[John M.] Robertson,[14] the latter
contributing a 'Scheme of Taxation' in which he anticipated much of
what was subsequently adopted as the Fabian program; Wordsworth
Donisthorpe took the field for Anarchism of the type advocated by the
authors of 'A Plea for Liberty'; Stewart Headlam spoke for Christian
Socialism and the Guild of St. Matthew; Dr. Pankhurst dealt with the
situation from the earlier Radical point of view; and various
Socialist papers were read by Mrs. Besant, Sidney Webb, and Edward
Carpenter, besides one by Stuart Glennie, who subsequently left us
because we fought shy of the Marriage Question when revising our
'Basis.' I mention all this in order to show you how much more
important this abortive Conference looked than the present one. Yet
all that can be said for it is that it made us known to the Radical
clubs and proved that we were able to manage a conference in a
businesslike way. It also, by the way, showed off our pretty
prospectus with the design by Crane at the top, our stylish-looking
blood-red invitation cards, and the other little smartnesses on which
we then prided ourselves. We used to be plentifully sneered at as
fops and arm-chair Socialists for our attention to these details; but
I think it was by no means the least of our merits that we always, as
far as our means permitted, tried to make our printed documents as
handsome as possible, and did our best to destroy the association
between revolutionary literature and slovenly printing on paper that
is nasty without being cheap.
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