Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, 20:129137 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN 1040-2659 print;

1469-9982 online DOI: 10.1080/10402650701873858

Peace Prole: Sylvia Pankhurst

HAYLEY HIGGINS

In a time when women were conditioned and expected to be timid, obedient, graceful and quiet, Sylvia Pankhurst deed all such stereotypes. In place of timidity, she carried weapons to use against police. Rather than be placidly obedient, she demanded conferences with ofcials such as the Prime Minister in order to further the cause of womens suffrage. Though most found her speeches stirring and engaging, graceful was not a word often attributed to her. Certainly quiet was not a word used to describe the hunger, thirst, and sleep strikes she so strongly maintained during her many stays in prison. Whats more, this tenacious political activist rallied other womenand mento her side. t would have been something of a surprise, considering the family she was born into, had Pankhurst not become the politically aware and active woman she indeed was. She was born in 1882 as the second of four childrenthe middle of three daughtersto Richard and Emmeline Pankhurst. Both parents were heavily involved in politics and advocated womens suffrage and had, by the time Sylvia was about eight years old, begun to support socialism. Pankhurst grew up in a home constantly lled with members of all factions of the political left, which certainly helped to shape her political convictions of later years. Unfortunately for Pankhurst, her adolescent years were somewhat of a Cinderella story: her younger brother, Harry, died young and her father passed away when she was about sixteen. Richard Pankhurst had been something of an idol to his daughter, who was hardstruck by his death. Most unfortunate for Pankhurst, however, was her relationship with her mother and older sister, Christabel. While all three women initially advocated womens suffrage and the same basic set of political ideals, Emmeline and Christabel approached politics from a far more bourgeois standpoint, whereas Pankhurst favored her fathers more socialist slant, that of the International Labor Party (ILP). Yet in the initial decade or so of Pankhursts political activism, she remained supportive of the endeavors of both her mother and sister. When Emmeline and Christabel formedwith the help of some of Christabels wealthy friends from collegethe Womens Social and

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Political Union (WSPU), Pankhurst joined their group. This new activity of her mother and sister also afforded Pankhurst some much-needed separation from their shadow, and she took advantage of a scholarship awarded by the Royal College of Art in London. Always very artistic, Pankhurst would be known in later years for creating many of the banners, artwork, and murals for the feminist and socialist groups she formed and advocated. During her time as a poor art student in London, Pankhurst nonetheless managed to devote time to founding a new branch of the WSPU in Fulham, as well as stirring up action and attention for the group. Meanwhile, Emmeline and Christabel were slowly taking the head branch of the WSPU down a more militant path as they began to demand that Parliament enact womens suffrage. It was around this time, with Pankhurst in her early twenties and already an established activist, that she began a friendship with James Keir Hardie (known by his middle name), one of the founding members of the ILP. Their friendshipwhich later turned into a love affair, despite Hardies marriagebegan in 1904 and lasted about ten years. Despite their great difference in age (Hardie was 26 years Pankhursts senior), Pankhurst looked to Hardie as a friend, condante, advisor, lover, and father gure. Many speculate that it was this relationship that furthered the divide between Pankhurst and her family: Emmeline, Christabel, and the WSPU were steadily taking a more hostile approach toward men, both in and out of their organization. Within ve years of founding the WSPU, the duo came to demonize men and had banned them completely from their organization; furthermore, they considered most contact with men distasteful, and many WSPU members even considered married women contaminated and should be segregated. Another reason for Pankhursts further isolation from her family was the fact that there is signicant proof to believe that both Emmeline and Christabel were lesbians which, combined with their hostility toward men on account of womens suffrage, did little to endear Pankhurst to them. Yet despite the deteriorating relationship between the three, Pankhurst continued her activity in the WSPU holding minor ofces, organizing, and giving speecheseven after her scholarship ended in 1906. t was in that year that Pankhurst experienced her rst stint in jail (it would be one of nine prison sentences that would be stretched out over her militant years) as a result of verbally abusing an ofcial. While her later relationship with English jails was primarily to gain support for womens suffrage, this initial time spent behind bars also excited in her a re for jail reform. She decried the poor and meager food, harsh treatment by guards, unsatisfactory sanitation, and other cruelties she encountered during her two-week sentence. As of yet, she had not experienced the

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brutal force-feedings that would plague her later jail terms; even at the young age of twenty-four, however, Pankhurst was already learning to use jail sentences as positive propaganda for her causes. More jail time followed soon after, garnering hostility from Christabel, who believed that Pankhurst was unnecessarily stealing attention from the cause of womens suffrage. The anger Christabel directed at her younger sisters differing opinions was telling of the path the WSPU had begun to take: members were no longer allowed to vote for ofcials because Christabel had abolished the WSPUs constitution (ironically robbing its suffragette members the right to vote within their own political institution). Furthermore, men were not allowed to speak at WSPU rallies (nor were they welcome except at those which Pankhurst organized). Perhaps the worst of the aws of the WSPU was the fact that it advocated limited womens suffrage; that is, only middle-class women (and not the working class) would be enfranchised. This amounted to less then ve percent of Englands female population, yet Christabel insisted that:
A working womens movement was of no value: working women were the weakest portion of the sex: how could it be otherwise? Their lives were too hard, their education too meager to equip them for the content. Surely it is a mistake to use the weakest for the struggle! We want picked women, the very strongest and the most intelligent!

This attitude was precisely what motivated Pankhurst to further follow her own set of ideals that, she was beginning to see more clearly, were very different from those of her mother and sister and the WSPU. Pankhurst moved her few possessions (she refused to allow the WSPUessentially her motherto pay for her upkeep, although Hardie contributed greatly to her well-being) to Londons exceedingly poor East End around 1909. This section of London was centered near the docks and hence the majority of men there were dockworkers. Their wives worked from home, in sweatshops, or as ladies maids during the day to supplement their husbands insufcient income, and then spent their evenings caring for what was generally a very large family. It was among this demographic that Pankhurst continued her artistic endeavors for the WSPU (she designed a large portion of their early banners, pamphlets, and emblems), although she now agreed with little of the WSPUs ofcial actions. The group was now organizing militant actions such as breaking windows, while Pankhurst believed that there was more to be done in the realm of speeches and demonstrations. Between 1911 and 1912, Pankhurst traveled to the United States twice in order to gain funds for the suffragette movement in England, promote herself as a journalist, and garner enthusiasm for the WSPU. This trip was

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Pankhursts rst real solo endeavor, and she was fairly successful: American newspapers typically liked her, and her connection with the WSPU created journalistic acquaintances and allowed her to make a livable income. Although she did receive some negative press (mostly newspapers treating her condescendingly because of her gender), Pankhurst traveled a great expanse of the country, giving speeches and helping to found suffragette organizations in American cities. She was particularly appalled at the racism so prevalent in America for, although she used the common racial words that are now considered offensive, she was practically colorblind when compared to others in Victorian society. African Americans were particularly enamored with her for speaking on multiple occasions to all-black audiences, even though it appalled most WSPU members in England. While in America, Pankhurst also solidied her role as a powerful and clever public speaker. She deftly maneuvered around the questions of hecklers and even caused them to recognize the classnot just genderbiases often inherent to the voting system at the time. Pankhurst also visited Milwaukee twice during her trips because its mayor was a proclaimed socialist, and Pankhursts own political sentiment had, by that time, become rmly grounded in socialism. Despite her approval of the basic governmental situation in the city, she was disappointed because she sensed too few great changes from the American norm. Rather than the exploitation of workers she knew all too well from living in East End, Pankhurst advocated a cooperative form of society, in which workers controlled their own industry, as well as the government. lthough Pankhurst was impressed with America and had once commented that she would move there permanently, she in fact returned to the East End with the intent of rousing the impoverished women to ght for their enfranchisement. Women in particular were politically nonexistent in the East End, and they accounted for over two-thirds of the sweated industries, even though over half were married to dockers. It did not take much time to motivate the women of the East End to ght for their rights. In 1906, more than 300 women from the East End marched on Parliament in a demonstration organized by Pankhurst through the WSPU. That year, the Canning Town (just near the East End) branch of the WSPU was created. Immediately, the ofcial stance of the WSPU was unwelcoming to this branch because it supported both working womens suffrage and socialism through the ILP. Almost immediately after the branchs formation, the WSPU headquarters ignored their activity and offered little support; yet again, the Pankhurst women were at odds. Pankhurst took this opposition in stride and with the help of Zelie Emerson, an American friend she met on her trips, the two rented a shop to use as the WSPU headquarters within the East End. Although they did

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encounter harassment and oppositionespecially on the part of young boysthe pair quickly gained friends from the community of women in the East End and in 1912, they renamed their group the East London Federation of the Suffragettes (ELFS). Christabel did not approve of this name, feeling that by using the term Suffragettes in its title, it stole attention that belonged to the WSPU; opposition from within her own family, however, was nothing new to Pankhurst, who kept the name. It was shortly after the formation of ELFS that George Lansbury, a Labor MP, challenged the Prime Minister (Herbert Asquith) about the abysmal treatment of women suffragists in prison. When Asquith did not answer to Lansburys satisfaction, he stormed out of the House andupon receiving strong support from many suffragist groups and liberals resigned his Parliamentary seat in order to run on the single topic of womens suffrage. His campaign, centered near the East End, drew in urries of activists, womens suffrage organizations and campaigners, union ofcials and others to the poor area. Although Lansbury eventually lost because womens suffrage groups divided amongst themselves on the subject of socialism, the political activity that fell upon the East End greatly increased the interest in womens suffrage and activism among the residents there. When the WSPU ofcially pulled its ofces from the East end after Lansburys defeat and the subsequent dismissal of womens suffrage by Parliament, Pankhursts ELFS were left to rouse the women of East End on its own. The ELFS ofce at 321 Roman Road became a buzzing center of suffragette activism. The ELFS differed from the WSPU in that they were leftwing supporters of working class womens enfranchisement. Despite her earlier disapproval of Christabels militant tactics within the WSPU, ELFS was almost, from its inception, a militant group; the two groups militancy differed, however, in that the WSPU was more individual-based, whereas the ELFS was organized mass militancy. Pankhurst realized that the law would harshly punish suffragette militancy that most often tookin the beginningthe form of window smashing: on a single count of window smashing, Pankhurst and other ELFS ofcials were sentenced to two months hard labor. The punishments inicted on ELFS participants garnered attention and support from East End women, despite the danger inherent in jail time. For a well-to-do middle-class woman, jail time was simply uncomfortable; for a woman in the East End expected to work more than ten hours a day, jail time meant losing a job, robbing her family of half its income, and leaving her children without a caretaker. Nevertheless, ELFS continued to gain support from the women of the East End, as well as the dockers and other male workers. Even those men who were not particularly interested in female suffrage supported ELFS because the group advocated adult suffrage, which would also extend

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voting rights to those men who were disenfranchised by being on poor relief or having a migrant job.

ithin a short amount of time, ELFS was becoming a strong force in the community. Pankhurst organized demonstrations, gave speeches, lead marches on Parliament, and educated the women of the East End. Consequently, she quickly became a target for the law and was often jailed. Yet she fought for womens suffrage, even behind bars, by going on hunger strikes. Many suffragettes had turned to the hunger strike as a means of protesting their sentence, the horrendous prison conditions, and their disenfranchisement. Prison guards quickly turned to forced feeding, a fate which Pankhurst herself endured many times:
A woman who refused to eat would be held down by four to six male and female prison ofcials. A feeding tube would be inserted through her nose, and a grueloften laced with brandywould be fed into it. The prisoner usually struggled, screamed, fainted and, after the ordeal, vomited. Suffragettes afterward spoke of the pain and the inner rage at the humiliation endured, emotions very similar to those of rape victims.

Each time Pankhurst was jailed, she immediately resorted to hunger striking, eventually adding thirst and sleep striking, as well. During one ve-week sentenceduring which she exercised all three forms of strikeher body gave out and she fell unconscious, at which point doctors ordered her release for health reasons. While some speculate that Pankhurst had a bit of a martyr complex, there can be no doubt that her self-inicted tortures in prison garnered immense attention for the ELFS and the suffragette cause. Eventually, legislation was passed in 1913 for a temporary discharge law (which the suffragettes immediately called the Cat and Mouse Act). This law stated that if a person hunger struck to the point of danger to their health, they would be released from prison only until their health was restored, at which point they would be re-imprisoned to nish their sentence. Because of this Act, Pankhurst was frequently in and out of jail due to her successful hunger striking while in prison, and the ELFS and East Enders willingness to hide her from police while she was out recuperating. Just a few months after the Acts passage, Pankhurst led the rst ELFS march from the East End to Trafalgar Square. Pankhurst was not pleased with the initial pacism of the marchers, although the march ended in a veritable battle between participants and police. This action led to a standing warrant for her arrest, added to her nearly constant status as a mouse while out of prison. Determined to continue giving speeches at the many demonstrations she organized, Pankhurst relied on bodyguards (dockers who volunteered for the task), makeup, disguises, and clothing changes to evade the police.

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When she was unsuccessful and arrested, she would hunger strike until she was released (normally a week or so later), and the cycle began again. Her spot in the limelight of ELFS brought the women of East End together to such a degree that often police were identied simply as being new faces. Demonstrations and militancy increased so dramatically throughout 1913 that ELFS began carrying weapons to use against police, who were regularly beating women with batons to the point of broken bones. The weapon chosen was the Saturday Night Club . . . a long piece of knotted rope dipped in tar and often weighted with lead. Pankhurst also advocated and helped to organize trained drilling, forming a sort of peoples army of the East End in response to the police brutality they were experiencing. ELFS elected Sir Francis Vane, who had been a captain in the British Army, to lead the drilling of the Labour Army. The group often succeeded in chasing off police squads at their demonstrations. Pankhurst also had more peaceful means of organizing the people of East End, namely supporting the Irish strikers in Dublin and advocating the end of British rule on the island. ELFS even organized accommodation for the children of Irish workers participating in a No Rent strike, although at the last minute Catholic priests and nuns in Ireland refused to let the children stay in Protestant England. Pankhursts afliation with men, unions, and socialists, however, eventually caused the ultimate split from Christabels WSPU. After much discussion and ghting amongst ofcials on the subject of dual membership (which was decided against), the two groups split completely in 1914. This was also the major split between the Pankhurst women, who communicated little with one another after this point.

ow that the ELFS was totally on its own, Pankhurst advocated the creation of its own newspaper, the Womans Dreadnought. Dreadnought here had two meanings: a courageous person, as well as the most powerful class of battleship currently in the waters. Pankhurst was chief editor and a major contributor, and the newspaper was an immediate success despite great opposition from the government. Women from the East End and outside socialists also contributed to the paper. Still ghting for womens suffrage, Pankhurst had been asking for a deputation with Prime Minister Asquith for months and received no response. Finally in 1914, after another stint in jail that left her weak, she declared that she would maintain her hunger, thirst, and sleep strikes even while out of prisonuntil Asquith would speak with their delegation. She had herself driven to the House of Commons to wait Asquiths answer and die if it was not given. Asquith, terried of bad press before elections, capitulated and met with the six women the ELFS had chosen (Pankhurst had decided to give her spot to a working woman). The women elaborated the hardships of being a poor woman in London and demanded the vote

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for all women over 21, and Asquith seemed moved. The escalation of conict that lead to World War I distracted from the matter, and the vote for women (aged 30 and over who were married or owned property) was not given until 1918. When war broke out, the differences between the ELFS and WSPU became even more obvious. First, the ELFS renamed itself the Workers Suffrage Federation (WSF) in 1916, thus ofcially extending the scope of its campaign to all workers, regardless of gender. Furthermore, Pankhurst and the WSF were adamantly antiwar, whereas the WSPU dropped its agenda of female suffrage during the war to become ercely pro-war and patriotic. Again in 1918, the WSF changed its name to the Workers Socialist Federation. During the war era, Christabel traveled to give speeches in support of England and its involvement in the war, ignoring the issue of suffrage, while Pankhurst still rallied for womens (and now all workers) rights within the state. The WSF did not initially oppose the war; rather, most of the English population was initially patriotic. The East End in particular began to be struck by war: there was no food rationing so food was scarce, prices shot up, and bombs were dropped. Slowly, membership grew again (although it would never again reach the peak it experienced during the militancy of 1913), and eventually branches were founded throughout England, Scotland, and South Wales. Unfortunately, Parliament passed the Defense of the Realm Act (DORA) at the start of the war that made it a crime to cause disaffection or alarm, and gave immense power to police to search and arrest without warrants anyone accused of such actions. Through this law, many members of the WSF were arrested. In 1915, the ELFS organized a massive anti-conscription rally that drew together many organizations and made clear that conscription itself was a way of putting the poorer working class in the front lines, while the rich were often excused.

erhaps the greatest contribution of the WSF during wartime was the relief it gave to the poor. Nurseries were set up so mothers could work, costprice restaurants (run mostly on contributions) served hundreds meals each day, milk centers were established to provide children and nursing mothers with milk, and Christmas parties were given for children. The ELFS/WSF also set up cooperative factories intended to serve as models to the government and to provide jobs during the war; unfortunately, the majority of workers in these factories were not members of either organization, so little ideology was spread through them. During this time, the Dreadnought (which had since been renamed the Workers Dreadnought) published stories written by soldiers in the trenches, Irishmen ghting for independence, and women protesting the exclusiveness of the Enfranchisement bill passed in 1918.

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In the years following the war, the WSF and Pankhurst herself would become more involved in socialistand later communistideas. She organized the Dreadnought to circulate translated materials from communist Russia to the masses. She traveled to Russia and debated with Lenin over the formation of a communist party in Britain. When different British communist organizations debated over leadership during cohesion, Pankhurst started her own rogue organization. As the years progressed, it is said that she became somewhat confused by the political realm, although she continued to advocate socialism and feminism, and was one to foresee the dangers in Mussolinis fascism. It was this belief that led to her strong support of World War II and subsequent change in favor from the government when she spoke out against the fascists. Although her political career lasted nearly until her death in 1960, Sylvia Pankhurst can be safely said to have contributed the most to womens suffrage and political participation during the early 1900s, and to support of the people harmed economically by World War I. Pankhurst used the ideas instilled in her as a child and young woman to defy her family, unite a desperately poor neighborhood, stir political consciousness and unrest, forward womens suffrage, and help those in need. Whatever her ulterior motives, she was willing to sacrice her own health and well being and use her fame as an agitator to spark change, and she did not waver in unpopular beliefs simply because they lowered organizational membership. Her contributions were powerful in part because they were made by a woman who ignored social expectations of her as a middleclass woman, and used the attention gained through this disobedience to the advantage of the groups and publications she founded and to which she contributed. RECOMMENDED READING
Winslow, Barbara. 1996. Sylvia Pankhurst: Sexual Politics and Political Activism. New York: St. Martins Press.

Hayley Higgins is a junior English Literature major at the University of San Francisco. She plans to continue her education to receive a M. A. in the subject and teach literature at the high school level. E-mail: hshiggins@dons.usfca.edu