In 1885 or early in 1886 a group which included those four and many others formed a reading society for the discussion of Marx’s “Capital.”  The meetings—­I attended them until I left London—­were held in Hampstead, sometimes at the house of Mrs. Gilchrist, widow of the biographer of Blake, sometimes at that of Mrs. C.M.  Wilson, and finally at the Hampstead Public Library.  Later on the Society was called “The Hampstead Historic,” and its discussions, which continued for several years, had much to do with settling the Fabian attitude towards Marxian economics and historical theory.[19]

It was this exceptional group of leaders, all intimate friends, all loyal to each other, and to the cause they were associated to advocate, and all far above the average in vigour and ability, that in a few years turned an obscure drawing-room society into a factor in national politics.

* * * * *

At the meeting on June 19th, 1886, at 94 Cornwall Gardens, Sydney Olivier assumed the duties of Secretary, and the minutes began to be written with less formality than before.  It is recorded that “Graham Wallas read a paper on Personal Duty under the present system.  A number of questions from Fabians more or less in trouble about their souls were answered ex cathedra by Mr. Wallas, after which the Society was given to understand by G.B.  Shaw that Joseph the Fifth Monarchy Man could show them a more excellent way.  Joseph addressed the meeting for five minutes, on the subject of a community about to be established in British North America under the presidency of the Son of God.  Sidney Webb, G. Bernard Shaw, Annie Besant, [the Rev.] C.L.  Marson and Adolph Smith discussed the subject of the paper with especial reference to the question of buying cheap goods and of the employment of the surplus income of pensioners, after which Graham Wallas replied and the meeting dispersed,”

William Morris lectured on “The Aims of Art” on July 2nd, at a public meeting at South Place Chapel, with Walter Crane in the chair; and Belfort Bax was the lecturer on July 17th.

The first meeting after the holidays was a memorable one, and a few words of introduction are necessary.

In normal times it may be taken for granted that in addition to the Government and the Opposition there is at least one party of Rebels.  Generally there are more, since each section has its own rebels, down to the tiniest.  In the eighties the rebels were Communist Anarchists, and to us at any rate they seemed more portentous than the mixed crowd of suffragettes and gentlemen from Oxford who before the war seemed to be leading the syndicalist rebels.  Anarchist Communism was at any rate a consistent and almost sublime doctrine.  Its leaders, such as Prince Kropotkin and Nicholas Tchaykovsky, were men of outstanding ability and unimpeachable character, and the rank and file, mostly refugees from European oppression, had direct relations with similar parties abroad, the exact extent and significance of which we could not calculate.