Abstract

The Congo Free State (CFS) propaganda war was an international campaign waged between two distinct groups. On the one side, there were Leopold II, King of the Belgians, his representatives, and his supporters. Opposing Leopold was a disparate international grouping of Congo reformers representing a range of religious, social, and political positions. The propaganda war began with the first public criticism of the CFS government in 1890 and continued until official Belgian annexation in 1908. For the activists to be successful in their campaign, they had to wrestle from Leopold the meaning of the term ‘humanitarian’ and focus public attention on his misrule in the CFS. By analysing key texts produced by reformers, Leopold and his supporters, as well as the response to the propaganda in newspapers and in private letters between the activists, this article will show that Leopold’s press bureau was successful in sowing distrust of the arguments made by humanitarian activists. Additionally, this article will also demonstrate that Leopold’s strategy of sowing discord amongst his already fragmented opposition served to increase distrust in the critics of Leopoldian rule in the Congo.

摘要

刚果自由国（CFS）宣传战争是两个不同团体之间的国际运动。一方面是比利时国王利奥波德二世，他的代表和他的支持者。反对利奥波德的是刚果改革派的不同国际组织，代表着一系列宗教，社会和政治立场。宣传战争始于1890年对粮安委政府的首次公开批评，并一直持续到1908年比利时正式吞并为止。为使活动家们取得成功的竞选活动，他们必须从利奥波德角逐“人道主义”一词的含义，并集中精力公众对他在粮安委的不当行为的关注。通过分析改革派，利奥波德及其支持者编写的关键文本，以及报纸和激进主义者之间私下对宣传的回应，这篇文章将表明，利奥波德的新闻局成功地表达了对人道主义活动家的论点的不信任。此外，本文还将证明，利奥波德在已经分散的反对派中撒下不和的策略有助于增加对刚果利奥波德统治者的不信任。