D.F., like many other bodies, always cherished the illusion that the
defeat of a minority at a joint conference on a question of principle
would put that minority out of action.
Accordingly, as soon as the Manifesto had been published resolutions
were tabled pledging the constituent societies to concentrate their
efforts on Socialist candidates accepted as suitable by the Joint
Committee. On this point the Fabian Society was in a hopeless minority,
and an endless vista of futile and acrimonious discussions was opened
out which would lead to unrest in our own society--for there has always
been a minority opposed to its dominant policy--and a waste of time and
temper to the delegates from our Executive. It was therefore resolved at
the end of July that our delegates be withdrawn, and that put an end to
the Joint Committee.
The decision was challenged at a members' meeting by E.E. Williams, one
of the signatories of the Joint Manifesto, subsequently well known as
the author of "Made in Germany," and in some sense the real founder of
the Tariff Reform movement; but the members by a decisive vote upheld
the action of their Executive.
Four years later, early in 1897, another effort after Unity was made. By
this time Morris, whose outstanding personality had given him a
commanding and in some respects a moderating influence in the movement,
was dead; and the Hammersmith Socialist Society had disappeared.
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