Zugl.: Berlin, Humboldt-Univ., Diplomarbeit, 2005

Zugl.: Berlin, Humboldt-Universiẗat, Diplomarbeit, 2005.

La Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), fondée en 1903 par Emmeline Pankhurst, est une organisation suffragiste britannique. Poursuivant son but d’obtenir l’octroi du droit de vote aux femmes, cette organisation élabore une propagande très développée pour faire entendre son message auprès du gouvernement et du public. C’est de cette propagande que nous faisons l’étude à travers l’analyse des trois hebdomadaires successifs que la WSPU a publiés de 1907 à 1917 : Votes for Women, The Suffragette et Britannia. Dans un premier temps, nous montrons que la diffusion du message de la WSPU repose largement sur le périodique. Notre étude nous conduit ensuite à analyser la production et le contenu de ces périodiques, la façon dont ceux-ci rendent compte de l’évolution de la WSPU et de son rôle avant et pendant la Première Guerre mondiale. Enfin, nous analysons la réception de cette propagande par le public, ainsi que l’impact que les actions de la WSPU ont eu sur le mouvement suffragiste et sur la société britannique, jusqu’à ce que les femmes obtiennent le droit de vote en 1918. / The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst, is a British suffragist organisation. It aims at gaining votes for women and works out highly developed propaganda techniques to convince the government and the population. In this thesis, we study the propaganda of the WSPU through the analysis of the three successive weekly newspapers published by the organisation between 1907 and 1917: Votes for Women, TheSuffragette and Britannia. First, we try to show that the message of the WSPU is largely conveyed through those periodicals. Our study then leads us to analyse the production and the contents of those periodicals, the way they show the evolution of the WSPU and its role before and during the First World War.Finally, we focus on the way the WSPU propaganda was received by the public,and on the impact that the deeds performed by the WSPU had on the suffragist movement and the British society before women got the right to vote in 1918.

This study focused on the rhetorical structure of the Women's Social and Political Union. An interdisciplinary methodology was used to examine the components of rhetorical structure: ideology, goals, leaders, membership, and strategies. The rhetorical structure became the thread which held the movement together and provided the impetus for its progression and through four stages: formation and development, the beginning of militancy, the flourishing of membership, and the eruption of violence. The final stage brought about differing ideologies, inconsistent goals, and a divided membership. Although the rhetorical structure was shattered and the movement ended, it succeeded in changing the Victorian image of women and contributed to the larger women's movement.