The Fabian Society is a British socialist intellectual movement, whose purpose is to advance the socialist cause by gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning in the late 19th century and then up to World War I. The society laid many of the foundations of the Labour Party during this period; subsequently, it affected the policies of newly independent British colonies, especially India, and is still in existence today, one of 15 socialist societies affiliated to the Labour Party. Similar societies exist in Australia (the Australian Fabian Society), Canada (the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation and in past the League for Social Reconstruction), and New Zealand. Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... Gradualism is the belief that changes occur, or ought to occur, slowly in the form of gradual steps (see also incrementalism) In politics, the concept of gradualism is used to describe the belief that public policy ought to be modified in small, discrete increments rather than abrubt changes such as... Reformism (also called revisionism or revisionist theory) is the belief that gradual changes in a society can ultimately change its fundamental structures. ... For other uses, see Revolution (disambiguation). ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... A socialist society is a membership organization which is affiliated to the Labour Party in the UK. The best-known socialist society is the Fabian Society, founded in 1884, some years before the creation of the Labour Party itself (in which the Society participated). ... The Australian Fabian Society was established in 1947. ... The Douglas-Coldwell Foundation is a Canadian think tank devoted, in the words of its slogan, to promoting education and research into social democracy. ... The League for Social Reconstruction was a circle of Canadian socialist intellectuals formed in 1931 by academics advocating radical social and economic reforms and political education as a response to the Great Depression. ...

History

The society was founded on 4 January 1884 in London as an offshoot of a society founded in 1883 called The Fellowship of the New Life.^[1]
Fellowship members included poets Edward Carpenter and John Davidson, sexologist Havelock Ellis, and future Fabian secretary, Edward R. Pease. They wanted to transform society by setting an example of clean simplified living for others to follow. But when some members also wanted to become politically involved to aid society's transformation, it was decided that a separate society, The Fabian Society, also be set up. All members were free to attend both societies. is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Year 1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Fellowship of the New Life was an organization in the 19th century, most famous for a splinter group, the Fabian Society. ... Edward Carpenter in 1875. ... John Davidson is also the name of a former ice hockey player. ... Sexology is the systematic study of human sexuality. ... Henry Havelock Ellis (February 2, 1859 - July 8, 1939), known as Havelock Ellis, was a British doctor, sexual psychologist and social reformer. ... Edward R. Pease (1857 - 1955) was an English writer and a founding member of the Fabian Society. ...

The Fellowship of the New Life was dissolved in 1898^[2], but the Fabian Society grew to become the preeminent intellectual society in the United Kingdom in the Edwardian era. The Edwardian period or Edwardian era in the United Kingdom is the period 1901 to 1910, the reign of King Edward VII. It succeeded the Victorian period and is sometimes extended to include the period up to the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, the start of World War...

Immediately upon its inception, the Fabian Society began attracting many intellectuals drawn to its socialist cause, including George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Annie Besant, Graham Wallas, Hubert Bland, Edith Nesbit, Sydney Olivier, Oliver Lodge, Leonard Woolf, and Emmeline Pankhurst. Even Bertrand Russell later became a member. The two members John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White were delegates at 1944's United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856–2 November 1950) was an Irish dramatist, literary critic, and socialist. ... Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946), better known as H. G. Wells, was an English writer best known for such science fiction novels as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon and The Island of Doctor Moreau. ... Annie Besant Plaque on house in Colby Road, London SE19 where Annie Besant lived in 1874. ... Graham Wallas (31 May 1858 - 9 August 1932 was a social psychologist, educationalist, and a leader of the Fabian Society. ... Hubert Bland Hubert Bland (3 January 1855-14 April 1914) was an early English socialist and one of the founders of the Fabian Society. ... Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; August 15, 1858 - May 4, 1924) was an English author and poet whose childrens works were published under the androgynous name of E. Nesbit. ... Sir Sydney Haldane Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier KCMG (16 April 1859 – 15 February 1943), was a British civil servant. ... Vanity Fair cartoon. ... Leonard Woolf (November 25, 1880 – August 14, 1969) married Virginia Woolf in 1912. ... Statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster. ... Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, and pacifist. ... John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, CB (pronounced cains, IPA ) (5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946) was a British economist whose ideas, called Keynesian economics, had a major impact on modern economic and political theory as well as on many governments fiscal policies. ... Harry Dexter White (left) and John Maynard Keynes (right) at the Bretton Woods Conference Harry Dexter White (October 1892 – August 16, 1948) was an American economist and senior U.S. Treasury department official. ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mount Washington Hotel The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, commonly known as Bretton Woods conference, was a gathering of 730 delegates from all 45 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to regulate the international monetary and financial order after the conclusion of...

At the core of the Fabian Society were Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Together, they wrote numerous studies of industrial Britain, alternative economics applied to capital as well as land. Their later admiration of the Soviet Union stemmed partly from Stalin's "efficiency" at acquiring this rent.^{[citation needed]} Categories: UK Labour Party politicians | British MPs | Peers | Secretaries of State for the Colonies (UK) | 1859 births | 1947 deaths | People stubs ... Beatrice Webb Martha Beatrice Potter Webb (January 2, 1858 - April 30, 1943) (also called Beatrice Webb) was a British socialist, economist and reformer, usually referred to in the same breath as her husband, Sidney Webb. ...

The group, which favoured gradual creeping change rather than revolutionary change, was named — at the suggestion of Frank Podmore — in honour of the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus (nicknamed "Cunctator", meaning "the Delayer"). He advocated tactics involving harassment and attrition rather than head-on battles against the Carthaginian army under the renowned general Hannibal Barca. For other uses, see Revolution (disambiguation). ... Frank Podmore (1856 - 1910) was a founding member of the Fabian Society. ... This article refers to the state which existed from the 6th century BC to the 1st century BC. For alternate meanings, see Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ... Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (c. ... For other uses, see War of Attrition (disambiguation). ... Roman Carthage with former military harbor Carthage (Greek: , Latin: , from the Phoenician meaning new town; Arabic: ) refers both to an ancient city in Tunisia and to the civilization that developed within the citys sphere of influence. ... For other uses, see Hannibal (disambiguation). ...

The first Fabian Society pamphlets were written to lobby for a minimum wage in 1906, for the creation of the National Health Service in 1911, and for the abolition of hereditary peers in 1917 (Fabian Society).

Fabian socialists were in favour of an imperialist foreign policy and a welfare state modelled on the Bismarckian German model; they criticised Gladstonian liberalism both for its individualism at home and its internationalism abroad. They favoured a national minimum wage in order to stop British industries compensating for their inefficiency by lowering wages; slum clearances and a health service in order for "the breeding of even a moderately Imperial race" which would be better militarily than the "stunted, anaemic, demoralised denizens...of our great cities"; and a national education system because "it is in the class-rooms that the future battles of the Empire for commercial prosperity are already being lost".^[3] The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ... Gladstonian Liberalism is a political doctrine named after the British Victorian Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, William Ewart Gladstone. ... The minimum wage is the minimum rate a worker can legally be paid (usually per hour) as opposed to wages that are determined by the forces of supply and demand in a free market. ...

The Fabians also favoured the nationalization of land, believing that rents collected by landowners were unearned, an idea which drew heavily from the work of American economist Henry George. Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and the most influential proponent of the Single Tax on land. ...

Many Fabians participated in the formation of the Labour Party in 1900, and the group's constitution, written by Sidney Webb, borrowed heavily from the founding documents of the Fabian Society. At the Labour Party Foundation Conference in 1900, the Fabian Society claimed 861 members and sent one delegate. The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... Äž: For the film, see: 1900 (film). ... The Labour Representation Committee (LRC) was formed on February 27, 1900, at a conference at which representatives of the main socialist groupings in the United Kingdom were present. ...

In the period between the two World Wars, the "Second Generation" Fabians, including the writers R. H. Tawney, G. D. H. Cole, and Harold Laski, continued to be a major influence on social-democratic thought. Richard Henry Tawney (R.H. Tawney) (1880 - 1962) was an English writer, economist, historian, social critic and university professor and a leading advocate of Christian Socialism Born in Calcutta, India, Tawney was educated at Rugby School and Balliol College, Oxford where he studied modern history. ... George Douglas Howard Cole (September 25, 1889 - January 14, 1959) was an English journalist and economist, closely associated with the development of Fabianism. ... Harold Joseph Laski (Manchester, June 30, 1893 – March 24, 1950 in London) was an English political theorist, economist, author, and lecturer, and served as the 1945-1946 chairman of the Labour Party. ... Social democracy is a political ideology emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from supporters of Marxism who believed that the transition to a socialist society could be achieved through democratic evolutionary rather than revolutionary means. ...

It was at this time that many of the future leaders of the Third World were exposed to Fabian thought, most notably India's Jawaharlal Nehru, who subsequently framed economic policy for one-fifth of humanity on Fabian social-democratic lines. It is a little-known fact that the founder of Pakistan, Barrister Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was an avid member of the Fabian Society in the early 1930s. Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore, stated in his memoirs that his initial political philosophy was strongly influenced by the Fabian Society. However, he later altered his views, believing the Fabian ideal of socialism to be too impractical. Jawaharlal Nehru (Hindi: , IPA: , from Persian Javâher-e Laal, meaning Red Jewel) (November 14, 1889 – May 27, 1964) was a political leader of the Indian National Congress, a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first Prime Minister of Independent India. ... Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah (referred to in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam, or Great Leader, which is a legally defined title) (December 25, 1876 - September 11, 1948) was an Indian Muslim nationalist, who led the movement demanding a separate homeland for Muslims in... The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known as the World Depression. ... This is a Chinese name; the family name is 李 (Li) Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; born September 16, 1923; also spelled Lee Kwan-Yew), was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. ... The Priminster of Singa pyohbsdg vjhd|Lee Kuan Yew||3 June 1959 || 28 November 1990 || 1968 GE 94. ...

Legacy

Through the course of the 20th century the group has always been influential in Labour Party circles, with members including Ramsay MacDonald, Clement Attlee, Anthony Crosland, Richard Crossman, Tony Benn, Harold Wilson, and more recently Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The late Ben Pimlott served as its Chairman in the 1990s. (A Pimlott Prize for Political Writing was organized in his memory by the Fabian Society and The Guardian in 2005, and continues annually). The Society is affiliated to the Party as a socialist society. In recent years the Young Fabian group, founded in 1960, has become an important networking and discussion organisation for younger (under 31) Labour Party activists and played a role in the 1994 election of Tony Blair as Labour Leader. Following a period of inactivity, the Scottish Young Fabians were reformed in 2005. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... James Ramsay MacDonald (12 October 1866 – 9 November 1937) was a British politician and three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. ... Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951. ... Charles Anthony Raven Crosland (29 August 1918 - 19 February 1977) was a member of the Labour Party and an important socialist theorist. ... Richard Howard Stafford Crossman (15 December 1907 to April 1974) was a British politician and writer. ... Anthony Tony Neil Wedgwood Benn (born 3 April 1925), formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate, is a British socialist politician. ... James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was one of the most prominent British politicians of the 20th century. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency... For others with the same or similar names, see Gordon Brown (disambiguation). ... Professor Ben Pimlott (4 July 1945 - April 10, 2004) was a leading historian of the post-war period in Britain. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ... A socialist society is a membership organization which is affiliated to the Labour Party in the UK. The best-known socialist society is the Fabian Society, founded in 1884, some years before the creation of the Labour Party itself (in which the Society participated). ... The Young Fabians is the under-31 section of the Fabian Society. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The society's 2004 annual report showed that there were 5,810 individual members (down 70 from the previous year), of whom 1,010 were Young Fabians, and 294 institutional subscribers, of which 31 were Constituency Labour Parties, co-operative societies, or trade unions, 190 were libraries, 58 corporate, and 15 other—making 6,104 members in total. The society's net assets were £86,057, its total income £486,456, and its total expenditure £475,425. There was an overall surplus for the year of £1,031. Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Young Fabians is the under-31 section of the Fabian Society. ... A Constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency in England, Scotland and Wales. ... A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) comprises a legal entity owned and democratically controlled by its members, with no passive shareholders. ... A trade union or labor union is an organization of workers. ... For other uses, see Library (disambiguation). ... Surplus means the quantity left over, after conducting an activity; the quantity which has not been used up, and can refer to: budget surplus, the opposite of a budget deficit economic surplus Surplus product or surplus value in Marxian economics physical surplus in the economic theory of Piero Sraffa Operating...

The latest edition of the Dictionary of National Biography (a reference work listing details of famous or significant Britons throughout history) includes 174 Fabians. The Dictionary of National Biography (or DNB) is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history. ... The term Briton may have the following meanings: in a historical context: an inhabitant of Great Britain in pre-Roman times a descendant of Britons during a later period (e. ...

Four Fabians, Beatrice and Sidney Webb, Graham Wallas, and George Bernard Shaw founded the London School of Economics with the money left to the Fabian Society by Henry Hutchinson. Supposedly the decision was made at a breakfast party on 4 August 1894. The founders are depicted in the Fabian Window ^[4] designed by George Bernard Shaw. The window was stolen in 1978 and reappeared at Sotheby's in 2005. It was restored to display in the Shaw Library at the London School of Economics in 2006 at a ceremony over which Tony Blair presided.^[5] Beatrice Webb Martha Beatrice Potter Webb (January 2, 1858 - April 30, 1943) (also called Beatrice Webb) was a British socialist, economist and reformer, usually referred to in the same breath as her husband, Sidney Webb. ... Categories: UK Labour Party politicians | British MPs | Peers | Secretaries of State for the Colonies (UK) | 1859 births | 1947 deaths | People stubs ... Graham Wallas (31 May 1858 - 9 August 1932 was a social psychologist, educationalist, and a leader of the Fabian Society. ... George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856–2 November 1950) was an Irish dramatist, literary critic, and socialist. ... Mascot Beaver Affiliations University of London Russell Group EUA ACU CEMS APSIA Golden Triangle G5 Group Website http://www. ... Henry Hutchinson (1800-1831) was an English architect who partnered with Thomas Rickman in December 1821 to form the Rickman and Hutchinson architecture practice, in which he stayed until his death in 1831. ... is the 216th day of the year (217th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Image:41602954 blair. ... George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856–2 November 1950) was an Irish dramatist, literary critic, and socialist. ... Mascot Beaver Affiliations University of London Russell Group EUA ACU CEMS APSIA Golden Triangle G5 Group Website http://www. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency...

Young Fabians

Members aged under 31 years of age are also members of the Young Fabians. This group has its own elected Chair and executive and organizes conferences and events. It also publishes the quarterly magazine Anticipations. The Scottish Young Fabians, a Scottish branch of the group, reformed in 2005. The Young Fabians is the under-31 section of the Fabian Society. ...

Influence on Labour government

Since Labour came to office in 1997, the Fabian Society has been a forum for New Labour ideas and for critical approaches from across the party. The most significant Fabian contribution to Labour's policy agenda in government was Ed Balls' 1992 pamphlet, advocating Bank of England independence. Balls had been a Financial Times journalist when he wrote this Fabian pamphlet, before going to work for Gordon Brown. BBC Business Editor Robert Peston, in his book Brown's Britain, calls this an ‘essential tract’ and concludes that Balls ‘deserves as much credit – probably more – than anyone else for the creation of the modern Bank of England'; [quoted here; http://www.afsp.msh-paris.fr/archives/congreslyon2005/communications/tr4/wickham.pdf] Wlliam Keegan offers a similar analysis of Balls' Fabian pamphlet in his book on Labour's economic policy [3], which traces in detail the path leading up to this dramatic policy change after Labour's first week in office.

The Fabian Society Tax Commission of 2000 was widely credited [4] with influencing the Labour government's policy and political strategy for its one significant public tax increase: the National Insurance rise to raise £8 billion for NHS spending. (The Fabian Commission had in fact called for a directly hypothecated 'NHS tax' [5] to cover the full cost of NHS spending, arguing that linking taxation more directly to spending was essential to make tax rise publicly acceptable. The 2001 National Insurance rise was not formally hypothecated, but the government committed itself to using the additional funds for health spending). Several other recommendations, including a new top rate of income tax, were to the left of government policy and not accepted, though this comprehensive review of UK taxation was influential in economic policy and political circles [6]

See also

• Labour Research Department
• List of UK think tanks
• New Statesman Journal
• Reformism
• The New Age Journal
• Young Fabians

The London-based Labour Research Department (LRD) is the independent, trade union based research organisation. ... This is a list of think tanks in the United Kingdom. ... The New Statesman is a left-of-centre political weekly published in London. ... Socialist Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a societys fundamental economic relations and political structures. ... The New Age was a British literary magazine, noted for its wide influence under the editorship from 1907 to 1922 of A. R. Orage. ... The Young Fabians is the under-31 section of the Fabian Society. ...

References

1. ^ Pease, Edward (1916). A History of the Fabian Society. New York: E.P. DUTTON & COMPANY. 
2. ^ Pease,1916
3. ^ Bernard Semmel, Imperialism and Social Reform: English Social-Imperial Thought 1895-1914 (London: Allen and Unwin, 1960), p. 71, p. 73.
4. ^ Press release, "A piece of Fabian history unveiled at LSE," London School of Economics & Political Science Archives [1] Last accessed 23 February 2007
5. ^ Andrew Walker, "Wit, wisdom and windows", BBC News [2] Last accessed 23 February 2007

Edward R. Pease (1857 - 1955) was an English writer and a founding member of the Fabian Society. ...

External links

• Official website
• The History of the Fabian Society by Edward R. Pease, its secretary for 25 years; from Project Gutenberg
• Catalogue of the Fabian Society archives held at the London School of Economics