"
Precisely what the last clause meant has never been disclosed. Mr. Wells
in his speech did nothing to elucidate it. Mr. Shaw in his reply
criticised its vagueness and protested against possible interpretations
of it. Mr. Wells stated some time later that he had resigned from the
Society because we refused to adopt it. I do not think that any of his
colleagues attached much importance to it, and none of them has
attempted to raise the issue since.[37]
Clause (b) was another matter. Nobody objected to the principle of
this, but many demurred to inserting it in the Basis. We regarded the
Basis as a statement of the minimum of Socialism, without which no man
had the right to call himself a Socialist. But there are a few
Socialists, such as Mr. Belfort Bax, who are opposed to women's
suffrage, and moreover, however important it be, some of us regard it as
a question of Democracy rather than Socialism. Certainly no one would
contend that approval of women's suffrage was acceptance of a part of
the creed of Socialism. It is a belief compatible with the most
thoroughgoing individualism.
But many of the women members had made up their minds that this clause
must appear in the Basis, and under the leadership of Mrs. Pember
Reeves, they had indicated they would vote for the Special Committee
Report unless they got their way. Those who, like myself, regarded this
amendment of the Basis as inexpedient, recognised also that the adoption
of the Wells report was far more inexpedient, and the Executive
consequently decided to support a proposal that they be instructed to
submit an addition to the Basis declaring for equal citizenship for men
and women.
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