Woman Suffrage is becoming one of the gravest practical importance, not only for the proletariat, but also for reactionary parties. In all circumstances, when the self-conscious proletariat has fought on this plan, we see that the reactionary parties, more and more under the influence of the situation of women’s rights, argue, as a last attempt at reaction, when they can no longer withstand the demand for Universal Suffrage for men, that only a weakened form of Suffrage should be extended to women. That is what happened, for instance, in 1902, in Norway. These same tendencies have also shown themselves in Belgium, and they are also partly advocated in Germany by the Centre. At last year’s Catholic Congress in Strasburg, the members of the Centre Party brought forward this question of Woman Suffrage. At that meeting Father Auracher brought forward a resolution on the subject, supporting it with remarks which no Socialist could take exception to, and saying that owing to industrial changes the position of women had changed, and that some form of women’s rights should be conceded. Soon after this the Centre, in the Bavarian Landtag, went much further. A petition from the middle-class union, “The Welfare of Women,” was supported by 23 Deputies belonging to the Centre. Dr. Heim spoke in its favour in such a way as to do honour to his historical insight. All honour to him! But, on this point, it does not follow that the Centre to-day or to-morrow will become an enthusiastic supporter of woman’s rights. The difference between theory and practice is, as you know, a very great matter. When the Belgian comrades in 1902 brought forward their motion for Universal Suffrage in communal councils and provincial diets, then the Clericals at once said that they would agitate for Woman Suffrage; and they did, only to get the Liberals to vote against the Socialist proposal. When it came to the voting, however, none of the Clericals voted for the resolution of the Belgian comrades, and one only had the courage to abstain from voting. The tactics which I have described are characteristic, because they prove that the Centre, in taking part in the agitation for Woman Suffrage, is not—when things are looked at closely—actuated by any principle except the one of securing the ascendancy of the Church, and that of the ruling classes. The Clericals, as they have often declared, are ready to assert that women should be silent in the assembly[2] as long as it suits the interests of their power; but they are now quite prepared to loosen the tongues of women there if by so doing they can strengthen the authority of the Church, and that of the capitalist class, which is the chief supporter of the Church. The reactionary classes are only now beginning to show themselves friendly to the idea of Woman Suffrage, because they think that, by the help of the women’s votes they may thus diminish the power of the men’s votes, and they are actuated in this matter by the following reasons.