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

114 LIFE AND IDEAS OF MITRINOVIC

to Mitrinovic, contained elements of the truth. Communism’s emphasis on socialism and equality was absolutely correct when applied to the economic sphere. Fascism’s concern with hierarchy and the superiority of some people compared to others was equally correct when applied to the cultural sphere, for we are not all equally gifted when it comes to creativity or the appreciation of creativity. But both fascism and communism were dangerously wrong when applied to the whole of life as untversals.

What was required was the creation of a social order wherein different organisational principles were applied to the different spheres of life. In life, individuals perform different functions: as producers and consumers in the economic sphere, as citizens relating to others in the political sphere, and as unique individuals with their own special abilities, ideals and values in the cultural sphere. A proper social order, then, would be one which acknowledged these different functions; one where the economic, political and cultural dimensions of life were distinguished from one another and organised according to their own proper principles. Equality was the appropriate principle for the economic sphere, for in terms of nature all human beings are equal and should have equal rights to the means of subsistence. Fraternity was the appropriate principle upon which to organise the political sphere, for in their relationships with each other all people depend alike upon the tolerance and understanding of others in order that social life can be maintained with the minimum of externally imposed restraints. Liberty was the organising principle appropriate to the cultural sphere where individuals should be free to develop their own special talents and abilities.

Some indication of the way life might be organised in accordance with such principles was provided in a manifesto entitled “The Social State” first published in the Spring of 1933.33 With regard to the economic sphere a system of guild socialism was advocated. The control of each industry should be devolved to those who worked in it in such a way

that every worker has a say in the organisation of his immediate workshop, the smaller groups being included in larger, until those who are in the central administration are not controllers or directors but representatives who functionally express the policy of the whole industry.

These representatives would constitute a national Economic Chamber where the important relations of industries to each other and the community would be discussed.

The business of politics was to do with the preservation of law and order at home and with the execution of foreign policy. In a functionally devolved