The New Guard was a paramilitary group, its military capability was extremely limited and vastly overstated by its leadership. It was amateurish, ineffectual and likened to the Keystone Cops. During the initial growth of the movement, Campbell was able to attract many ex-soldiers and ex-commanders to the movement, with ex-military making up the majority of the group's membership, including the likes of early aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and North Sydney Mayor Hubert Primrose. As general commanding officer, Campbell organized it on military lines. He claimed that, in an 'emergency', it could maintain essential services including Bunnerong power house and the police attested to the Guard's efficiency. With a peak membership of over 50,000, the Guard rallied in public, broke up 'Communist' meetings, drilled, vilified the Labor Party and demanded the deportation of Communists. Campbell and his New Guard proceeded to secure connections and weapons so that, in the event of a statewide communist revolt in which the police had become ineffective, he could seize control of essential services and keep them operational. An attempt to clothe its members in uniforms failed, however, when the Guard could not go through with its order for lack of funds. Campbell's naïve offer to step in to break a seamen's strike in October 1931 was rebuffed by shipowners.