Page:The case for women's suffrage.djvu/165

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TACTICS
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its professed supporters are entirely opposed to that aim; it may help to get the vote for all men, and if it does, women may resign themselves to the exercise of great patience, for it is not the new voters who would help them to exercise anything else. It is not in the least surprising that those who know most about the lives of the working woman, particularly in the great industrial centres, should find this policy attractive. They have spent their powers in organising these women; they feel that they know them to be capable, and they want the vote for them. But the Adult Suffrage policy, for all that, is at this moment bad tactics; it is playing the enemy's game. In politics, as in fighting, the right game is to concentrate upon the enemy's weak point, and the weak point is the simple denial of the vote to women as such. Any measure which breaks through there gives us the battle. It may be difficult to construct such a measure; indeed, Mr. Dickinson's bill proves that; but if only the whole intelligence of the supporters of Women's Suffrage would grapple with the difficulty, there can be no doubt that a solution would be found, and that the forces which backed that solution would be irresistible. Those who cry "Impossible!" with the loudest voice are those who are afraid that a way may be found.

Even more important, if possible, than the choice of a measure is the choice of an election policy. There is plenty of evidence of the dangers of disunion. Hexham made a Government anxious for a few weeks, but with Suffragists working for both sides the anxiety soon faded, and the only consolation that