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

POLITICAL INITIATIVES 133

the new leaders represented the true spirit of the movement, objections to their appointment were “formal objections and not in keeping with the spirit of the movement.””? Meanwhile some people were walking out in disgust and dismay. It was decided to put the issue of the seven leaders to the conference once again. Of the 127 who voted, only two opposed the appointment of the new leadership.

The conference ended the next day. According to one report “the sense of national crisis and of confidence in the future of New Britain were deeply felt as the conference broke up.” The sense of national crisis reflected the state of reality, the confidence in the future of New Britain as a movement was somewhat misplaced. Within a week Purdom had resigned as editor of the weekly. In his farewell to his readers he explained he had taken the office on the understanding that “there must be a national organisation with its ultimate aims defined and a practical programme of immediate action.” He was leaving the editorship because that understanding could not be acted upon. “The moment is too soon. The movement is not yet ready to be born.”74 Certainly there was no possibility that Mitrinovi¢ would allow New Britain to become the kind of movement Purdom envisaged. After Leamington control of the direction of the movement was firmly established in the hands of the central group.

Davies took over the editorial chair vacated by Purdom, but “to sit was all I did. I was editor only in name. The real editor was Mitrinovic.”” In the weeks immediately following the conference Davies, Thomson, Lohan and others toured the countryside addressing groups, trying to raise morale and the funds necessary to keep the weekly paper alive. By July 1934 it began to seem as if the movement might survive the political chicanery of Leamington and the consequent defection of a substantial number of committed followers and activists. People were looking forward to the second national conference which was to be held at Glastonbury over the August bank holiday weekend. Then, in the July 4th issue of the weekly Mitrinovic called for Britain to rearm, to impose a peace on Europe and forestall the impending European bloodbath. Those who sought peace must prepare for war. A fascist Germany would disfigure the human race and the universe. A new war would mark “the end of Europe and of Great Britain in the hell of bacterial and gas suicide of Christendom.””®

There was an immediate outcry from the pacifists among the ranks of New Britain and those with a commitment to international socialism. The Southend group called upon the seven nominal leaders to clarify their position. On July 27th having failed to obtain a satisfactory response they resolved to sever their connection with the movement, having recognised that “the