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

120 LIFE AND IDEAS OF MITRINOVIC

there was no space left for individual creativity and initiative. Democracy was mere mob-rule—everyone was free to do just what everyone else did: to vote the same way, to read the same newspapers, to act the same way. People had lost sight of the true nature of individuality: the uniqueness and divinity of each and every individual. A new individualism was called for, so that “each individual accepts responsibility, that he acknowledges the obligation to excel himself, that he has the courage to make decisions.”°° The test of any political, economic or social order was the extent to which it helped or hindered such a development. “Separate yourself from the mob,” readers were urged:

. .. be conscious of your own worth, recognise the worth of others, claim nothing for yourself that you do not allow to others, fight for nothing for yourself unless your fight is also for others, and take upon yourself the responsibility for the new order.>!

4. “The personal alliance of all who believe that Britain should be transformed into a Social State.”

Personal alliance, according to Purdom, was the means by which Britain would be transformed. It involved the recognition that “we are each as Gods” and therefore acknowledging the God that is likewise in our neighbour. Personal alliance was “an attitude in which we each grant to other personalities their own worth,” whatever their station in life.5* Only by changing the manner in which we related to each other in all spheres of life could a total reconstruction of political, economic and cultural life be achieved.

5. “The immediate and thorough adaptation of production and distribution to realise the new age of plenty.”

This was the demand for the reform of the monetary system along the lines advocated by Frederick Soddy. Money was likened to the blood of the body: its circulation through the social body brought sustenance to all its parts. When money does not circulate, society declines and disintegrates. The dominance of the banks in the control of the money supply by means of cheques and other forms of credit had resulted in money being created and traded for private profit rather than for public benefit. If money was to perform its true function as a circulation system, a means of transporting goods from one person or group of persons to another, it was essential that its creation and control should be the responsibility of the state on behalf of the whole community and that mechanisms be developed to ensure that the quantity of money in circulation could be adjusted so that it retained an unchanging purchasing power.

6. “The guidance of the national wealth processes by the direct producers.”