The Global War on Anarchism

326 : diplomatic history
1904: “When Austria-Hungary joins, all of Eastern Europe will become a bloc of
states consolidated in its fight on anarchism.” 134
England, France, and Italy declined to participate in the conference. The
British Home and Foreign Offices, however, were aware that continental governments
viewed London as “the headquarters of anarchist propaganda and the centre
from which anarchist propaganda radiated.” 135 Nonetheless, as with the Rome
protocol, Lord Lansdowne of England stated that English public opinion would
not support expelling all foreign anarchists living in Great Britain. 136 British officials
promised to provide international assistance with police matters relating to
criminal anarchy, but stipulated that within the United Kingdom the task of monitoring
anarchists fell to the Special Branch of the Metropolitan Police. 137
Internally, the Home Office maintained that it was “very desirable that the
action of the English police in dealing with anarchists should not be fettered by
hard and fast agreements with continental police authorities.” 138
The U.S. government also refused to sign the Secret Protocol but was kept
informed of its statutes by German and Russian officials. 139 Most illustrative is
a confidential memorandum attached to the 1904 agreement in the Department
of State’s Russian Legation file. Unsigned, but dated July 14, 1904, thenote
reads:
This communication was submitted to the President. No written answer has
been made, but the Secretary of State has acquainted the Ambassador with the
facts, first that this country possesses no national system of police, secondly, that
no secret treaty can be made in accordance with our traditional policy, and,
thirdly, that no secret treaty can be entered into, as all treaties require the advice
and consent of the Senate, and that this advice and consent cannot be obtained
in this country without publicity.
The Secretary added that the President was inclined to do everything in his
power under existing laws and statutes to prevent conspiracies in this country
and plots for the assassination of foreign chiefs of state; that he had urged
134. Liang,The Rise of Modern Police and the European State System, 173.
135. TNA: Home Office Registry, 14 Jan. 1907, PROHO144/757/118516.
136. Liang,172.
137. Deflem, Policing World Society, 68; TNA: The Marquess of Lansdowne to Count
Benckendorff, 17 June 1904; PROFO881/9281; TNA: Memorandum on the Protocol of 1904
Respecting Anarchist Crimes, Foreign Office, 24 July 1906, PROHO144/757/118516.
138. TNA: Home Office to Foreign Office, 30 May 1904, PROFO881/9281.
139. Copiesofthe1904 St. Petersburg protocol are available in both the Department of State’s
Notes from the Russian Legation (1909–1906) and Notes from the Legations of the German
States and Germany (1817–1906); American newspapers at the time did not report on either the St.
Petersburg conference or the secret protocol, and neither is mentioned in the Papers Relating to the
Foreign Relations of United States during the years 1902–1905.