GERMANY.
When the International Woman Suffrage Alliance met in Budapest in June, 1913, delegates were present from affiliated societies in twenty-one countries; national associations from several had applied for admission and committees had been formed in several others. Over a hundred fraternal delegates were sent from organizations in twelve countries having woman suffrage as one of their objects or as the only one. In every direction the prospect looked encouraging and then one year later the great War burst upon the world! The first thought of the suffrage leaders was that the work of years had been swept away and after the War it would have to be commenced again. They did not dream that as a result of the War would come victories for equal suffrage that it would have required many years to win. These victories began with the enfranchisement of the women of Great Britain and Ireland in February, 1918, as described in another chapter, the direct result of the War. On the Continent woman suffrage came first where it had been least expected—in Germany and Austro-Hungary. In some of the German States women landowners could vote by male proxies. Each of the 22 States had its own King and Parliament and made its own laws and all men of 25 could vote for the Reichstag or Lower House of the Imperial Parliament but this privilege was largely nullified by a system of plural voting. In Prussia and Bavaria, the two largest States, women were not allowed to attend political meetings or form political organizations, and those for suffrage came under this head. The first attempt to form a suffrage society was made in Hamburg, one of the three "free cities," in 1901 and it was followed by others in the other two "free cities," Frankfort and Bremen, and in the southern States, where these restrictions did not exist. In 1902 these societies were united in a National Association, of which Dr. Anita Augspurg was president. Its members kept up an agitation for the Municipal vote, carrying the question into the courts, and they also petitioned the Reichstag for the full suffrage.
The International Council of Women met in Berlin in 1904, the largest meeting of women ever held in any country, and the organizing at this time of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance aroused universal interest. In the election of the new Reichstag in 1906 the suffrage societies took an active part and in 1907 it repealed the old law forbidding women to attend political meetings and form political associations, the new law going into effect in May, 1908. The suffragists celebrated with an immense meeting in Frankfort, addressed by Mrs. Pethick Lawrence and Miss Annie Kenney of England, who roused great enthusiasm. Suffrage associations were then organized in the various States, which began to work with their own Parliaments. Through lectures, literature and organizing the effort was continued, the women joining and working with the political parties, especially the Social Democratic, which espoused their cause. In 1912 forty petitions for the Municipal suffrage in Prussia were presented to its Diet by women. A Woman's Congress was held in Munich and for the first time in Germany a procession of women marched through the streets. In 1911 differences in questions of policy which had been increasing had resulted in the forming of a second National Association. The two united in 1916 under the presidency of Mrs. Marie Stritt, former president of the National Council of Women of Germany and secretary of the International Alliance. In March, 1918, Mrs. Stritt wrote to the International Suffrage News: "We German women have at present no reason to rejoice over the progress of our cause but we have followed with all the greater joy the unexpected success of our sisters in other countries."
In 1920 Mrs. Stritt, now a member of the city council in Dresden, wrote for this History as follows: "Although throughout the more than four years of war the women worked eagerly for the suffrage through their organizations, demanding it in public meetings and petitioning legislative bodies, they did not get it by their own efforts but by the Revolution in November, 1918, at the end of the war. In August, 1919, their rights were confirmed unanimously by all parties in the new constitution. They received the suffrage and eligibility for the Reichstag, and for the Parliaments of the States and local bodies—universal, equal, direct and secret and applied exactly on the same terms as to men. Women are by the constitution eligible to all State and Government offices. In the first elections, in January, 1920, 39 were elected to the National Assembly, 117 to the State Parliaments in Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, etc., and 1,400 to local bodies. Twenty were elected to the Diet of Prussia."
Dr. Alice Salamon, of Berlin, secretary of the International Council of Women, wrote: "From the first day of the Revolution, when suffrage was proclaimed for all men and women from the age of 20, it was accepted as the most natural thing in the world. It was neither questioned nor opposed by any political or professional groups. All political parties resolutely accepted woman suffrage as a fact and issued electoral platforms in which they declared themselves for the full partnership of women in political life."
In the autumn of 1919 the National Union for Woman Suffrage held a convention in Erfurt and by unanimous vote dissolved, considering that its work had been accomplished. The members then devoted their efforts to abolishing the many legal, civil and social discriminations against women.
AUSTRIA.
The situation in Austria was much the same as in Germany except that from a very early date women taxpayers had some small franchise rights, but in 1906, when by a peaceful revolution men secured universal suffrage for themselves, the new constitution took even those away from women which they had. Although large numbers of women had stood shoulder to shoulder with the Progressives and Social Democrats in their struggle for suffrage, when the latter succeeded in getting control of both branches of the Parliament they refused to grant any voting rights to women. The Austrian Government had never allowed women to attend political meetings or form suffrage societies. It was not until 1905 that they dared even to form a Woman Suffrage Committee and while the men were demanding their own rights it sent a petition to the Parliament that these should be granted to women also. In 1907, after the new régime was under way, they sent another petition signed by 4,000 men and women asking for the repeal of the above obnoxious law. It was refused and the Supreme Court sustained the refusal.
The women did not relax their efforts. Mass meetings were held in Vienna and the provincial capitals under the auspices of the Woman Suffrage Committee and other committees were formed. They published a monthly paper and many of the newspapers took up their cause. In 1910 they sent a deputation to the Premier and Minister of Internal Affairs, which was sympathetically received, and the latter said that not only ought the law to be repealed but women should have the Municipal franchise. A Socialist Deputy brought the matter of the law before the Constitutional Committee, which reported it to the Chamber, where the sentiment was almost unanimous for its repeal. It went to the Upper House but before it could be sanctioned the Parliament was dissolved. In the autumn of 1913 a new Law of Assemblies was passed from which the section so bitterly opposed was omitted and in fact the women had been defying it. They began at once a nation-wide suffrage organization, which affiliated with the International Alliance. The next year the country was immersed in a World War which continued over four years. At the end of it the Government passed into the hands of the people. The new constitution provided that all women over 20 should have full suffrage and eligibility to all offices, national and State, on the same terms as men. For the first elections the following February the Austrian Union of Suffrage Societies and the National Council of Women worked together and it was estimated that 2,000,000 women voted; eight were elected to the National Constituent Assembly, twelve to the city council of Vienna and 126 to other municipal councils.