But
suppose Mr. Webb were not in that fortunate position, as some Labour
candidates will not be! It is quite certain that not the smallest
odium would attach to the acceptance of a Liberal grant-in-aid. Now
the idea that taking Tory money is worse than taking Liberal money is
clearly a Liberal party idea and not a Social-Democratic one. In 1885
there was not the slightest excuse for regarding the Tory party as
any more hostile to Socialism than the Liberal party; and Mr.
Hyndman's classical quotation, _'Non olet'_--'It does not smell,'
meaning that there is no difference in the flavour of Tory and Whig
gold once it comes into the Socialist treasury, was a sufficient
retort to the accusations of moral corruption which were levelled at
him. But the Tory money job, as it was called, was none the less a
huge mistake in tactics. Before it took place, the Federation loomed
large in the imagination of the public and the political parties.
This is conclusively proved by the fact that the Tories thought that
the Socialists could take enough votes from the Liberals to make it
worth while to pay the expenses of two Socialist candidates in
London. The day after the election everyone knew that the Socialists
were an absolutely negligeable quantity there as far as voting power
was concerned. They had presented the Tory party with 57 votes, at a
cost of about L8 apiece.
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