Page:The case for women's suffrage.djvu/161

 It is of no use to say that all sections of Suffragists are working for the same end. That is an excellent reason for toleration, but it is not business. All political parties are working for the same end, if you only put the end far enough away from politics; for no party could exist unless most of its members believed that their aims were for the common good. Politics are concerned with means; the successful politician is the man who is quite sure of the means, and who, being quite sure, can make that means for the time being his end. Only by so doing can he collect enough force to carry him even a little way towards the realisation of his ideal, whatever it may be, and no matter how many he may share it with.

Therefore the question, What are the right tactics for the supporters of Women's Suffrage? is the most important question that they have to consider. A wrong answer, if generally accepted, may not only put off the realisation of their hopes for many years, but may even so affect the order in which political changes come about as to destroy, or greatly impair, the value of the great change upon which all our hearts are set.

The immediate objects of the tactics with which we are concerned are two—the conversion of the public and the coercion of Parliament. In order to convert the public to any given view, if that view is to find expression in action, it is necessary not only to make the public see that that particular view is right, but to demonstrate that it will be the worse for it unless it acts accordingly. Those who object