Thus far we have seen the elimination of a number of possibilities for the political organisation of working women and their sympathisers. The attempt at a feminist alliance with socialism failed, although it made an important contribution to socialism. The attempts of individual women of feminist (and sometimes socialist) tendencies to work within the socialist parties failed too and left few traces. Finally, the attempts of feminists themselves to organise working women failed completely and were never to be renewed. Could working-class women be organised on a socialist basis by their fellow working women? The experience of the Groupe Féministe Socialiste (GFS) founded in 1899 suggests that they could.

Like its predecessors, the GFS sought to combat the oppression which women suffered both as women and as workers. It was, however, more successful than they had been. There were three reasons for this. First, it articulated effectively the experience and concerns of working women themselves. By its class-based approach and its links with the socialist parties as well as its authentically working-class origins, it identified itself with the most profoundly felt aspects of working women's experience. Second, by functioning within the socialist movement, it gave women the feeling that they could have some impact on reality, through a significant organisation. Third, at the same time, the GFS remained sensitive to the particular difficulties public life presented to women: it was autonomous from the socialist parties, functioning as a kind of women's section parallel to party organisations but separate from them and free of their intimidating male atmosphere.