The most memorable part of the discussion was the
proposal of Mr. Stuart Glennie to add a clause relating to marriage and
the family. This was opposed by Mrs. Besant, then regarded as an
extremist on that subject, and was defeated. In view of the large amount
of business transacted before the discussion of the Basis began, the
debate cannot have been prolonged.
It is easy enough, nearly thirty years later, to criticise this
document, to point out that it is purely economic, and unnecessarily
rigid: that the phrase about compensation, which has been more discussed
than any other, is badly worded, and for practical purposes always
disregarded in the constructive proposals of the Society.[21] The best
testimony to the merits of the Basis is its survival--its acceptance by
the continuous stream of new members who have joined the Society--and it
has survived not because its upholders deemed it perfect, but because
it has always been found impracticable to put on paper any alternative
on which even a few could agree. In fact, proposals to re-write the
Basis have on several occasions been referred to Committees, but none of
the Committees has ever succeeded in presenting a report.
* * * * *
At the end of the year the sole fruit of the Parliamentary League was
published. It is Tract No. 6, entitled "The True Radical Programme" and
consists of a declamatory criticism of the official Liberal-Radical
Programme announced at Nottingham in October, 1887, and a demand to
replace it by the True Radical Programme, namely, adult (in place of
manhood) suffrage, payment of Members of Parliament and election
expenses, taxation of unearned incomes, nationalisation of railways, the
eight hours day, and a few other items.
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