1913 militancy (1 jan 1913 ano – 31 dez 1913 ano)

Descrição:

In 1913, the Franchise Reform Bill reached “appropriate levels of Parliament”, but was thrown out due to a “bureaucratic slip-up”. Emmeline Pankhurst and the WSPU “became dangerously frustrated”. "’Destructive militancy,’ wrote Sylvia Pankhurst, ‘now broke out on an unparalleled scale.’"

“The actions the WSPU now undertook were specifically done to ensure publicity.” They:
“[shattered] windows
[set] arson to palaces
[destroyed] works of art
[engaged in] fist-fighting with policemen…
Destroyed private and public property
set arson to houses
seared golf courses with acid
burnt down sports pavilions
broke street lamps
stomped on flower beds
painted ‘Votes for Women’ on the seats at Hampstead Heath
plugged up keyholes with lead pellets
slashed the cushions of train seats
staged false fire alarms
threw rocks at the windows of the Parliament building and houses of elected officials
severed telephone wires
blew up fuse boxes
placed bombs near the Bank of England
‘hacked thirteen pictures in the Manchester Art Gallery’”

The militarism attracted huge amounts of attention, but had the opposite effect the WSPU intended. Most people supported suffrage before “the outbreak of rampant militancy”, but then they began to disapprove. “Opponents of women's suffrage in Parliament used the terrorist actions the women were using to their advantage in debate, citing the insane actions as a very good reason why women should not get the vote.”
“The Parliament and the suffragettes thus reached a stalemate. The more militant the WSPU became, the more reluctant Parliament was to grant women the vote, and the more firmly Parliament stood on the issue of suffrage, the more violent and desperate the suffragettes became.”

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