In the
course of the speech Mr. Wells pledged himself not to retire from the
Society if he was defeated; and at the end of it he consented to
withdraw his amendment. Bernard Shaw's speech, probably the most
impressive he has ever made in the Society, was delivered to a large and
keenly appreciative audience in a state of extreme excitement. A long
report pacifically toned down by Shaw himself, appears in "Fabian News"
(January, 1907). It succeeded in its object. The Executive Committee
welcomed the co-operation of Mr. Wells; the last thing they desired was
to drive him out of the Society, and whilst they could not accept his
report as a whole, they were willing to adopt any particular item after
full discussion. There is no doubt that they would have won if the
amendment had gone to a division, but they were only too glad not to
inflict a defeat on their opponents.
* * * * *
The next episode in the debate requires a few words of introduction. The
Society had always been in favour of votes for women. A proposition in
the Manifesto, Tract No. 2, published as early as 1884, states that "men
no longer need special political privileges to protect them against
women," and in all our publications relating to the franchise or local
government the claims of women to equal citizenship were prominently put
forward. But we had published no tract specially on the subject of the
Parliamentary Vote for Women.
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