Open Christmas Letter
The Open Christmas Letter was a public message for
Reaction to war
The decision by some suffragists to speak out against the war split the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. Most British women were in favour of a quick solution to the conflict and were inclined to work toward that end in any way such as by helping fill positions abandoned by men off at war. Others were nationalistic and sought to make certain that British women were seen as patriotic, as doing their part, so that the men in power would think more highly of them and subsequently pass woman suffrage legislation. A minority of women advocated peace vociferously and worked with international peace organisations or with refugee aid societies. Nearly all suffragists agreed not to disrupt the nation at war in their promotion of women's suffrage. Toward the end of the war partial suffrage was granted, for property-holding women aged 30 and over.
Background
From 1906 until mid-1914, the Labour Party in the United Kingdom was the party seen as most supportive of women's suffrage—the right of women to vote. Suffragettes and other women's rights activists organised to elect Labour candidates and to push for legislation that expanded the rights of women.[3] In August 1914 when the world became embroiled in war, the British women activists were sharply divided into two camps: the majority who wished to work with their country's war effort, and a minority who opposed the conflict.[3] Millicent Fawcett of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) wished to have the NUWSS members work for the war so that the men in politics would view the women with greater respect and would thus be more amenable to granting them the right to vote. However, the NUWSS membership included those who were against war. When Fawcett turned the NUWSS to war work, eleven pacifist members resigned, later to join the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).[3]
Like the NUWSS, the more militant Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) led by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst chose to cease their obstructive activism for women's votes and instead advocated the alignment of British women to the cause of war. However, in October 1914, Sylvia Pankhurst travelled to Glasgow and spoke out against the war, becoming one of the first suffragettes to do so. She said that "peace must be made by the people and not by the diplomats".[4] Though pacifist, Sylvia Pankhurst held with her mother and sister to the general agreement that suffragettes would abstain from militant activism for the duration—she arranged for activist women to join with the War Emergency Worker's Committee and fill some of the positions that had been abandoned by men leaving for war.[3]
German suffragists
In
Catt published another letter from German women's rights activist Clara Zetkin, one that expressed the desire for all women not to let "the thunder of guns and the shouts of the jingoes" make them forget that the rise of civilisation amongst the European countries held much in common. Zetkin wrote that the women of the world should guard their children against the "hollow din" of "cheap racial pride" which filled the streets, and that "the blood of dead and wounded must not become a stream to divide what present need and future hope unite".[6]
British suffragists
In response to the letters from Germany,
Others among the 101 signers were
Message
Under the heading "On Earth Peace, Goodwill towards Men",[1] the letter's salutation addressed "Sisters" and began, "Some of us wish to send you a word at this sad Christmastide, though we can but speak through the Press..."[9] The women of the UK were prevented from direct communication with the women of Germany because of the war. Instead, they sent their missive to America which was at that time a neutral nation. The letter continued, "The Christmas message sounds like mockery to a world at war, but those of us who wished and still wish for peace may surely offer a solemn greeting to such of you who feel as we do."[1] The letter mentioned that, as in South Africa during the Second Boer War (1899–1902) and in the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, "the brunt of modern war falls upon non-combatants, and the conscience of the world cannot bear the sight".[9]
Is it not our mission to preserve life? Do not humanity and common sense alike prompt us to join hands with the women of neutral countries, and urge our rulers to stay further bloodshed? ...
Even through the clash of arms, we treasure our poet's vision, and already seem to hear
"A hundred nations swear that there shall be
Pity and Peace and Love among the good and free."[12]
May Christmas hasten that day...[9]
Response
In the spring of 1915, the letter was answered in kind by 155 Germanic feminists including Augspurg and Heymann who had sent the earlier letter from Germany.
To our English sisters, sisters of the same race, we express in the name of many German women our warm and heartfelt thanks for their Christmas greetings, which we only heard of lately.
This message was a confirmation of what we foresaw—that women of the belligerent countries, with all faithfulness, devotion, and love to their country, can go beyond it and maintain true solidarity with the women of other belligerent nations, and that really civilised women never lose their humanity...[13]
Peace initiatives
Directly after war broke out in August 1914,
When this announcement reached the UK, the NUWSS was divided on the one hand by patriots such as Fawcett and on the other by the signers of the Christmas letter who wished to send peace delegates. However, the majority of the NUWSS were nationalistic more than they were peace-minded—they were primarily concerned with helping the UK men win the war.[9] The NUWSS membership rejected a resolution favoured by Helen Bright Clark and Margaret Bondfield[10] which would have supported a delegation of women at The Hague.[17] Because of this, Margaret Ashton resigned from the NUWSS and was subsequently censured by her local Manchester branch of suffragists.[18] As well, Helena Swanwick and Maude Royden resigned from the NUWSS and made plans to attend at The Hague.[19]
At The Hague, between 28 April and 1 May 1915, a large congress of 1,150 women from North America and Europe gathered to discuss peace proposals.
Women's suffrage
During the war, with British suffragists abstaining from taking militant action, British statesmen such as Prime Minister
See also
- Christmas truce
- List of peace activists
- List of suffragists and suffragettes
- List of women's rights activists
- Timeline of women's suffrage
References
- Notes
- ^ a b c Oldfield, 2003, p. 46.
- ^ Patterson, 2008, p. 52
- ^ a b c d e Archive Awareness Campaign. From Kitchen Table to Cabinet Table. "Women, the Vote and Labour 1906–1918." page 1. Page 2. Page 3.
- ISBN 1-85728-345-7
- ^ a b c d Oldfield, 2003, p. 25.
- ^ Oldfield, 2003, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Oldfield, 2001, p. 60.
- ^ a b c d Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (First Congress: 1915: The Hague) Bericht—Rapport—Report, Foreword by Emily Hobhouse, pp. ix–xii. Amsterdam: International Women's Committee of Permanent Peace, 1915.
- ^ ISBN 0-8156-2539-1
- ^ a b Rappaport, 2001, p. 98.
- ISBN 0-521-28651-4
- ^ Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Revolt in Islam. A Poem in Twelve Cantos. Canto Fifth.
- ^ a b Oldfield, 2003, p. 67.
- ^ Wilmers, 2008, p. 113.
- ^ Oldfield, 2003, p. 18.
- ^ a b Wisconsin Historical Society. Teachers' Lessons. "Teacher Background—Julia Grace Wales and the Peace Movement"
- ^ Crawford, 2001, p. 114.
- ^ Crawford, 2001, p. 19.
- ^ a b Crawford, 2001, p. 668.
- ^ a b Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600–2000. Editorials. "How Did Women Activists Promote Peace in Their 1915 Tour of Warring European Capitals?"
- ^ O'Connor, J. J. and E. F. Robertson, January 2008. MacTutor Biographies. Jessie Chrystal MacMillan. University of St. Andrews, Scotland.
- Bibliography
- Crawford, Elizabeth. The women's suffrage movement: a reference guide, 1866–1928. Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-415-23926-5
- Oldfield, Sybil. Women humanitarians: a biographical dictionary of British women active between 1900 and 1950 : 'doers of the word'. Continuum, 2001. ISBN 0-415-25738-7
- Oldfield, Sybil. International Woman Suffrage: November 1914 – September 1916. Taylor & Francis, 2003. ISBN 0-415-25736-0
- Patterson, David S. The search for negotiated peace: women's activism and citizen diplomacy in World War I. Routledge, 2008. ISBN 0-415-96142-4
- ISBN 1-57607-101-4
- Wilmers, Annika. Pazifismus in der internationalen Frauenbewegung (1914–1920): Handlungsspielräume, politische Konzeptionen und gesellschaftliche Auseinandersetzungen. Volume 23 of Schriften der Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte, Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte Stuttgart. Klartext, 2008. ISBN 3-89861-907-9