 150.Google Scholar

16. Okhrana Archives, IXb, 2A.

17. Raffalovitch, L’abominable vénalité de la presse, pp. 120-24.

18. Preobrazhensky, Russkie finansy, p. 96.

19. Von Laue, Theodore H., in Why Lenin? Why Stalin? (New York, 1971)Google Scholar, expresses well the profound damage to Russian prestige after the annihilation of the Russian fleet in the Straits of Tsushima in May 1905: “The dreaded discrepancy between Russia’s power ambition and its resources was now made manifest to all” (p. 50).

20. Although relations were never amicable between Rouvier and Delcassé, it is fairly well established that Rouvier’s dislike of Delcassé arose in part over the Russo-Japanese War. Rouvier was a banker with extensive financial interests that suffered at the outbreak of war. He never forgave Delcassé for “having him believe in the maintenance of peace between Russia and Japan.” Cambon, Paul, Correspondance, 1870-1924, 3 vols. (Paris, 1940-46), 2: 188 Google Scholar. See also Georges Clemenceau’s comment in L’Aurore, Apr. 17, 1905, p. 1.

21. At first Rouvier thought direct intervention by the French government at St. Petersburg could bring the tsarist government to the peace table. Delcassé warned that sooner or later Russia would have to sign an onerous peace and would accuse France of a “stab in the back” if France overtly pressured the tsarist government to sue for peace. Rouvier did not take a rigid antiloan stand toward Russia until April, when Morocco became a burning issue. Not all French officials accepted Rouvier’s policy of financial strangulation. Paul Bihourd, the French ambassador in Berlin, reproached the French government for “now wanting to force her [Russia] to conclude a humiliating peace by refusing to give her the pecuniary means which would permit her to continue the struggle.” See Archives du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, Allemagnc: Politique étrangère, “Relations avec la Russie, 1905-1914,” vol. 51, p. 12. See also Paléologue, Turning Point, p. 300.

22. France, Annales de la chambre des députés, Débats parlementaires, session ordinaire de 1905, vol. 1, part 1, p. 91.

23. Humanité, Feb. 18, 1905, p. 1.

24. Humanité, Feb. 2, 1905, p. 3.

25. On March 18 Anatole France mocked the French government and society for their stupid policy of loans to build Russian destroyers, which were now at the bottom of the Sea of Japan, and cannons, which were now in the hands of the Japanese. See SSSR, Akademiia nauk, Iz istorii obshchestvennykh dvizhenii i mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii (Moscow, 1957), p. 619 Google Scholar. At another meeting on March 25 he predicted the collapse of the tsarist government and the repudiation of tsarist debts by the new government. See L’Européen, Mar. 25, 1905, p. 6.

26. Archives du Ministère des Affaires Éitrangères, Papiers Delcassé, “Russie, 1898-1914,” vol. 11, p. 230.

27. Tardieu added that “the doubt was expressed as to whether the services rendered by Russia were worth the price paid for them, as to whether the Alliance, so useful to Russia … had given France an equivalent in return, especially after the Asiatic adventure … engulfed the men, ironclads, and millions intended, as we hoped, for the safeguarding of European peace.” Tardieu, André, France and the Alliances (New York, 1908), p. 1908.Google Scholar

28. Raffalovitch, L’abominable vénalité de la presse, p. 96.

29. Documents diplomatiques français, 6: 186.

30. Nelidov to Kokovtsov, Mar. 16, 1905, in Preobrazhensky, Russkie finansy, p. 174.

31. Ibid. On March 11 Delcassé informed Bompard that Rouvier had come to the conclusion that “the strongest efforts should be made to prevent the propagation of news which could start a panic [which would be] equally fatal to Russia and to French savings.” See Documents diplomatiques français, 6: 187. It is likely, therefore, that Rouvier was not totally ignorant of the syndicate’s action and he may have instigated the affair to relieve himself and the government of the unpleasant task.

32. Raffalovitch, L’abominable vénalité de la prcsse, pp. 97-99.

33. Okhrana Archives, IIIf, folder no. 25.

34. Raffalovitch, L’abominable vénalité de la presse, p. 146.

35. In the winter of 1905 the Zagranichnaia Agentura had its own representative working on the French press. Iuzefovich, a man of loose morals and an adept intriguer, was ordered to deal with the Paris press and to look out for collusion between Russian revolutionaries and foreign extremist parties. See Okhrana Archives, IXb, 1A. Iuzefovich, as in most of his endeavors, was not very successful. He simply placed a few articles in the Paris press. For details about Iuzefovich’s private life see Vitte, S. Iu., Vospominaniia, 3 vols. (Moscow, 1960), 2: 357-58.Google Scholar

36. Journal des Débats, July 24, 1905, p. 3.

37. Preobrazhensky, Russkie finansy, p. 176.

38. While in Paris in January 1906 Kokovtsov was disgusted to find some articles in Le Temps which criticized Russian finances. In an interview with Georges Villers (pseudonym for André Tardieu) of Le Temps Kokovtsov declared, “There is nothing disquieting about the condition of our finances.” Le Temps, Jan. 8, 1906, p. 1.