Protest, law and order in the twentieth century 1903–14 (Political protest)

However, once details of the methods used had Source B: A 6.3 Suffragettes: government attempts been publicised by the WSPU – for instance, in their struggling paper Votes for Women – there was a public outcry. with a policeman on ‘’, The suffragettes had succeeded in making the to deal with the protest 18 . protests political. 110 Hunger strikes and force-feeding 111 Learning outcomes When the government refused to treat them as Activities By the end of this topic you will be able to: political prisoners, some suffragettes went on Study Source A. fi nd out about the increased militancy . This tactic put a lot of pressure on the • 1 What image or impression was the poster trying adopted by the WSPU government. If a starved herself to death in to get across about force-feeding? discover how the government tried to cope prison for a political cause, there would have been a • 2 How did the designer of the poster try to get that with the protests. storm of publicity and criticism of the government’s handling of the issue. It would have created a martyr, message across? increasing support for the suffragette cause. The government found it very diffi cult to deal with the suffragette protest without upsetting public opinion So, the prison authorities began to force-feed these Attempts at compromise hunger-striking suffragettes. This meant pushing and encouraging more support for the suffragettes. All protests involve a balance of power. If a tube down the throat and feeding watery gruel by police on women. Twenty-nine women later authorities are powerful enough to squash a into the stomach. When a suffragette resisted, the complained of indecent assault by the police. protest, it gets nowhere. If protesters manage to get Mixed messages prison warders sometimes used wedges to force media opinion on their side, or if a government is The result was that hundreds of suffragettes were The Liberal government didn’t have one clear view their mouth open, or pushed a tube down through afraid to use all the power it has against the protest now prepared to break windows and go to prison. on votes for women. Some of its members supported their nose. Many protesters vomited as soon as because of what public reaction would be, then Emmeline called the WSPU an ‘army’ the cause, others opposed it or weren’t decided. the tube was withdrawn. Occasionally, the gruel protesters can sometimes force change. and the suffragettes ‘warriors’. From 1911, the Several times, the government seemed about to went into the lungs rather than the stomach. suffragettes began a massive window-breaking introduce a reform to extend the vote to some This caused serious health problems. Many WSPU In 1910 Asquith agreed to work with the WSPU campaign, along with the destruction of golfi ng women but, each time, it was withdrawn or altered. prisoners suffered health problems as a result of and the NUWSS to produce a Conciliation Bill, greens – all designed to generate publicity. their treatment in prison. which would extend the right to vote to women. The WSPU agreed to a political truce and called Shutting out peaceful protest Source A: A WSPU poster of 1909, protesting against the off its violent protests. The two sides had reached The ‘Cat and Mouse’ Act Once the WSPU became more militant, however, force-feeding of suffragette prisoners on hunger strike. a compromise and it seemed that progress was In 1913, the government passed the so-called ‘Cat the government decided to take a hard line. When being made. However, the Liberals thought that and Mouse’ Act, which allowed the authorities women disrupted political meetings by heckling or women would vote for the Conservatives and the to release a hunger-striker before they became other forms of peaceful protest, the government Conciliation Bill was abandoned. seriously ill, and then re-arrest them once they responded by banning all women from Liberal had regained strength, in order to complete their meetings. This closed off an important avenue of sentence. This showed the government using its peaceful protest. Activities power to make laws to foil the protest and blunt 3 Using the sources on these pages, consider the hunger-strike weapon. Use of whether you would you agree that the WSPU militants started a new tactic of breaking government’s attitudes to the suffragettes’ Summary windows and refusing to pay fi nes so they could protests only helped the suffragette campaign. be sent to prison. The government refused to treat • The government gave signals that reform was possible, them as political prisoners and, instead, they were but did nothing, infuriating groups. treated as ordinary criminals. This included not The police and ‘Black Friday’ • The government used the police and prison authorities being allowed to speak and having to empty their The suffragettes were furious and, on Friday, against militant suffragettes who simply intensifi ed chamber pots each morning. The government 18 November 1910, over 300 went to parliament to their tactics. wanted to frighten and humiliate suffragettes so protest. The government had instructed the police • Suffragette publicity meant a lot of media attention, that they would stop this tactic. They did not want to frighten and humiliate the suffragettes so that and a lot of pressure on the government. to encourage other groups looking for reform to try they would stop their protests. There were many the same tactics or to recognise suffragette tactics accusations of violent and even sexual assault as political protest.