Political Career and Resistance to Russification
As the head of the von Born family, he made his political debut at the Diet of 1877–78, where he attracted attention with passionate contributions on the question of universal military conscription, which he energetically opposed being introduced in Finland. The reason for his opposition was his fundamental conviction in individual freedom and that the state should respect it. He also attracted attention when, on a couple of occasions, he dissented from the Speaker of the Diet, his father, on the question of the rights of the Finnish language and the Diet's right to examine the state of public finances.
Von Born soon became one of the most significant figures among the nobility and knighthood and also the entire Diet. During the so-called years of oppression, he emerged as one of Nikolay Bobrikov's most consistent and determined opponents. He was one of the leaders of the so-called constitutional struggle over Finland's position with Russia, including as an organiser of conscription strikes. Von Born believed that the only way to resolve the conflict over conscription was to abolish universal military service entirely and instead field recruited troops. In addition to this, he wrote in the illegal magazine Fria Ord, and in February 1899 he took the initiative to establish a "compensation fund" to assist civil servants who had been dismissed for refusing to carry out administrative decrees issued outside the normal Finnish legislative process.
Before the years of oppression, von Born had also been part of a small group from the nobility and burgher estate who in 1891 opposed the so-called Postal Manifesto, which had placed the Finnish postal service under the Russian Ministry of the Interior.
Due to his activities, he was urged in the spring of 1903 to leave the country or risk being taken to Russia. He moved with his family to Sweden and continued his resistance to Russian rule from a villa in Djursholm. Through his second wife, he had good contacts in Sweden. With the help of his cousin Ebba Lavonius, who had become a German princess upon marrying Albrecht zu Solms-Braunfels, von Born attempted to approach the Russian imperial court during a visit to Darmstadt. Von Born participated in international advocacy work on behalf of Finland and was also in contact with the Russian opposition.
In his capacity as a member of the Diet, he was able to return in the autumn of 1904 following a summons to an ordinary session of the Diet. After the general strike of October–November 1905, he was appointed Lord Marshal at the last estate-based Diet in the history of Sweden and Finland (in this capacity he delivered, among other things, the nobility's farewell address in the Finnish House of Nobility).
Von Born also served 1910–13 as a member of the new unicameral Diet, in which he belonged to the Swedish People's Party group. He was, however, never a member of the party.
