Madeleine Pelletier 1907
Presentation of La Suffragiste
First published: La Suffragiste, no. 1, December 1907;
Source: Madeleine Pelletier, J'ai acheté un pistolet à la jeune fille . Articles feministes. Edited by Christine Bard;
Translated: for marxists.org by Mitch Abidor.
To our male readers. To our female readers. To you women who are justly repelled by the inferior condition prepared for you by today’s society. To you men who, loving justice and fairness, are ready to assist women in the battle they are undertaking for their political rights, we present the organ of our demands: La Suffragiste.
Unlike those women who, not fully free yet of a depressing education, think they must wrap their feminism in silk and lace to make it less frightening to prejudiced gazes, we, on the other hand, will express our ideas for what they are, certain of imposing them simply because they are right.
We demand woman’s place at the banquet of life and her right to develop her personality in whatever direction she thinks right, without society’s intervention.
Until now, woman has lived exclusively for man. Her thoughts all came from him; it was in his shadow that she has acted. We want to convince her to think and act on her own.
Equal education. Political rights. the right to be admitted to all forms of employment and all public functions. These are the demands for which we propose to fight with all our energy.
“Battle of the sexes,” some partisans of the maintaining of male prerogative will say. No, gentlemen; it’s not a question of the battle of the sexes, but of a battle for the defense of the rights of our sex. This, you will certainly agree, is entirely different.
Men in general are not our enemies; it is those among them who, out of selfishness, refuse our rights, as well as those women who out of foolishness or degradation are the enemies of their own liberation.
However interesting and just the demands of feminism might be, La Suffragiste will not limit itself to them. A newspaper that limits itself to one question alone soon repeats itself and loses all interest. We propose to also deal with the political and scientific questions of the day. In politics our orientation will be on the left, but we will not attach ourselves to any party. The republican point of view, the socialist point of view, and the revolutionary point of view will be serially and sometimes simultaneously defended in La Suffragiste. It’s the signatory of the article and not the newspaper that will be responsible for the ideas expressed. This pluralism of opinions will benefit the political education of women. Knowing the pros and the cons of an issue, they will be able to choose.
As for news, it’s impossible to even think of this in a monthly paper. We will limit ourselves to the news that is of interest to the feminist movement.
It will be said these are grand ambitions for a small paper. Money, the principal element of war, is totally lacking. Those who take an interest in our ideas, in the feminist movement as we understand it, will be welcome to assist us, either by a donation or by subscribing. If subscriptions and contributions allow it to live, the paper will grow and acquire greater power to defend its cause, which is, we repeat, that of simple justice.
Dr. Madeleine Pellletier