Story of struggle
for women’s suffrage

OST of us who were born

after the struggle for wom-
en’s suffrage had been fought
and won tend to think that it
was a short, sharp fight in the
Edwardian era,

Roger Fulford, in Votes for
Women has performed a great
service in describing the whole
struggle in Britain, which was
spread over more than a cen-
tury and had its influence in
Canada and others of the do-
minions.

His considered and well-
documented history presents
all the facts and all the issues
and. yet remains lively, dra-
matic and interesting without
being emotional or sensation-
al.

Indeed, the bare
sensational enough.

The first real statement of
the case for women’s suffrage
was launched in 1825 by Wil-
liam Thompson in an ill-titled
book called “An Appeal of one
half the human race, Women,
against the pretensions of the

_ Other half, Men, to retain them
in political, and thence in civil
and domestic Slavery.”

-But in spite of Thompson’s
impassioned appeal, “Women
of England, awake!” there was
little agitation by women for
the vote until the middle of
the century, when the Asso-
ciation for Female Franchise
demanded that the “property
qualification” for voting
Should be extended to wom-
en,

This would, of course, have
enfranchised a mere handful
of women in relation to the
Population; but controversy
raged around the issue for
Some 20 years, with no re-
sult.

Then, during the last 20
years of the 19th. century,
there was a lull before the
movement took on the new
Militant phase by which it is
Most widely remembered.

x % x

In 1903 Mrs. Sylvia Pank-
hurst formed the Women’s So-
Clal and Political Union, with
Its defined objective of “im-
Mediate enfranchisement:” At
the: inaugural meeting Mrs.
ankhurst used these signifi-
Cant words:

“We shall work not by
Means of any outworn mis-
Sionary methods, but by po-
litical action.” :

Little political action was
Owever, taken until May
1905, when, after a ‘bill to in-
clude women in voting quali-
fications had been “talked
Cut” in the House of Com-
Mons, several members of the
WSPU gathered outside the

Ouse,

They were moved on twice
by the police and finally their
names were taken,

Mild and almost unnoticed
* this event was, it marked
he first departure from ‘the

facts are

"per:

drawing-room meetings of
the past toward the tactics of
allitaniey: And it set the pre-
cedent for the bitter campaign
which was to follow.

The first arrest was made
in June, 1906. Women were
picketing the house of As-
quith, then prime minister,
when police attempted to
break their ranks. Theresa
Billington slapped a _ police-
man in the face (in later life
she was heard to say that she
never regretted that slap).

On the day Theresa entered
Holloway Prison Mrs. Pank-
hurst wrote in. a London pa-
“The struggle has _ be-
gun. It is a life-and-death
struggle.”

And life and death it was
to be for some of the wom-
en.

During the next two years
there were skirmishes with
the police, marches, demon-
strations and big meetings.
There were many arrests but
prisoners had fair treatment
and the warfare was not par-
ticularly bitter.

In June 1908 there was a
brisk engagement when wom-
en attempted to present a pe-
tition demanding the vote to
parliament. Police broke their
ranks and flung many of
them to the ground. After-
wards the windows of the
prime ministers house were
stoned. i

503 Pes x

The following year saw a
new development — the start
of the hunger strike. Marion
Wallace-Dunlop sentenced to
a month in Holloway Prison,
refused all food and was re-
leased less than a week later,

When women chained themselves to the railings of ERA Satane (above) and ‘a

debutante, performing a curtsy before him, said,

“Your

Majesty,

stop forcible feeding,” King

George V recorded in his diary: “I don’t know what we are coming to.”

faint, starving, but trium-

phant.

This idea (which seems to
have been her own entirely),
was acclaimed by the suffra-
gates as an embarrassment to
the prison authorities and put
into practice by many of them.

But within a month or two
the government struck back
by introducing the horrible
practice of forcible feeding.
Those who attempted to re-
sist were manhandled and
had hoses turned on them in
their cells.

Sylvia Pankhurst wrote to
her mother: “I am fighting,
fighting, fighting: I have four,
five and six wardresses every
day, as well as the two doc-

People’s China handbook
now published in English

A HANDBOOK on People’s

China in English has been
published by the Foreign Lang-
uages Press in Peking.

The book’s 11 sections con-
tain essential facts and figures
on China — history, geography
government structure, political
parties, and people’s organiza-
tions,

The section on economy and
finance summarizes China’s
First and Second Five-Year
Plans and the 1956 state bud-

get, and points up succinctly
its foreign trade and banking.

The handbook describes the
development of science and ed-
ucation and the expansion of
publication. It also describes
the numerous organizations of

“the Chinese Academy of Sci-

ences and lists the newspapers
and magazines published in
China.

There is a chronicle of major
events which took place in and
concerning China from Sep-
tember 1949 to March 1957

A great Soviet Love

“A LESSON OF LIFE‘

Story brought to the screen

SUNDAY, MAY 12

at 8:15 p.m.
UKRAINIAN HALL
805 EAST PENDER
Entire proceeds to ‘PT’ Drive

fed by stomach
I resist all

tors. I am
tube twice a day.
the time.”

From this point the war be-

came more bitter. Fulford
tells the story of “Black Fri-
day” (November 18, 1910) in

measured terms, without ex-
aggeration. None is necessary.

“The wife of a Dublin pro-
fessor ... was hurled by a
constable in front of a mount-
ed policeman, with the order
‘Ride over her.’ . . Mrs. Leigh
was knocked flat in the road
by an inspector who said to
a constable, ‘Take the cow
away.’ Throughout the
proceedings women were seiz-
ed by the beasts, and a cripple
on a tricycle was pushed into
a sidestreet.”

More bitterness was engen-
dered by the infamous “Cat
and Mouse Act,’”’ under which
a woman was released from
prison if her health was suf-
fering from the hunger strike
or ill-treatment, but rearrest-
ed immediately she recover-
ed.

Reginald McKenna, the home
secretary said that “these
women do not fear death in
fighting what they believe to
be the cause of women.” The
truth of his words was proved
by Emily Davison when she
threw herself to her death un-
der the hooves of the Derby
horses on June 4, 1913.

The following year even a

debutante, performing an ex-
quisite curtsy before King
George V, called out: “Your
Majesty, stop forcible feed-

ing.” That night the King re-

corded in his diary: “I don’t

know what we are coming to.”
5 © Bes $e

Within a month of the dec-
laration of war in 1914, how-
ever, suffragette militancy had
been suspended and all pris-
oners set free.

Three years later the Elec-
toral Reform Bill, giving wo-
men the vote was “passed by
a majority of 364 to 23.

Fulford records:

“There was no demonstra-
tion, but when the clerk read
out the figure ‘23’ there was
heard, clearly: audible from
the Ladies’ Gallery, the sound
of a women’s derisive laugh.”

And in December 1918 wo-
men walked into polling
booths for the first time, many
of them unconscious of the
self-sacrifice, the determina-
tion and the courage which
had gone to make this ‘simpl«
operation possible for them.

I think we have tended to
forget it today; and vonry
who read this book will prob-
ably feel, as I did, a determ-
ination that the spirit of Mrs
Pankhurst and her followers
shall not be lost to women iz
the fight for peace and secur-
ity.

ROSEMARY SMALL

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MAY 10, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 13