Describe the ways in which the methods of the Suffragists and Suffragettes were different.

Colin Moore 10C Describe the ways in which the methods of the Suffragists and Suffragettes were different

Describe the ways in which the methods of the Suffragists and Suffragettes were different

The two main groups campaigning for women's suffrage were the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), founded in 1897 by Millicent Fawcett and the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst as a splinter group of the NUWSS. The NUWSS was by far the larger and their members were known as Suffragists, many of these women had links to the ruling Liberal party and were from the middle class so as they could work full time but for no pay, however many working class women joined the Union later. The NUWSS used the accepted methods of Victorian pressure groups, these included holding lectures, gathering petitions, publishing pamphlets and organising marches. The WSPU was a splinter group of the NUWSS; it was founded as their leader Emmeline Pankhurst believed the NUWSS was moving too slowly, they wanted to make quicker patience and had lost patience with the peaceful tactics used by the NUWSS, believing that the campaign was going nowhere. They argued that although women's suffrage had been discussed in Parliament fifteen times by 1900, the vote had always been lost. The WSPU believed that the campaign for women's suffrage needed to be more forceful and the press needed to take more notice if they were to achieve the vote.

In the years up to 1903 there was only one main group campaigning for women's suffrage, the NUWSS. The NUWSS believed that through steady pressure on politicians women would gain the right to vote. They believed that this steady pressure would serve as a reminder that women wanted the vote and would help keep the campaign for women's suffrage on the political agenda in Westminster. They used their campaign to elect male politicians with favourable views towards their cause. They used these politicians to introduce "Private Members" Bills' in Parliament, between 1870 and 1914 30 such bills were introduced. However as they had little government backing they had little chance of succeeding. To also apply this steady pressure that they believed in, the NUWSS also used the accepted methods of Victorian pressure groups. The NUWSS were "constitutional suffragists" believing peaceful means such as lectures; petitions and marching would achieve their objectives. At this time there was no WSPU and so all of the methods wee completely peaceful.

Towards the end of the 1800's Emmeline Pankhurst formed the WSPU at her home in Manchester after she had left the NUWSS. This had split the campaigning for women's suffrage into two groups with differing views. The aim of the WSPU it was declared to be obtaining the vote for women "on the same terms which it is, or may be, granted to men". The reason that Emmeline Pankhurst left the NUWSS was because she had become frustrated at the 's lack of success.

Following the foundation of the WSPU their tactics were not too dissimilar to those ...

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Following the foundation of the WSPU their tactics were not too dissimilar to those of the NUWSS's at the time. Between 1903 and 1907 the NUWSS held meetings and lectures countrywide. In 1905 they held meetings and lectures in almost all constituencies in the run up to the general election. In 1907 they held their first demonstration on February 7th, the so-called Mud March due to the atrocious weather conditions. Following this they held many more non-violent marches and demonstrations. Meanwhile during this same period the WSPU was using the same traditional tactics as the NUWSS and were fairly peaceful. Like the NUWSS they wished to educate the public on female suffrage. However in 1905, the Pankhursts witnessed a Private Members Bill on Women's suffrage deliberately "talked out" by MP's in the House of Commons. Their anger following this treatment caused them to reconsider their tactics. They argued that it was now obvious that men would not listen to their case and that in order to force them to listen, militant action was necessary as well as the more conventional and accepted methods of the NUWSS. Following this incident the WSPU started to heckle at public meetings, demanding that women have a voice. In 1905 they also started deliberately to be arrested and sent to prison. They singled out MP's for their attacks as they blamed them for the situation they were in. Following the general election in 1905 a Liberal government was elected with many of its members in favour of women's suffrage. A bill was introduced to Parliament but its opponents delayed it for too long and it was dropped.

In the years from 1908 to 1911 the WSPU's militant activity increased. Suffragettes had now started occasional attacks on property resulting in broken windows etc. In 1909 many of the imprisoned suffragettes went on hunger strike and refused to eat following the lead of Marion Wallace Dunlop, who went on hunger strike to protest about the fact that they were being treated like criminals rather than political offenders. The government realised that should one of the suffragettes on hunger strike die, she would immediately become a martyr to her cause, giving them even more publicity it would be very damaging towards them. In response to avoid this situation the government embarked on a policy of force-feeding. Meanwhile the suffragists of the NUWSS stuck to their policy of non-violent protests. In 1908 a groups of NUWSS campaigners met with the Prime Minister to explain their grievances, and in 1909 Millicent Fawcett held a public debate with her opponents. A year after this in 1910 the NUWSS collected a petition of 280,000 signatures in support of their cause. Whilst this was going on Parliament had continued to vote on bills to give women the vote. Many new bills were introduced to parliament, these were discussed but all either failed or were dropped. The Liberal government attempted to introduce a bill to give the vote to all men and women. This bill however was dropped. Later on all of the major parties agree to a bill to give women the vote but this one was also later abandoned. It was again re-introduced but this time the Liberals dropped the bill and decided to give the right to vote only to men. In 1911 the two groups called a truce whilst Parliament gave the first reading to the Conciliation Bill which if passed would give women the right to vote. The Suffragette ended their militant activity and the NUWSS held thousands of meetings in support of the bill. The bill was supported by all the major parties and was passed by a massive majority of 167. However Parliament was dissolved and it was decided that they would proceed with the bill the following year. Nut by November the government had changed it's minds and replaced it with the Franchise Bill which failed to even mention women, when some MPs tried to introduce a women's suffrage amendment they were told it would change the nature of the bill and was therefore disallowed.

Following the failure in the Conciliation bill the years, during between 1912 and 1914 the Suffragettes were at their peak of militancy and were very violent and extreme. In 1912 Mrs Pankhurst declared "war" and sanctioned attacks on property in the cause of winning the vote. There were many incidents across the country of window smashing and other attacks against property. The Daily Telegraph described one event, "women who a moment earlier appeared to be on a peaceful shopping trip produced hammers, stones and sticks from their bags and began to attack the nearest window". On March 1st 1912 Suffragettes broke nearly al of the windows in Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street and Oxford Street. At the same time Emmeline Pankhurst threw stones at 10 Downing Street in 1913 the WSPU started on a campaign of arson attacks, bombing and sabotage. Many houses were destroyed as well as Oxted Railway Station, Cambridge University Football Pavilion and Yarmouth Pier. Also in this year the home of the Chancellor Lloyd George was bombed and Emily Davidson was killed when she ran in front of the Kings Horse on Derby Day. During this final phase of suffragette activity their actions went beyond what many women thought was acceptable. Many of their lees hard-line supporters turned against them. The Suffragists now regarded the suffragettes as a liability rather than an asset. Whilst all of this was happening the Suffragists, still led by Millicent Fawcett stepped up their activity, albeit it was still non-violent. They made it official policy in 1912 to back Labour party candidates in elections, as it was the only political party to include female suffrage as part of its programme. During all of this activity but the suffragists and suffragettes the government introduced its General Electoral Reform Bill into parliament which entitled all men over 21 the vote, and an amendment to the bill which allowed women the vote. This amendment however was ruled out of order and the whole bill was dropped. To deal with the increasing numbers of Suffragettes going on hunger strike the government introduced the Prisoners' Temporary Discharge Act (The Cat and Mouse Act), which meant that all suffragettes on hunger strike would be released so they could regain their strength before being re-arrested. In 1914 as war was declared both groups called a truce until the war was over.

Despite the fact that there were two main groups in the campaign for women's suffrage this didn't mean everyone agreed with either groups' views. These women often went on to form breakaway splinter groups. In 1907 Mrs Charlotte Despard and Mrs Theresa Billington-Grieg formed The Women's Freedom League (WFL), it was a breakaway group from the WSPU. One of the WFL's methods of getting the right to vote was to evade paying taxes to the Inland Revenue until they gained the right to vote, and in 1911 they refused to co-operate with the census. Another reason for the split from the WSPU was that they didn't like the fact that the WSPU was totally dominated by the Pankhursts and were now dictating its policy. Likewise in 1912 the Pethwick-Lawrences left the WSPU and established their own organisation, The Votes for Women Fellowship. Finally in 1914, Sylvia Pankhurst formed the East London Federation, she had become disillusioned with the WSPU as it had become middle-class orientated and apparently abandoned working women.

In conclusion we can see that both of the major groups had totally different methods to achieve the one goal that they desired the most, the right to vote. It can be generally said that the suffragists were peaceful in their ways where as the suffragettes were militant in every increasing violent and extremism. The government did try half-heartedly to introduce bills to give women the right to vote. They introduce seven conciliation bills (one per year). We can see from how the votes were cast how the activities of the NUWSS and the WSPU influenced the politicians' decisions. During 1903-1907 60% of MP's were pro-enfranchisement. Between 1908-1911 the majority pro-enfranchisement increased with each successive bill as the relatively peaceful activities of the NUWSS and WSPU brought the subject to the attention of the people and MPs. However in 1912-1914 due to the much-escalated militancy of the WSPU the bills were defeated by more a more MPs each time they were introduced. By 1914 though the suffragette may have done more harm than good to their cause, but it many have been due to a change in the MPs and whom the women supported.