The new Committee quickly settled down to work, but Mr. Wells was already wearying of his role as political organiser.  He was appointed both to the General Purposes and the Propaganda Sub-Committees, but after attending two meetings of the former, and none of the latter, he resigned from both in October, and of the seventeen meetings of the Executive Committee during its year of office he attended only seven.

In April, 1908, he was re-elected to the Executive, again fourth on the poll, and Mrs. Wells who had not been a candidate before was also successful.  But in the following September he resigned his membership of the Society, assigning as reasons “disagreement with the Basis which forms the Confession of Faith of the Society and discontent with the general form of its activities,” together with a desire “to concentrate on the writing of novels.”  He explained that “a scheme which proposes to leave mother and child economically dependent on the father is not to me Socialism at all, but a miserable perversion of Socialism.”  The letter, printed in “Fabian News,” goes on to refer to his objection to the “no compensation” clause in the Basis (the real weakness of which is that it refers hypothetically to a complete change of system and is never applied to any particular case[38]), and added that the opportunity for a propaganda to the British middle classes was now over.  Mrs. Wells retained her seat on the Executive Committee till March, 1910, and soon after that date the connection of both of them with the Society altogether ceased.

* * * * *

I have now traced the main stream of the subject of this chapter, though a good deal remains to be said on other effects of the agitation.  I have indicated that the actual proposals made by the Special Committee under the inspiration of Mr. Wells, in so far at any rate as they were controversial or controverted, were futile or impossible, and neither led, nor in my opinion could have led, to any benefit to the Society or to its objects.  But it must not be inferred from this that the intervention of Mr. Wells, viewed as a whole, was of this character.  He is a man of outstanding genius, and in so far as he used his powers appropriately, his work was of enormous value to Socialism; and his energy and attractive personality added radiance to the Society only equalled in the early days when the seven Essayists were all in the field and all fighting at their bravest.  The new life in the Society during those brilliant years was due to other factors as well as Mr. Wells.  Other Socialist Societies, in which he took no part, also increased their numbers and launched out into fresh activities.  But for us Mr. Wells was the spur which goaded us on, and though at the time we were often forced to resent his want of tact, his difficult public manners, and his constant shiftings of policy, we recognised then, and we remember still, how much of permanent value he achieved.