Sylvia Pankhurst

Sylvia Pankhurst dedicated her life to fighting oppression and injustice. In this vivid biography Katherine Connelly charts Pankhurst’s activism from her teens as a member of the Independent Labour Party, to her time as a leading suffragette before the First World War, through to her revolutionary socialist, anti-fascist and anti-imperialist campaigning in later years. Connelly analyses the deeply frustrating aspects of Pankhursts political practice: why she did not speak out earlier in the suffragette movement, why she let herself be forced out of the Women’s Social and Political Union and why she ended her days under the patronage of the Emperor of Ethiopia. This lively and accessible biography presents Pankhurst, despite her flaws, as a courageous and inspiring campaigner, of huge relevance to those engaged in political struggles today.