The Suffragettes – Part Two – By any means necessary

4 snips

Oct 30, 2024

Delve into the intense world of suffragettes as they escalate their fight for women's rights through radical actions and violence. Emily Wilding Davison's tragic sacrifice transforms her into a martyr, sparking public outrage. Explore the internal conflicts within the movement, especially between the Pankhursts, and the impact of World War I on suffrage efforts. The podcast raises thought-provoking questions about the morality of militant tactics and their effectiveness, offering valuable insights for modern activists looking to learn from history.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Emily Davison's Militancy

Emily Davison, a suffragette, was repeatedly jailed and force-fed for her activism.
She hid in Parliament, threw a hammer, and set fire to postboxes.

ANECDOTE

Davison's Suicide Attempt

In prison, Davison attempted suicide by jumping from a staircase.
She justified this as a necessary sacrifice for the cause.

ANECDOTE

Davison's Death at the Derby

Davison died after stepping in front of the King's horse at the Epsom Derby.
Initially vilified, she became a martyr upon her death.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

This week we finish the story of the suffragettes. We pick up the narrative in 1912, when parliament’s failure to deliver women’s suffrage triggered a new phase of violent escalation. No suffragette was more extreme than Emily Wilding Davison, whose death at the hooves of the King’s horse turned a liability into a martyr. Meanwhile, the whole country was convulsed by arson and bomb plots and the Pankhursts’ autocratic leadership was alienating some of their closest allies, including members of their own family. It took the First World War to stop the “reign of terror” and ultimately give women the vote.

Was violence morally justified when peaceful solutions failed? Did it hasten suffrage or threaten to derail it? What might have happened if the war had not intervened? What do the strange and divergent afterlives of the suffragettes tell us about the movement? And what can modern activists like Just Stop Oil learn from the suffragettes?

Behind the sanitised, sentimentalised version of the story lies a thorny tale of the validity and efficacy of violence in a just cause, taking Edwardian Britain to the edge of chaos.

Origin Story will be live at the Tabernacle in London on the 7th of November for a special post-US election show. Tickets here.

Get the Origin Story books on Fascism, Centrism and Conspiracy Theory

Get exclusive extras like supporter-only Q&A editions when you back Origin Story on Patreon.

Reading List

Diane Atkinson – Rise Up Women!: The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes (2018)

Helen Lewis – Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights (2020)

Joyce Marlow (editor) – Suffragettes: The Fight for Votes for Women (2015)

Glenda Norquay (editor) – Voices and Votes: A Literary Anthology of the Women’s Suffrage Campaign (1995)

Christabel Pankhurst – Pressing Problems of the Coming Age (1924)

Christabel Pankhurst – Unshackled: The Story of How We Won the Vote (1959)

Sylvia Pankhurst – The Suffragette: The History of the Women’s Militant Suffrage Movement 1905-10 (1911)

Sylvia Pankhurst – The Suffragette Movement: An Intimate Account of Persons and Ideals (1931)

Mary R. Richardson – Laugh a Defiance (1953)

Fern Riddell – ‘Sanitising the Suffragettes’ (2018)

Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Produced by Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices