David Lloyd George, Welsh Prime Minister, August 1918 Speech, political view, women's right, world war one, government, conservative, british government, liberals, militants, convictions, representation of women, politics, parliament, UK United Kingdom
"Courage calls to courage everywhere, and its voice cannot be denied" stated the militant and politician Millicent Fawcett, founder of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societie (NWSS), in a famous rallying feminist speech, embodying perfectly the British ongoing move towards women's rights in the early twentieth century in the United Kingdom. Indeed, the Suffragettes' long-term battle has, since the Great Reform of 1832, grown in visibility and progressively gained, with much difficulty, a wider legitimacy. The Liberal Prime Minister's speech of August 1918, read to the Congress of Allied Women on War service, from David Lloyd George, who is considered one of the 20th century's most famous radicals and the first Welshman to hold the office, appears then, as a significant step and radical change into a long-standing political view, as six months later British women over 30 were allowed to vote, contrasting highly with the absolute no-political rights policy diffused and maintained for women, until then.
[...] His fervent critics addressed to the war which appears there to have been part of Lloyd George, then Minister of Munitions, in a dissident line with the Prime Minister Asquith. However, with the end of the war in 1918 on Armistice Day he had declared: "This is no time for words. Our hearts are too full of gratitude to which no tongue can give adequate expression" offering there a clear connection line with his true words in this speech. But, and what is more, Lloyd's words are making here a subtle but obvious connection between "weaker peoples" (l.15) and women while linking these ideas very closely in one of his sentences with the words "to them"(l.15) coming just after, betraying an intimate representation of women's real power. [...]
[...] Written speech - David Lloyd George (22 August 1918) - The role and personality of the Welsh Prime Minister "Courage calls to courage everywhere, and its voice cannot be denied" stated the militant and politician Millicent Fawcett, founder of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societie (NWSS), in a famous rallying feminist speech, embodying perfectly the British ongoing move towards women's rights in the early twentieth century in the United Kingdom. Indeed, the Suffragettes' long-term battle has, since the Great Reform of 1832, grown in visibility and progressively gained, with much difficulty, a wider legitimacy. [...]
[...] As a result, the day after, the British Prime Minister offers a speech which is a tribute to women's great contribution to the British nation's needs. Indeed, this recognition of their rightful place within society comes here as an aptly enough forceful message built on a strong contrast in which the traditional virile values, describing here a "monster of militarism"(l.21), "unashamed" and "unbridled" (l.22) or a "carnival of violence to befall mankind" (l.23) appears seized by women's better and higher comprehension of this world, that "they recognise as clearly as any", opposed to the war's brutal perspectives in which "force and brutality might crush out freedom among men"(l.25). [...]
[...] Emphasizing expressions such as "If it had not been for the splendid manner" offer then, a second thought reflection which may enable to have them detached from the core message of the text. The same way, the sentence "they perfectly understand what is at stake in this war" (l.16) may refer to a double meaning expression for which militants' struggle is being referred to as well as the first world war. He also perfectly knows about these militants' determination when he asserts about the war that "they do not mean to make peace until the Allies have made it impossible for another carnival of violence to befall mankind"(l.21). [...]
[...] If this speech appears as a clear statement in the light of a strong influential context, it embodies also a personal approach to the matter which has brought another force to these words. Indeed, as an original Welsh figure, Lloyd George emphasizes on "the conviction of the women of South Wales (which) is but typical of the spirit of the women in the rest of Great Britain"(l.22-23), giving a personal support and bringing altogether an intimate expression to this speech within some expressions like "my recent experience in South Wales"(l.16). [...]
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