ABSTRACT
The year 1908 was a watershed for Emmeline Pankhurst's militant strategies. In April Asquith, an uncompromising adversary and opponent of women's suffrage, replaced Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister. Soon after Asquith's appointment she prophesied an increase in militancy if the government remained obdurate to women's pleas for social justice, urging that it was imperative ‘to stop the struggle before the women's movement got so big and powerful that they would not be able to control their forces’. 1 The spirit in woman today, Emmeline argued, could not be quenched for ‘it is stronger than all earthly potentates and powers; it is stronger than all tyranny, cruelty, and oppression; it is stronger even than death itself.’ 2 The religious fervour with which she declared this was self-evident and her words were prophetic. In the same year the first outbreak of window smashing occurred when Edith New and Mary Leigh broke the windows of 10 Downing Street.
