march,” was a true expression of this challenge of hope. But the “whither” of the march remained obscure. This hope and obscurity were well illustrated for me on a small scale by the formation of the “1917 Club.” It was the Kerensky revolution of the spring, not the Lenin revolution of October, that initiated the Club, though it did not come into operation until the Communist regime was established. It had no declared aim or object but was a free meeting-place for “advanced” men and women concerned with political and economic reforms, or with new literary or artistic movements. Among the early adherents and contributors to its gatherings were Olive Schreiner, Ramsay MacDonald, Oswald Mosley, Bertrand Russell, H. W. Nevinson, E. M. Forster. Though no political creed was imposed or adopted, most of the members were formally or informally attached to the rising Labour Party, and, as time went on, a strong Communist flavour came to be recognized, especially among the younger members. On the whole, it was regarded as a club of “intellectuals,” and as such reflected the confusion of principles and policies that belonged to any attempt to “understand” and synthesize what was going on in war-sodden Europe.
Having no solid bond of creed or policy but only an “atmosphere,” it outlived its early fervour of spirit and passed into a convenient meeting-place until the financial embarrassments of high rents and low members’ fees, often unpaid, brought it to a close.
