Abstract:Acknowledgements This project was supported by Northumbria University and has benefited profoundly from the insights and encouragement of colleagues in the Gender and Society Research Hub and the Network of American Periodical Studies. We would also like to acknowledge Margaretta Jolly, whose 'Sisterhood and After' project has been an invaluable resource, and Debi Withers. Finally, a special debt of gratitude is due to the Feminist Archive North and the British Library for the kind use of their archives.
“…The ELFS historic movement and the recovery of feminist classed solidarities matters for organization studies because it “destabiliz(es) the notion of a singular feminist history…and unitary feminist identity” and challenges how we tell stories about feminist activism (Bazin & Waters, 2016, p. 351). As feminist historians, Victoria Bazin & Melanie Waters writetracing the histories of feminism…is one way of serving the interests of those women actively involved in organizing and campaigning for social and political change.…”
In this article, we foreground how gender, class and feminism underpin the aims and modes of mobilization of the food politics of a British first wave suffragette organization, the East London Federation of Suffragettes. Our discussion shows how upper and middle‐class suffragettes excluded working‐class women and marginalized their political gendered classed interests, raising questions about feminist cross‐class solidarities today. We focus on three of East London Federation of the Suffragettes quite different modes of mobilization: embodied protests, radical welfare community organizing and food protest writing, all of which foreground class politics. In discussing three quite distinct modes of mobilization, we highlight the rich package of strategies they created and the different classed identities and struggles in these. We show the diversity of gendered and classed social roles around which the women politicked, as workers, mothers, housewives and consumers. The historical focus enables us to “see” the activities and identifications over time to understand and map their range and dynamics. Moreover, suffragette politics have a “longtail” and continue to influence feminist politics and thinking, but the working‐class mobilizing and food politics have been much less recognized and yet offer potential insights for feminist activism, including the cost‐of‐living crisis today.
“…The ELFS historic movement and the recovery of feminist classed solidarities matters for organization studies because it “destabiliz(es) the notion of a singular feminist history…and unitary feminist identity” and challenges how we tell stories about feminist activism (Bazin & Waters, 2016, p. 351). As feminist historians, Victoria Bazin & Melanie Waters writetracing the histories of feminism…is one way of serving the interests of those women actively involved in organizing and campaigning for social and political change.…”
In this article, we foreground how gender, class and feminism underpin the aims and modes of mobilization of the food politics of a British first wave suffragette organization, the East London Federation of Suffragettes. Our discussion shows how upper and middle‐class suffragettes excluded working‐class women and marginalized their political gendered classed interests, raising questions about feminist cross‐class solidarities today. We focus on three of East London Federation of the Suffragettes quite different modes of mobilization: embodied protests, radical welfare community organizing and food protest writing, all of which foreground class politics. In discussing three quite distinct modes of mobilization, we highlight the rich package of strategies they created and the different classed identities and struggles in these. We show the diversity of gendered and classed social roles around which the women politicked, as workers, mothers, housewives and consumers. The historical focus enables us to “see” the activities and identifications over time to understand and map their range and dynamics. Moreover, suffragette politics have a “longtail” and continue to influence feminist politics and thinking, but the working‐class mobilizing and food politics have been much less recognized and yet offer potential insights for feminist activism, including the cost‐of‐living crisis today.
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