Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare

The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, also known as S.P.E.W., was an organisation founded in 1994 by Hermione Granger in response to what she saw as gross injustice in the treatment of house-elves at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup. Having been deeply upset at the treatment and general prospects of house-elves both in Hogwarts and the rest of the wizarding world, Hermione set up S.P.E.W. in order to champion their rights.

Founding
"You know, house-elves get a very raw deal! It's slavery, that's what it is! That Mr. Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone do something about it?"

- Hermione after the 1994 Quidditch World Cup

Hermione Granger thought it cruel that house-elves were neither paid nor given holidays for their work, so she campaigned tirelessly for a change in their working conditions. She managed to get several students such as Neville Longbottom to join (paying a fee of two Sickles), though they only did so to stop her from badgering them. These students included a reluctant Ron Weasley and an indifferent Harry Potter. However, their sickles were overall wasted, as she kept badgering them about the issues of the organisation.

She would go round the Gryffindor common room shaking her S.P.E.W. badge box at people to make them join. A few seemed interested but refused when they found they had to pay. Apparently a few other people looked "mildly interested" in the campaign, but there are no further reports of anyone else actually becoming a member. She also offered it to Hagrid, but he refused as well saying that the elves liked to work. The rest of the school thought of the organisation as a joke. And so, with little or no support from her unwilling deputies, Hermione battled on pretty much alone, employing tactics such as badge-making and petitioning, but with very little effect. Eventually, she started knitting hats and socks, which she left lying around Gryffindor Tower, hoping to free some unsuspecting elf who picked them up while cleaning the common room.

Becoming infuriated with Hermione's obsession with the Society, Ron Weasley started calling the group "spew" and, on occasion parodied the name by inventing S.P.U.G., "Society for the Protection of Ugly Goblins".

House-elves' reaction
The only upshot of her campaign was that she alienated and infuriated the elves themselves. While she was busy knitting clothes to give them in order to set them free, the majority of house-elves are accustomed to their work, and seem to enjoy it. They regarded Hermione's actions as insults to their race. Thus, they refused to clean the Gryffindor common room any more, meaning that Dobby was the only one prepared to carry out this task. Already being free himself, he took all the clothes himself, wore most of them (making a tower of hats on top of his head), and passed some of the others on to Winky in the false hopes of cheering her up. Hermione was not informed of this development.

Impact
In spite of all this, there are indications that S.P.E.W. did eventually enjoy some moderate success, though it is likely that by then it was disbanded. Hogwarts' house-elves participated in the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998 in an unusually bold move for their kind, although this may have been a manifestation of their extreme loyalty to their "masters". However, it is possible that their contribution to the battle changed some people's views, as even Ron Weasley, a previous vocal critic of S.P.E.W., demonstrated concern and sympathy for the plight for house-elves at the time which prompted Hermione to kiss him.

Also, founder Hermione Granger went on to work for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic, where she continued to work for the rights of magical creatures.

Hermione's idea that house-elves should be treated decently led to Harry attempting to be nice to house-elf, Kreacher, which caused Kreacher to be nice and tell Harry the story of his master Regulus Black's visit to the horcrux cave.

Known members

 * Hermione Granger
 * Harry Potter
 * Ron Weasley
 * Neville Longbottom
 * Dobby

Behind the scenes

 * As Winky, Dobby, and all of the Hogwarts House-Elves were omitted from the film version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hermione was never seen stubbornly advocating their rights, thus S.P.E.W. has never been mentioned in the films. It was however mentioned in the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when talking to Hermione.

Notes and references
Société d'Aide à la Libération des Elfes Гражданская Ассоциация Восстановления Независимости Эльфов Stichting Huis-elf, voor Inburgering en Tolerantie