Initiation and initiative : an exploration of the life and ideas of Dimitrije Mitrinović

38 LIFE AND IDEAS OF MITRINOVIC

calm” in the face of the turmoil around him, implicitly criticised him for being so “active” in his attempts to prevent the war, and recommended that he place his faith in a “metaphysical electric flash of lightning” that would somehow resolve the situation. The letter is worth quoting at length if only because it highlights the way in which those who believe in a ‘higher truth’ and a supra-mundane level of existence can, on occasion, insulate themselves from much that is going on around them with what can appear to be a callous disregard for the plight of other people. This was a danger that was, one could argue, inherent in Gutkind’s conception of the Blutbund as an aristocracy of persons, qualitatively superior in mind and spirit to the mass of folk who because of their pre-eminence should, and could, exert a determining influence over the direction of world development. Few would dispute that different people possess or have developed different gifts to qualitatively different degrees. However, such a recognition must be tempered by a corresponding acknowledgement of the common humanity that unites all people, whatever their skills or abilities, if it is not to descend into an arrogant élitism that views the less gifted as ‘lesser mortals,’ as ‘cannonfodder’ for history. As far as Gutkind was concerned: “generals need not get involved in the hurly-burly.”

My very dear friend, you really do not have the least cause to desert the greater and wider cause, and you are not committing treason at all...I am doing everything I can. I wrote at once to van Eeden and Landauer and when the danger gets very great I shall try to call in our circle. But please do not overestimate the danger. It may all quieten down again. I even consider that this is quite possible. If only you will come away from the idea that—however urgent it may be—we can do anything in a week and that protests and that sort of thing are of the least use. The only thing that is of any purpose here is to tackle the issue from the metaphysical end. There is no point in proclamations calling people to ‘reason’ and ‘justice,’ but only an unheard of metaphysical electrical flash of lightning, and that we must now prepare. To that end I have contacted the others, and this immediately and with my whole heart. It is exactly the very great tension in the situation which provides a favourable soil for the ignition of the mystic spark. Please don’t do anything silly from nervous impatience. Pm sure it will not be too late, even if it takes a few weeks. Just stay at your post with the idea—the generals need not get involved in the hurly-burly. Only don’t let us issue any impotent paper protests, but also in order to do justice to the Slav issue let us go down into the primal depths and there call up the demons. Only a magic of primal power will help, and no rustling of newspapersthe plebs which have been unleashed won’t listen to that for even a second. Nor do we need to take the route via the plebs. I was unable to get hold of Kropotkin’s address more quickly. He is always in Brighton in the summer and