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

POLITICAL INITIATIVES | 131

David Davies suggested in his autobiography that Murphy had been brought along to the conference by the central group “with the specific object of injecting an upsetting element into the proceedings and bringing the conference to nought.”6® Whether or not this was in fact the case, Murphy’s strident call for socialism from the platform must have been a little disconcerting to Charles Purdom and the members of the London group who, in pursuit of their aim of transforming New Britain into a mass movement with wide political appeal, had been attempting to attract a number of business people into their ranks. Certainly, Murphy, an experienced and powerful public speaker, was to make his presence felt on a number of crucial occasions during the weekend. Not least on the Saturday morning when Andrew Campbell, one of the leaders of the London group and a major advocate of an organisational overhaul for the movement, presented his proposals for a practical programme. Campbell tried to convince the assembly that his programme of industrial planning and monetary reform would “antagonise few interests and if prosecuted with vigour and efficiency should be applied in a very short time.” His proposals promised “the immediate abolition of poverty, a general increase in the standard of life, increased time for leisure, and a people more receptive to the higher ideals of New Britain.”®

In fact, Campbell’s proposals came in for sharp criticism from significant sections of the gathering. He advocated industrial planning without specifying who was to do the planning; he made no mention of workers owning the means of production; and he envisaged the maintenance of production for profit, at least “to start with.” It was suggested that Campbell’s programme, in essence, “differed in no way from the claims made in the Fascist programme.” In some frustration Campbell appealed to the conference: if only they would water down their antagonism to the capitalist class he could guarantee the recruitment of 10,000 new members into the movement, thus helping to make it a truly effective political organisation with mass appeal. At this Murphy stood up and retorted that “If you went a little further and turned it into a capitalist party, I could bring you in 50,000 new members!”

Saturday evening was devoted to an address from Frederick Soddy on monetary reform and social credit as a prelude to the discussions on the constitutional proposals that were scheduled for the following morning. However, just before the close of the Soddy meeting, at around 10.15 pm, Lilian Slade stood up to propose “That this conference should solve the problems of leadership which must arise in the early stages of a movement by appointing six of those here who obviously had the confidence of the delegates. And one other who was known to many.”7! The six present whom