A Great Host of Sympathisers: The Doukhobor Emigration and its International Supporters, 1895–1905

Between September 1898 and July 1899, 7500 members of the non-resistant Doukhobor sect emigrated from Russia to Canada. This article investigates the networks of moral, logistical and financial support that made this emigration possible. Members of the Society of Friends in England and America, Tolstoyan Christian anarchists and opponents of the Tsarist regime worked, through their own networks and together, to raise funds and raise the Doukhobors’ profile. Their relationships with each other, with the Doukhobors and with external audiences were complicated by their own very different investments in the cause. This article explores the aims, activities and impact of this campaign, along with its value for the campaigners. It offers a case study of the complex relationships in such a campaign between humanitarianism, solidarity and self-interest.