I suppose most people regard the Suffragettes as the exemplary vindication of the right to carry out illegal direct action in a righteous cause. Speaking in support of Extinction Rebellion, Helen Pankhurst, a descendant of the Suffragette leader, said that both movements were equally ‘socially marginalised, made fun of, considered to be extremists, and legally silenced, and yet they stand up for justice in the way the Suffragettes did.’
Rather than pushing on a slowly opening door, they preferred to throw a brick through the window
The Suffragette campaign was the first deliberately violent English political campaign since the 1840s, and this is part of its myth. Thankfully no one was killed during its campaign, other than the unfortunate Emily Davison. However, the leading feminist Millicent Fawcett, leader of the law-abiding National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, called the Suffragettes ‘the most powerful allies the antisuffragists have.’ Did the Suffragettes really advance political rights for women? Is violent disruption the way to go? The answer, 105 years after votes for women were legislated, is not simple.
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