Abstract: Maria Grazia Suriano „War, Peace and Suffrage. The Italian Section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) between Pacifism, Internationalism and Fascist Persecutions (1915–1927)“

This paper aims to illustrate the political and human case of the WILPF first Italian section. The political framework, where the Italian section is placed, was responsive to internationalist, socialist and pacifist demands, which characterized the European as well as the Italian political life in late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In this context women of different social milieu met at the International Congress of Women (The Hague, on April 28^th 1915), seeing in it opportunities to occupy the narrow public space, otherwise reserved for them, in a whole new peculiar way.

I will describe therefore initiatives undertaken by Italian women, while being fought between the desire for lasting peace and personal affirmation in political and public sphere. I will put particular attention on difficulties faced in pursuing their goals, because of the tightened police controls to which they where subjected. And last, I will illustrate how difficult was the relationship between WILPF Italian section and the International Executive Committee, and how blind was the latter about local political matters, marginalizing the Italian section eventually more and more.

Colloque international “Les défenseurs de la paix 1899-1917. Approches actuelles, nouveaux regards”, 15-17 janvier 2014