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+Project Gutenberg's The History of the Fabian Society, by Edward R. Pease
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The History of the Fabian Society
+
+Author: Edward R. Pease
+
+Release Date: October 11, 2004 [EBook #13715]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF THE FABIAN SOCIETY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Martin Pettit, Paul Pettit and the
+PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The History of the
+
+Fabian Society
+
+
+By
+
+
+Edward R. Pease
+
+Secretary for Twenty-five Years
+
+
+With Twelve Illustrations
+
+
+NEW YORK
+E.P. DUTTON & COMPANY
+PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+The History of the Fabian Society will perhaps chiefly interest the
+members, present and past, of the Society. But in so far as this book
+describes the growth of Socialist theory in England, and the influence
+of Socialism on the political thought of the last thirty years, I hope
+it will appeal to a wider circle.
+
+I have described in my book the care with which the Fabian Tracts have
+been revised and edited by members of the Executive Committee. Two of my
+colleagues, Sidney Webb and Bernard Shaw, have been good enough to
+revise this volume in like manner, and I have to thank them for
+innumerable corrections in style, countless suggestions of better words
+and phrases, and a number of amplifications and additions, some of which
+I have accepted without specific acknowledgment, whilst others for one
+reason or another are to be found in notes; and I am particularly
+grateful to Bernard Shaw for two valuable memoranda on the history of
+Fabian Economics, and on Guild Socialism, which are printed as an
+appendix.
+
+The MS. or proofs have also been read by Mrs. Sidney Webb, Mrs. Bernard
+Shaw, Sir Sydney Olivier, Graham Wallas, W. Stephen Sanders, and R.C.K.
+Ensor, to each of whom my cordial thanks are due for suggestions,
+additions, and corrections.
+
+To Miss Bertha Newcombe I am obliged for permission to reproduce the
+interesting sketch which forms the frontispiece.
+
+E.R.P.
+THE PENDICLE,
+LIMPSFIELD,
+SURREY,
+
+_January_, 1916.
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Sources of Fabian Socialism
+
+    The ideas of the early eighties--The epoch of Evolution--Sources of
+    Fabian ideas--Positivism--Henry George--John Stuart Mill--Robert
+    Owen--Karl Marx--The Democratic Federation--"The Christian
+    Socialist"--Thomas Davidson
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+The Foundations of the Society: 1883-4
+
+    Frank Podmore and Ghost-hunting--Thomas Davidson and his circle--The
+    preliminary meetings--The Fellowship of the New Life--Formation of
+    the Society--The career of the New Fellowship
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+The Early Days: 1884-6
+
+    The use of the word Socialism--Approval of the Democratic
+    Federation--Tract No. I--The Fabian Motto--Bernard Shaw joins--His
+    first Tract--The Industrial Remuneration Conference--Sidney Webb and
+    Sydney Olivier become members--Mrs. Annie Besant--Shaw's second
+    Tract--The Tory Gold controversy--"What Socialism Is"--The Fabian
+    Conference of 1886--Sidney Webb's first contribution, "The
+    Government Organisation of Unemployed Labour"
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+The Formation of Fabian Policy: 1886-9
+
+    The factors of success; priority of date; the men who made it--The
+    controversy over policy--The Fabian Parliamentary League--"Facts for
+    Socialists"--The adoption of the Basis--The seven Essayists in
+    command--Lord Haldane--The "Essays" as Lectures--How to train for
+    Public Life--Fabians on the London School Board--"Facts for
+    Londoners"--Municipal Socialism--"The Eight Hours Bill"
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+"Fabian Essays" and the Lancashire Campaign: 1890-3
+
+    "Fabian Essays" published--Astonishing success--A new presentation
+    of Socialism--Reviewed after twenty-five years--Henry
+    Hutchinson--The Lancashire Campaign--Mrs. Besant withdraws--"Fabian
+    News"
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+"To your tents, O Israel": 1894-1900
+
+    Progress of the Society--The Independent Labour Party--Local Fabian
+    Societies--University Fabian Societies--London Groups and Samuel
+    Butler--The first Fabian Conference--Tracts and Lectures--The 1892
+    Election Manifesto--The Newcastle Program--The Fair Wages
+    Policy--The "Fortnightly" article--The Intercepted Letter of 1906
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+"Fabianism and the Empire": 1900-1
+
+    The Library and Book Boxes--Parish Councils--The Workmen's
+    Compensation Act--The Hutchinson Trust--The London School of
+    Economics--Educational Lectures--Electoral Policy--The controversy
+    over the South African War--The publication of "Fabianism and the
+    Empire"
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+Education: 1902-5, and the Labour Party: 1900-15
+
+    Housing--"The Education muddle and the way out"--Supporting the
+    Conservatives--The Education Acts of 1902 and 1903--Feeding School
+    Children--The Labour Representation Committee formed--The Fabian
+    Election Fund--Will Crooks elected in 1910--A Fabian Cabinet
+    Minister--Resignation of Graham Wallas--The younger generation: H.W.
+    Macrosty, J.F. Oakeshott, John W. Martin--Municipal Drink
+    Trade--Tariff Reform--The Decline of the Birth-rate
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+The Episode of Mr. Wells: 1906-8
+
+    His lecture on administrative areas--"Faults of the Fabian"--The
+    Enquiry Committee--The Report, and the Reply--The real issue, Wells
+    _v_. Shaw--The women intervene--The Basis altered--The new
+    Executive--Mr. Wells withdraws--His work for Socialism--The writing
+    of Fabian Tracts
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+The Policy of Expansion: 1907-12
+
+    Statistics of growth--The psychology of the Recruit--Famous
+    Fabians--The Arts Group--The Nursery--The Women's Group--Provincial
+    Fabian Societies--University Fabian Societies--London Groups
+    revived--Annual Conferences--The Summer School--The story of
+    "Socialist Unity"--The Local Government Information Bureau--The
+    Joint Standing Committee--Intervention of the International
+    Socialist Bureau
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+The Minority Report, Syndicalism and Research:
+1909-15
+
+    The emergence of Mrs. Sidney Webb--The Poor Law Commission--The
+    Minority Report--Unemployment--The National Committee for the
+    Prevention of Destitution--"Vote against the House of
+    Lords"--Bernard Shaw retires--Death of Hubert Bland--Opposition to
+    the National Insurance Bill--The Fabian Reform Committee--The "New
+    Statesman"--The Research Department--"The Rural Problem"--"The
+    Control of Industry"--Syndicalism--The Guildsmen--Final
+    Statistics--The War
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+The Lessons of Thirty Years
+
+    Breaking the spell of Marxism--A French verdict--Origin of
+    Revisionism in Germany--The British School of Socialism--Mr. Ernest
+    Barker's summary--Mill _versus_ Marx--The Fabian Method--Making
+    Socialists or making Socialism--The life of propagandist
+    societies--The prospects of Socialist Unity--The future of Fabian
+    ideas--The test of Fabian success
+
+
+Appendix I
+
+A. On the History of Fabian Economics. By Bernard Shaw
+
+B. On Guild Socialism. By Bernard Shaw
+
+
+Appendix II
+
+The Basis of the Fabian Society
+
+
+Appendix III
+
+List of the names and the years of office of the ninety-six
+members of the Executive Committee, 1884-1915
+
+
+Appendix IV
+
+Complete List of Fabian publications, 1884-1915, with
+names of authors
+
+Index
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations
+
+_Frontispiece, from a drawing by Miss Bertha Newcombe in 1895_
+
+The Seven Essayists
+
+
+Mrs. Annie Besant,     _From a photograph_
+
+Hubert Bland,          _From a photograph_
+
+William Clarke         _From a photograph_
+
+(Sir) Sydney Olivier,  _From a photograph_
+
+G. Bernard Shaw,       _From a photograph_
+
+Graham Wallas,         _From a photograph_
+
+Sidney Webb,           _From a drawing_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Edward R. Pease,       _From a photograph_
+
+Frank Podmore,         _From a photograph_
+
+Mrs. Sidney Webb,      _From a photograph_
+
+H.G. Wells,            _From a photograph_
+
+
+
+
+The History of the Fabian Society
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Sources of Fabian Socialism
+
+   The ideas of the early eighties--The epoch of Evolution--Sources of
+   Fabian ideas--Positivism--Henry George--John Stuart Mill--Robert
+   Owen--Karl Marx--The Democratic Federation--"The Christian
+   Socialist"--Thomas Davidson.
+
+
+"Britain as a whole never was more tranquil and happy," said the
+"Spectator," then the organ of sedate Liberalism and enlightened
+Progress, in the summer of 1882. "No class is at war with society or the
+government: there is no disaffection anywhere, the Treasury is fairly
+full, the accumulations of capital are vast"; and then the writer goes
+on to compare Great Britain with Ireland, at that time under the iron
+heel of coercion, with Parnell and hundreds of his followers in jail,
+whilst outrages and murders, like those of Maamtrasma, were almost
+everyday occurrences.
+
+Some of the problems of the early eighties are with us yet. Ireland is
+still a bone of contention between political parties: the Channel tunnel
+is no nearer completion: and then as now, when other topics are
+exhausted, the "Spectator" can fill up its columns with Thought
+Transference and Psychical Research.
+
+But other problems which then were vital, are now almost forgotten.
+Electric lighting was a doubtful novelty: Mr. Bradlaugh's refusal to
+take the oath excited a controversy which now seems incredible. Robert
+Louis Stevenson can no longer be adequately described as an
+"accomplished writer," and the introduction of female clerks into the
+postal service by Mr. Fawcett has ceased to raise alarm lest the
+courteous practice of always allowing ladies to be victors in an
+argument should perforce be abandoned.
+
+But in September of the same year we find a cloud on the horizon, the
+prelude of a coming storm. The Trade Union Congress had just been held
+and the leaders of the working classes, with apparently but little
+discussion, had passed a resolution asking the Government to institute
+an enquiry with a view to relaxing the stringency of Poor Law
+administration. This, said the "Spectator," is beginning "to tamper with
+natural conditions," "There is no logical halting-place between the
+theory that it is the duty of the State to make the poor comfortable,
+and socialism."
+
+Another factor in the thought of those days attracted but little
+attention in the Press, though there is a long article in the
+"Spectator" at the beginning of 1882 on "the ever-increasing wonder" of
+that strange faith, "Positivism." It is difficult for the present
+generation to realise how large a space in the minds of the young men of
+the eighties was occupied by the religion invented by Auguste Comte. Of
+this however more must be said on a later page.
+
+But perhaps the most significant feature in the periodical literature of
+the time is what it omits. April, 1882, is memorable for the death of
+Charles Darwin, incomparably the greatest of nineteenth-century
+Englishmen, if greatness be measured by the effects of his work on the
+thought of the world. The "Spectator" printed a secondary article which
+showed some appreciation of the event. But in the monthly reviews it
+passed practically unnoticed. It is true that Darwin was buried in
+Westminster Abbey, but even in 1882, twenty-three years after the
+publication of the "Origin of Species," evolution was regarded as a
+somewhat dubious theorem which respectable people were wise to ignore.
+
+In the monthly reviews we find the same odd mixture of articles apposite
+to present problems, and articles utterly out of date. The organisation
+of agriculture is a perennial, and Lady Verney's "Peasant Proprietorship
+in France" ("Contemporary," January, 1882), Mr. John Rae's "Co-operative
+Agriculture in Germany" ("Contemporary," March, 1882), and Professor
+Sedley Taylor's "Profit-Sharing in Agriculture" ("Nineteenth Century,"
+October, 1882) show that change in the methods of exploiting the soil is
+leaden-footed and lagging.
+
+Problems of another class, centring round "the Family," present much the
+same aspect now as they did thirty years ago. In his "Infant Mortality
+and Married Women in Factories," Professor Stanley Jevons
+("Contemporary," January, 1882) proposes that mothers of children under
+three years of age should be excluded from factories, and we are at
+present perhaps even farther from general agreement whether any measure
+on these lines ought to be adopted.
+
+But when we read the articles on Socialism--more numerous than might be
+expected at that early date--we are in another world. Mr. Samuel Smith,
+M.P., writing on "Social Reform" in the "Nineteenth Century" for May,
+1883, says that: "Our country is still comparatively free from
+Communism and Nihilism and similar destructive movements, but who can
+tell how long this will continue? We have a festering mass of human
+wretchedness in all our great towns, which is the natural hotbed of such
+anarchical movements: all the great continental countries are full of
+this explosive material. Can we depend on our country keeping free from
+the infection when we have far more poverty in our midst than the
+neighbouring European States?" Emigration and temperance reform, he
+thinks, may avert the danger.
+
+The Rev. Samuel (later Canon) Barnett in the same review a month earlier
+advocated Free Libraries and graduated taxation to pay for free
+education, under the title of "Practicable Socialism." In April, 1883,
+Emile de Lavelaye described with alarm the "Progress of Socialism." "On
+the Continent," he wrote, "Socialism is said to be everywhere." To it he
+attributed with remarkable inaccuracy, the agrarian movement in Ireland,
+and with it he connected the fact that Henry George's new book,
+"Progress and Poverty," was selling by thousands "in an ultra popular
+form" in the back streets and alleys of England. And then he goes on to
+allude to Prince Bismarck's "abominable proposition to create a fund for
+pensioning invalid workmen by a monopoly of tobacco"!
+
+Thirty years ago politics were only intermittently concerned with social
+problems. On the whole the view prevailed, at any rate amongst the
+leaders, that Government should interfere in such matters as little as
+possible. Pauperism was still to be stamped out by ruthless deterrence:
+education had been only recently and reluctantly taken in hand: factory
+inspection alone was an accepted State function. Lord Beaconsfield was
+dead and he had forgotten his zeal for social justice long before he
+attained power. Gladstone, then in the zenith of his fame, never took
+any real interest in social questions as we now understand them. Lord
+Salisbury was an aristocrat and thought as an aristocrat. John Bright
+viewed industrial life from the standpoint of a Lancashire mill-owner.
+William Edward Forster, the creator of national education, a Chartist in
+his youth, had become the gaoler of Parnell and the protagonist of
+coercion in Ireland. Joseph Chamberlain alone seemed to realise the
+significance of the social problem, and unhappily political events were
+soon to deflect his career from what then seemed to be its appointed
+course.
+
+The political parties therefore offered very little attraction to the
+young men of the early eighties, who, viewing our social system with the
+fresh eyes of youth, saw its cruelties and its absurdities and judged
+them, not as older men, by comparison with the worse cruelties and
+greater absurdities of earlier days, but by the standard of common
+fairness and common sense, as set out in the lessons they had learned in
+their schools, their universities, and their churches.
+
+It is nowadays not easy to recollect how wide was the intellectual gulf
+which separated the young generation of that period from their parents.
+"The Origin of Species," published in 1859, inaugurated an intellectual
+revolution such as the world had not known since Luther nailed his
+Theses to the door of All Saints' Church at Wittenberg. The older folk
+as a rule refused to accept or to consider the new doctrine. I recollect
+a botanical Fellow of the Royal Society who, in 1875, told me that he
+had no opinions on Darwin's hypothesis. The young men of the time I am
+describing grew up with the new ideas and accepted them as a matter of
+course. Herbert Spencer, then deemed the greatest of English thinkers,
+was pointing out in portentous phraseology the enormous significance of
+Evolution. Professor Huxley, in brilliant essays, was turning to
+ridicule the simple-minded credulity of Gladstone and his
+contemporaries. Our parents, who read neither Spencer nor Huxley, lived
+in an intellectual world which bore no relation to our own; and cut
+adrift as we were from the intellectual moorings of our upbringings,
+recognising, as we did, that the older men were useless as guides in
+religion, in science, in philosophy because they knew not evolution, we
+also felt instinctively that we could accept nothing on trust from those
+who still believed that the early chapters of Genesis accurately
+described the origin of the universe, and that we had to discover
+somewhere for ourselves what were the true principles of the then
+recently invented science of sociology.
+
+One man there was who professed to offer us an answer, Auguste Comte. He
+too was pre-Darwinian, but his philosophy accepted science, future as
+well as past. John Stuart Mill, whose word on his own subjects was then
+almost law, wrote of him with respectful admiration. His followers were
+known to number amongst them some of the ablest thinkers of the day. The
+"Religion of Humanity" offered solutions for all the problems that faced
+us. It suggested a new heaven, of a sort, and it proposed a new earth,
+free from all the inequalities of wealth, the preventable suffering, the
+reckless waste of effort, which we saw around us. At any rate, it was
+worth examination; and most of the free-thinking men of that period read
+the "Positive Polity" and the other writings of the founder, and spent
+some Sunday mornings at the little conventicle in Lamb's Conduit Street,
+or attended on Sunday evenings the Newton Hall lectures of Frederic
+Harrison.
+
+Few could long endure the absurdities of a made-up theology and a
+make-believe religion: and the Utopia designed by Comte was as
+impracticable and unattractive as Utopias generally are. But the
+critical and destructive part of the case was sound enough. Here was a
+man who challenged the existing order of society and pronounced it
+wrong. It was in his view based on conventions, on superstitions, on
+regulations which were all out of date; society should be reorganised in
+the light of pure reason; the anarchy of competition must be brought to
+an end; mankind should recognise that order, good sense, science, and,
+he added, religion freed from superstition, could turn the world into a
+place where all might live together in comfort and happiness.
+
+Positivism proposed to attain its Utopia by moralising the capitalists,
+and herein it showed no advance on Christianity, which for nineteen
+centuries had in vain preached social obligation to the rich. The new
+creed could not succeed where the old, with all its tremendous
+sanctions, had completely failed. We wanted something fresh, some new
+method of dealing with the inequalities of wealth.
+
+Emile de Lavelaye was quite correct in attributing significance to the
+publication of "Progress and Poverty," though the seed sown by Henry
+George took root, not in the slums and alleys of our cities--no
+intellectual seed of any sort can germinate in the sickly, sunless
+atmosphere of slums--but in the minds of people who had sufficient
+leisure and education to think of other things than breadwinning. Henry
+George proposed to abolish poverty by political action: that was the new
+gospel which came from San Francisco in the early eighties. "Progress
+and Poverty" was published in America in 1879, and its author visited
+England at the end of 1881. Socialism hardly existed at that time in
+English-speaking countries, but the early advocates of land taxation
+were not then, as they usually are now, uncompromising individualists.
+"Progress and Poverty" gave an extraordinary impetus to the political
+thought of the time. It proposed to redress the wrongs suffered by the
+working classes as a whole: the poverty it considered was the poverty of
+the wage workers as a class, not the destitution of the unfortunate and
+downtrodden individuals. It did not merely propose, like philanthropy
+and the Poor Law, to relieve the acute suffering of the outcasts of
+civilisation, those condemned to wretchedness by the incapacity, the
+vice, the folly, or the sheer misfortune of themselves or their
+relations. It suggested a method by which wealth would correspond
+approximately with worth; by which the reward of labour would go to
+those that laboured; the idleness alike of rich and poor would cease;
+the abundant wealth created by modern industry would be distributed with
+something like fairness and even equality, amongst those who contributed
+to its production. Above all, this tremendous revolution was to be
+accomplished by a political method, applicable by a majority of the
+voters, and capable of being drafted as an Act of Parliament by any
+competent lawyer.
+
+To George belongs the extraordinary merit of recognising the right way
+of social salvation. The Socialists of earlier days had proposed
+segregated communities; the Co-operators had tried voluntary
+associations; the Positivists advocated moral suasion; the Chartists
+favoured force, physical or political; the Marxists talked revolution
+and remembered the Paris Commune. George wrote in a land where the
+people ruled themselves, not only in fact but also in name. The United
+States in the seventies was not yet dominated by trusts and controlled
+by millionaires. Indeed even now that domination and control, dangerous
+and disastrous as it often is, could not withstand for a moment any
+widespread uprising of the popular will. Anyway, George recognised that
+in the Western States political institutions could be moulded to suit
+the will of the electorate; he believed that the majority desired to
+seek their own well-being and this could not fail to be also the
+well-being of the community as a whole. From Henry George I think it may
+be taken that the early Fabians learned to associate the new gospel with
+the old political method.
+
+But when we came to consider the plan proposed by George we quickly saw
+that it would not carry us far. Land may be the source of all wealth to
+the mind of a settler in a new country. To those whose working day was
+passed in Threadneedle Street and Lombard Street, on the floor of the
+Stock Exchange, and in the Bank of England, land appears to bear no
+relation at all to wealth, and the allegation that the whole surplus of
+production goes automatically to the landowners is obviously untrue.
+George's political economy was old-fashioned or absurd; and his solution
+of the problem of poverty could not withstand the simplest criticism.
+Taxation to extinction of the rent of English land would only affect a
+small fraction of England's wealth.
+
+There was another remedy in the field. Socialism was talked about in the
+reviews: some of us knew that an obscure Socialist movement was stirring
+into life in London. And above all John Stuart Mill had spoken very
+respectfully of Socialism in his "Political Economy," which then held
+unchallenged supremacy as an exposition of the science. If, he wrote,
+"the choice were to be made between Communism[1] with all its chances,
+and the present state of society with all its sufferings and injustices,
+if the institution of private property necessarily carried with it as a
+consequence that the produce of labour should be apportioned as we now
+see it almost in inverse proportion to labour, the largest portions to
+those who have never worked at all, the next largest to those whose work
+is almost nominal, and so in descending scale, the remuneration
+dwindling as the work grows harder and more disagreeable until the most
+fatiguing and exhausting bodily labour cannot count with certainty on
+being able to earn even the necessities of life; if this or Communism
+were the alternative, all the difficulties, great or small, of Communism
+would be but as dust in the balance."[2] And again in the next
+paragraph: "We are too ignorant, either of what individual agency in its
+best form or Socialism in its best form can accomplish, to be qualified
+to decide which of the two will be the ultimate form of human society."
+
+More than thirty years had passed since this had been written, and
+whilst the evils of private property, so vividly depicted by Mill,
+showed no signs of mitigation, the remedies he anticipated had made no
+substantial progress. The co-operation of the Rochdale Pioneers had
+proved a magnificent success, but its sphere of operations was now
+clearly seen to be confined within narrow limits. Profit-sharing then as
+now was a sickly plant barely kept alive by the laborious efforts of
+benevolent professors. Mill's indictment of the capitalist system, in
+regard to its effects on social life, was so powerful, his treatment of
+the primitive socialism and communism of his day so sympathetic, that it
+is surprising how little it prepared the way for the reception of the
+new ideas. But to some of his readers, at any rate, it suggested that
+there was an alternative to the capitalistic system, and that Socialism
+or Communism was worthy of examination.[3]
+
+The Socialism of Robert Owen had made a profound impression on the
+working people of England half a century earlier, but the tradition of
+it was confined to those who had heard its prophet. Owen, one of the
+greatest men of his age, had no sense of art; his innumerable writings
+are unreadable; and both his later excursions into spiritualism, and the
+failure of his communities and co-operative enterprises, had clouded his
+reputation amongst those outside the range of his personality. In later
+years we often came across old men who had sat at his feet, and who
+rejoiced to hear once more something resembling his teachings: but I do
+not think that, at the beginning, the Owenite tradition had any
+influence upon us.
+
+Karl Marx died in London on the 14th March, 1883, but nobody in England
+was then aware that the greatest figure in international politics had
+passed away. It is true that Marx had taken a prominent part in founding
+the International at that historic meeting in St. Martin's Town Hall on
+September 28th, 1864. The real significance of that episode was
+over-rated at the time, and when the International disappeared from
+European politics in 1872 the whole thing was forgotten.
+
+In Germany Marxian Socialism was already a force, and it was attracting
+attention in England, as we have seen. But the personality of Marx must
+have been antipathetic to the English workmen whom he knew, or else he
+failed to make them understand his ideas: at any rate, his socialism
+fell on deaf ears, and it may be said to have made no lasting impression
+on the leaders of English working-class thought. Though he was resident
+in England for thirty-four years, Marx remained a German to the last.
+His writings were not translated into English at this period, and Mr.
+Hyndman's "England for All," published in 1881, which was the first
+presentation of his ideas in English, did not even mention his name.
+This book was in fact an extremely moderate proposal to remedy
+"something seriously amiss in the conditions of our everyday life," and
+the immediate programme was no more than an eight hours working day,
+free and compulsory education, compulsory construction of working-class
+dwellings, and cheap "transport" for working-class passengers. It was
+the unauthorised programme of the Democratic Federation which had been
+founded by Mr. Hyndman in 1881. "Socialism Made Plain," the social and
+political Manifesto of the Democratic Federation (undated, but
+apparently issued in 1883), is a much stronger document. It deals with
+the distribution of the National Income, giving the workers' share as
+300 out of 1300 millions sterling, and demands that the workers should
+"educate, agitate, organise" in order to get their own. Evidently it
+attracted some attention, since we find that the second edition of a
+pamphlet "Reply" by Samuel Smith, M.P., then a person of substantial
+importance, was issued in January, 1884.
+
+At the end of 1883 Mr. Hyndman published his "Historical Basis of
+Socialism in England," which for some time was the text-book of the
+Democratic Federation, but this, of course, was too late to influence
+the founders of the Fabian Society.
+
+We were however aware of Marx, and I find that my copy of the French
+edition of "Das Kapital" is dated 8th October, 1883; but I do not think
+that any of the original Fabians had read the book or had assimilated
+its ideas at the time the Society was founded.
+
+To some of those who joined the Society in its early days Christian
+Socialism opened the way of salvation. The "Christian Socialist"[4] was
+established by a band of persons some of whom were not Socialist and
+others not Christian. It claimed to be the spiritual child of the
+Christian Socialist movement of 1848-52, which again was Socialist only
+on its critical side, and constructively was merely Co-operative
+Production by voluntary associations of workmen. Under the guidance of
+the Rev. Stewart D. Headlam[5] its policy of the revived movement was
+Land Reform, particularly on the lines of the Single Tax. The
+introductory article boldly claims the name of Socialist, as used by
+Maurice and Kingsley: the July number contains a long article by Henry
+George. In September a formal report is given of the work of the
+Democratic Federation. In November Christianity and Socialism are said
+to be convertible terms, and in January, 1884, the clerical view of
+usury is set forth in an article on the morality of interest. In March
+Mr. H.H. Champion explains "surplus value," and in April we find a
+sympathetic review of the "Historic Basis of Socialism." In April, 1885,
+appears a long and full report of a lecture by Bernard Shaw to the
+Liberal and Social Union. The greater part of the paper is filled with
+Land Nationalisation, Irish affairs--the land agitation in Ireland was
+then at its height--and the propaganda of Henry George: whilst much
+space is devoted to the religious aspect of the social problem. Sydney
+Olivier, before he joined the Fabian Society, was one of the managing
+group, and amongst others concerned in it were the Rev. C.L. Marson and
+the Rev. W.E. Moll. At a later period a Christian Socialist Society was
+formed; but our concern here is with the factors which contributed to
+the Fabian Society at its start, and it is not necessary to touch on
+other periods of the movement.
+
+Thomas Davidson[6] was the occasion rather than the cause of the
+founding of the Fabian Society. His socialism was ethical and individual
+rather than economic and political. He was spiritually a descendant of
+the Utopians of Brook Farm and the Phalanstery, and what he yearned for
+was something in the nature of a community of superior people withdrawn
+from the world because of its wickedness, and showing by example how a
+higher life might be led. Probably his Scotch common sense recoiled from
+definitely taking the plunge: I am not aware that he ever actually
+proposed that his disciples should form a self-contained community. In a
+lecture to the New York Fellowship of the New Life, he said, "I shall
+set out with two assumptions, first, that human life does not consist in
+material possession; and second, that it does consist in free spiritual
+activity, of which in this life at least material possession is an
+essential condition." There is nothing new in this: it is the common
+basis of all religions and ethical systems. But it needs to be
+re-stated for each generation, and so stated as to suit each
+environment. At the time that I am describing Davidson's re-statement
+appealed to the small circle of his adherents, though the movement which
+he started had results that he neither expected nor approved.
+
+I have now indicated the currents of thought which contributed to the
+formation of the Fabian Society, so far as I can recover them from
+memory and a survey of the periodical literature of the period. I have
+not included the writings of Ruskin, Socialist in outlook as some of
+them undoubtedly are, because I think that the value of his social
+teachings was concealed from most of us at that time by reaction against
+his religious mediaevalism, and indifference to his gospel of art. Books
+so eminently adapted for young ladies at mid-Victorian schools did not
+appeal to modernists educated by Comte and Spencer.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] The words Communism and Socialism were interchangeable at that
+period, e.g. the "Manifesto of the Communist Party," by Karl Marx and
+Frederick Engels, 1848.
+
+[2] "Political Economy," Book II, Chap. i, Sec. 3.
+
+[3] William Morris attributed to Mill his conversion to Socialism. See
+J.W. Mackail's "Life," Vol. II, p. 79.
+
+[4] No. 1, June, 1883, monthly, 1d.; continued until 1891.
+
+[5] Born 1847. Founded the Guild of St. Matthew 1877 and edited its
+organ, the "Church Reformer," till 1895. Member of the English Land
+Restoration League, originally the Land Reform Union, from 1883. Member
+of the London School Board 1888-1904; of the London County Council since
+1907.
+
+[6] See "Memorials of Thomas Davidson: the wandering scholar." Edited by
+William Knight. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1907. Thomas Davidson was born
+in Aberdeenshire in 1840 of a peasant family; after a brilliant career
+at Aberdeen University he settled in America, but travelled much in
+Europe. His magnetic personality inspired attachment and admiration in
+all he came across. He lectured and wrote incessantly, founded Ethical
+Societies and Schools, and published several volumes on philosophical
+subjects, but his achievements were scarcely commensurate with his
+abilities. He died in 1900.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+The Foundations of the Society: 1883-4
+
+   Frank Podmore and Ghost-hunting--Thomas Davidson and his circle--The
+   preliminary meetings--The Fellowship of the New Life--Formation of
+   the Society--The career of the New Fellowship.
+
+
+In the autumn of 1883 Thomas Davidson paid a short visit to London and
+held several little meetings of young people, to whom he expounded his
+ideas of a Vita Nuova, a Fellowship of the New Life. I attended the last
+of these meetings held in a bare room somewhere in Chelsea, on the
+invitation of Frank Podmore,[7] whose acquaintance I had made a short
+time previously. We had become friends through a common interest first
+in Spiritualism and subsequently in Psychical Research, and it was
+whilst vainly watching for a ghost in a haunted house at Notting
+Hill--the house was unoccupied: we had obtained the key from the agent,
+left the door unlatched, and returned late at night in the foolish hope
+that we might perceive something abnormal--that he first discussed with
+me the teachings of Henry George in "Progress and Poverty," and we found
+a common interest in social as well as psychical progress.
+
+[Illustration: _From a copyright photograph by Fredk. Hollyer, W_.
+
+FRANK PODMORE, ABOUT 1895]
+
+The English organiser or secretary of the still unformed Davidsonian
+Fellowship was Percival Chubb, then a young clerk in the Local
+Government Board, and subsequently a lecturer and head of an Ethical
+Church in New York and St. Louis. Thomas Davidson was about to leave
+London; and the company he had gathered round him, desirous of further
+discussing his suggestions, decided to hold another meeting at my rooms.
+I was at that time a member of the Stock Exchange and lived in lodgings
+furnished by myself.
+
+Here then on October 24th, 1883, was held the first of the fortnightly
+meetings, which have been continued with scarcely a break, through nine
+months of every year, up to the present time. The company that assembled
+consisted in part of the Davidsonian circle and in part of friends of my
+own.
+
+The proceedings at this meeting, recorded in the first minute book of
+the Society in the handwriting of Percival Chubb, were as follows:--
+
+   "THE NEW LIFE"
+
+   "The first general meeting of persons interested in this movement was
+   held at Mr. Pease's rooms, 17 Osnaburgh Street, Regent's Park, on
+   Wednesday the 24th October, 1883. There were present: Miss Ford, Miss
+   Isabella Ford [of Leeds], Mrs. Hinton [widow of James Hinton], Miss
+   Haddon [her sister], Mr., Mrs., and Miss Robins, Maurice Adams, H.H.
+   Champion, Percival A. Chubb, H. Havelock Ellis, J.L. Joynes, Edward
+   R. Pease, Frank Podmore, R.B.P. Frost, and Hamilton Pullen.
+
+   "The proceedings were begun by the reading of Mr. Thomas Davidson's
+   paper 'The New Life,' read by him at a former assemblage, and after
+   it of the Draft of a proposed constitution (Sketch No. 2). [This has
+   not been preserved.]
+
+   "A general discussion followed on the question as to what was
+   possible of achievement in the way of founding a communistic society
+   whose members should lead the new higher life foreshadowed in the
+   paper just read. The idea of founding a community abroad was
+   generally discredited, and it was generally recognised that it would
+   not be possible to establish here in England any independent
+   community. What could be done perhaps would be for a number of
+   persons in sympathy with the main idea to unite for the purpose of
+   common living as far as possible on a communistic basis, realising
+   amongst themselves the higher life and making it a primary care to
+   provide a worthy education for the young. The members would pursue
+   their present callings in the world, but they would always aim to
+   make the community as far as practicable self-contained and
+   self-supporting, combining perhaps to carry on some common business
+   or businesses.
+
+   "It was eventually arranged to further discuss the matter at another
+   meeting which was fixed for a fortnight hence (Wednesday, 7th
+   November). Mr. Podmore consented to ask Miss Owen [afterwards Mrs.
+   Laurence Oliphant] to attend then and narrate the experiences of the
+   New Harmony Community founded by [her grandfather] Robert Owen.
+
+   "It was suggested--and the suggestion was approvingly received--that
+   undoubtedly the first thing to be done was for those present to
+   become thoroughly acquainted with each other. A general introduction
+   of each person to the rest of the company was made and the business
+   of the meeting being concluded conversation followed,"
+
+On November 7th, the second meeting was held, when a number of new
+people attended, including Hubert Bland, who, I think, had been one of
+the original Davidson group. Miss Owen was unable to be present, and a
+draft constitution was discussed.
+
+   "A question was then raised as to the method of conducting the
+   proceedings. The appointment of a chairman was proposed, and Mr.
+   Pease was appointed. It was suggested that resolutions should be
+   passed constituting a society, and, as far as those present were
+   concerned, designating its objects. Some exception was taken to this
+   course as being an undesirable formality not in harmony with the free
+   spirit of the undertaking, but meeting with general approval it was
+   followed.
+
+   "After some discussion ... the following resolution was proposed and
+   agreed to:--
+
+   "That an association be formed whose ultimate aim shall be the
+   reconstruction of Society in accordance with the highest moral
+   possibilities"
+
+A Committee consisting of Messrs. Champion (who was not present), Ellis,
+Jupp, Podmore, and Chubb, and, failing Champion, Pease was appointed to
+draw up and submit proposals, and it was resolved for the future to meet
+on Fridays, a practice which the Society has maintained ever since.
+
+The meeting on November 23rd was attended by thirty-one people, and
+included Miss Dale Owen, William Clarke, and Frederick Keddell, the
+first Secretary of the Fabian Society.
+
+H.H. Champion[8] introduced the proposals of the Committee, including
+the following resolution, which was carried apparently with unanimity:--
+
+   "The members of the Society assert that the Competitive system
+   assures the happiness and comfort of the few at the expense of the
+   suffering of the many and that Society must be reconstituted in such
+   a manner as to secure the general welfare and happiness,"
+
+Then the minutes go on, indicating already a rift in the Society: "As
+the resolution referred rather to the material or economic aims of the
+Society and not to its primary spiritual aim, it was agreed that it
+should stand as No. 3, and that another resolution setting forth the
+spiritual basis of the Fellowship shall be passed which shall stand as
+No. 2."
+
+It proved impossible to formulate then and there the spiritual basis of
+the Society, and after several suggestions had been made a new committee
+was appointed. Resolution No. 1 had already been deferred.
+
+The next meeting was held on December 7th, when only fifteen were
+present. Hubert Bland occupied the chair, and Dr. Burns-Gibson
+introduced a definite plan as follows:--
+
+   "THE FELLOWSHIP OF NEW LIFE
+
+   _Object_.--The cultivation of a perfect character in each and all.
+
+   _Principle_.--The subordination of material things to spiritual.
+
+   _Fellowship_.--The sole and essential condition of fellowship
+   shall be a single-minded, sincere, and strenuous devotion to the
+   object and principle."
+
+Further articles touched on the formation of a community, the
+supplanting of the spirit of competition, the highest education of the
+young, simplicity of living, the importance of manual labour and
+religious communion. Nine names were attached to this project, including
+those of Percival Chubb, Havelock Ellis, and William Clarke, and it was
+announced that a Fellowship would be formed on this basis, whether it
+was accepted or rejected by the majority. These propositions were
+discussed and no decision was arrived at.
+
+Up to this point the minutes are recorded in the writing of Percival
+Chubb. The next entry was made by Frank Podmore, and those after that by
+Frederick Keddell.
+
+We now arrive at the birthday of the Fabian Society, and the minutes of
+that meeting must be copied in full:--
+
+   "Meeting held at 17 Osnaburgh Street, on Friday, 4th January, 1884.
+
+   "Present: Mrs. Robins, Miss Robins, Miss Haddon, Miss C. Haddon,
+   Messrs. J. Hunter Watts, Hughes, Bland, Keddell, Pease, Stapleton,
+   Chubb, Burns-Gibson, Swan, Podmore, Estcourt, etc.
+
+   "Mr. Bland took the chair at 8.10 p.m.
+
+   "After the minutes of the previous meeting had been read and
+   confirmed Dr. Gibson moved the series of resolutions which had been
+   read to the Society at the previous meeting.
+
+   "Mr. Podmore moved as an amendment the series of resolutions, copies
+   of which had been circulated amongst the members a few days
+   previously.
+
+   "The amendment was carried by 10 votes to 4.
+
+   [Presumably the 4 included Burns-Gibson, Chubb, and Estcourt, who
+   signed the defeated resolutions.]
+
+   "Mr. Podmore's proposals were then put forward as substantive
+   resolutions and considered seriatim.
+
+   "Resolution I.--That the Society be called the Fabian Society (as Mr.
+   Podmore explained in allusion to the victorious policy of Fabius
+   Cunctator) was carried by 9 votes to 2.
+
+   "Resolution II.--That the Society shall not at present pledge its
+   members to any more definite basis of agreement than that contained
+   in the resolution of 23rd November, 1883.
+
+   "Carried unanimously.
+
+   "Resolution III.--In place of Mr. Podmore's first proposal it was
+   eventually decided to modify the resolution of 7th November, 1883, by
+   inserting the words 'to help on' between the words 'shall be' and the
+   words 'the reconstruction.'
+
+   "Resolution IV with certain omissions was agreed to unanimously,
+   viz.: That with the view of learning what practical measures to take
+   in this direction the Society should:
+
+   "_(a)_ Hold meetings for discussion, the reading of papers,
+   hearing of reports, etc.
+
+   "_(b)_ Delegate some of its members to attend meetings held on
+   social subjects, debates at Workmen's Clubs, etc., in order that such
+   members may in the first place report to the Society on the
+   proceedings, and in the second place put forward, as occasion serves,
+   the views of the Society.
+
+   "_(c)_ Take measures in other ways, as, for example, by the
+   collection of articles from current literature, to obtain information
+   on all contemporary social movements and social needs.
+
+   "Mr. Bland, Mr. Keddell, and Mr. Podmore were provisionally appointed
+   as an Executive Committee, to serve for three months, on the motion
+   of Mr. Pease. A collection was made to provide funds for past
+   expenses: the sum collected amounting to 13s. 9d."
+
+It appears that Mr. Bland on this occasion acted as treasurer, though
+there is no record of the fact. He was annually re-elected treasurer and
+a member of the Executive Committee until he retired from both positions
+in 1911.
+
+Thus the Society was founded. Although it appeared to be the outcome of
+a division of opinion, this was scarcely in fact the case. All those
+present became members, and the relations between the Fabian Society and
+the Fellowship of the New Life were always of a friendly character,
+though in fact the two bodies had but little in common, and seldom came
+into contact.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A few words may be devoted to the Fellowship of the New Life, which
+continued to exist for fifteen years. Its chief achievement was the
+publication of a quarterly paper called "Seedtime,"[9] issued from July,
+1889, to February, 1898. The paper contains articles on Ethical
+Socialism, the Simple Life, Humanitarianism, the Education of Children,
+and similar subjects. The Society was conducted much on the same lines
+as the Fabian Society: fortnightly lectures were given in London and
+reported in "Seedtime."
+
+In 1893 we find in "Seedtime" an Annual Report recording 12 public
+meetings, 4 social gatherings, a membership of 95, and receipts L73.
+During this year, 1892-3, J. Ramsay Macdonald, subsequently M.P. and
+Secretary and Chairman of the Labour Party, was Honorary Secretary, and
+for some years he was on the Executive. In 1896 the membership was 115
+and the income L48.
+
+The most persistent of the organisers of the New Fellowship was J.F.
+Oakeshott, who was also for many years a member of the Fabian Executive.
+Corrie Grant, later a well-known Liberal M.P., H.S. Salt of the
+Humanitarian League, Edward Carpenter, and his brother Captain
+Carpenter, Herbert Rix, assistant secretary of the Royal Society,
+Havelock Ellis, and, both before and after her marriage, Mrs. Havelock
+Ellis (who was Honorary Secretary for some years), are amongst the names
+which appear in the pages of "Seedtime,"
+
+Mild attempts were made to carry out the Community idea by means of
+associated colonies (e.g. the members residing near each other) and a
+co-operative residence at 49 Doughty Street, Bloomsbury; but close
+association, especially of persons with the strong and independent
+opinions of the average socialist, promotes discord, and against this
+the high ideals of the New Fellowship proved no protection. Indeed it is
+a common experience that the higher the ideal the fiercer the
+hostilities of the idealists.
+
+At Thornton Heath, near Croydon, the Fellowship conducted for some time
+a small printing business, and its concern for the right education for
+the young found expression in a Kindergarten. Later on an Ethical Church
+and a Boys' Guild were established at Croydon.
+
+Soon afterwards the Fellowship came to the conclusion that its work was
+done, the last number of "Seedtime" was published, and in 1898 the
+Society was dissolved.
+
+[Illustration: _From a photograph by G.C. Baresford, S.W._
+
+HUBERT BLAND, IN 1902]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] Frank Podmore, M.A.--b. 1856, ed. Pembroke College, Oxford, 1st
+class in Science, 1st class clerk, G.P.O. Author of "Apparitions and
+Thought Transference," 1894, "Modern Spiritualism," 1902, "The Life of
+Robert Owen," 1906, etc. D. 1910.
+
+[8] Mr. Champion took no further part in the Fabian movement, so far as
+I am aware. His activities in connection with the Social Democratic
+Federation, the "Labour Elector," etc., are not germane to the present
+subject. He has for twenty years resided in Melbourne.
+
+[9] See complete set in the British Library of Political Science, London
+School of Economics.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+The Early Days: 1884-6
+
+   The use of the word Socialism--Approval of the Democratic
+   Federation--Tract No. 1--The Fabian Motto--Bernard Shaw joins--His
+   first Tract--The Industrial Remuneration Conference--Sidney Webb and
+   Sydney Olivier become members--Mrs. Annie Besant--Shaw's second
+   Tract--The Tory Gold controversy--"What Socialism Is"--The Fabian
+   Conference of 1886--Sidney Webb's first contribution, "The Government
+   Organisation of Unemployed Labour."
+
+
+The Fabian Society was founded for the purpose of "reconstructing
+society," based on the competitive system, "in such manner as to secure
+the general welfare and happiness." It is worth noting that the word
+"Socialism" had not yet appeared in its records, and it is not until the
+sixth meeting, held on 21st March, 1884, that the word first appears in
+the minutes, as the title of a paper by Miss Caroline Haddon: "The Two
+Socialisms"; to which is appended a note in the handwriting of Sydney
+Olivier: "This paper is stated to have been devoted to a comparison
+between the Socialism of the Fabian Society and that of the S.D.F." The
+Society, in fact, began its career with that disregard of mere names
+which has always distinguished it. The resolutions already recorded,
+advocating the reconstruction of society on a non-competitive basis with
+the object of remedying the evils of poverty, embody the essence of
+Socialism, and our first publication, Tract No. 1, was so thorough-going
+a statement of Socialism that it has been kept in print ever since. But
+neither in Tract No. 1 nor in Tract No. 2 does the word Socialism occur,
+and it is not till Tract No. 3, published in June, 1885, that we find
+the words "the Fabian Society having in view the advance of Socialism in
+England." At this stage it is clear that the Society was socialist
+without recognising itself as part of a world-wide movement, and it was
+only subsequently that it adopted the word which alone adequately
+expressed its ideas.
+
+At the second meeting, on 25th January, 1884, reports were presented on
+a lecture by Henry George and a Conference of the Democratic Federation
+(later the Social Democratic Federation); the rules were adopted, and
+Mr. J.G. Stapleton read a paper on "Social conditions in England with a
+view to social reconstruction or development." This was the first of the
+long series of Fabian fortnightly lectures which have been continued
+ever since. On February 29th, after a paper on the Democratic
+Federation, Mr. Bland moved: "That whilst not entirely agreeing with the
+statements and phrases used in the pamphlets of the Democratic
+Federation, and in the speeches of Mr. Hyndman, this Society considers
+that the Democratic Federation is doing good and useful work and is
+worthy of sympathy and support." This was carried nem. con. On March 7th
+a pamphlet committee was nominated, and on March 21st the Executive was
+reappointed. On April 4th the Pamphlet Committee reported, and 2000
+copies of "Fabian Tract No. 1" were ordered to be printed.
+
+This four-page leaflet has now remained in print for over thirty years,
+and there is no reason to suppose that the demand for it will soon
+cease. According to tradition, it was drafted by W.L. Phillips, a
+house-painter, at that time the only "genuine working man" in our ranks.
+He had been introduced to me by a Positivist friend, and was in his way
+a remarkable man, ready at any time to talk of his experiences of
+liberating slaves by the "Underground Railway" in the United States. He
+worked with us cordially for several years and then gradually dropped
+out. The original edition of "Why are the many poor?" differs very
+little from that now in circulation. It was revised some years later by
+Bernard Shaw, who cut down the rhetoric and sharpened the phraseology,
+but the substance has not been changed. It is remarkable as containing a
+sneer at Christianity, the only one to be found in the publications of
+the Society. Perhaps this was a rebound from excess of "subordination of
+material things to spiritual things" insisted on by the Fellowship of
+the New Life!
+
+The tract had on its title page two mottoes, the second of which has
+played some part in the Society's history. They were produced, again
+according to tradition, by Frank Podmore, and, though printed as
+quotations, are not to be discovered in any history:--
+
+   "Wherefore it may not be gainsaid that the fruit of this man's long
+   taking of counsel--and (by the many so deemed) untimeous delays--was
+   the safe-holding for all men, his fellow-citizens, of the Common
+   Weal."
+
+   "For the right moment you must wait, as Fabius did most patiently,
+   when warring against Hannibal, though many censured his delays; but
+   when the time comes you must strike hard, as Fabius did, or your
+   waiting will be in vain, and fruitless."
+
+It has been pointed out by Mr. H.G. Wells, and by others before him,
+that Fabius never did strike hard; and many have enquired when the
+right time for the Fabians to strike would come. In fact, we recognised
+at that time that we did not know what were the remedies for the evils
+of society as we saw them and that the right time for striking would not
+come until we knew where to strike. Taken together as the two mottoes
+were first printed, this meaning is obvious. The delay was to be for the
+purpose of "taking counsel."
+
+Tract No. 1, excellent as it is, shows a sense of the evil, but gives no
+indication of the remedy. Its contents are commonplace, and in no sense
+characteristic of the Society. The men who were to make its reputation
+had not yet found it out, and at this stage our chief characteristic was
+a lack of self-confidence unusual amongst revolutionaries. We had with
+considerable courage set out to reconstruct society, and we frankly
+confessed that we did not know how to go about it.
+
+The next meeting to which we need refer took place on May 16th. The
+minutes merely record that Mr. Rowland Estcourt read a paper on "The
+Figures of Mr. Mallock," but a pencil note in the well-known handwriting
+of Bernard Shaw has been subsequently added: "This meeting was made
+memorable by the first appearance of Bernard Shaw."
+
+On September 5th Bernard Shaw was elected a member, and at the following
+meeting on September 19th his first contribution to the literature of
+the Society, Pamphlet No. 2, was read. The influence of his intellectual
+outlook was immediate, and already the era of "highest moral
+possibilities" seems remote. Tract No. 2 was never reprinted and the
+number of copies in existence outside public libraries is small: it is
+therefore worth reproducing in full.
+
+      THE FABIAN SOCIETY
+
+   17 Osnaburgh Street, Regent's Park
+   Fabian Tract No. 2
+
+   A MANIFESTO
+
+   "For always in thine eyes, O liberty,
+   Shines that high light whereby the world is saved;
+   And though thou slay us, we will trust in thee."
+
+   London:
+   George Standring, 8 & 9 Finsbury Street, E.C. 1884.
+
+   A MANIFESTO
+
+   THE FABIANS are associated for spreading the following opinions held
+   by them and discussing their practical consequences.
+
+   That under existing circumstances wealth cannot be enjoyed without
+   dishonour or foregone without misery.
+
+   That it is the duty of each member of the State to provide for his or
+   her wants by his or her own Labour.
+
+   That a life interest in the Land and Capital of the nation is the
+   birthright of every individual born within its confines and that
+   access to this birthright should not depend upon the will of any
+   private person other than the person seeking it.
+
+   That the most striking result of our present system of farming out
+   the national Land and Capital to private persons has been the
+   division of Society into hostile classes, with large appetites and no
+   dinners at one extreme and large dinners and no appetites at the
+   other.
+
+   That the practice of entrusting the Land of the nation to private
+   persons in the hope that they will make the best of it has been
+   discredited by the consistency with which they have made the worst of
+   it; and that Nationalisation of the Land in some form is a public
+   duty.
+
+   That the pretensions of Capitalism to encourage Invention and to
+   distribute its benefits in the fairest way attainable, have been
+   discredited by the experience of the nineteenth century.
+
+   That, under the existing system of leaving the National Industry to
+   organise itself Competition has the effect of rendering adulteration,
+   dishonest dealing and inhumanity compulsory.
+
+   That since Competition amongst producers admittedly secures to the
+   public the most satisfactory products, the State should compete with
+   all its might in every department of production.
+
+   That such restraints upon Free Competition as the penalties for
+   infringing the Postal monopoly, and the withdrawal of workhouse and
+   prison labour from the markets, should be abolished.
+
+   That no branch of Industry should be carried on at a profit by the
+   central administration.
+
+   That the Public Revenue should be levied by a direct Tax; and that
+   the central administration should have no legal power to hold back
+   for the replenishment of the Public Treasury any portion of the
+   proceeds of Industries administered by them.
+
+   That the State should compete with private individuals--especially
+   with parents--in providing happy homes for children, so that every
+   child may have a refuge from the tyranny or neglect of its natural
+   custodians.
+
+   That Men no longer need special political privileges to protect them
+   against Women, and that the sexes should henceforth enjoy equal
+   political rights.
+
+   That no individual should enjoy any Privilege in consideration of
+   services rendered to the State by his or her parents or other
+   relations.
+
+   That the State should secure a liberal education and an equal share
+   in the National Industry to each of its units.
+
+   That the established Government has no more right to call itself the
+   State than the smoke of London has to call itself the weather.
+
+   That we had rather face a Civil War than such another century of
+   suffering as the present one has been.
+
+It would be easy in the light of thirty years' experience to write at
+much length on these propositions. They are, of course, unqualified
+"Shaw." The minutes state that each was discussed and separately
+adopted. Three propositions, the nature of which is not recorded, were
+at a second meeting rejected, while the proposition on heredity was
+drafted and inserted by order of the meeting. I recollect demurring to
+the last proposition, and being assured by the author that it was all
+right since in fact no such alternative would ever be offered!
+
+The persistency of Mr. Shaw's social philosophy is remarkable. His
+latest volume[10] deals with parents and children, the theme he touched
+on in 1884; his social ideal is still a birthright life interest in
+national wealth, and "an equal share in national industry," the latter a
+phrase more suggestive than lucid. On the other hand, he, like the rest
+of us, was then by no means clear as to the distinction between
+Anarchism and Socialism. The old Radical prejudice in favour of direct
+taxation, so that the State may never handle a penny not wrung from the
+reluctant and acutely conscious taxpayer, the doctrinaire objection to
+State monopolies, and the modern view that municipal enterprises had
+better be carried on at cost price, are somewhat inconsistently
+commingled with the advocacy of universal State competition in industry.
+It may further be noticed that we were as yet unconscious of the claims
+and aims of the working people. Our Manifesto covered a wide field, but
+it nowhere touches Co-operation or Trade Unionism, wages or hours of
+labour. We were still playing with abstractions, Land and Capital,
+Industry and Competition, the Individual and the State.
+
+In connection with the first tracts another point may be mentioned. The
+Society has stuck to the format adopted in these early days, and with a
+few special exceptions all its publications have been issued in the same
+style, and with numbers running on consecutively. For all sorts of
+purposes the advantage of this continuity has been great.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On January 2nd, 1885, Bernard Shaw was elected to the Executive
+Committee, and about the same time references to the Industrial
+Remuneration Conference appear in the minutes. This remarkable
+gathering, made possible by a gift of L1000 from Mr. Miller of
+Edinburgh, was summoned to spend three days in discussing the question,
+"Has the increase of products of industry within the last hundred years
+tended most to the benefit of capitalists and employers or to that of
+the working classes, whether artisans, labourers or others? And in what
+relative proportions in any given period?"
+
+The second day was devoted to "Remedies," and the third to the
+question, "Would the more general distribution of capital or land or the
+State management of capital or land promote or impair the production of
+wealth and the welfare of the community?" The Fabian Society appointed
+two delegates, J.G. Stapleton and Hubert Bland, but Bernard Shaw
+apparently took the place of the latter.
+
+It met on January 28th, at the Prince's Hall, Piccadilly. Mr. Arthur J.
+Balfour read a paper in which he made an observation worth recording:
+"As will be readily believed, I am no Socialist, but to compare the work
+of such men as Mr. (Henry) George with that of such men, for instance,
+as Karl Marx, either in respect of its intellectual force, its
+consistency, its command of reasoning in general, or of economic
+reasoning in particular, seems to me absurd."
+
+The Conference was the first occasion in which the Fabian Society
+emerged from its drawing-room obscurity, and the speech of Bernard Shaw
+on the third day was probably the first he delivered before an audience
+of more than local importance. One passage made an impression on his
+friends and probably on the public. "It was," he said, "the desire of
+the President that nothing should be said that might give pain to
+particular classes. He was about to refer to a modern class, the
+burglars, but if there was a burglar present he begged him to believe
+that he cast no reflection upon his profession, and that he was not
+unmindful of his great skill and enterprise: his risks--so much greater
+than those of the most speculative capitalist, extending as they did to
+risk of liberty and life--his abstinence; or finally of the great number
+of people to whom he gave employment, including criminal attorneys,
+policemen, turnkeys, builders of gaols, and it might be the hangman. He
+did not wish to hurt the feelings of shareholders ... or of landlords
+... any more than he wished to pain burglars. He would merely point out
+that all three inflicted on the community an injury of precisely the
+same nature."[11]
+
+It may be added that Mr. Shaw was patted on the back by a subsequent
+speaker, Mr. John Wilson, of the Durham Miners, for many years M.P. for
+Mid-Durham, and by no means an habitual supporter of Socialists.
+
+The stout volume in which the proceedings are published is now but
+seldom referred to, but it is a somewhat significant record of the
+intellectual unrest of the period, an indication that the governing
+classes even at this early date in the history of English Socialism,
+were prepared to consider its claims, and to give its proposals a
+respectful hearing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The early debates in the Society were in the main on things abstract or
+Utopian. Social Reconstruction was a constant theme, Hubert Bland
+outlined "Revolutionary Prospects" in January, 1885, and Bernard Shaw in
+February combated "The proposed Abolition of the Currency."
+
+On March 6th a new departure began: a Committee was appointed to collect
+"facts concerning the working of the Poor Law," with special reference
+to alleged official attempts to disprove "great distress amongst the
+workers." It does not appear that the Report was ever completed.
+
+On March 20th Sidney Webb read a paper on "The Way Out," and on the 1st
+May he was elected a member along with his Colonial Office colleague
+Sydney Olivier. On May 15th is recorded the election of Harold Cox,
+subsequently M.P., and now editor of the "Edinburgh Review."
+
+The Society was now finding its feet. On April 17th it had been
+resolved to send a delegate "to examine into and report upon the South
+Yorkshire Miners"! And on the same day it was determined to get up a
+Soiree. This gathering, held in Gower Street, was memorable because it
+was attended by Mrs. Annie Besant, then notorious as an advocate of
+Atheism and Malthusianism, the heroine of several famous law cases, and
+a friend and colleague of Charles Bradlaugh. Mrs. Besant was elected a
+member a few weeks later, and she completed the list of the seven who
+subsequently wrote "Fabian Essays," with the exception of Graham Wallas,
+who did not join the Society until April, 1886.[12]
+
+But although Sidney Webb had become a Fabian the scientific spirit was
+not yet predominant. Bernard Shaw had, then as now, a strong objection
+to the peasant agriculture of his native land, and he submitted to the
+Society a characteristic leaflet addressed: "To provident Landlords and
+Capitalists, a suggestion and a warning." "The Fabian Society," it says,
+"having in view the advance of Socialism and the threatened subversion
+of the powers hitherto exercised by private proprietors of the national
+land and capital ventures plainly to warn all such proprietors that the
+establishment of Socialism in England means nothing less than the
+compulsion of all members of the upper class, without regard to sex or
+condition, to work for their own living." The tract, which is a very
+brief one, goes on to recommend the proprietary classes to "support all
+undertakings having for their object the parcelling out of waste or
+inferior lands amongst the labouring class" for sundry plausible
+reasons. At the foot of the title page, in the smallest of type, is the
+following: "Note.--Great care should be taken to keep this tract out of
+the hands of radical workmen, Socialist demagogues and the like, as they
+are but too apt to conclude that schemes favourable to landlords cannot
+be permanently advantageous to the working class." This elaborate joke
+was, except for one amendment, adopted as drafted on June 5th, 1885, and
+there is a tradition that it was favourably reviewed by a Conservative
+newspaper!
+
+The Society still met as a rule at 17 Osnaburgh Street, or in the rooms
+of Frank Podmore at 14 Dean's Yard, Westminster, but it was steadily
+growing and new members were elected at every meeting. Although most of
+the members were young men of university education, the Society included
+people of various ages. To us at any rate Mrs. James Hinton, widow of
+Dr. Hinton, and her sisters, Miss Haddon and Miss Caroline Haddon,
+seemed to be at least elderly. Mrs. Robins, her husband (a successful
+architect), and her daughter, who acted as "assistant" honorary
+secretary for the first eighteen months, lent an air of prosperous
+respectability to our earliest meetings. Mr. and Mrs. J. Glode
+Stapleton, who were prominent members for some years, were remarkable
+amongst us because they drove to our meetings in their own brougham! The
+working classes, as before mentioned, had but a single representative.
+Another prominent member at this period was Mrs. Charlotte M. Wilson,
+wife of a stock-broker living in Hampstead, who a short time later
+"simplified" into a cottage at the end of the Heath, called Wildwood
+Farm, now a part of the Garden Suburb Estate, where Fabians for many
+years held the most delightful of their social gatherings. Mrs. Wilson
+was elected to the Executive of five in December, 1884 (Mrs. Wilson, H.
+Bland, E.R. Pease, G. Bernard Shaw and F. Keddell), but after some time
+devoted herself entirely to the Anarchist movement, led by Prince
+Kropotkin, and for some years edited their paper, "Freedom." But she
+remained throughout a member of the Fabian Society, and twenty years
+later she resumed her Fabian activity, as will be related in a later
+chapter.
+
+All this time the Socialist movement in England was coming into public
+notice with startling rapidity. In January, 1884, "Justice, the organ of
+the Democratic Federation," was founded, and in August of that year the
+Federation made the first of its many changes of name, and became the
+Social Democratic Federation or S.D.F. The public then believed, as the
+Socialists also necessarily believed, that Socialism would be so
+attractive to working-class electors that they would follow its banner
+as soon as it was raised, and the candidatures undertaken by the S.D.F.
+at the General Election in November, 1885, produced widespread alarm
+amongst politicians of both parties. The following account of this
+episode from Fabian Tract 41, "The Early History of the Fabian Society,"
+was written by Bernard Shaw in 1892, and describes the events and our
+attitude at the time far more freshly and graphically than anything I
+can write nearly thirty years later.
+
+After explaining why he preferred joining the Fabian Society rather than
+the S.D.F., Mr. Shaw goes on (pp. 4-7):--
+
+   "However, as I have said, in 1885 our differences [from other
+   Socialists] were latent or instinctive; and we denounced the
+   capitalists as thieves at the Industrial Remuneration Conference,
+   and, among ourselves, talked revolution, anarchism, labour notes
+   _versus_ pass-books, and all the rest of it, on the tacit assumption
+   that the object of our campaign, with its watchwords, 'EDUCATE,
+   AGITATE, ORGANIZE,' was to bring about a tremendous smash-up of
+   existing society, to be succeeded by complete Socialism. And this
+   meant that we had no true practical understanding either of existing
+   society or Socialism. Without being quite definitely aware of this,
+   we yet felt it to a certain extent all along; for it was at this
+   period that we contracted the invaluable habit of freely laughing at
+   ourselves which has always distinguished us, and which has saved us
+   from becoming hampered by the gushing enthusiasts who mistake their
+   own emotions for public movements. From the first, such people fled
+   after one glance at us, declaring that we were not serious. Our
+   preference for practical suggestions and criticisms, and our
+   impatience of all general expressions of sympathy with working-class
+   aspirations, not to mention our way of chaffing our opponents in
+   preference to denouncing them as enemies of the human race, repelled
+   from us some warm-hearted and eloquent Socialists, to whom it seemed
+   callous and cynical to be even commonly self-possessed in the
+   presence of the sufferings upon which Socialists make war. But there
+   was far too much equality and personal intimacy among the Fabians to
+   allow of any member presuming to get up and preach at the rest in the
+   fashion which the working-classes still tolerate submissively from
+   their leaders. We knew that a certain sort of oratory was useful for
+   'stoking up' public meetings; but we needed no stoking up, and, when
+   any orator tried the process on us, soon made him understand that he
+   was wasting his time and ours. I, for one, should be very sorry to
+   lower the intellectual standard of the Fabian by making the
+   atmosphere of its public discussions the least bit more congenial to
+   stale declamation than it is at present. If our debates are to be
+   kept wholesome, they cannot be too irreverent or too critical. And
+   the irreverence, which has become traditional with us, comes down
+   from those early days when we often talked such nonsense that we
+   could not help laughing at ourselves.
+
+   "TORY GOLD AT THE 1885 ELECTION.
+
+   "When I add that in 1885 we had only 40 members, you will be able to
+   form a sufficient notion of the Fabian Society in its nonage. In that
+   year there occurred an event which developed the latent differences
+   between ourselves and the Social-Democratic Federation. The
+   Federation said then, as it still says, that its policy is founded on
+   a recognition of the existence of a Class War. How far the fact of
+   the working classes being at war with the proprietary classes
+   justifies them in suspending the observance of the ordinary social
+   obligations in dealing with them was never settled; but at that time
+   we were decidedly less scrupulous than we are now in our ideas on the
+   subject; and we all said freely that as gunpowder destroyed the
+   feudal system, so the capitalist system could not long survive the
+   invention of dynamite. Not that we are dynamitards: indeed the
+   absurdity of the inference shows how innocent we were of any
+   practical acquaintance with explosives; but we thought that the
+   statement about gunpowder and feudalism was historically true, and
+   that it would do the capitalists good to remind them of it. Suddenly,
+   however, the Federation made a very startling practical application
+   of the Class War doctrine. They did not blow anybody up; but in the
+   general election of 1885 they ran two candidates in London--Mr.
+   Williams, in Hampstead, who got 27 votes, and Mr. Fielding, in
+   Kennington, who got 32 votes. And they made no secret of the fact
+   that the expenses of these elections had been paid by one of the
+   established political parties in order to split the vote of the
+   other. From the point of view of the abstract moralist there was
+   nothing to be said against the transaction; since it was evident that
+   Socialist statesmanship must for a long time to come consist largely
+   of taking advantage of the party dissensions between the
+   Unsocialists. It may easily happen to-morrow that the Liberal party
+   may offer to contribute to the expenses of a Fabian candidate in a
+   hopelessly Tory stronghold, in order to substantiate its pretensions
+   to encourage Labour representation. Under such circumstances it is
+   quite possible that we may say to the Fabian in question, Accept by
+   all means; and deliver propagandist addresses all over the place.
+   Suppose that the Liberal party offers to bear part of Mr. Sidney
+   Webb's expenses at the forthcoming County Council election at
+   Deptford, as they undoubtedly will, by means of the usual National
+   Liberal Club subscription, in the case of the poorer Labour
+   candidates. Mr. Webb, as a matter of personal preference for an
+   independence which he is fortunately able to afford, will refuse. But
+   suppose Mr. Webb were not in that fortunate position, as some Labour
+   candidates will not be! It is quite certain that not the smallest
+   odium would attach to the acceptance of a Liberal grant-in-aid. Now
+   the idea that taking Tory money is worse than taking Liberal money is
+   clearly a Liberal party idea and not a Social-Democratic one. In 1885
+   there was not the slightest excuse for regarding the Tory party as
+   any more hostile to Socialism than the Liberal party; and Mr.
+   Hyndman's classical quotation, _'Non olet'_--'It does not smell,'
+   meaning that there is no difference in the flavour of Tory and Whig
+   gold once it comes into the Socialist treasury, was a sufficient
+   retort to the accusations of moral corruption which were levelled at
+   him. But the Tory money job, as it was called, was none the less a
+   huge mistake in tactics. Before it took place, the Federation loomed
+   large in the imagination of the public and the political parties.
+   This is conclusively proved by the fact that the Tories thought that
+   the Socialists could take enough votes from the Liberals to make it
+   worth while to pay the expenses of two Socialist candidates in
+   London. The day after the election everyone knew that the Socialists
+   were an absolutely negligeable quantity there as far as voting power
+   was concerned. They had presented the Tory party with 57 votes, at a
+   cost of about L8 apiece. What was worse, they had shocked London
+   Radicalism, to which Tory money was an utter abomination. It is hard
+   to say which cut the more foolish figure, the Tories who had spent
+   their money for nothing, or the Socialists who had sacrificed their
+   reputation for worse than nothing.
+
+   "The disaster was so obvious that there was an immediate falling off
+   from the Federation, on the one hand of the sane tacticians of the
+   movement, and on the other of those out-and-out Insurrectionists who
+   repudiated political action altogether, and were only too glad to be
+   able to point to a discreditable instance of it. Two resolutions were
+   passed, one by the Socialist League and the other by the Fabian
+   Society. Here is the Fabian resolution:
+
+   "'That the conduct of the Council of the Social-Democratic Federation
+   in accepting money from the Tory party in payment of the election
+   expenses of Socialist candidates is calculated to disgrace the
+   Socialist movement in England,'--4th Dec., 1885."
+
+The result of this resolution, passed by 15 votes to 4, was the first of
+the very few splits which are recorded in the history of the Society.
+Frederick Keddell, the first honorary secretary, resigned and I took his
+place, whilst a few weeks later Sidney Webb was elected to the vacancy
+on the Executive.
+
+In 1886 Socialism was prominently before the public. Unemployment
+reached a height which has never since been touched. Messrs. Hyndman,
+Champion, Burns, and Williams were actually tried for sedition, but
+happily acquitted; and public opinion was justified in regarding
+Socialism rather as destructive and disorderly than as constructive,
+and, as is now often said, even too favourable to repressive
+legislation. In these commotions the Society as a whole took no part,
+and its public activities were limited to a meeting at South Place
+Chapel, on December 18th, 1885, addressed by Mrs. Besant.
+
+In March, 1886, the Executive Committee was increased to seven by the
+addition of Mrs. Besant and Frank Podmore, and in April Tract No. 4,
+"What Socialism Is," was approved for publication. It begins with a
+historical preface, touching on the Wars of the Roses, Tudor
+confiscation of land, the enclosure of commons, the Industrial
+Revolution, and so on. Surplus value and the tendency of wages to a
+minimum are mentioned, and the valuable work of Trade
+Unionism--sometimes regarded by Guild Socialists and others nowadays as
+a recent discovery--is alluded to: indeed the modern syndicalist
+doctrine was anticipated: the workman, it is said, "has been forced to
+sell himself for a mess of pottage and is consequently deprived of the
+guidance of his own life and the direction of his own labour." Socialist
+opinion abroad, it says, "has taken shape in two distinct schools,
+Collectivist and Anarchist. English Socialism is not yet Anarchist or
+Collectivist, not yet definite enough in point of policy to be
+classified. There is a mass of Socialist feeling not yet conscious of
+itself as Socialism. But when the conscious Socialists of England
+discover their position they also will probably fall into two parties: a
+Collectivist party supporting a strong central administration, and a
+counterbalancing Anarchist party defending individual initiative against
+that administration. In some such fashion progress and stability will
+probably be secured under Socialism by the conflict of the uneradicable
+Tory and Whig instincts in human nature."
+
+It will be noticed that even in this period of turmoil the Society was
+altogether constitutional in its outlook; political parties of
+Socialists and Anarchists combining progress with stability were the
+features of the future we foresaw.
+
+By this time the Society was thoroughly aware of its relation to
+international socialism, and the remaining six pages of the tract are
+occupied by expositions of the alternatives above alluded to.
+"Collectivism" is summarised from Bebel's "Woman in the Past, Present,
+and Future," and is a somewhat mechanical scheme of executive committees
+in each local commune or district representing each branch of industry,
+elected by universal suffrage for brief periods of office and paid at
+the rate of ordinary workmen; and of a central Executive Committee
+chosen in like manner or else directly appointed by the local Communal
+Councils. The second part consists of "Anarchism, drawn up by C.M.
+Wilson on behalf of the London Anarchists." This is a statement of
+abstract principles which frankly admits that "Anarchists have no fears
+that in discarding the Collectivist dream of the scientific regulation
+of industry and inventing no formulas for social conditions as yet
+unrealised, they are neglecting the essential for the visionary,"
+
+This tract was never reprinted, and, of course, it attracted no
+attention. It was however the first of the long series of Fabian tracts
+that aimed at supplying information and thus carrying out the original
+object of the Society, the education of its members and the systematic
+study of the reconstruction of the social system.
+
+The spring of 1886 was occupied with arrangements for the Conference,
+which was held at South Place Chapel on June 9th, 10th, and 11th.
+
+Here again a quotation from Bernard Shaw's "Early History of the Fabian
+Society" is the best description available:--
+
+   "THE FABIAN CONFERENCE OF 1886.
+
+   "You will now ask to be told what the Fabians had been doing all this
+   time. Well, I think it must be admitted that we were overlooked in
+   the excitements of the unemployed agitation, which had, moreover,
+   caused the Tory money affair to be forgotten. The Fabians were
+   disgracefully backward in open-air speaking. Up to quite a recent
+   date, Graham Wallas, myself, and Mrs. Besant were the only
+   representative open-air speakers in the Society, whereas the
+   Federation speakers, Burns, Hyndman, Andrew Hall, Tom Mann, Champion,
+   Burrows, with the Socialist Leaguers, were at it constantly. On the
+   whole, the Church Parades and the rest were not in our line; and we
+   were not wanted by the men who were organizing them. Our only
+   contribution to the agitation was a report which we printed in 1886,
+   which recommended experiments in tobacco culture, and even hinted at
+   compulsory military service, as means of absorbing some of the
+   unskilled unemployed, but which went carefully into the practical
+   conditions of relief works. Indeed, we are at present trying to
+   produce a new tract on the subject without finding ourselves able to
+   improve very materially on the old one in this respect. It was drawn
+   up by Bland, Hughes, Podmore, Stapleton, and Webb, and was the first
+   of our publications that contained any solid information. Its tone,
+   however, was moderate and its style somewhat conventional; and the
+   Society was still in so hot a temper on the social question that we
+   refused to adopt it as a regular Fabian tract, and only issued it as
+   a report printed for the information of members. Nevertheless we were
+   coming to our senses rapidly by this time. We signalized our
+   repudiation of political sectarianism in June, 1886, by inviting the
+   Radicals, the Secularists, and anyone else who would come, to a great
+   conference, modelled upon the Industrial Remuneration Conference, and
+   dealing with the Nationalization of Land and Capital. It fully
+   established the fact that we had nothing immediately practical to
+   impart to the Radicals and that they had nothing to impart to us.
+   The proceedings were fully reported for us; but we never had the
+   courage even to read the shorthand writer's report, which still
+   remains in MS. Before I refreshed my memory on the subject the other
+   day, I had a vague notion that the Conference cost a great deal of
+   money; that it did no good whatever; that Mr. Bradlaugh made a
+   speech; that Mrs. Fenwick Miller, who had nothing on earth to do with
+   us, was in the chair during part of the proceedings; and that the
+   most successful paper was by a strange gentleman whom we had taken on
+   trust as a Socialist, but who turned out to be an enthusiast on the
+   subject of building more harbours. I find, however, on looking up the
+   facts, that no less than fifty-three societies sent delegates; that
+   the guarantee fund for expenses was L100; and that the discussions
+   were kept going for three afternoons and three evenings. The
+   Federation boycotted us; but the 'Times' reported us.[13] Eighteen
+   papers were read, two of them by members of Parliament, and most of
+   the rest by well-known people. William Morris and Dr. Aveling read
+   papers as delegates from the Socialist League; the National Secular
+   Society sent Mr. Foote and Mr. [John M.] Robertson,[14] the latter
+   contributing a 'Scheme of Taxation' in which he anticipated much of
+   what was subsequently adopted as the Fabian program; Wordsworth
+   Donisthorpe took the field for Anarchism of the type advocated by the
+   authors of 'A Plea for Liberty'; Stewart Headlam spoke for Christian
+   Socialism and the Guild of St. Matthew; Dr. Pankhurst dealt with the
+   situation from the earlier Radical point of view; and various
+   Socialist papers were read by Mrs. Besant, Sidney Webb, and Edward
+   Carpenter, besides one by Stuart Glennie, who subsequently left us
+   because we fought shy of the Marriage Question when revising our
+   'Basis.' I mention all this in order to show you how much more
+   important this abortive Conference looked than the present one. Yet
+   all that can be said for it is that it made us known to the Radical
+   clubs and proved that we were able to manage a conference in a
+   businesslike way. It also, by the way, showed off our pretty
+   prospectus with the design by Crane at the top, our stylish-looking
+   blood-red invitation cards, and the other little smartnesses on which
+   we then prided ourselves. We used to be plentifully sneered at as
+   fops and arm-chair Socialists for our attention to these details; but
+   I think it was by no means the least of our merits that we always, as
+   far as our means permitted, tried to make our printed documents as
+   handsome as possible, and did our best to destroy the association
+   between revolutionary literature and slovenly printing on paper that
+   is nasty without being cheap. One effect of this was that we were
+   supposed to be much richer than we really were, because we generally
+   got better value and a finer show for our money than the other
+   Socialist societies."[15]
+
+Three members of Parliament, Charles Bradlaugh, William Saunders, and
+Dr. G.B. Clark, took part. The Dr. Pankhurst mentioned was the husband
+of Mrs. Pankhurst, later the leader of the Women's Social and Political
+Union.
+
+The reference in the foregoing passage to the report on "The Government
+Organisation of Unemployed Labour," prepared concurrently with the
+organisation of the Conference, is by no means adequate. The Report
+attracted but little attention at the time, even in the Society itself,
+but it is in fact the first typically Fabian publication, and the first
+in which Sidney Webb took part. Much subsequent experience has convinced
+me that whenever Webb is on a committee it may be assumed in default of
+positive evidence to the contrary that its report is his work. Webb
+however maintains that to the best of his recollection the work was
+shared between Podmore and himself, the simple arrangement being that
+Podmore wrote the first half and Webb the second. The tract is an
+attempt to deal with a pressing social problem on constructive lines. It
+surveys the field, analyses the phenomena presented, and suggests
+practicable remedies. It is however a very cautious document. Webb was
+then old as an economist, and very young as a Socialist; none of the
+rest of the Committee had the knowledge, if they had the will, to stand
+up to him. Therefore we find snippets from the theory of economic
+"balance" which was universally regarded as valid in those days.
+
+"In practice the government obtains its technical skill by attracting
+men from other employers, and its capital in a mobile form by attracting
+it from other possessors. It gets loans on the money market, which is
+thereby rendered more stringent; the rate of interest rises and the
+loans made to other borrowers are diminished,"
+
+But the particular interest of the Report at the present day is the fact
+that it contains the germs of many ideas which more than twenty years
+later formed the leading features of the Minority Report of the Poor Law
+Commission.
+
+At that time it was universally believed that the slum dwellers of
+London were mainly recruited by rural immigrants, and this
+error--disproved several years later by the painstaking statistical
+investigations of Mr. (now Sir) H. Llewelyn Smith--vitiates much of the
+reasoning of the Report.
+
+After analysing the causes of unemployment on lines now familiar to all,
+and denouncing private charity with vehemence worthy of the Charity
+Organisation Society, it recommends the revival of social life in our
+villages in order to keep the country people from crowding into the
+slums. The Dock Companies are urged to organise their casual labour into
+permanently employed brigades: and it is suggested, as in the "Minority
+Report," that "the most really 'remunerative' form of 'relief' works for
+the unemployed would often be a course of instruction in some new trade
+or handicraft" Technical education is strongly recommended; Labour
+Bureaux are advocated; State cultivation of tobacco is suggested as a
+means of employing labour on the land (private cultivation of tobacco
+was until recently prohibited by law), as well as municipal drink
+supply, State railways, and "universal military (home) service" as a
+means of promoting "the growth of social consciousness,"
+
+The Report is unequal. An eloquent but irrelevant passage on the social
+effects of bringing the railway contractor's navvies to a rural village
+was possibly contributed by Hubert Bland, whilst the conclusion, a
+magniloquent eulogy of the moral value of Government service, written,
+according to Webb's recollection, by Frank Podmore, is evidently the
+work of a civil servant who has not got over the untamed enthusiasms of
+youth!
+
+The Report shows immature judgment, but also in parts remarkable
+foresight, and a complete realisation of the right scientific method.
+With State tobacco farms and the public organisation of a corps of
+peripatetic State navvies, the childhood stage of the Fabian Society
+may be said to conclude.
+
+My own connection with the Society also changed. In the spring of 1886 I
+gave up my business on the Stock Exchange and in the summer went to
+Newcastle-on-Tyne, where I lived till the autumn of 1890. My account of
+the Society for the next three years is therefore in the main derived
+from its records. Sydney Olivier succeeded me as "Acting Secretary," but
+for some months I was still nominally the secretary, a fact of much
+significance to my future, since it enabled me if I liked to deal with
+correspondence, and it was through a letter to the secretary of the
+Society, answered by me from Newcastle, that I made the acquaintance of
+the lady who three years later became my wife.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[10] "Misalliance: with a treatise on parents and children," 1914.
+
+[11] Industrial Remuneration Conference. The Report, etc. Cassell, 1885,
+p. 400.
+
+[12] William Clarke had attended some early meetings but dropped out and
+was actually elected to the Society in February, 1886.
+
+[13] Presumably a "Times" reporter was present; but his report was not
+published.
+
+[14] Later M.P. for Tyneside and a member of Mr. Asquith's Government.
+
+[15] Contemporary accounts of the conference can be found in the July
+numbers of "To-day" and "The Republican," the former by Mrs. Besant, and
+the latter, a descriptive criticism, by the Editor and Printer, George
+Standring.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+The Formation of Fabian Policy: 1886-9
+
+   The factors of success; priority of date; the men who made it--The
+   controversy over policy--The Fabian Parliamentary League--"Facts for
+   Socialists"--The adoption of the Basis--The seven Essayists in
+   command--Lord Haldane--The "Essays" as lectures--How to train for
+   Public Life--Fabians on the London School Board--"Facts for
+   Londoners"--Municipal Socialism--"The Eight Hours Bill"
+
+
+The Society was now fully constituted, and for the next three years its
+destiny was controlled by the seven who subsequently wrote "Fabian
+Essays." But it was still a very small and quite obscure body. Mrs.
+Besant, alone of its leaders, was known beyond its circle, and at that
+period few outside the working classes regarded her with respect. The
+Society still met, as a rule, at the house of one or other of the
+members, and to the founders, who numbered about 20, only about 67
+members had been added by June, 1886. The receipts for the year to
+March, 1886, were no More than L35 19s., but as the expenditure only
+amounted to L27 6s. 6d., the Society had already adopted its lifelong
+habit of paying its way punctually, though it must be confessed that a
+complaisant printer and a series of lucky windfalls have contributed to
+that result.
+
+[Illustration: _From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, W._
+
+SYDNEY OLIVIER, IN 1903]
+
+The future success of the Society was dependent in the main on two
+factors then already in existence. The first was its foundation before
+there was any other definitely Socialist body in England. The Social
+Democratic Federation did not adopt that name until August, 1884; the
+Fabian Society can therefore claim technical priority, and consequently
+it has never had to seek acceptance by the rest of the Socialist
+movement. At any later date it would have been impossible for a
+relatively small middle-class society to obtain recognition as an
+acknowledged member of the Socialist confraternity. We were thus in a
+position to welcome the formation of working-class Socialist societies,
+but it is certain that in the early days they would never have welcomed
+us.
+
+Regret has been sometimes expressed, chiefly by foreign observers, that
+the Society has maintained its separate identity. Why, it has been
+asked, did not the middle-class leaders of the Society devote their
+abilities directly to aiding the popular organisations, instead of
+"keeping themselves to themselves" like ultra-respectable suburbans?
+
+If this had been possible I am convinced that the loss would have
+exceeded the gain, but in the early years it was not possible. The
+Social Democrats of those days asserted that unquestioning belief in
+every dogma attributed to Marx was essential to social salvation, and
+that its only way was revolution, by which they meant, not the complete
+transformation of society, but its transformation by means of rifles and
+barricades; they were convinced that a successful repetition of the
+Commune of Paris was the only method by which their policy could
+prevail. The Fabians realised from the first that no such revolution was
+likely to take place, and that constant talk about it was the worst
+possible way to commend Socialism to the British working class. And
+indeed a few years later it was necessary to establish a new
+working-class Socialist Society, the Independent Labour Party, in order
+to get clear both of the tradition of revolutionary violence and of the
+vain repetition of Marxian formulas. If the smaller society had merged
+itself in the popular movement, its criticism, necessary, as it proved
+to be, to the success of Socialism in England, would have been voted
+down, and its critics either silenced or expelled. Of this criticism I
+shall have more to say in another place.[16]
+
+But there was another reason why this course would have been
+impracticable. The Fabians were not suited either by ability,
+temperament, or conditions to be leaders of a popular revolutionary
+party. Mrs. Besant with her gift of splendid oratory and her long
+experience of agitation was an exception, but her connection with the
+movement lasted no more than five years. Of the others Shaw did not and
+does not now possess that unquestioning faith in recognised principles
+which is the stock-in-trade of political leadership:[17] and whilst Webb
+might have been a first-class minister at the head of a department, his
+abilities would have been wasted as a leader in a minority. But there
+was a more practical bar. The Fabians were mostly civil servants or
+clerks in private employ. The methods of agitation congenial to them
+were compatible with their occupations: those of the Social Democrats
+were not. Indeed in those days no question of amalgamation was ever
+mooted.
+
+But it must be remembered by critics that so far as concerns the Fabian
+Society, the absence of identity in organisation has never led to such
+hostility as has been common amongst Continental Socialists. Since the
+vote of censure in relation to the "Tory Gold," the Fabian Society has
+never interfered with the doings of its friendly rivals. The two
+Societies have occasionally co-operated, but as a rule they have
+severally carried on their own work, each recognising the value of many
+of the activities of the other, and on the whole confining mutual
+criticism within reasonable limits.
+
+The second and chief reason for the success of the Society was its good
+fortune in attaching to its service a group of young men, then
+altogether unknown, whose reputation has gradually spread, in two or
+three cases, all over the world, and who have always been in the main
+identified with Fabianism. Very rarely in the history of voluntary
+organisations has a group of such exceptional people come together
+almost accidentally and worked unitedly together for so many years for
+the furtherance of the principles in which they believed. Others have
+assisted according to their abilities and opportunities, but to the
+Fabian Essayists belongs the credit of creating the Fabian Society.
+
+For several years, and those perhaps the most important in the history
+of the Society, the period, in fact, of adolescence, the Society was
+governed by the seven Essayists, and chiefly by four or five of them.
+Mrs. Besant had made her reputation in other fields, and belonged, in a
+sense, to an earlier generation; she was unrivalled as an expositor and
+an agitator, and naturally preferred the work that she did best. William
+Clarke, also, was just a little of an outsider: he attended committees
+irregularly, and although he did what he was persuaded to do with
+remarkable force--he was an admirable lecturer and an efficient
+journalist--he had no initiative. He was solitary in his habits, and in
+his latter years, overshadowed by ill-health, he became almost morose.
+Hubert Bland, again, was always something of a critic. He was a Tory by
+instinct wherever he was not a Socialist, and whilst thoroughly united
+with the others for all purposes of the Society, he lived the rest of
+his life apart. But the other four Essayists, Sidney Webb, Bernard Shaw,
+Graham Wallas, and Sydney Olivier, then and for many years afterwards
+may be said to have worked and thought together in an intellectual
+partnership.[18] Webb and Olivier were colleagues in the Colonial
+Office, and it is said that for some time the Fabian records--they were
+not very bulky--were stored on a table in Downing Street. For many years
+there were probably few evenings of the week and few holidays which two
+or more of them did not spend together.
+
+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.
+
+The Socialist League, founded in 1885 by William Morris, Dr. Edward
+Aveling, and others, as the result of a quarrel, mainly personal, with
+the leaders of the Social Democrats, soon developed its own doctrine,
+and whilst never until near its dissolution definitely anarchist, it was
+always dominated by the artistic and anti-political temperament of
+Morris. Politically the Fabians were closer to the Social Democrats, but
+their hard dogmatism was repellent, whilst Morris had perhaps the most
+sympathetic and attractive personality of his day.
+
+The crisis of the Society's policy is described in the following
+passage from Shaw's "Early History,":--
+
+   "By 1886 we had already found that we were of one mind as to the
+   advisability of setting to work by the ordinary political methods and
+   having done with Anarchism and vague exhortations to Emancipate the
+   Workers. We had several hot debates on the subject with a section of
+   the Socialist League which called itself Anti-State Communist, a name
+   invented by Mr. Joseph Lane of that body. William Morris, who was
+   really a free democrat of the Kropotkin type, backed up Lane, and
+   went for us tooth and nail. Records of our warfare may be found in
+   the volumes of the extinct magazine called 'To-day,' which was then
+   edited by Hubert Bland; and they are by no means bad reading. We soon
+   began to see that at the debates the opposition to us came from
+   members of the Socialist League, who were present only as visitors.
+   The question was, how many followers had our one ascertained
+   Anarchist, Mrs. Wilson, among the silent Fabians. Bland and Mrs.
+   Besant brought this question to an issue on the 17th September, 1886,
+   at a meeting in Anderton's Hotel, by respectively seconding and
+   moving the following resolution:
+
+      "'That it is advisable that Socialists should organize themselves as
+      a political party for the purpose of transferring into the hands of
+      the whole working community full control over the soil and the means
+      of production, as well as over the production and distribution of
+      wealth.'
+
+      "To this a rider was moved by William Morris as follows:
+
+      "'But whereas the first duty of Socialists is to educate the people
+      to understand what their present position is and what their future
+      might be, and to keep the principle of Socialism steadily before
+      them; and whereas no Parliamentary party can exist without compromise
+      and concession, which would hinder that education and obscure those
+      principles, it would be a false step for Socialists to attempt to
+      take part in the Parliamentary contest.'
+
+   "I shall not attempt to describe the debate, in which Morris, Mrs.
+   Wilson, Davis, and Tochatti did battle with Burns, Mrs. Besant, Bland,
+   Shaw, Donald, and Rossiter: that is, with Fabian and S.D.F. combined.
+   Suffice it to say that the minutes of the meeting close with the
+   following significant note by the secretary:
+
+      "'Subsequently to the meeting, the secretary received notice from
+      the manager of Anderton's Hotel that the Society could not be
+      accommodated there for any further meetings.'
+
+   Everybody voted, whether Fabian or not; and Mrs. Besant and Bland
+   carried their resolution by 47 to 19, Morris's rider being subsequently
+   rejected by 40 to 27."
+
+A short contemporary report written by Mrs. Besant was published in
+"To-day" for October, 1886, from which it appears that "Invitations were
+sent out to all Socialist bodies in London," and that the irregularity
+of the proceedings alluded to by Shaw was intentional. The minutes of
+the proceedings treat the meeting as in ordinary course, but it is plain
+from Mrs. Besant's report that it was an informal attempt to clear the
+air in the Socialist movement as well as in the Society itself.
+
+In order to avoid a breach with Mrs. Wilson and her Fabian sympathisers,
+it was resolved to form a Fabian Parliamentary League, which Fabians
+could join or not as they pleased; its constitution, dated February,
+1887, is given in full in Tract No. 41; here it is only necessary to
+quote one passage which describes the policy of the League and of the
+Society, a policy of deliberate possibilism:--
+
+   "The League will take active part in all general and local elections.
+   Until a fitting opportunity arises for putting forward Socialist
+   candidates to form the nucleus of a Socialist party in Parliament, it
+   will confine itself to supporting those candidates who will go
+   furthest in the direction of Socialism. It will not ally itself
+   absolutely with any political party; it will jealously avoid being
+   made use of for party purposes; and it will be guided in its action
+   by the character, record, and pledges of the candidates before the
+   constituencies. In Municipal, School Board, Vestry, and other local
+   elections, the League will, as it finds itself strong enough, run
+   candidates of its own, and by placing trustworthy Socialists on
+   local representative bodies it will endeavour to secure the
+   recognition of the Socialist principle in all the details of local
+   government."
+
+Its history is narrated in the same Tract:--
+
+   "Here you have the first sketch of the Fabian policy of to-day. The
+   Parliamentary League, however, was a short-lived affair. Mrs.
+   Wilson's followers faded away, either by getting converted or leaving
+   us. Indeed, it is a question with us to this day whether they did not
+   owe their existence solely to our own imaginations. Anyhow, it soon
+   became plain that the Society was solidly with the Executive on the
+   subject of political action, and that there was no need for any
+   separate organization at all. The League first faded into a Political
+   Committee of the Society, and then merged silently and painlessly
+   into the general body."
+
+Amongst the lecturers of the autumn of 1886 were H.H. Champion on the
+Unemployed, Mrs. Besant on the Economic Position of Women, Percival
+Chubb, Bernard Shaw on "Socialism and the Family"--a pencil note in the
+minute book in the lecturer's handwriting says, "This was one of Shaw's
+most outrageous performances"--and, in the absence of the Rev. Stopford
+Brooke, another by Shaw on "Why we do not act up to our principles,"
+
+A new Tract was adopted in January, 1887. No. 5, "Facts for Socialists,"
+perhaps the most effective Socialist tract ever published in England. It
+has sold steadily ever since it was issued: every few years it has been
+revised and the figures brought up to date; the edition now on sale,
+published in 1915, is the eleventh. The idea was not new. Statistics of
+the distribution of our national income had been given, as previously
+mentioned, in one of the earliest manifestoes of the Democratic
+Federation. But in Tract 5 the exact facts were rubbed in with copious
+quotations from recognised authorities and illustrated by simple
+diagrams. The full title of the tract was "Facts for Socialists from the
+Political Economists and Statisticians," and the theme of it was to
+prove that every charge made by Socialism against the capitalist system
+could be justified by the writings of the foremost professors of
+economic science. It embodied another Fabian characteristic of
+considerable importance. Other Socialists then, and many Socialists now,
+endeavoured by all means to accentuate their differences from other
+people. Not content with forming societies to advocate their policy,
+they insisted that it was based on a science peculiar to themselves, the
+Marxian analysis of value, and the economic interpretation of history:
+they strove too to dissociate themselves from others by the adoption of
+peculiar modes of address--such as the use of the words "comrade" and
+"fraternal"--and they were so convinced that no good thing could come
+out of the Galilee of capitalism that any countenance of capitalist
+parties or of the capitalist press was deemed an act of treachery.
+
+The Fabians, on the other hand, tended to the view that "we are all
+Socialists now." They held that the pronouncements of economic science
+must be either right or wrong, and in any case science was not a matter
+of party; they endeavoured to show that on their opponents' own
+principles they were logically compelled to be Socialists and must
+necessarily adopt Fabian solutions of social problems.
+
+"Facts for Socialists" was the work of Sidney Webb. No other member
+possessed anything like his knowledge of economics and statistics. It
+is, as its title implies, simply a mass of quotations from standard
+works on Political Economy, strung together in order to prove that the
+bulk of the wealth annually produced goes to a small fraction of the
+community in return either for small services or for none at all, and
+that the poverty of the masses results, not as the individualists argue,
+from deficiencies of individual character, but, as John Stuart Mill had
+declared, from the excessive share of the national dividend that falls
+to the owners of land and capital.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After the settlement, by a compromise in structure, of the conflict
+between the anarchists and the collectivists, the Society entered a
+period of calm, and the Executive issued a circular complaining of the
+apathy of the members. Probably this is the first of the innumerable
+occasions on which it has been said that the Society had passed its
+prime. Moreover, the Executive Committee were blamed for "some habits"
+which had "a discouraging effect" on the rest of the Society, and it was
+resolved, for the first, but not the last time, to appoint a Committee
+to revise the Basis. The Committee consisted of the Executive and eight
+added members, amongst whom may be mentioned Walter Crane, the Rev. S.D.
+Headlam, and Graham Wallas. It is said that after many hours of
+discussion they arrived by compromise at an unanimous report, and that
+their draft was accepted by the Society without amendment. The report
+was presented to a meeting on June 3rd, 1887, of which I, on a visit to
+London, was chairman. It is unfortunate that the record of this meeting,
+at which the existing Basis of the Society was adopted, is the only one,
+in the whole history of the Society, which is incomplete. Possibly the
+colonial policy of the empire was disturbed, and the secretary occupied
+with exceptional official duties. Anyway the minutes were left
+unfinished in June, were continued in October, and were never completed
+or recorded as confirmed. The proceedings relating to the Basis were
+apparently never written. There is no doubt, however, that the Basis was
+adopted on this occasion, it is said, at an adjourned meeting, and in
+spite of many projects of revision it has with one addition--the phrase
+about "equal citizenship of women"--remained the Basis of the Society to
+the present time.[20]
+
+The purpose of the Basis has been often misunderstood. It is not a
+confession of faith, or a statement of the whole content and meaning of
+Socialism. It is merely a test of admission, a minimum basis of
+agreement, acceptance of which is required from those who aspire to
+share in the control of a Society which had set out to reconstruct our
+social system. The most memorable part of the discussion was the
+proposal of Mr. Stuart Glennie to add a clause relating to marriage and
+the family. This was opposed by Mrs. Besant, then regarded as an
+extremist on that subject, and was defeated. In view of the large amount
+of business transacted before the discussion of the Basis began, the
+debate cannot have been prolonged.
+
+It is easy enough, nearly thirty years later, to criticise this
+document, to point out that it is purely economic, and unnecessarily
+rigid: that the phrase about compensation, which has been more discussed
+than any other, is badly worded, and for practical purposes always
+disregarded in the constructive proposals of the Society.[21] The best
+testimony to the merits of the Basis is its survival--its acceptance by
+the continuous stream of new members who have joined the Society--and it
+has survived not because its upholders deemed it perfect, but because
+it has always been found impracticable to put on paper any alternative
+on which even a few could agree. In fact, proposals to re-write the
+Basis have on several occasions been referred to Committees, but none of
+the Committees has ever succeeded in presenting a report.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the end of the year the sole fruit of the Parliamentary League was
+published. It is Tract No. 6, entitled "The True Radical Programme" and
+consists of a declamatory criticism of the official Liberal-Radical
+Programme announced at Nottingham in October, 1887, and a demand to
+replace it by the True Radical Programme, namely, adult (in place of
+manhood) suffrage, payment of Members of Parliament and election
+expenses, taxation of unearned incomes, nationalisation of railways, the
+eight hours day, and a few other items. "The above programme," it says,
+"is sufficient for the present to fill the hands of the True Radical
+Party--the New Labour Party--in a word, the Practical Socialist Party,"
+It is by no means so able and careful a production as the Report on the
+Government Organisation of Unemployed Labour.
+
+In April, 1888, the seven Essayists were elected as the Executive
+Committee, Graham Wallas and William Clarke taking the places of Frank
+Podmore and W.L. Phillips, who retired, and at the same meeting the
+Parliamentary League was turned into the Political Committee of the
+Society; and Tract 7, "Capital and Land," was approved. This tract, the
+work of Sydney Olivier, is a reasoned attack on Single Tax as a panacea,
+and in addition contains an estimate of the total realised wealth of the
+country, just as "Facts for Socialists" does of its income. This, too,
+has been regularly revised and reprinted ever since and commands a
+steady sale. It is now in its seventh edition.
+
+Meanwhile the series of meetings, variously described as Public,
+Ordinary, and Private, was kept on regularly twice a month, with a break
+only of two months from the middle of July. Most of the meetings were
+still held in the houses of members, but as early as November, 1886, an
+ordinary meeting was held at Willis's Rooms, King Street, St. James's,
+at that time an ultra-respectable rendezvous for societies of the most
+select character, keeping up an old-fashioned ceremonial of crimson
+tablecloths, elaborate silver candlesticks, and impressively liveried
+footmen. Having been turned out of Anderton's Hotel, the Society, on the
+application of Olivier, was accepted solemnly at Willis's, probably
+because the managers regarded the mere fact of our venturing to approach
+them as a certificate of high rank in the world of learned societies.
+
+One meeting of this period is perhaps worthy of record. On 16th March,
+1888, Mr. R.B. Haldane, M.P., subsequently Secretary of State for War
+and Lord Chancellor, addressed the Society on "Radical Remedies for
+Economic Evils." In the pages of the "Radical," Vol. II, No. 8, for
+March, 1888, can be found a vivid contemporary account of the
+proceedings from the pen of Mr. George Standring, entitled "Butchered to
+Make a Fabian Holiday." After describing the criticism of the lecture by
+Sidney Webb, Mrs. Besant, and Bernard Shaw the report proceeds:--
+
+"The massacre was concluded by two other members of the Society and then
+the chairman called on Mr. Haldane to reply. Hideous mockery! The
+chairman knew that Haldane was _dead_! He had seen him torn and tossed
+and trampled under foot. Perhaps he expected the ghost of the M.P. to
+rise and conclude the debate with frightful jabberings of fleshless
+jaws and gestures of bony hands. Indeed I heard a rustling of papers as
+if one gathered his notes for a speech; but I felt unable to face the
+grisly horror of a phantom replying to his assassins; so I fled."
+
+It should be added that Mr. Standring did net become a member of the
+Society until five years later.
+
+By the summer of 1888 the leaders of the Society realised that they had
+a message for the world, and they decided that the autumn should be
+devoted to a connected series of lectures on the "Basis and Prospects of
+Socialism" which should subsequently be published.
+
+There is no evidence, however, that the Essayists supposed that they
+were about to make an epoch in the history of Socialism. The meetings in
+the summer had been occupied with lectures by Professor D.G. Ritchie on
+the "Evolution of Society," subsequently published as his well-known
+volume "Darwinism and Politics." Walter Crane on "The Prospects of Art
+under Socialism," Graham Wallas on "The Co-operative Movement," and Miss
+Clementina Black on "Female Labour." At the last-named meeting, on June
+15th, a resolution was moved by H.H. Champion and seconded by Herbert
+Burrows (neither of them members) calling on the public to boycott
+Bryant and May's matches on account of the low wages paid. This marks
+the beginning of the period of Labour Unrest, which culminated in the
+Dock Strike of the following year.
+
+The first meeting of the autumn was held at Willis's Rooms on September
+21st, with the Rev. S.D. Headlam in the chair. The Secretary read a
+statement indicating the scope of the course of the seven lectures
+arranged for the Society's meetings during the autumn, after which the
+first paper, written by Sidney Webb on "The Historical Aspect of the
+Basis of Socialism," was read by Hubert Bland. Webb had at that time
+started for a three months' visit to the United States, in which I
+accompanied him. Mr. Headlam was the chairman throughout the course,
+except on one occasion, and the lectures continued fortnightly to the
+21st December. It does not appear that any special effort was made to
+advertise them. Each lecture was discussed by members of the Society and
+of the S.D.F., and with the exception of the Rev. Philip Wicksteed there
+is no evidence of the presence of any persons outside the movement then
+or subsequently known to fame.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The preparation of "Fabian Essays" for publication occupied nearly a
+year, and before dealing with it we must follow the history of the
+Society during that period.
+
+The first lecture in 1889 was by Edward Carpenter, whose paper,
+"Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure," gives the title to perhaps his best
+known volume of essays. Another interesting lecture was by William
+Morris, entitled "How Shall We Live Then?" and at the Annual Meeting in
+April Sydney Olivier became the first historian of the Society with an
+address on "The Origin and Early History of the Fabian Society," for
+which he made the pencil notes on the minute book already mentioned.
+
+The seven Essayists were re-elected to the Executive, and in the record
+of proceedings at the meeting there is no mention of the proposed volume
+of essays.
+
+It is, however, possible to give some account of the organisation and
+activities for the year ending in March, 1889, since the first printed
+Annual Report covers that period. It is a four-page quarto document,
+only a few copies of which are preserved. Of the Society itself but
+little is recorded--a list of lectures and the bare statement that the
+autumn series were to be published: the fact that 6500 Fabian Tracts had
+been distributed and a second edition of 5000 "Facts for Socialists"
+printed: that 32 members had been elected and 6 had withdrawn--the total
+is not given--and that the deficit in the Society's funds had been
+reduced.
+
+A favourite saying of Sidney Webb's is that the activity of the Fabian
+Society is the sum of the activities of its members. His report as
+Secretary of the work of the "Lecture Committee" states that a lecture
+list with 33 names had been printed, and returns made by 31 lecturers
+recorded 721 lectures during the year. Six courses of lectures on
+Economics accounted for 52 of these. The "Essays" series of lectures was
+redelivered by special request in a room lent by King's College,
+Cambridge, and also at Leicester. Most of the other lectures were given
+at London Radical Working Men's Clubs, then and for some years later a
+much bigger factor in politics than they have been in the twentieth
+century.
+
+But an almost contemporary account of the life of Bernard Shaw, probably
+the most active of the leaders, because the least fettered by his
+occupation, is given in Tract 41 under the heading:
+
+   "HOW TO TRAIN FOR PUBLIC LIFE.
+
+   "We had to study where we could and how we could. I need not repeat
+   the story of the Hampstead Historic Club, founded by a handful of us
+   to read Marx and Proudhon, and afterwards turned into a systematic
+   history class in which each student took his turn at being professor.
+   My own experience may be taken as typical. For some years I attended
+   the Hampstead Historic Club once a fortnight, and spent a night in
+   the alternate weeks at a private circle of economists which has since
+   blossomed into the British Economic Association--a circle where the
+   social question was left out, and the work kept on abstract
+   scientific lines. I made all my acquaintances think me madder than
+   usual by the pertinacity with which I attended debating societies and
+   haunted all sorts of hole-and-corner debates and public meetings and
+   made speeches at them. I was President of the Local Government Board
+   at an amateur Parliament where a Fabian ministry had to put its
+   proposals into black and white in the shape of Parliamentary Bills.
+   Every Sunday I lectured on some subject which I wanted to teach to
+   myself; and it was not until I had come to the point of being able to
+   deliver separate lectures, without notes, on Rent, Interest, Profits,
+   Wages, Toryism, Liberalism, Socialism, Communism, Anarchism,
+   Trade-Unionism, Co-operation, Democracy, the Division of Society into
+   Classes, and the Suitability of Human Nature to Systems of Just
+   Distribution, that I was able to handle Social-Democracy as it must
+   be handled before it can be preached in such a way as to present it
+   to every sort of man from his own particular point of view. In old
+   lecture lists of the Society you will find my name down for twelve
+   different lectures or so. Nowadays I have only one, for which the
+   secretary is good enough to invent four or five different names.
+   Sometimes I am asked for one of the old ones, to my great dismay, as
+   I forget all about them; but I get out of the difficulty by
+   delivering the new one under the old name, which does as well. I do
+   not hesitate to say that all our best lecturers have two or three old
+   lectures at the back of every single point in their best new
+   speeches; and this means that they have spent a certain number of
+   years plodding away at footling little meetings and dull discussions,
+   doggedly placing these before all private engagements, however
+   tempting. A man's Socialistic acquisitiveness must be keen enough to
+   make him actually prefer spending two or three nights a week in
+   speaking and debating, or in picking up social information even in
+   the most dingy and scrappy way, to going to the theatre, or dancing
+   or drinking, or even sweethearting, if he is to become a really
+   competent propagandist--unless, of course, his daily work is of such
+   a nature as to be in itself a training for political life; and that,
+   we know, is the case with very few of us indeed. It is at such
+   lecturing and debating work, and on squalid little committees and
+   ridiculous little delegations to conferences of the three tailors of
+   Tooley Street, with perhaps a deputation to the Mayor thrown in once
+   in a blue moon or so, that the ordinary Fabian workman or clerk must
+   qualify for his future seat on the Town Council, the School Board,
+   or perhaps in the Cabinet. It was in that way that Bradlaugh, for
+   instance, graduated from being a boy evangelist to being one of the
+   most formidable debaters in the House of Commons. And the only
+   opponents who have ever held their own against the Fabians in debate
+   have been men like Mr. Levy or Mr. Foote, who learnt in the same
+   school."
+
+But lecturing was not the only activity of the Fabians. There were at
+that time local Groups, each comprising one or a dozen constituencies in
+London and its suburbs. The Groups in a corporate capacity did little:
+but the members are reported as taking part in local elections, County
+Council, School Board, and Vestry, in the meetings of the London Liberal
+and Radical Union, the National Liberal Federation, the Metropolitan
+Radical Federation, the Women's Liberal Federation, and so on. This was
+the year of the first London County Council Election, when the
+Progressive Party, as it was subsequently named, won an unexpected
+victory, which proved to be both lasting and momentous for the future of
+the Metropolis. The only overt part taken by the Fabian Society was its
+"Questions for Candidates," printed and widely circulated before the
+election, which gave definiteness and point to the vague ideas of
+Progressivism then in the air. A large majority of the successful
+candidates had concurred with this programme. A pamphlet by Sidney Webb,
+entitled "Wanted a Programme," not published but printed privately, was
+widely circulated in time for the meeting of the National Liberal
+Federation at Birmingham, and another by the same author, "The Progress
+of Socialism," stated to be published by "the Hampstead Society for the
+Study of Socialism," is reported as in its second edition. This pamphlet
+was later republished by the Fabian Society as Tract No. 15, "English
+Progress Towards Social Democracy."
+
+Mrs. Besant and the Rev. Stewart Headlam, standing as Progressives,
+were elected to the School Board in November, 1888, when Hubert Bland
+was an unsuccessful candidate.
+
+Finally it may be mentioned that a Universities Committee, with Frank
+Podmore as Secretary for Oxford and G.W. Johnson for Cambridge, had
+begun the "permeation" of the Universities, which has always been an
+important part of the propaganda of the Society.
+
+At the Annual Meeting in April, 1889, the Essayists were re-elected as
+the Executive Committee and Sydney Olivier as Honorary Secretary, but he
+only retained the post till the end of the year. I returned to London in
+October, was promptly invited to resume the work, and took it over in
+January, 1890.
+
+In July another important tract was approved for publication. "Facts for
+Londoners," No. 8 in the series, 55 pages of packed statistics sold for
+6d., was the largest publication the Society had yet attempted. It is,
+as its sub-title states: "an exhaustive collection of statistical and
+other facts relating to the Metropolis, with suggestions for reform on
+Socialist principles." The latter were in no sense concealed: the
+Society still waved the red flag in season and out. "The Socialist
+Programme of immediately practicable reforms for London cannot be wholly
+dissociated from the corresponding Programme for the kingdom." This is
+the opening sentence, and it is followed by a page of explanation of the
+oppression of the workers by the private appropriation of rent and
+interest, and an outline of the proposed reforms, graduated and
+differentiated income tax, increased death duties, extension of the
+Factory Acts, reform of the Poor Law, payment of all public
+representatives, adult suffrage, and several others.
+
+Then the tract settles down to business. London with its County Council
+only a few months old was at length waking to self-consciousness: Mr.
+Charles Booth's "Life and Labour in East London"--subsequently issued as
+the first part of his monumental work--had just been published; it was
+the subject of a Fabian lecture by Sidney Webb on May 17th; and interest
+in the political, economic, and social institutions of the city was
+general. The statistical facts were at that time practically unknown.
+They had to be dug out, one by one, from obscure and often unpublished
+sources, and the work thus done by the Fabian Society led up in later
+years to the admirable and far more voluminous statistical publications
+of the London County Council.
+
+The tract deals with area and population; with rating, land values, and
+housing, with water, trams, and docks, all at that time in the hands of
+private companies, with gas, markets, City Companies, libraries,
+public-houses, cemeteries; and with the local government of London, Poor
+Law Guardians and the poor, the School Board and the schools, the
+Vestries, District Boards, the County Council, and the City Corporation.
+It was the raw material of Municipal Socialism, and from this time forth
+the Society recognised that the municipalisation of monopolies was a
+genuine part of the Socialist programme, that the transfer from private
+exploiters to public management at the start, and ultimately by the
+amortisation of the loans to public ownership, actually was _pro tanto_
+the transfer from private to public ownership of land and capital, as
+demanded by Socialists.
+
+Here, in passing, we may remark that there is a legend, current chiefly
+in the United States, that the wide extension of municipal ownership in
+Great Britain is due to the advocacy of the Fabian Society. This is very
+far from the truth. The great provincial municipalities took over the
+management of their water and gas because they found municipal control
+alike convenient, beneficial to the citizens, and financially
+profitable: Birmingham in the seventies was the Mecca of
+Municipalisation, and in 1882 the Electric Lighting Act passed by Mr.
+Joseph Chamberlain was so careful of the interests of the public, so
+strict in the limitations it put upon the possible profits to the
+investor, that electric lighting was blocked in England for some years,
+and the Act had to be modified in order that capital might be
+attracted.[22]
+
+What the Fabian Society did was to point out that Socialism did not
+necessarily mean the control of all industry by a centralised State;
+that to introduce Socialism did not necessarily require a revolution
+because much of it could be brought about piecemeal by the votes of the
+local electors. And secondly the Society complained that London was
+singularly backward in municipal management: that the wealthiest city in
+the world was handed over to the control of exploiters, who made profits
+from its gas, its water, its docks, and its tramways, whilst elsewhere
+these monopolies were owned and worked by public authorities who
+obtained all the advantages for the people of the localities concerned.
+Moreover, it may be questioned whether the Fabian advocacy of
+municipalisation hastened or retarded that process in London. In
+provincial towns municipalisation--the word of course was unknown--had
+been regarded as of no social or political significance. It was a
+business matter, a local affair, a question of convenience. In London,
+partly owing to Fabian advocacy and partly because London had at last a
+single representative authority with a recognised party system, it
+became the battle ground of the parties: the claim of the Socialists
+awakened the Individualists to opposition: and the tramways of London
+were held as a trench in the world-wide conflict between Socialism and
+its enemies, whose capture was hailed as an omen of progress by one
+side, and by the other deplored as the presage of defeat.
+
+"Facts for Londoners" was the work of Sidney Webb, but there is nothing
+in the tract to indicate this. The publications of the Society were
+collective works, in that every member was expected to assist in them by
+criticism and suggestion. Although several of the tracts were lectures
+or papers written by members for other purposes, and are so described,
+it was not until the issue in November, 1892, of Tract 42, "Christian
+Socialism," by the Rev. S.D. Headlam, that the author's name is printed
+on the title page. The reason for the innovation is obvious: this tract
+was written by a Churchman for Christians, and whilst the Society as a
+whole approved the conclusions, the premises commended themselves to but
+a few. It was therefore necessary that the responsibility of the author
+should be made clear.
+
+The autumn of 1889 is memorable for the great strike of the London
+Dockers, which broke out on August 14th, was led by John Burns, and was
+settled mainly by Cardinal Manning on September 14th. The Fabian Society
+held no meeting between July 19th and September 20th, and there is
+nothing in the minutes or the Annual Report to show that the Society as
+such took any part in the historic conflict. But many of the members as
+individuals lent their aid to the Dockers in their great struggle, which
+once for all put an end to the belief that hopeless disorganisation is a
+necessary characteristic of unskilled labour.[23]
+
+Arising out of the Dock Strike, the special demand of the Socialist
+section of trade unionists for the next four or five years was a legal
+eight hours day, and the Fabian Society now for the first time
+recognised that it could render substantial assistance to the labour
+movement by putting into a practicable shape any reform which was the
+current demand of the day.
+
+At the members' meeting on September 20 a committee was appointed to
+prepare an Eight Hours Bill for introduction into Parliament, and in
+November this was published as Tract No. 9. It consists of a Bill for
+Parliament, drawn up in proper form, with explanatory notes. It provided
+that eight hours should be the maximum working day for Government
+servants, for railway men, and for miners, and that other trades should
+be brought in when a Secretary of State was satisfied that a majority of
+the workers desired it. The tract had a large sale--20,000 had been
+printed in six months--and it was specially useful because, in fact, it
+showed the inherent difficulty of any scheme for universal limitation of
+the hours of labour.
+
+The Eight Hours Day agitation attained larger proportions than any other
+working-class agitation in England since the middle of the nineteenth
+century. For a number of years it was the subject of great annual
+demonstrations in Hyde Park. It commended itself both to the practical
+trade unionists, who had always aimed at a reduction in the hours of
+labour, and to the theoretical socialists, who held that the exploiter's
+profits came from the final hours of the day's work. The Fabian plan of
+"Trade Option" was regarded as too moderate, and demands were made for a
+"Trade Exemption" Bill, that is, a Bill enacting a universal Eight Hours
+Day, with power to any trade to vote its own exclusion. But the more
+the subject was discussed, the more obvious the difficulties became,
+and at last it was recognised that each trade must be dealt with
+separately. Considerable reductions of hours were meantime effected in
+particular industries; an eight-hour day became the rule in the
+Government factories and dockyards; the Board of Trade was empowered to
+insist on the reduction of unduly long hours of duty on railways;
+finally in 1908 the Miners' Eight Hours Act became law; and the demand
+for any general Bill faded away.
+
+The autumn meetings were occupied by a course of lectures at Willis's
+Rooms on "A Century of Social Movements," by Frank Podmore, William
+Clarke, Graham Wallas, Hubert Bland, and Mrs. Besant, and with the
+beginning of the year 1890 we come to the publication of "Fabian
+Essays," and a new chapter in the History of the Society.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[16] On this passage Shaw has written the following criticism, which I
+have not adopted because on the whole I do not agree with it: "I think
+this is wrong, because the Fabians were at first as bellicose as the
+others, and Marx had been under no delusion as to the Commune and did
+not bequeath a tradition of its repetition. Bakunin was as popular a
+prophet as Marx. Many of us--Bland and Keddell among others--were
+members of the S.D.F., and I was constantly speaking for the S.D.F. and
+the League. We did not keep ourselves to ourselves; we aided the working
+class organisations in every possible way; and they were jolly glad to
+have us. In fact the main difference between us was that we worked for
+everybody (permeation) and they worked for their own societies only. The
+real reason that we segregated for purposes of thought and study was
+that the workers could not go our pace or stand our social habits.
+Hyndman and Morris and Helen Taylor and the other bourgeois S.D.F.-ers
+and Leaguers were too old for us; they were between forty and fifty when
+we were between twenty and thirty."
+
+[17] On this passage Shaw comments, beginning with an expletive, and
+proceeding: "I was the only one who had any principles. But surely the
+secret of it is that we didn't really want to be demagogues, having
+other fish to fry, as our subsequent careers proved. Our decision not to
+stand for Parliament in 1892 was the turning point. I was offered some
+seats to contest--possibly Labour ones--but I always replied that they
+ought to put up a bona fide working man. We lacked ambition."
+
+[18] See "The Great Society," by Graham Wallas (Macmillan, 1914), p.
+260.
+
+[19] For a much fuller account of this subject, see Appendix I. A.
+
+[20] See Appendix II.
+
+[21] See Fabian Tract 147, "Capital and Compensation," by Edw. R. Pease.
+
+[22] See "Fabian Essays," p. 51, for the first point, and Fabian Tract
+No. 119 for the second.
+
+[23] See "The Story of the Dockers' Strike," by Vaughan Nash and H. (now
+Sir Hubert) Llewellyn Smith; Fisher Unwin, 1890.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+"Fabian Essays" and the Lancashire Campaign: 1890-3
+
+   "Fabian Essays" published--Astonishing success--A new presentation of
+   Socialism--Reviewed after twenty-five years--Henry Hutchinson--The
+   Lancashire Campaign--Mrs. Besant withdraws--"Fabian News."
+
+
+Volumes of essays by various writers seldom have any durable place in
+the history of thought because as a rule they do not present a connected
+body of ideas, but merely the opinions of a number of people who start
+from incompatible premises and arrive at inconsistent conclusions. A
+book, to be effective, must maintain a thesis, or at any rate must be a
+closely integrated series of propositions, and, as a rule, thinkers
+strong enough to move the world are too independent to pull together in
+a team.
+
+"Fabian Essays," the work of seven writers, all of them far above the
+average in ability, some of them possessing individuality now recognised
+as exceptional, is a book and not a collection of essays. This resulted
+from two causes. The writers had for years known each other intimately
+and shared each other's thoughts; they had hammered out together the
+policy which they announced; and they had moulded each other's opinions
+before they began to write. Secondly the book was planned in advance.
+Its scheme was arranged as a whole, and then the parts were allotted
+to each author, with an agreement as to the ground to be covered and the
+method to be adopted, in view of the harmonious whole which the authors
+had designed. It is not often that circumstances permit of a result so
+happy. "Fabian Essays" does not cover the whole field of Fabian
+doctrine, and in later years schemes were often set on foot for a second
+volume dealing with the application of the principles propounded in the
+first. But these schemes never even began to be successful. With the
+passage of time the seven essayists had drifted apart. Each was working
+at the lines of thought most congenial to himself; they were no longer
+young and unknown men; some of the seven were no longer available.
+Anyway, no second series of Essays ever approached completion.
+
+[Illustration: _From a photograph By Savony of New York_
+
+MRS. ANNE BESANT, IN 1890]
+
+Bernard Shaw was the editor, and those who have worked with him know
+that he does not take lightly his editorial duties. He corrects his own
+writings elaborately and repeatedly, and he does as much for everything
+which comes into his care. The high literary level maintained by the
+Fabian tracts is largely the result of constant scrutiny and amendment,
+chiefly by Sidney Webb and Bernard Shaw, although the tract so corrected
+may be published as the work of some other member.
+
+Although therefore all the authors of "Fabian Essays" were competent,
+and some of them practised writers, it may be assumed that every phrase
+was considered, and every word weighed, by the editor before the book
+went to press.[24]
+
+A circular inviting subscriptions for the book was sent out in the
+spring, and three hundred copies were subscribed in advance.
+Arrangements with a publisher fortunately broke down because he declined
+to have the book printed at a "fair house," and as Mrs. Besant was
+familiar with publishing--she then controlled, or perhaps _was_, the
+Freethought Publishing Company, of 63 Fleet Street--the Committee
+resolved on the bold course of printing and publishing the book
+themselves. A frontispiece was designed by Walter Crane, a cover by Miss
+May Morris, and just before Christmas, 1889, the book was issued to
+subscribers and to the public.
+
+None of us at that time was sufficiently experienced in the business of
+authorship to appreciate the astonishing success of the venture. In a
+month the whole edition of 1000 copies was exhausted. With the exception
+of Mrs. Besant, whose fame was still equivocal, not one of the authors
+had published any book of importance, held any public office, or was
+known to the public beyond the circles of London political agitators.
+The Society they controlled numbered only about 150 members. The subject
+of their volume was far less understood by the public than is
+Syndicalism at the present day. And yet a six-shilling book, published
+at a private dwelling-house and not advertised in the press, or taken
+round by travellers to the trade, sold almost as rapidly as if the
+authors had been Cabinet Ministers.
+
+A second edition of 1000 copies was issued in March, 1890: in September
+Mr. Walter Scott undertook the agency of a new shilling paper edition,
+5000 of which were sold before publication and some 20,000 more within a
+year. In 1908 a sixpenny paper edition with a new preface by the editor
+was issued by Walter Scott, of which 10,000 were disposed of in a few
+months, and in all some 46,000 copies of the book have been sold in
+English editions alone. It is difficult to trace the number of foreign
+editions and translations. The authors made over to the Society all
+their rights in the volume, and permission for translation and for
+publication in the United States has always been freely given. In that
+country we can trace an edition in 1894, published by Charles E. Brown
+of Boston, with an Introduction by Edward Bellamy and a Preface of some
+length on the Fabian Society and its work by William Clarke: and another
+edition in 1909, published by the Ball Publishing Company of Boston,
+also with the Introduction on the Fabian Society. A Dutch translation by
+F.M. Wibaut was published in 1891; in 1806 the Essays, translated into
+Norwegian by Francis Wolff, appeared as a series of small books; and in
+1897 a German translation by Dora Lande was issued by G.H. Wigand of
+Leipzig.
+
+The effect of "Fabian Essays" arose as much from what it left out as
+from what it contained. Only the fast-dwindling band of pioneer
+Socialists, who lived through the movement in its earliest days, can
+fully realise the environment of ideas from which "Fabian Essays" showed
+a way of escape.
+
+The Socialism of the Social Democratic Federation and the Socialist
+League, the two societies which had hitherto represented Socialism to
+the general public, was altogether revolutionary. Socialism was to be
+the result of an outbreak of violence, engineered by a great popular
+organisation like that of the Chartists or the Anti-Corn Law League, and
+the Commune of Paris in 1871 was regarded as a premature attempt which
+pointed the way to future success. The Socialist Government thus
+established was to reconstruct the social and industrial life of the
+nation according to a plan supposed to be outlined by Karl Marx. "On the
+morrow of the revolution" all things would be new, and at a bound the
+nation was expected to reach something very like the millennium.
+
+The case for this project was based, strange to say, not on any history
+but on the Marxian analysis of the origin of the value of commodities,
+and no man who did not understand this analysis, or pretend to
+understand it, was fit to be called a "comrade." The economic reasoning
+which "proved" this "law" was expressed in obscure and technical
+language peculiar to the propagandists of the movement, and every page
+of Socialist writings was studded with the then strange words
+"proletariat" and "bourgeoisie."
+
+Lastly, the whole world, outside the socialist movement, was regarded as
+in a conspiracy of repression. Liberals (all capitalists), Tories (all
+landlords), the Churches (all hypocrites), the rich (all idlers), and
+the organised workers (all sycophants) were treated as if they fully
+understood and admitted the claims of the Socialists, and were
+determined for their own selfish ends to reject them at all costs.
+
+Although the Fabian propaganda had no doubt had some effect, especially
+amongst the working-class Radicals of London, and although some of the
+Socialist writers and speakers, such as William Morris, did not at all
+times present to the public the picture of Socialism just outlined, it
+will not be denied by anybody whose recollections reach back to this
+period that Socialism up to 1890 was generally regarded as
+insurrectionary, dogmatic, Utopian, and almost incomprehensible.
+
+"Fabian Essays" presented the case for Socialism in plain language which
+everybody could understand. It based Socialism, not on the speculations
+of a German philosopher, but on the obvious evolution of society as we
+see it around us. It accepted economic science as taught by the
+accredited British professors; it built up the edifice of Socialism on
+the foundations of our existing political and social institutions: it
+proved that Socialism was but the next step in the development of
+society, rendered inevitable by the changes which followed from the
+industrial revolution of the eighteenth century.
+
+It is interesting after twenty-five years to re-read these essays and to
+observe how far the ideas that inspired them are still valid, and how
+far the prophecies made have been fulfilled.
+
+Bernard Shaw contributed the first Essay on "The Economic Basis of
+Socialism," and also a second, a paper read to the British Association
+in September, 1888, on the "Transition to Social Democracy." His
+characteristic style retains its charm, although the abstract and purely
+deductive economic analysis on which he relied no longer commends itself
+to the modern school of thought. Sidney Webb's "Historic Basis" is as
+readable as ever, except where he quotes at length political programmes
+long forgotten, and recounts the achievements of municipal socialism
+with which we are all now familiar.
+
+William Clarke in explaining the "Industrial Basis" assumed that the
+industry would be rapidly dominated by trusts--then a new
+phenomenon--with results, the crushing out of all other forms of
+industrial organisation, which are but little more evident to-day,
+though we should no longer think worthy of record that the Standard Oil
+Company declared a 10 per cent cash dividend in 1887!
+
+If the Essays had been written in 1890 instead of 1888 the authors would
+have acquired from the great Trade Union upheaval of 1889 a fuller
+appreciation of the importance of Trade Unionism than they possessed at
+the earlier date. Working-class organisation has never been so prominent
+in London as in the industrial counties, and the captious comments on
+the great Co-operative movement show that the authors of the Essays
+were still youthful, and in some matters ignorant.[25]
+
+Sydney Olivier's "Moral Basis" is, in parts, as obscure now as it was at
+first, and there are pages which can have conveyed but little to most of
+its innumerable readers. Graham Wallas treated of "Property" with
+moderation rather than knowledge. Time has dealt hardly with Mrs.
+Besant's contribution. She anticipated, as the other Essayists did, that
+unemployment caused by labour-saving machinery would constantly
+increase; and that State organisation of industries for the unemployed
+would gradually supersede private enterprise. She apparently supposed
+that the county councils all over England, then newly created, were
+similar in character to the London County Council, which had already
+inaugurated the Progressive policy destined in the next few years to do
+much for the advancement of practical socialism. The final paper on "The
+Outlook," by Hubert Bland, is necessarily of the nature of prophecy, and
+in view of the difficulty of this art his attempt is perhaps less
+unsuccessful than might have been expected. He could foresee the advent
+neither of the Labour Party, mainly formed of Trade Unionists, nor of
+Mr. Lloyd George and the policy he represents: he assumed that the rich
+would grow richer and the poor poorer; that Liberals would unite with
+Tories, as they have done in Australia, and would be confronted with a
+Socialist Party representing the dispossessed. Possibly the developments
+he sketches are still to come, but that is a matter which cannot be
+discussed here.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I can find no trace in the records of the Society that the first success
+of their publication occasioned any elation to the Essayists, and I
+cannot recollect any signs of it at the time. The Annual Report mentions
+that a substantial profit was realised on the first edition, and states
+that the authors had made over the copyright, "valued at about L200," to
+the Society; but these details are included in a paragraph headed
+"Publications," and the Essays are not mentioned in the general sketch
+of the work of the year.
+
+In fact the obvious results of the publication took some months to
+materialise, and the number of candidates for election to the Society
+showed little increase during the spring. It is true that great changes
+were made in the organisation of the Society at the Annual Meeting held
+on March 28th, 1890, but these were in part due to other causes. The
+Executive Committee was enlarged to fifteen, and as I happened to be
+available I was appointed paid secretary, half time, at the modest
+salary of L1 a week for the first year. The newly elected Executive
+included the seven Essayists, Robert E. Dell, now Paris correspondent
+for several journals, W.S. De Mattos, for many years afterwards an
+indefatigable organiser for the Society, and now settled in British
+Columbia, the Rev. Stewart D. Headlam, Mrs. L.T. Mallet, then a
+prominent member of the Women's Liberal Association, J.F. Oakeshott, of
+the Fellowship of the New Life, and myself.
+
+The lectures of the early months of 1890 were a somewhat brilliant
+series. Sidney Webb on the Eight Hours Bill; James Rowlands, M.P., on
+the then favourite Liberal nostrum of Leasehold Enfranchisement (which
+the Essayists demolished in a crushing debate); Dr. Bernard Bosanquet on
+"The Antithesis between Individualism and Socialism Philosophically
+Considered"; Mrs. Besant on "Socialism and the School Board Policy"; Mr.
+(now Sir) H. Llewellyn Smith on "The Causes and Effects of Immigration
+from Country to Town," in which he disproved the then universal opinion
+that the unemployed of East London were immigrants from rural districts;
+Sydney Olivier on "Zola"; William Morris on "Gothic Architecture"
+(replacing a lecture on Morris himself by Ernest Radford, who was absent
+through illness); Sergius Stepniak on "Tolstoi, Tchernytchevsky, and the
+Russian School"; Hubert Bland on "Socialist Novels"; and finally on July
+18th Bernard Shaw on "Ibsen." This last may perhaps be regarded as the
+high-water mark in Fabian lectures. The minutes, which rarely stray
+beyond bare facts, record that "the paper was a long one," nearer two
+hours than one, if my memory is accurate, and add: "The meeting was a
+very large one and the lecture was well received." In fact the lecture
+was the bulk of the volume "The Quintessence of Ibsenism," which some
+regard as the finest of Bernard Shaw's works, and it is perhaps
+unnecessary to say that the effect on the packed audience was
+overwhelming. It was "briefly discussed" by a number of speakers, but
+they seemed as out of place as a debate after an oratorio.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On June 16th Henry H. Hutchinson of Derby was elected a member, an event
+of much greater importance than at the time appeared. Mr. Hutchinson had
+been clerk to the Justices of Derby, and when we first knew him had
+retired, and was with his wife living a somewhat wandering life
+accompanied by a daughter, who also joined the Society a few months
+later. He was not rich, but he was generous, and on July 29th it is
+recorded in the minutes of the Executive that he had offered us L100 or
+L200, and approved the suggestion that it should be chiefly used for
+lectures in country centres.
+
+A fortnight later the "Lancashire campaign" was planned. It was
+thoroughly organised. An advanced agent was sent down, and abstracts of
+lectures were prepared and printed to facilitate accurate reports in the
+press. Complete lists of the forthcoming lectures--dates, places,
+subjects, and lecturers--were printed. All the Essayists except Olivier
+took part, and in addition Robert E. Dell, W.S. De Mattos, and the Rev.
+Stewart Headlam. An account of the Society written by Bernard Shaw was
+reprinted from the "Scottish Leader" for September 4th, 1890, for the
+use of the audience and the Press.
+
+A "Report" of the campaign was issued on November 4th, which says:--
+
+"The campaign began on September 20th and ended on October 27th, when
+about sixty lectures in all had been delivered ... not only in
+Lancashire, at Manchester, Liverpool, Rochdale, Oldham, Preston,
+Salford, and the district round Manchester, but also at Barnsley,
+Kendal, Carlisle, Sheffield, and Hebden Bridge.
+
+"In thus making our first attack upon the stronghold of the old Unionism
+and the new Toryism, we would have been contented with a very small
+measure of success, and we are much more than contented with the results
+obtained. The lectures, except for a few days during the contest at
+Eccles, were extremely well reported, and even the 'Manchester Guardian'
+(the 'Daily News' of the manufacturing districts) came out with an
+approving leader. The audiences throughout the campaign steadily
+increased and followed the lectures with close and intelligent
+attention. In particular the members of Liberal working men's clubs
+constantly declared that they had never heard 'the thing put so
+straight' before, and complained that the ordinary party lecturers were
+afraid or unwilling to speak out. Men who frankly confessed that they
+had hesitated before voting for the admission of our lecturers to their
+clubs were enthusiastic in welcoming our message as soon as they heard
+it. The vigorous propaganda in the manufacturing districts of the S.D.F.
+branches has been chiefly carried on by means of outdoor meetings. Its
+effect upon working-class opinion, especially among unskilled labourers,
+has been marked and important, but it has entirely failed to reach the
+working-men politicians who form the rank and file of the Liberal
+Associations and Clubs, or the 'well-dressed' Liberals who vaguely
+desire social reform, but have been encouraged by their leaders to avoid
+all exact thought on the subject."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The lectures were given chiefly in sets of four in consecutive weeks,
+mostly at Liberal and Radical Clubs: others were arranged by
+Co-operative Societies, and by branches of the S.D.F. and the Socialist
+League. The subjects were "Socialism," "Where Liberalism Fails,"
+"Co-operation and Labour," "The Future of Women," "The Eight Hours
+Bill," "The Politics of Labour," and so on. Those arranged by
+Co-operative Societies were, we are told, the least successful, but it
+is hoped "that they will bring about a better feeling between Socialists
+and Co-operators," a state of things which on the side of the Socialists
+was, as we have previously indicated, badly wanted. It should be noted
+that much of the success of the campaign was due to friendly assistance
+from the head-quarters of the Co-operative Union and the National Reform
+Union.
+
+There is no doubt that this campaign with the series of lectures on the
+same lines which were continued for several years was an event of some
+importance, not only in the history of the Fabian Society but also in
+English politics. Hitherto the Socialism presented to the industrial
+districts of England, which are the backbone of Trade Unionism and
+Co-operation, to the men who are meant when we speak of the power and
+independence of the working classes, was revolutionary and destructive,
+ill-tempered and ungenerous. It had perhaps alarmed, but it had failed
+to attract them. It had made no real impression on the opinion of the
+people. From this point a new movement began. It first took the form of
+local Fabian Societies. They were succeeded by and merged into branches
+of the Independent Labour Party, which adopted everything Fabian except
+its peculiar political tactics. A few years later the Labour Party
+followed, more than Fabian in its toleration in the matter of opinions,
+and virtually, though not formally, Fabian in its political policy. No
+doubt something of the sort would have happened had there never been a
+Lancashire campaign, but this campaign may be fairly described as the
+first step in an evolution, the end of which is not yet in sight.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Her lectures in the Lancashire campaign and the formation of the
+branches were Mrs. Besant's last contributions to the Socialist
+movement. Early in November she suddenly and completely severed her
+connection with the Society. She had become a convert to Theosophy,
+which at that time accepted the Buddhist doctrine that spiritual
+conditions alone mattered, and that spiritual life would flourish as
+well in the slum amidst dirt and starvation as in the comfortable
+cottage, and much better than in the luxurious mansion.
+Twentieth-century theosophy has receded from that position, and now
+advocates social amelioration, but Mrs. Besant thought otherwise in
+1890. Some twenty years later she lectured on several occasions to the
+Society, and she joined her old friends at the dinner which celebrated
+the thirtieth anniversary of its foundation, but in the interval her
+connection with it completely ceased.
+
+The Fabian Society and British Socialism owe much to Mrs. Besant for the
+assistance she gave it during five important years. Her splendid
+eloquence, always at our service, has seldom been matched, and has never
+been surpassed by any of the innumerable speakers of the movement. She
+had, when she joined us, an assured position amongst the working-class
+Radicals in London and throughout the country; and through her Socialism
+obtained a sympathetic hearing in places where less trusted speakers
+would have been neglected. She was not then either a political thinker
+or an effective worker on committees, but she possessed the power of
+expressing the ideas of other people far better than their originators,
+and she had at her command a certain amount of political machinery--such
+as an office at 63 Fleet Street, and a monthly magazine, "Our
+Corner"--which was very useful. Her departure was a serious loss, but it
+came at a moment of rapid expansion, so rapid that her absence was
+scarcely felt.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the Society itself the effect of the Essays and the Lancashire
+Campaign was considerable. As the Executive Committee report in April,
+1891: "During the past year the Socialist movement has made conspicuous
+progress in every respect, and a constantly increasing share of the work
+of its organisation and extension has fallen to the Fabian Society." The
+membership increased from 173 to 361, and the subscription list--thanks
+in part to several large donations--from L126 to L520. Local Fabian
+Societies had been formed at Belfast, Birmingham, Bombay, Bristol,
+Huddersfield, Hyde, Leeds, Manchester, Oldham, Plymouth, Tyneside, and
+Wolverhampton, with a total membership of 350 or 400. The business in
+tracts had been enormous. Ten new tracts, four pamphlets and six
+leaflets, were published, and new editions of all but one of the old
+ones had been printed. In all 335,000 tracts were printed and 98,349
+distributed. The new tracts include "The Workers' Political Programme,"
+"The New Reform Bill," "English Progress Towards Social Democracy," "The
+Reform of Poor Law," and a leaflet, No. 13, "What Socialism Is," which
+has been in circulation ever since. It should be added that at this
+period our leaflets were given away freely, a form of propaganda which
+soon proved too expensive for our resources.
+
+In March, 1891, just before the end of the official year, appeared the
+first number of "Fabian News," the monthly organ of the Society, which
+has continued ever since. It replaced the printed circulars previously
+issued to the members, and was not intended to be anything else than a
+means of communicating with the members as to the work of the Society,
+and also in later years as to new books on subjects germane to its work.
+It has been edited throughout by the Secretary, but everything of a
+contentious character relating to the affairs of the Society has been
+published by the express authority of the Executive Committee.
+
+It may be mentioned that from this time forward the documents of the
+Society are both fuller and more accessible than before. For the period
+up to the end of 1889 the only complete record is contained in the two
+minute books of the meetings. No regular minutes of Executive Committee
+meetings were kept, and the Annual Reports were not printed until 1889.
+From 1890 onwards the meetings of every committee were regularly
+recorded: the Annual Reports were printed in octavo and can be found in
+many public libraries, whilst "Fabian News" contains full information of
+the current doings of the Society. It will not therefore be necessary to
+treat the later years with such attention to detail as has seemed
+appropriate to the earlier. The only "sources" for these are shabby
+notebooks and the memories of a few men now rapidly approaching old age.
+The later years can be investigated, if any subsequent enquirer desires
+to do so, in a dozen libraries in Great Britain and the United States.
+
+[Illustration: _From a photograph by Van der Weyde_
+
+WILLIAM CLARKE, ABOUT 1895]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[24] Shaw demurs to this passage, and says that he did not revise the
+papers verbally, especially those by Mrs. Besant and Graham Wallas, but
+that he suggested or made alterations in the others. I am still disposed
+to suspect that my statement is not far from the truth.
+
+[25] The opinions of some of the Essayists about co-operation were
+apparently modified by some small meetings with leading co-operators on
+March 27th, April 17th, and May 22nd, 1889. Bernard Shaw tells me that
+he thinks that they were held at Willis's Rooms, that he was in the
+chair, and that Mr. Benjamin Jones (whose name I find as a speaker at
+Fabian Meetings about this period) played a prominent part on behalf of
+the Co-operative Wholesale Society.
+
+The first printed Annual Report presented on 5th April, 1889, mentions
+that "the Society is taking part in a 'Round Table Conference' to
+ascertain amongst other objects how far the various Co-operative and
+Socialist bodies can act together politically," a problem, thirty years
+later, still unsolved. It is a pity that the references to Co-operation
+in "Fabian Essays" were not modified in the light of the Conference
+which was held after the lectures were written but before they were
+published. No record of the Conference seems to have been preserved.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+"To your tents, O Israel": 1894-1900
+
+   Progress of the Society--The Independent Labour Party--Local Fabian
+   Societies--University Fabian Societies--London Groups and Samuel
+   Butler--The first Fabian Conference--Tracts and Lectures--The 1892
+   Election Manifesto--The Newcastle Program--The Fair Wages Policy--The
+   "Fortnightly" article--The "Intercepted Letter" of 1906.
+
+
+During the next two or three years the Society made rapid progress. The
+membership was 541 in 1892, 640 in 1893, and 681 in 1894. The
+expenditure, L640 to March, 1891, rose to L1100 for 1892, and L1179 in
+1893. In both these years large sums--L350 and L450--were given by two
+members for the expenses of lectures in the provinces, and in provincial
+societies the growth was most marked. In March, 1892, 36 were recorded:
+the report for 1893 gives 74, including Bombay and South Australia. This
+was the high-water mark. The Independent Labour Party was founded in
+January, 1893, at a Conference at which the Fabian Society of London and
+nine local Fabian Societies were represented, and from this time onward
+our provincial organisation declined until, in 1900, only four local and
+four University Societies remained.
+
+The attitude of the parent society towards its branches has always been
+somewhat unusual. In early days it made admission to its own ranks a
+matter of some difficulty. A candidate resident in London had to secure
+a proposer and seconder who could personally vouch for him and had to
+attend two meetings as a visitor. We regarded membership as something of
+a privilege, and a candidate was required not only to sign the Basis,
+but also to take some personal trouble as evidence of zeal and good
+faith. To our provincial organisation the same principle was applied. If
+the Socialists in any town desired to form a local society we gave them
+our blessing and received them gladly. But we did not urge the formation
+of branches on lukewarm adherents, and we always recognised that the
+peculiar political methods of the London Society, appropriate to a body
+of highly educated people, nearly all of them speakers, writers, or
+active political workers, were unsuitable for the groups of earnest
+workmen in the provinces who were influenced by our teaching. In fact
+the local Fabian Societies, with rare exceptions, of which Liverpool was
+the chief, were from the first "I.L.P." in personnel and policy, and
+were Fabian only in name.
+
+This somewhat detached attitude, combined with the recognition of the
+differences between the parent society and its offspring, led to the
+adoption of a system of local autonomy. The parent society retained
+complete control over its own affairs. It was governed by a mass meeting
+of members, which in those days elected the Executive for the year. It
+decided that a local Fabian Society might be formed anywhere outside
+London, by any body of people who accepted the Fabian Basis. The parent
+society would send them lecturers, supply them with literature and
+"Fabian News," and report their doings in the "News." But in other
+respects complete autonomy was accorded. No fees were asked, or
+subventions granted: no control over, or responsibility for, policy was
+claimed. Just as the political policy of each Fabian was left to his
+own judgment, so we declined the impossible task of supervising or
+harmonising the political activities of our local societies. When the
+I.L.P. was founded in Bradford and set to work to organise Socialism on
+Fabian lines, adopting practically everything of our policy, except the
+particular methods which we had selected because they suited our
+personal capacities, we recognised that provincial Fabianism had done
+its work. There was no room, except here and there, for an I.L.P. branch
+and a local F.S. in the same place. The men who were active in the one
+were active also in the other. We made no effort to maintain our
+organisation against that of the I.L.P., and though a few societies
+survived for some years, and for a while two or three were formed every
+year at such places as Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone, and Swindon, they
+were bodies of small importance, and contributed scarcely anything to
+the sum of Fabian activity. The only local Fabian Society which survived
+the debacle was Liverpool, which has carried on work similar to that of
+the London Society down to the present time. Its relations with the
+I.L.P. have always been harmonious, and, like the I.L.P., it has always
+maintained an attitude of hostility towards the old political parties.
+Its work has been lecturing, the publication of tracts, and political
+organisation.
+
+The University Fabian Societies are of a different character. Formed by
+and for undergraduates, but in some cases, especially at Oxford,
+maintaining continuity by the assistance of older members in permanent
+residence, such as Sidney Ball of St. John's, who has belonged to the
+Oxford Society since its formation in 1895, they are necessarily
+fluctuating bodies, dependent for their success on the personality and
+influence of a few leading members. Their members have always been
+elected at once to the parent society in order that the connection may
+be unbroken when they leave the University. Needless to say, only a
+small proportion become active members of the Society, but a few of the
+leading members of the movement have entered it in this way. Oxford,
+Glasgow, Aberystwyth, and latterly Cambridge have had flourishing
+societies for long periods, and quite a number of the higher grade civil
+servants and of the clergy and doctors in remote districts in Wales and
+Scotland are or have been members. Moreover, the Society always retains
+a scattering of members, mostly officials or teachers, in India, in the
+heart of Africa, in China, and South America, who joined it in their
+undergraduate days.
+
+Almost from the first the Executive has endeavoured to organise the
+members in the London area into groups. The parent society grew up
+through years of drawing-room meetings; why should not the members
+residing in Hampstead and Hammersmith, in Bloomsbury or Kensington do
+the same? Further, the Society always laid much stress on local
+politics: there were County Council and Borough Council, School Board
+and Poor Law Guardians elections in which policy could be influenced and
+candidates promoted or supported.
+
+In fact it is only in the years when London government was in the
+melting-pot, or in times of special socialist activity, and in a few
+districts, such as Hampstead, where Fabians are numerous, and especially
+when one or more persons of persistence and energy are available, that
+the groups have had a more than nominal existence. The drawing-room
+meetings of the parent society attracted audiences until they outgrew
+drawing-rooms, because of the exceptional quality of the men and women
+who attended them and the novelty of the doctrines promulgated. These
+conditions were not repeated in each district of London, and in spite
+of constant paper planning, and not a little service by the older
+members, who spent their time and talents on tiny meetings in Paddington
+or Streatham, the London group system has never been a permanent
+success. What has kept the Society together is the series of fortnightly
+meetings carried on regularly from the first, which themselves fluctuate
+in popularity, but which have never wholly failed.[26]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We now return to the point whence this digression started. Our local
+societies were then flourishing. They were vigorously supported from
+London. We had funds for the expenses of lecturers and many willing to
+give the time. W.S. De Mattos was employed as lecture secretary, and
+arranged in the year 1891-2 600 lectures, 300 of them in the provinces.
+In all 3339 lectures by members during the year were recorded. All this
+activity imparted for a time considerable vitality to the local
+societies, and on February 6th and 7th, 1892, the first (and for twenty
+years the last) Annual Conference was held in London, at Essex Hall.
+Only fourteen provincial societies were represented, but they claimed a
+membership of about 1100, some four-fifths of the whole.
+
+The Conference was chiefly memorable because it occasioned the
+preparation of the paper by Bernard Shaw, entitled "The Fabian Society:
+What it has done and how it has done it," published later as Tract 41
+and renamed, when the passage of years rendered the title obsolete, "The
+Fabian Society: Its Early History," parts of which have already been
+quoted. This entertaining account of the Society, and brilliant defence
+of its policy as opposed to that of the Social Democratic Federation,
+was read to a large audience on the Saturday evening, and made so great
+an impression that comment on it seemed futile and was abandoned. The
+Conference on Sunday was chiefly occupied with the discussion of a
+proposal that the electors be advised to vote at the coming General
+Election in accordance with certain test questions, which was defeated
+by 23 to 21. A resolution to expel from the Society any member becoming
+"an official of the Conservative, Liberal, Liberal Unionist, or National
+League parties" was rejected by a large majority, for the first but by
+no means for the last time. The Conference was quite a success, but a
+year later there was not sufficient eagerness in the provinces for a
+second, and the project was abandoned.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Amidst all this propaganda of the principles of Socialism the activity
+of the Society in local government was in no way relaxed. The output of
+tracts at this period was remarkable. In the year 1890-1, 10 new tracts
+were published, 335,000 copies printed, and 98,349 sold or given away.
+In 1891-2, 20 tracts, 16 of them leaflets of 4 pages, were published,
+308,300 printed, and 378,281 distributed, most of them leaflets. This
+was the maximum. Next year only 272,660 were distributed, though the
+sales of penny tracts were larger. At this period the Society had a
+virtual monopoly in the production of political pamphlets in which facts
+and figures were marshalled in support of propositions of reform in the
+direction of Socialism. Immense trouble was taken to ensure accuracy and
+literary excellence. Many of the tracts were prepared by Committees
+which held numerous meetings. Each of them was criticised in proof both
+by the Executive and by all the members of the Society. Every tract
+before publication had to be approved at a meeting of members, when the
+author or authors had to consider every criticism and justify, amend, or
+delete the passage challenged.
+
+The tracts published in these years included a series of "Questions" for
+candidates for Parliament and all the local governing bodies embodying
+progressive programmes of administration with possible reforms in the
+law--which the candidate was requested to answer by a local elector and
+which were used with much effect for some years--and a number of
+leaflets on Municipal Socialism, extracted from "Facts for Londoners."
+In 1891 the first edition of "What to Read: A List of Books for Social
+Reformers," classified in a somewhat elaborate fashion, was prepared by
+Graham Wallas, the fifth edition of which, issued as a separate volume
+in 1910, is still in print. "Facts for Bristol," drafted by the
+gentleman who is now Sir Hartmann Just, K.C.M.G., C.B., was the only
+successful attempt out of many to apply the method of "Facts for
+Londoners" to other cities.
+
+It is impossible for me to estimate how far the Progressive policy of
+London in the early nineties is to be attributed to the influence of the
+Fabian Society. That must be left to the judgment of those who can form
+an impartial opinion. Something, however, the Society must have
+contributed to create what was really a remarkable political phenomenon.
+London up to 1906 was Conservative in politics by an overwhelming
+majority. In 1892 out of 59 seats the Liberals secured 23, but in 1895
+and 1900 they obtained no more than 8 at each election. All this time
+the Progressive Party in the County Council, which came into office
+unexpectedly after the confused election in 1889 when the Council was
+created, maintained itself in power usually by overwhelming majorities,
+obtained at each succeeding triennial elections in the same
+constituencies and with substantially the same electorate that returned
+Conservatives to Parliament.
+
+In the early nineties the Liberal and Radical Working Men's Clubs of
+London had a political importance which has since entirely disappeared.
+Every Sunday for eight months in the year, and often on weekdays,
+political lectures were arranged, which were constantly given by
+Fabians. For instance, in October, 1891, I find recorded in advance
+twelve courses of two to five lectures each, nine of them at Clubs, and
+fifteen separate lectures at Clubs, all given by members of the Society.
+In October, 1892, eleven courses and a dozen separate lectures by our
+members at Clubs are notified. These were all, or nearly all, arranged
+by the Fabian office, and it is needless to say that a number of others
+were not so arranged or were not booked four or five weeks in advance.
+Our list of over a hundred lecturers, with their subjects and private
+addresses, was circulated in all directions and was constantly used by
+the Clubs, as well as by all sorts of other societies which required
+speakers.
+
+Moreover, in addition to "Facts for Londoners," Sidney Webb published in
+1891 in Sonnenschein's "Social Science Series" a volume entitled "The
+London Programme," which set out his policy, and that of the Society, on
+all the affairs of the metropolis. The Society had at this time much
+influence through the press. "The London Programme" had appeared as a
+series of articles in the Liberal weekly "The Speaker." The "Star,"
+founded in 1888, was promptly "collared," according to Bernard Shaw,[27]
+who was its musical critic, and who wrote in it, so it was said, on
+every subject under the sun except music! Mr. H.W. Massingham, assistant
+editor of the "Star," was elected to the Society and its Executive
+simultaneously in March, 1891, and in 1892 he became assistant editor of
+the "Daily Chronicle," under a sympathetic chief, Mr. A.E. Fletcher.
+
+Mrs. Besant and the Rev. Stewart Headlam had been elected to the London
+School Board in 1888, and had there assisted a Trade Union
+representative in getting adopted the first Fair Wages Clause in
+Contracts. But in the first London County Council the Society, then a
+tiny body, was not represented.
+
+At the second election in 1892 six of its members were elected to the
+Council and another was appointed an alderman. Six of these were members
+best known to the public as Trade Unionists or in other organisations,
+but Sidney Webb, who headed the poll at Deptford with 4088 votes, whilst
+his Progressive colleague received 2503, and four other candidates only
+5583 votes between them, was a Fabian and nothing else. He had
+necessarily to resign his appointment in the Colonial Office, and
+thenceforth was able to devote all his time to politics and literary
+work. Webb was at once elected chairman of the Technical Education
+Board, which up to 1904 had the management of all the education in the
+county, other than elementary, which came under public control. The
+saying is attributed to him that according to the Act of Parliament
+Technical Education could be defined as any education above elementary
+except Greek and Theology, and the Board under his chairmanship--he was
+chairman for eight years--did much to bring secondary and university
+education within the reach of the working people of London. From 1892
+onwards there was always a group of Fabians on the London County
+Council, working in close alliance with the "Labour Bench," the Trade
+Unionists who then formed a group of the Progressive Party under the
+leadership of John Burns. Under this silent but effective influence the
+policy of the Progressives was largely identical with the immediate
+municipal policy of the Society itself, and the members of the Society
+took a keen and continuous interest in the triennial elections and the
+work of the Council.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+All this concern in local administration did not interfere with the
+interest taken by the Society in parliamentary politics, and one
+illustration of this may be mentioned. The Liberal Party has a
+traditional feud with Landlordism, and at this period its favourite
+panacea was Leasehold Enfranchisement, that is, the enactment of a law
+empowering leaseholders of houses built on land let for ninety-nine
+years, the common practice in London, to purchase the freehold at a
+valuation. Many Conservatives had come round to the view that the
+breaking up of large town estates and the creation of numerous
+freeholders, would strengthen the forces upholding the rights of
+property, and there was every prospect that the Bill would be passed. A
+few hours before the debate on April 29th, 1891, a leaflet (Tract No.
+22) was published explaining the futility of the proposal from the
+Fabian standpoint, and a copy was sent to every member of Parliament. To
+the astonishment of the Liberal leaders a group of Radicals, including
+the present Lord Haldane and Sir Edward Grey, opposed the Bill, and it
+was defeated by the narrow majority of 13 in a house numbering 354. A
+few years later the proposal was dropped out of the Liberal programme,
+and the Leasehold Enfranchisement Association itself adopted a new name
+and a revised policy.
+
+But the main object of the Fabians was to force on the Liberal Party a
+programme of constructive social reform. With few exceptions their
+members belonged or had belonged to that party, and it was not
+difficult, now that London had learned the value of the Progressive
+policy, to get resolutions accepted by Liberal Associations demanding
+the adoption of a programme. Sidney Webb in 1888 printed privately a
+paper entitled "Wanted a Programme: An Appeal to the Liberal Party," and
+sent it out widely amongst the Liberal leaders. The "Star" and the
+"Daily Chronicle" took care to publish these resolutions, and everything
+was done, which skilful agitators knew, to make a popular demand for a
+social reform programme. We did what all active politicians in a
+democratic country must do; we decided what the people ought to want,
+and endeavoured to do two things, which after all are much the same
+thing, to make the people want it, and to make it appear that they
+wanted it. The result--how largely attributable to our efforts can
+hardly now be estimated--was the Newcastle Program, reluctantly blessed
+by Mr. Gladstone and adopted by the National Liberal Federation in
+1891.[28]
+
+The General Election of 1892 was anticipated with vivid interest. Since
+the election of 1886 English Socialism had come into being and Trade
+Unionism had been transformed by the rise of the Dockers, and the other
+"new" unions of unskilled labour. But a Labour Party was still in the
+future, and our Election Manifesto (Tract 40), issued in June, bluntly
+tells the working classes that until they form a party of their own they
+will have to choose between the parties belonging to the other classes.
+The Manifesto, written by Bernard Shaw, is a brilliant essay on labour
+in politics and a criticism of both the existing parties; it assures
+the working classes that they could create their own party if they cared
+as much about politics as they cared for horse-racing (football was not
+in those days the typical sport); and it concludes by advising them to
+vote for the better, or against the worse, man, on the ground that
+progress was made by steps, a step forward was better than a step
+backward, and the only thing certain is the defeat of a party which
+sulks and does not vote at all. The Manifesto was widely circulated by
+the then vigorous local societies, and no doubt had some effect, though
+the intensity of the antipathy to Liberal Unionism on the one side and
+to Home Rule on the other left little chance for other considerations.
+
+Six members of the Society were candidates, but none of them belonged to
+the group which had made its policy and conducted its campaign. In one
+case, Ben Tillett at West Bradford, the Society took an active part in
+the election, sending speakers and collecting L152 for the Returning
+Officer's expenses. Of the six, J. Keir Hardie at West Ham alone was
+successful, but Tillett did well at West Bradford, polling 2,749, only a
+few hundred votes below the other two candidates, and preparing the
+field for the harvest which F.W. Jowett reaped in 1906.
+
+The result of the election, which took place in July, was regarded as a
+justification for the Fabian policy of social advance. In London, where
+Liberalism was strongly tainted with it, the result was "as in 1885,"
+the year of Liberal victory, and the only Liberal seat lost was that of
+the President of the Leasehold Enfranchisement Association! In the
+industrial cities, and in Scotland, where Liberalism was still
+individualist, the result was rather as in 1886, when Liberalism lost.
+In London also "by far the largest majorities were secured by Mr. John
+Burns and Mr. Keir Hardie, who stood as avowed Socialists, and by Mr.
+Sydney Buxton, whose views are really scarcely less advanced than
+theirs."[29]
+
+I have pointed out that Fabian policy began with State Socialism, and in
+quite early days added to it Municipal Socialism; but in 1888 the
+authors of "Fabian Essays" appeared to be unconscious of Trade Unionism
+and hostile to the Co-operative movement. The Dock Strike of 1889 and
+the lecturing in London clubs and to the artisans of the north pointed
+the way to a new development. Moreover, in the summer of 1892 Sidney
+Webb had married Miss Beatrice Potter, author of an epoch-making little
+book, "The Co-operative Movement," and together they were at work on
+their famous "History of Trade Unionism."
+
+The "Questions" for local governing bodies issued in 1892 were full of
+such matters as fair wages, shorter hours, and proper conditions for
+labour, and it was speedily discovered that this line of advance was the
+best suited to Fabian tactics because it was a series of skirmishes all
+over the country, in which scores and hundreds could take part. Each
+locality had then or soon afterwards three or four elected local
+councils, and hardly any Fabian from one end of the country to the other
+would be unable in one way or another to strike a blow or lift a finger
+for the improvement of the conditions of publicly employed labour.
+
+But the Government of Mr. Gladstone had not been in office for much more
+than a year before a much more ambitious enterprise on this line was
+undertaken. In March, 1893, Sir Henry (then Mr.) Campbell-Bannerman had
+pledged the Government to "show themselves to be the best employers of
+labour in the country": "we have ceased," he said, "to believe in what
+are known as competition or starvation wages." That was a satisfactory
+promise, but enunciating a principle is one thing and carrying it into
+effect in scores of departments is another. Mr. Gladstone, of course,
+was interested only in Home Rule. Permanent officials doubtless
+obstructed, as they usually do: and but a few members of the Cabinet
+accepted or understood the new obligation. The Fabian Society knew the
+Government departments from the inside, and it was easy for the
+Executive to ascertain how labour was treated under each chief, what he
+had done and what he had left undone. At that time legislative reforms
+were difficult because the Government majority was both small and
+uncertain, whilst the whole time of Parliament was occupied by the
+necessary but futile struggle to pass a Home Rule Bill for the Lords to
+destroy. But administrative reforms were subject to no such limitations:
+wages and conditions of labour were determined by the department
+concerned, and each minister could do what he chose for the workmen
+virtually in his employment, except perhaps in the few cases, such as
+the Post Office, where the sums involved were very large, when the
+Chancellor of the Exchequer had the same opportunity.
+
+Bernard Shaw and Sidney Webb then decided that the time had come to make
+an attack on old-fashioned Liberalism on these lines. The "Fortnightly
+Review" accepted their paper, the Society gave the necessary sanction,
+and in November the article entitled "To Your Tents, O Israel" appeared.
+Each of the great departments of the State was examined in detail, and
+for each was stated precisely what should be done to carry out the
+promise that the Government would be "in the first flight of employers,"
+and what in fact had been done, which indeed, with rare exceptions, was
+nothing. The "Parish Councils Act" and Sir William Harcourt's great
+Budget of 1894 were still in the future, and so far there was little to
+show as results from the Liberal victory of the previous year. The case
+against the Government from the Labour standpoint was therefore
+unrelieved black, and the Society, in whose name the Manifesto appeared,
+called on the working classes to abandon Liberalism, to form a Trade
+Union party of their own, to raise L30,000 and to finance fifty
+candidates for Parliament. It is a curious coincidence that thirteen
+years later, in 1906, the Party formed, as the Manifesto demanded, by
+the big Trade Unions actually financed precisely fifty candidates and
+succeeded in electing thirty of them.
+
+The Manifesto led to the resignation of a few distinguished members,
+including Professor D.G. Ritchie, Mrs. Bateson, widow of the Master of
+St. John's College, Cambridge, and more important than all the rest, Mr.
+H.W. Massingham. He was on the Continent when the Manifesto was in
+preparation; otherwise perhaps he might have come to accept it: for his
+reply, which was published in the same magazine a month later, was
+little more than a restatement of the case. "The only sound
+interpretation of a model employer," he said, "is a man who pays trade
+union rates of wages, observes trade union limit of hours, and deals
+with 'fair' as opposed to 'unfair' houses. Apply all these tests and the
+Government unquestionably breaks down on every one of them." If this was
+all that an apologist for the Government could say, no wonder that the
+attack went home. The opponents of Home Rule were of course delighted to
+find another weak spot in their adversary's defences; and the episode
+was not soon forgotten.
+
+In January the article was reprinted with much additional matter
+drafted by Bernard Shaw. He showed in considerable detail how a Labour
+Party ought to be formed, and how, in fact, it was formed seven years
+later. With our numerous and still flourishing local societies, and the
+newly formed I.L.P., a large circulation for the tract was easily
+secured. Thousands of working-class politicians read and remembered it,
+and it cannot be doubted that the "Plan of Campaign for Labour," as it
+was called, did much to prepare the ground for the Labour Party which
+was founded so easily and flourished so vigorously in the first years of
+the twentieth century.
+
+At this point the policy of simple permeation of the Liberal Party may
+be said to have come to an end. The "Daily Chronicle," under the
+influence of Mr. Massingham, became bitterly hostile to the Fabians.
+They could no longer plausibly pretend that they looked for the
+realisation of their immediate aims through Liberalism. They still
+permeated, of course, since they made no attempt to form a party of
+their own, and they believed that only through existing organisations,
+Trade Unions on one side, the political parties on the other, could
+sufficient force be obtained to make progress within a reasonable time.
+In one respect it must be confessed we shared an almost universal
+delusion. When the Liberal Party was crushed at the election of 1895 we
+thought that its end had come in England as it has in other countries.
+Conservatism is intelligible: Socialism we regarded as entirely
+reasonable. Between the two there seemed to be no logical resting place.
+We had discovered long ago that the working classes were not going to
+rush into Socialism, but they appeared to be and were in fact growing up
+to it. The Liberalism of the decade 1895-1905 had measures in its
+programme, such as Irish Home Rule, but it had no policy, and it seemed
+incredible then, as it seems astonishing now, that a party with so
+little to offer could sweep the country, as it was swept by the Liberals
+in 1906. But nobody could have foreseen Mr. Lloyd George, and although
+the victory of 1906 was not due to his leadership, no one can doubt that
+it is his vigorous initiative in the direction of Socialism which
+secured for his party the renewed confidence of the country.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Twelve years later another attempt to get administrative reform from the
+Liberal Party was made on somewhat similar lines. The party had taken
+office in December, 1905, and in the interval before the General
+Election of 1906 gave them their unprecedented majority, "An Intercepted
+Letter," adopted at a members' meeting in December, was published in the
+"National Review" for January. It purported to be a circular letter
+addressed by the Prime Minister to his newly appointed colleagues,
+giving each of them in turn advice how to run his department. In this
+case there was no necessity to suggest administrative reforms only. The
+Liberals were certain of a majority, and they had no programme: they
+were bound to win, not on their merits, but on the defects of their
+opponents. The Letter, written by Webb in a rollicking style, to which
+he rarely condescends, touched on each of the great departments of
+Government, and advocated both the old policy of Trade Union hours and
+wages, for which the new Prime Minister had made himself in 1893
+personally responsible, but also all sorts of progressive measures,
+graduated and differentiated income-tax for the Treasury, Compulsory
+Arbitration in Labour Disputes for the Home Office--we discovered the
+flaw in that project later--reform of Grants in Aid for the Local
+Government Board, Wages Boards for Agriculture, and so on. A few weeks
+later the country had the General Election to think about, and the
+Letter was merely reprinted for private circulation amongst the members
+of the Society. But we took care that the new Ministers read it, and it
+served to remind them of the demands which, after the election, the
+Labour Party, at last in being, would not let them again forget.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26] Bernard Shaw has sent me the following note on this paragraph:--
+
+One London group incident should be immortalized. It was in the W.C.
+group, which met in Gt. Ormond St. It consisted of two or three members
+who used to discuss bi-metallism. I was a member geographically, but
+never attended. One day I saw on the notice of meetings which I received
+an announcement that Samuel Butler would address the group on the
+authorship of the Odyssey. Knowing that the group would have no notion
+of how great a man they were entertaining, I dashed down to the meeting;
+took the chair; gave the audience (about five strong including Butler
+and myself) to understand that the occasion was a great one; and when we
+had listened gravely to Samuel's demonstration that the Odyssey was
+written by Nausicaa, carried a general expression of enthusiastic
+agreement with Butler, who thanked us with old-fashioned gravity and
+withdrew without giving a sign of his feelings at finding so small a
+meeting of the famous Fabian Society. Considering how extraordinary a
+man Butler is now seen to have been, there is something tragic in the
+fact that the greatest genius among the long list of respectable
+dullards who have addressed us, never got beyond this absurd little
+group.
+
+[27] Tract 41. "The Fabian Society," p. 18.
+
+[28] Bernard Shaw has sent me the following note on this point:--
+
+The exact facts of the launching of the Newcastle Program are these.
+Webb gave me the Program in his own handwriting as a string of
+resolutions. I, being then a permeative Fabian on the executive of the
+South St. Pancras Liberal and Radical Association (I had coolly walked
+in and demanded to be elected to the Association and Executive, which
+was done on the spot by the astonished Association--ten strong or
+thereabouts) took them down to a meeting in Percy Hall, Percy Street,
+Tottenham Court Road, where the late Mr. Beale, then Liberal candidate
+and subscription milch cow of the constituency (without the ghost of a
+chance), was to address as many of the ten as might turn up under the
+impression that he was addressing a public meeting. There were certainly
+not 20 present, perhaps not 10. I asked him to move the resolutions. He
+said they looked complicated, and that if I would move them he would
+second them. I moved them, turning over Webb's pages by batches and not
+reading most of them. Mr. Beale seconded. Passed unanimously. That night
+they went down to The Star with a report of an admirable speech which
+Mr. Beale was supposed to have delivered. Next day he found the National
+Liberal Club in an uproar at his revolutionary break-away. But he played
+up; buttoned his coat determinedly; said we lived in progressive times
+and must move with them; and carried it off. Then he took the report of
+his speech to the United States and delivered several addresses founded
+on it with great success. He died shortly after his last inevitable
+defeat. He was an amiable and worthy man; and the devotion with which he
+fought so many forlorn hopes for his party should have earned him a safe
+seat. But that debt was never paid or even acknowledged; and he felt the
+ingratitude very keenly.
+
+[29] "Fabian News," August, 1892.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+"Fabianism and the Empire": 1900-1
+
+   The Library and Book Boxes--Parish Councils--The Workmen's
+   Compensation Act--The Hutchinson Trust--The London School of
+   Economics--Educational Lectures--Electoral Policy--The controversy
+   over the South African War--The publication of "Fabianism and the
+   Empire."
+
+
+The next few years were devoted to quieter work than that of the period
+described in the previous chapter. The Conservative Party was in power,
+Liberalism, which had lost its great leader, and a year or two later
+lost also his successor, Lord Rosebery, was in so hopeless a minority
+that its return to power in the near future seemed to be and was
+impossible. It had been easy to permeate the Liberals, because most of
+our members were or had been connected with their party. It was
+impossible to permeate Conservatism on similar lines, both because we
+were not in touch with their organisation and because Conservatives in
+general regarded our proposals with complete aversion. It was a time,
+therefore, for educational rather than political activity, and to this
+the Society devoted the greater part of its energies. Its work in this
+field took various forms, some of which may be briefly described.
+
+[Illustration: _From a photograph by Emery Walker_
+
+G. BERNARD SHAW, IN 1889]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We had started a lending library in boxes for our local societies, and
+as these died away we offered the use of it to working-class
+organisations, and indeed to any organisation of readers or students.
+Books were purchased from special funds, a collection of some 5000
+volumes was ultimately formed, and for the last twenty years the Society
+has kept in circulation anything up to 200 boxes of books on Socialism,
+economics, history and social problems, which are lent for ten shillings
+a year to Co-operative Societies, Trade Unions, Socialist Societies, and
+miscellaneous organisations. The books are intended to be educational
+rather than directly propagandist, and each box is made up to suit the
+taste, expressed or inferred, of the subscriber. Quarterly exchanges are
+allowed, but the twenty or thirty books in a box usually last a society
+for a year. It is a remarkable fact that although boxes are lent freely
+to such slight organisations as reading classes, and are sent even to
+remote mining villages in Wales or Scotland, not a single box has ever
+been lost. Delays are frequent: books of course are often missing, but
+sooner or later every box sent out has been returned to the Society.
+
+Another method of securing the circulation of good books on social
+subjects has been frequently used. We prepare a list of recent and
+important publications treating of social problems and request each
+member to report how many of them are in the Public Library of his
+district, and further to apply for the purchase of such as are absent.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Local Government Act of 1894, commonly called the Parish Councils
+Act, which constituted out of chaos a system of local government for
+rural England, gave the Society an opportunity for practising that part
+of its policy which includes the making the best use of all forms of
+existing legislation. Mr. Herbert Samuel was at that time a friend,
+though he was never a member, of the Society, and the first step in his
+successful political career was his candidature for the typically rural
+Southern Division of Oxfordshire. He was good enough to prepare for us
+not only an admirable explanation of the Act, but also Questions for
+Parish Councillors, for Rural District Councillors, and for Urban
+District Councillors. Probably this was the first time that an analysis
+of a new Act of Parliament had been published at a penny. Anyway the
+demand for it was considerable, and over 30,000 copies were sold in five
+months. Then it was revised, with the omission of temporary matter, and
+republished as "Parish and District Councils: What they are and what
+they can do," and in this form has gone through many editions, and is
+still in print. The tract states that the secretary of the Society will
+give advice on any obscure point in the law, and in this way the Society
+has become an Information Bureau; hardly a week passed for many years
+after the autumn of 1895 without a letter from some village or small
+town asking questions as to housing, common rights, charities, the
+duties of chairmen of councils, the qualifications of candidates, and so
+on.
+
+Similar tracts were published describing the powers and duties of the
+London County Council, the London Vestries, and the Metropolitan Borough
+Councils, established in 1899, while one giving the powers of various
+local authorities for housing (No. 76, "Houses for the People") has gone
+through many editions and still has a steady sale.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Workmen's Compensation Act, 1897, afforded another opportunity for
+this sort of work. Our penny tract (No. 82) describing the rights of the
+workmen under the Act was reprinted thirteen times in eight months, and
+over 120,000 were sold in the first year of publication. This tract
+offered free advice to every purchaser, and the result has been an
+enormous amount of correspondence which during seventeen years has never
+entirely ceased. This work of providing expert advice on minor legal
+matters has been a quiet service to the community constantly rendered by
+the Society. The barristers amongst our members have freely given
+assistance in the more difficult matters. Occasionally the solicitors
+amongst us have taken up cases where the plaintiff was specially
+helpless.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In 1894, Henry Hutchinson, who had provided the funds for much of our
+country lecturing, died, and to our complete surprise it was found that
+he had appointed Sidney Webb, whom he hardly knew personally, his
+executor, and had left the residue of his estate, between L9000 and
+L10,000, to five trustees--Sidney Webb, his daughter, myself, William
+Clarke, and W.S. De Mattos--with directions that the whole sum be
+expended within ten years. The two last named took but little part in
+administering the trust, and Miss Hutchinson died only fifteen months
+later, also leaving to her colleagues the residue of her estate,
+something under L1000, for similar purposes. The trustees--Mrs. Bernard
+Shaw, Hubert Bland, and Frederick Whelen were appointed at later
+dates--resolved that the money in their charge should be used
+exclusively for special work, as otherwise the effect would be merely to
+relieve the members of their obligation to pay for the maintenance of
+their Society. They decided to devote part of the funds to initiating
+the London School of Economics and Political Science, because they
+considered that a thorough knowledge of these sciences was a necessity
+for people concerned in social reconstruction, if that reconstruction
+was to be carried out with prudence and wisdom: and in particular it was
+essential that all classes of public officials should have the
+opportunity of learning whatever can be known of economics and politics
+taught on modern lines. Our old Universities provided lectures on
+political science as it was understood by Plato and Aristotle, by Hobbes
+and Bentham: they did not then--and indeed they do not now--teach how
+New Zealand deals with strikes, how America legislates about trusts, how
+municipalities all over the world organise tramways.
+
+The trustees, as I have said, originated the London School of Economics,
+but from the first they associated others with themselves in its
+management, and they made no attempt to retain any special share in its
+control. Their object was to get taught the best science that could be
+obtained, confident that if their own political theories were right,
+science would confirm them, and if they were wrong, it was better that
+they should be discredited. The London School of Economics, though thus
+founded, has never had any direct or organic connection with the Fabian
+Society, and therefore any further account of its successful career
+would be out of place in this volume. But it may be said that it has
+certainly more than justified the hopes of its founders, or rather, to
+be accurate, I should say, founder, since the other trustees were wholly
+guided by the initiative of Sidney Webb.
+
+Besides the School, and the Library connected with it, the Trust
+promoted for many years regular courses of Fabian educational lectures
+on social and political subjects, such as Socialism, Trade Unionism,
+Co-operation, Poor Law, Economics, and Economic History. Lecturers were
+selected with care, and were in some cases given a maintenance allowance
+during the preparation of their lectures. Then arrangements were made
+for courses of four lectures each, on what may be called University
+Extension lines, in four or five centres in one part of the country. For
+example, in the year 1896-7 180 lectures were given in fifty towns, half
+of them under the auspices of branches of the I.L.P., and the rest
+organised by Co-operative Societies, Liberal Associations, Trade Unions,
+and other bodies. Very careful syllabuses were prepared and widely
+circulated, and the whole scheme was intended to be educational rather
+than directly propagandist. The first lecturers engaged were J. Ramsay
+Macdonald and Miss Enid Stacy, whose premature death, a few years after
+her marriage to the Rev. Percy Widdrington, was a great loss to the
+movement. This lecturing was maintained for many years. In 1900, shortly
+after the creation there of County and District Councils, we
+experimented upon Ireland, where J. Bruce Glasier and S.D. Shallard gave
+a number of courses of lectures, without any very obvious results. In
+1902 W. Stephen Sanders took over the work, but the fund was coming to
+an end, and after 1904 subsidised lecturing virtually ceased.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In order to help working-class students who had the desire to study more
+continuously than by attendance at lectures, correspondence classes were
+started in the same class of subject as the lectures. A textbook was
+selected and divided into sections, to each of which an introduction was
+written, concluding with questions. Written answers were sent in and
+corrected by the conductor of the class. This went on regularly until
+1900, when Ruskin College, Oxford, organised similar classes on a larger
+scale, and our services were no longer required.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In August, 1896, the triennial International Socialist Workers and Trade
+Union Congress was held in London, at which the Society was represented
+by a numerous delegation. The chief business proved to be the expulsion
+of the Anarchists, who at this period attended these conferences and had
+to be got rid of before the appointed business could be carried on. The
+Society prepared an important "Report" for circulation at the Congress,
+one part of it advocating various reforms, no longer of any special
+interest, and the other part consisting of a summary of the principles
+and policy of the Society, drafted by Bernard Shaw in a series of
+epigrammatic paragraphs. This document, still circulated as Tract 70, is
+interesting both as a brief and vivid exposition of Fabianism and
+because it gave rise to another of the long series of fights on the
+policy of political toleration. The passage chiefly objected to,
+written, of course, for foreigners, and therefore more detailed than
+otherwise would be necessary, is as follows:--
+
+   "FABIAN ELECTORAL TACTICS.
+
+   "The Fabian Society does not claim to be the people of England, or
+   even the Socialist party, and therefore does not seek direct
+   political representation by putting forward Fabian candidates at
+   elections. But it loses no opportunity of influencing elections, and
+   inducing constituencies to select Socialists as their candidates. No
+   person, however, can obtain the support of the Fabian Society or
+   escape its opposition, merely by calling himself a Socialist or
+   Social-Democrat. As there is no Second Ballot in England, frivolous
+   candidatures give great offence and discredit the party in whose name
+   they are undertaken, because any third candidate who is not well
+   supported will not only be beaten himself but may also involve in his
+   defeat the better of the two candidates competing with him. Under
+   such circumstances the Fabian Society throws its weight against the
+   third candidate, whether he calls himself a Socialist or not, in
+   order to secure the victory to the better of the two candidates
+   between whom the contest really lies. But when the third candidate is
+   not only a serious representative of Socialism, but can organise his
+   party well and is likely to poll sufficient votes to make even his
+   defeat a respectable demonstration of the strength and growth of
+   Socialism in the constituency, the Fabian Society supports him
+   resolutely under all circumstances and against all other parties."
+
+This was an extreme statement of our position, because the Society has
+never, so far as I am aware, taken any action which could be described
+as "throwing its weight against" a third candidate in a parliamentary
+election. But it represented our policy as it might have been, if
+occasion had arisen to carry it to its logical conclusion.
+
+It was opposed, not because it was an inaccurate statement of fact, but
+because a minority of the Society desired to change the policy it
+described; and after the Congress was over an influential requisition
+was got up by J. Ramsay Macdonald, who had been elected to the Executive
+Committee in 1894, demanding that the tract be withdrawn from
+circulation. The battle was joined at Clifford's Inn in October, and the
+insurgents were defeated, after an exciting discussion, by 108 to 33.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There is little to record of the years that followed. Graham Wallas, who
+had been elected to the London School Board in 1894, resigned his seat
+on the Executive in 1895; Bernard Shaw became a St. Pancras Vestryman
+without a contest in 1897, an event rather of literary[30] than
+political significance, and in 1898 he had a serious illness which kept
+him out of the movement for nearly two years; whilst at the end of 1899
+Sydney Olivier was appointed Colonial Secretary of Jamaica, and spent
+most of the next fourteen years in the West Indies, latterly as Governor
+of Jamaica, until 1913, when he was recalled to London to be the
+Secretary of the Board of Agriculture.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+External events put an end to this period of quiescence, and the
+Society, which was often derisively regarded as expert in the politics
+of the parish pump, an exponent of "gas and water Socialism," was forced
+to consider its attitude towards the problems of Imperialism.
+
+War was declared by President Kruger for the South African Republic on
+October 11th, 1899. Up to this point the whole of the Society, with very
+few exceptions, had scouted the idea of war. "The grievances alleged,
+though some of them were real enough, were ludicrously unimportant in
+comparison with our cognate home grievances. Nobody in his senses would
+have contemplated a war on their account,"[31] But when war had come the
+situation was entirely altered. The majority of the Society recognised
+that the British Empire had to win the war, and that no other conclusion
+to it was possible. Some of us had joined in the protest against the
+threat of war: but when that protest was fruitless we declined to
+contest the inevitable. A large section of the Liberal Party and nearly
+all other Socialists took another view. They appeared to believe, and
+some of them even hoped, that the Boers might be successful and the
+British army be driven to the sea. The I.L.P. regarded the war as a
+typical case of the then accepted theory of Socialism that war is always
+instigated by capitalists for the purpose of obtaining profits. They
+opposed every step in the prosecution of the campaign, and criticised
+every action of the British authorities.
+
+In this matter the left and right wings of the Fabians joined hands in
+opposition to the centre. Members who came into the movement when
+Marxism was supreme, like Walter Crane, those who worked largely with
+the I.L.P., such as J. Ramsay Macdonald, S.G. Hobson, and G.N. Barnes
+(later M.P. and Chairman of the Labour Party), were joined by others who
+were then associated with the Liberals, such as Dr. F. Lawson Dodd, Will
+Crooks (later Labour M.P.), Clement Edwards (later Liberal M.P.), and
+Dr. John Clifford. On the other side were the older leaders of the
+Society, who took the view that the members had come together for the
+purpose of promoting Socialism, that the question at issue was one
+"which Socialism cannot solve and does not touch,"[32] and that whilst
+each member was entitled to hold and work for his own opinion, it was
+not necessary for the Society in its corporate capacity to adopt a
+formal policy with the result of excluding the large minority which
+would have objected to whatever decision was arrived at.
+
+The first round in the contest was at a business meeting on October
+13th, 1899, when on the advice of the Executive the members present
+rejected a motion of urgency for the discussion of a resolution
+expressing sympathy with the Boers.
+
+It was however agreed that the matter could not end thus, and a members'
+meeting was fixed for December 8th, at Clifford's Inn Hall, when S.G.
+Hobson moved a long resolution declaring it essential that the attitude
+of the Society in regard to the war should be clearly asserted, and
+concluding: "The Fabian Society therefore formally dissociates itself
+from the Imperialism of Capitalism and vainglorious Nationalism and
+pledges itself to support the expansion of the Empire only in so far as
+it may be compatible with the expansion of that higher social
+organisation which this Society was founded to promote."
+
+Bernard Shaw, on behalf of the Executive Committee, moved a long
+reasoned amendment declaring that a parliamentary vote was not worth
+fighting about, demanding that at the conclusion of the war measures be
+taken for securing the value of the Transvaal mines for the public, and
+that the interests of the miners be safeguarded. The amendment was
+barely relevant to the issue, and notwithstanding influential support it
+was defeated by 58 to 27. Thereupon the "previous question" was moved
+and carried by 59 to 50. This inconclusive result revealed a great
+diversity of opinion in the Society, and the Executive Committee, for
+the first and, so far, the only time, availed itself of the rule which
+authorised it to submit any question to a postal referendum of all the
+members.
+
+The question submitted in February, 1900, was this: "Are you in favour
+of an official pronouncement being made now by the Fabian Society on
+Imperialism in relation to the War?" and on the paper published in the
+"News" were printed four reasons on one side and five on the other,
+drafted by those members of the Executive who advocated each policy. On
+the one hand it was argued that the Society should resist aggressive
+capitalism and militarism, thus putting itself into line with
+international socialism, and that expenditure on the war would postpone
+social reform. On the other it was contended that the question was
+outside the province of the Society, that a resolution by the Society
+would carry no weight, would not stop the war, and might have a serious
+effect on the solidarity of the Society itself. The vote excited great
+interest: an appeal to the electorate to vote Yes, worded with much
+moderation, was issued by Walter Crane, S.G. Hobson, Charles
+Charrington, F. Lawson Dodd, J. Frederick Green, George N. Barnes, Will
+Crooks, Henry S. Salt, Dr. John Clifford, Mrs. Mallet, Clement Edwards,
+Mrs. J.R. Macdonald and others; to which a reply was sent, signed only
+by members of the Executive, Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb, Hubert Bland,
+J.F. Oakeshott, H.W. Macrosty and one or two others. Finally a rejoinder
+by the signatories of the first circular was issued in the course of the
+poll which extended over nearly a month. The membership at the time was
+about 800, of whom 50 lived abroad, and in all only 476 votes were cast,
+217 in favour of a pronouncement and 259 against.
+
+It was said at the time, and has constantly been alleged since, that the
+Society had voted its approval of the South African War and had
+supported imperialist aggression and anti-democratic militarism. As will
+be seen from the foregoing, no such statement is correct. A vote on the
+policy of the Government would have given an overwhelming adverse
+majority, but it would have destroyed the Society. In early days we had
+drawn a clear line between Socialism and politics: we had put on one
+side such problems as Home Rule and Church Disestablishment as of the
+nature of red herrings, matters of no real importance in comparison with
+the economic enfranchisement which we advocated. In the early eighties
+Parliament spent futile and fruitless months discussing whether Mr.
+Bradlaugh should take the oath, and whether an extension of the
+franchise should or should not be accompanied by redistribution. We
+wanted to make the working classes pay less attention to these party
+questions and more attention to their own social conditions. We thought,
+or at any rate said, that the Liberal and Conservative leaders kept the
+party ball rolling in order to distract the workers from the iniquity of
+the distribution of wealth. We insisted that Socialism was an economic
+doctrine, and had nothing to do with other problems. Later on we
+realised that the form of government is scarcely less important than its
+content: that the unit of administration, whether imperial, national, or
+local, is germane to the question of the services to be administered;
+that if the governmental machine is to be used for industry, that
+machine must be modern and efficient: and that in fact no clear line of
+distinction can be drawn between the problems of constitutional
+structure which concern Socialism and those, if any, which do not
+concern it. In the case of the South African war it was mainly the
+instinct of self-preservation that actuated us; it is certain that any
+other decision would have destroyed the Society. The passions of that
+period were extraordinarily bitter. The Pro-Boers were mobbed and howled
+down, their actions were misrepresented, and their motives disparaged:
+they retaliated by accusing the British troops of incredible atrocities,
+by rejoicing over every disaster which befell our arms, and by
+prophesying all sorts of calamities however the war ended. There was
+never any question of the Society issuing a pronouncement justifying
+the war. Only a very few of our members went as far as that. But many
+others, all or nearly all who were now beginning to be called the "old
+gang," on whom from first to last the initiative and stability of the
+Society has depended, would have declined to be associated with what
+they regarded as the anti-patriotic excesses of certain of the Liberals,
+and would have resigned their membership, or at any rate their official
+positions in the Society, had it adopted at that time the same policy as
+the I.L.P. Happily tolerance prevailed, and although an attempt was made
+to get up a big secession, only about fifteen members resigned in a
+group when the result of the poll was declared. These, however, included
+a few important names, J. Ramsay Macdonald and J. Frederick Green, of
+the Executive Committee, George N. Barnes and Pete Curran, future Labour
+Members of Parliament, Walter Crane, H.S. Salt, Mrs. J.R. Macdonald, and
+Mrs. Pankhurst.
+
+At the election of the Executive Committee in April, 1900, the Society
+by another vote confirmed the previous decision. All the old members
+were re-elected, and those of the majority party polled the heaviest
+votes. The two seats vacated by resignation were filled by "Pro-Boers,"
+and the only new candidate who supported the majority was defeated. It
+was clear, therefore, that the voting was not strictly on party
+lines--one of the opposition, Charles Charrington, was fourth on the
+poll--but that the Society as a whole approved of the non-committal
+policy. The Executive Committee had been elected since 1894 by a postal
+ballot of the whole Society, and on this occasion 509 members, over 62
+per cent of the whole, recorded their votes.
+
+The Executive had resolved at the beginning of the war to issue a tract
+on Imperialism, and at the Annual Meeting in May, 1900, a resolution
+was passed that it prepare for submission to the members "a constructive
+criticism from the Socialist standpoint of the actions and programmes of
+the various political parties."
+
+Needless to say, Bernard Shaw undertook the difficult job, for at this
+period all the official pronouncements of the Executive were drafted by
+him. At the beginning of September it was announced as nearly ready, and
+later in the month a proof was sent to every member for criticism, and a
+meeting was called for the 25th to discuss it. This was the extreme
+example of the practice at that time habitual, of inviting the
+co-operation of every member in our publications. No less than 134
+members returned amended proofs or wrote letters of criticism; and it is
+recorded that only one of these was opposed to the whole thing, whilst
+only nine preferred to have no manifesto at all; and another nine
+objected to material portions. The great majority were cordial in
+approval.
+
+Bernard Shaw is fond of posing as the most conceited of persons, but
+those who have had to do with him in literary matters are aware that no
+pose was ever more preposterous. When he has acted as the literary
+expert of the Fabian Society he has considered every criticism with
+unruffled courtesy, and dealt with the many fools who always find their
+way into extreme parties, not according to their folly, but with the
+careful consideration properly accorded to eminent wisdom. The business
+of examining over a hundred marked proofs of a document of 20,000 words,
+every line of which was more or less controversial, was an immense one,
+but the author gave every criticism its proper weight, and accepted
+every useful amendment. Then came the meeting. It was held at Clifford's
+Inn, and between 130 and 140 members were present, each of whom was
+entitled to move any amendment on any of the 20,000 words, or any
+addition to or deletion of them. Nearly three hours were occupied partly
+in discussing the controversial portion and partly with the general
+question of publication. Only eighteen voted for omitting the part about
+Imperialism, and the minority against the publication numbered no more
+than fourteen. By this time the controversy over the war had reached an
+intensity which those who cannot recollect it will find difficult to
+believe, and nobody but the author could have written an effective
+document on the war so skilfully as to satisfy the great majority of the
+supporters of both parties in the Society. Bernard Shaw has accomplished
+many difficult feats, but none of them, in my opinion, excels that of
+drafting for the Society and carrying through the manifesto called
+"Fabianism and the Empire."
+
+It was published as a shilling volume by Grant Richards, and although it
+was widely and favourably noticed in the Press the sales were only
+moderate, just over 2000 copies to the end of the year. Some time later
+the Society purchased the remainder of 1500 copies at 1d. and since sold
+them at prices, rising as the stock declined, up to five shillings a
+copy!
+
+The theme of the manifesto is the overriding claim of efficiency not
+only in our own government, and in our empire, but throughout the world.
+The earth belongs to mankind, and the only valid moral right to national
+as well as individual possession is that the occupier is making adequate
+use of it for the benefit of the world community. "The problem before us
+is how the world can be ordered by Great Powers of practically
+international extent.... The partition of the greater part of the globe
+among such powers is, as a matter of fact that must be faced approvingly
+or deploringly, now only a question of time" (p. 3). "The notion that a
+nation has a right to do what it pleases with its own territory, without
+reference to the interests of the rest of the world is no more tenable
+from the International Socialist point of view--that is, from the point
+of view of the twentieth century--than the notion that a landlord has a
+right to do what he likes with his estate without reference to the
+interests of his neighbours.... [In China] we are asserting and
+enforcing international rights of travel and trade. But the right to
+trade is a very comprehensive one: it involves a right to insist on a
+settled government which can keep the peace and enforce agreements. When
+a native government of this order is impossible, the foreign trading
+power must set one up" (pp. 44-5). "The value of a State to the world
+lies in the quality of its civilisation, not in the magnitude of its
+armaments.... There is therefore no question of the steam-rollering of
+little States because they are little, any more than of their
+maintenance in deference to romantic nationalism. The State which
+obstructs international civilisation will have to go, be it big or
+little. That which advances it should be defended by all the Western
+Powers. Thus huge China and little Monaco may share the same fate,
+little Switzerland and the vast United States the same fortune" (p. 46).
+
+As for South Africa, "however ignorantly [our] politicians may argue
+about it, reviling one another from the one side as brigands, and
+defending themselves from the other with quibbles about waste-paper
+treaties and childish slanders against a brave enemy, the fact remains
+that a Great Power, consciously or unconsciously, must govern in the
+interests of civilisation as a whole; and it is not to those interests
+that such mighty forces as gold-fields, and the formidable armaments
+that can be built upon them, should be wielded irresponsibly by small
+communities of frontiersmen. Theoretically they should be
+internationalised, not British-Imperialised; but until the Federation of
+the World becomes an accomplished fact we must accept the most
+responsible Imperial federations available as a substitute for it" (pp.
+23-4).
+
+As however the Manifesto was designed for the general election, this
+theme was only sketched, and the greater part was occupied with matters
+of a more immediately practicable character. The proposed partition of
+China at that time seemed imminent, and our attention had been called to
+the efficiency of the German State organisation of foreign trade in
+comparison with the _laissez-faire_ policy which dominated our Foreign
+Office. We regarded our overseas trade as a national asset, and urged
+that the consular service should be revolutionised. "Any person who
+thinks this application of Socialism to foreign trade through the
+consular system impossible also thinks the survival of his country in
+the age of the Powers impossible. No German thinks it impossible. If he
+has not already achieved it, he intends to" (pp. 10, 11). We must "have
+in every foreign market an organ of commercially disinterested
+industrial intelligence. A developed consulate would be such an organ."
+"The consulate could itself act as broker, if necessary, and have a
+revenue from commissions, of which, however, the salaries of its
+officials should be strictly independent" (pp. 10 and 8).
+
+The present army should be replaced "by giving to the whole male
+population an effective training in the use of arms without removing
+them from civil life. This can be done without conscription or barrack
+life" by extending the half-time system to the age of 21 and training
+the young men in the other half. From the millions of men thus trained
+"we could obtain by voluntary enlistment a picked professional force of
+engineers, artillery, and cavalry, and as large a garrison for outlying
+provinces as we chose to pay for, if we made it attractive by the
+following reforms": full civil rights, a living wage, adequate
+superannuation after long service, and salaries for officers on the
+civil scale. The other reforms advocated included a minimum wage for
+labour, grants in aid for housing, freedom for municipal trading,
+municipal public-houses, and reorganisation of the machinery of
+education, as explained later. "The moral of it all is that what the
+British Empire wants most urgently in its government is not
+Conservatism, not Liberalism, not Imperialism, but brains and political
+science" (p. 93).
+
+[Illustration: GRAHAM WALLAS, IN 1891]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[30] Shaw has "vehemently protested" against this phrase, saying that he
+"put in six years of hard committee work to the astonishment of the
+vestrymen who had not expected (him) to be a man of business and a
+sticker at it." But I am still of opinion that the secondary effects of
+those six years on his knowledge of affairs and the lessons he has drawn
+from them in his writings and speeches have been of greater value to his
+innumerable readers and hearers than was his administrative diligence to
+the Parish of St. Pancras.
+
+[31] "Fabianism and the Empire," p. 26.
+
+[32] "The Fabian Society and the War: reply by the majority of the
+Executive Committee to the recent circular." (Circular on the referendum
+mentioned later.)
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+Education: 1902-5, and the Labour Party: 1900-15
+
+   Housing--"The Education muddle and the way out"--Supporting the
+   Conservatives--The Education Acts of 1902 and 1903--Feeding School
+   Children--The Labour Representation Committee formed--The Fabian
+   Election Fund--Will Crooks elected in 1910--A Fabian Cabinet
+   Minister--Resignation of Graham Wallas--The younger generation: H.W.
+   Macrosty, J.F. Oakeshott, John W. Martin--Municipal Drink
+   Trade--Tariff Reform--The Decline of the Birth-rate.
+
+
+The controversy described in the preceding chapter was not the only
+business that occupied the Society at the period of the South African
+War.
+
+Amongst minor affairs was a change of premises. The office first taken,
+in 1891, was at 276 Strand, in the island at that time formed by
+Holywell Street which ran between the churches of St. Clement Danes and
+St. Martin's in the Fields. At the end of 1899 the London County Council
+acquired the property for the Kingsway and Aldwych clearance scheme, and
+we found new quarters in a basement at Clement's Inn, a pleasant couple
+of rooms, with plenty of light, though sometimes maliciously
+misdescribed as a cellar. At the end of 1908 we removed into three much
+more spacious rooms at the same address, also in "a dismal basement,"
+where we remained until in 1914 the Society rented a house at 25 Tothill
+Street, Westminster.
+
+Another undertaking was a conference on Housing. Although the first
+public effort of the Society was its conference at South Place Chapel in
+1886, this particular form of propaganda has never commended itself to
+the Executive, chiefly no doubt because conferences, to which numerous
+representative persons are invited, are most useful for promoting
+moderate reforms which have already made themselves acceptable to the
+members and officials of local governing bodies. Such reforms the Fabian
+Society does not regard as its special business; it prefers to pioneer;
+it is true that it uses its machinery for spreading a knowledge of local
+government in all its forms, but that is mainly a matter of office
+routine.
+
+However, for once we took up an already popular proposal. The Housing of
+the Working Classes Act of 1890 was an admirable measure, but it was
+hedged about with obstacles which rendered it very difficult to work in
+urban areas and virtually useless in rural districts. We had drafted an
+amending Bill for rural districts in 1895, which was read a first time
+in the House of Commons on the day of the vote on the supply of cordite,
+when the defeat of the Liberal Government led to the dissolution of
+Parliament.
+
+The Act of 1890 was singular in one respect. Part III was headed
+"Working-Class Lodging Houses," and was drafted accordingly, but the
+definition of lodging-houses was made to include cottages with not more
+than half an acre of garden, thus enabling houses to be provided by
+local authorities in town and country, apart from clearances of
+insanitary areas. For years this definition was overlooked, and very few
+people were aware that cottages could be built in rural districts by the
+Guardians, and later by Rural District Councils. Our Leaflet No. 63,
+"Parish Council Cottages," issued in 1895, was almost the first
+publication drawing attention to the subject, and with one exception no
+use was made of these powers of the Act in rural districts before that
+year. Our Tract 76, "Houses for the People," published in 1897,
+explained the Act in simple language, and was widely circulated.
+
+In 1900 an amending Act, chiefly to simplify procedure in rural
+districts, was promised by the Government; and the conference we called
+was intended to agitate for widening its scope and strengthening its
+provisions. The papers, read by Clement Edwards (afterwards M.P.), Miss
+Constance Cochrane, Alderman Thompson, and others, were first discussed
+at a preliminary private meeting in December, and then submitted to the
+Conference, which was held on March 1st, the day following the
+Conference at which the Labour Party was established. By choosing this
+date we secured a large number of delegates from Trade Unions, and these
+were reinforced by numerous delegates from Vestries and other local
+authorities, altogether numbering about 400. At the close of the
+proceedings a National Committee was formed with headquarters at the
+Fabian Office, which had however only a short career. The Conference
+papers were printed as a bulky penny tract, "The House Famine and How to
+Relieve It," which rapidly went through two editions. We also published
+"Cottage Plans and Common Sense," by Raymond Unwin, which describes how
+cottages should be built--an anticipation of garden suburbs and
+town-planning--and a compilation of everything which Parish Councils had
+done and could do, including housing, prepared by Sidney Webb and
+called "Five Years' Fruits of the Parish Councils Act," which in 1908
+was revised and reissued as "Parish Councils and Village Life." A speech
+by W.C. Steadman, M.P., who was a member of the Society, was printed
+under the title "Overcrowding and Its Remedy." Our agitation was not
+without results. The amending Acts of 1900, 1903, and 1909 have done
+much to remove the unnecessary administrative complexities of the Act of
+1890, but in fact the problem is still unsolved, and the scandalous
+character of our housing, both urban and rural, remains perhaps the
+blackest blot in the record of British civilisation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Society had always been concerned in public education. Its first
+electoral success was when Mrs. Besant and the Rev. Stewart Headlam were
+elected to the London School Board in 1888, and except for one interval
+of three years Mr. Headlam has sat on the School Board and its
+successor, the London County Council, ever since. Sidney Webb was
+Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the L.C.C. Technical Education Board from
+its foundation in 1893, almost continuously until the Board came to an
+end in 1904, after the London Education Act. Graham Wallas was elected
+to the School Board in 1894, and from 1897 onwards was Chairman of the
+School Management Committee; he had been re-elected in 1900, and was
+therefore filling the most important administrative position on the
+Board when the Education question was before the Society.
+
+The educational scheme of the Society was not, however, the joint
+production of its experts. It was entirely the work of Sidney Webb.
+Headlam and Wallas, and the members who took part, contributed their
+share as critics, but as critics only, and for the most part as hostile
+critics. It was in part a struggle between the County Councils and the
+School Boards and in part a controversy over the denominational schools.
+Wallas opposed our proposals in the main because he regarded them as
+too favourable to sectarian education: Headlam was against them on both
+issues. They put up a vigorous fight, but they were beaten every time in
+the Society, as the defenders of School Boards were beaten ultimately in
+Parliament and in the country.
+
+The first step in the controversy was taken in May, 1899, when a
+Members' Meeting was held to discuss "The Education Muddle and the Way
+Out," in the form of sixteen resolutions, six on "General Principles"
+and the remainder on "Immediate Practicable Proposals." These were
+introduced by Webb, and the "General Principles," advocating the
+transfer of education to the local government authority and the
+abolition of School Boards, were adopted. Amendments by Graham Wallas
+were defeated by large majorities, and the discussion on the second
+part, the immediately practicable proposals, was adjourned.
+
+At the adjourned meeting in November, 1899, the resolutions were put
+aside and a draft tract was submitted. Graham Wallas again led the
+opposition, which was always unsuccessful, though serious shortcomings
+in the proposals were revealed and it was agreed to meet the criticisms
+wherever possible. Finally it was decided to appoint a Revision
+Committee, on which Wallas was placed. Thirteen months passed before the
+scheme came before the Society again; in December the tract as amended
+was submitted, and this time the chief critic was Mr. Headlam. On the
+main question of principle he found only one supporter, and with minor
+amendments the scheme was adopted.
+
+It is unnecessary to describe the Fabian plan, because it is
+substantially the system of administration, established by the Act of
+1902, under which present-day education is organised. The main
+difference is that we presented a revolutionary proposal in an
+extremely moderate form and Mr. Arthur Balfour found himself able to
+carry out our principles more thoroughly than we thought practically
+possible. Our tract advocated the abolition of all School Boards, but
+anticipated, incorrectly, that those of the twenty or thirty largest
+cities would be too strong to be destroyed: and whilst insisting that
+the public must find all the money required to keep the voluntary
+schools in full efficiency, we only proposed that this should take the
+form of a large grant by County Councils and County Boroughs, whilst Mr.
+Balfour was able to make the Councils shoulder the cost.
+
+How far the draughtsmen of the Bill were influenced by the Fabian scheme
+cannot here be estimated, but the authorities at Whitehall were so
+anxious to see it that they were supplied with proofs before
+publication; and the tract when published was greedily devoured by
+perplexed M.P.'s.
+
+It must be recollected that the whole complex machinery of educational
+administration was in the melting-pot, and nobody knew what was to come
+out of it. It had been assumed by nearly everybody that education was a
+department of local government which demanded for its management a
+special class of representatives. The Liberal Party was attached to
+School Boards, because their creation had been one of the great party
+victories of Mr. Gladstone's greatest Government, because they embodied
+a triumph over the Church and the virtual establishment of nonconformity
+in control of half the elementary schools of the country. Socialists and
+the vague labour section took the same view partly because they believed
+theoretically in direct election for all purposes and partly because the
+cumulative vote, intended to secure representation to minorities, gave
+them better chances of success at the polls than they then had in any
+other local election. The Board schools, with ample funds derived from
+the rates, were far better than the so-called voluntary schools; but
+more than half the children of the nation were educated in these
+schools, under-staffed, ill-equipped, and on the average in all respects
+inefficient. Every year that passed turned out thus its quota of poorly
+educated children. Something had to be done at once to provide more
+money for these inferior schools. It might be better that they should be
+abolished and State schools everywhere supplied, but this was a counsel
+of perfection, and there was no time to wait for it. Then again the
+distinction between elementary education for the poor, managed by School
+Boards and by the voluntary school authorities, and other education
+controlled and subsidised by Town and County Councils, was disastrous,
+the more so since a recent legal decision (the Cockerton case) had
+restricted the limits of School Board education more narrowly than ever.
+
+All sorts of projects might have been proposed for solving these complex
+difficulties, projects drafted in the interests of the Church or the
+Nonconformists, the voluntary schools or the schools of the local
+authorities: but, in fact, the scheme proposed by Mr. Balfour followed
+almost precisely the lines laid down in our tract, which was published
+in January, 1901, and of which 20,000 copies were quickly circulated.
+
+At the Annual Meeting in May, 1901, a resolution was adopted, in spite
+of the vigorous opposition of Mr. Headlam, welcoming the Government Bill
+and suggesting various amendments to it. This Bill was withdrawn, to be
+reintroduced a year later as the Education Bill, 1902, which ultimately
+became law. This measure was considered at a meeting in May, 1902, and a
+long series of resolutions welcoming the Bill and advocating amendments
+on eighteen different points was carried in spite of vigorous
+opposition. Nearly all these amendments, the chief of which was directed
+to making the Bill compulsory where it was drafted as optional, were
+embodied in the Act.
+
+Our support of the Conservative Government in their education policy
+caused much surprise and attracted not a little attention. We had been
+suspected by other Socialists, not without excuse, of intrigues with the
+Liberals, and our attack on that party in 1893 was made exclusively in
+the interests of Labour. Now when Liberals and Labour were united in
+denouncing the Government, when Nonconformists who had deserted
+Liberalism on the Home Rule issue were returning in thousands to their
+old party, the Fabians, alone amongst progressives (except of course the
+Irish, who were keen to save the Roman Catholic schools), supported the
+Government in what was popularly regarded as a reactionary policy. Time
+has vindicated our judgment. The theological squabbles which occupied so
+much of the energies of the School Boards are now forgotten because the
+rival sects are no longer represented on the Education Authorities, that
+is, the town and county councils. Education has been secularised in the
+sense that it is no longer governed by clerics, and though some Liberals
+now desire to carry Mr. Balfour's policy still further, the Liberal
+Party in its ten years of office has never been able to affect any
+further change.
+
+The Act of 1902 did not apply to London, and in the great province ruled
+by its County Council the case for maintaining the separate existence of
+the School Board was stronger than anywhere else. The London County
+Council itself was unwilling to undertake elementary education, and the
+School Board, like all other bodies in such circumstances, vehemently
+objected to its own dissolution. The Board was efficient; its schools
+were excellent; there was no evidence that the already overburdened
+County Council could properly carry on the work. On the other hand, the
+Fabian Society was in a stronger position. The Chairman of the Technical
+Education Board was something more than a self-constituted authority on
+the organisation of education: and the other members of the Society were
+engaged on a contest on their home ground. Into the details of the
+resolutions submitted to the Fabian Society outlining a plan for London
+education it is needless now to enter, except to say that Graham Wallas
+on this issue supported, without enthusiasm, the policy of the Society.
+Mr. Balfour made no fewer than three attempts to solve the problem, each
+time approaching more nearly to the plan prepared by the Fabian Society.
+On the third and eventually successful Bill thirteen amendments were
+formulated by the Society, eleven of which were adopted by the House of
+Commons, and finally, to quote our Annual Report, "the Act only departed
+from our plan by giving to the Borough Councils the appointment of
+two-thirds of the managers of provided schools, while we desired the
+proportion to be one-half, and omitting a proposal that the Education
+Authority should have compulsory powers to acquire sites for schools
+other than elementary."
+
+On the County Council itself, which was strongly opposed to the Bill,
+Mr. Webb conducted a skilful and successful campaign to defeat a policy
+of passive resistance which might have led to endless difficulties. But
+that is outside the history of the Fabian Society.
+
+It should be added that the Society did not content itself with merely
+passing resolutions. All these documents were printed by thousands and
+posted to members of Parliament and of education authorities up and
+down the country: our members incessantly lectured and debated at
+Liberal Associations and Clubs, and indefatigably worked the London and
+Provincial presses; none of the resources of skilful propagandists was
+neglected which might shake the opposition to the Bills, or convince
+some of the Liberal and Labour opponents that for once at any rate a
+good thing might come from the Conservative Party.
+
+The transfer of the control of all elementary schools to the local
+authorities rendered at last possible the public feeding of school
+children, long before advocated by the Social Democratic Federation.
+This had hitherto been regarded by the Fabian Society as impracticable;
+though an eloquent and often quoted passage in Graham Wallas's
+contribution to "Fabian Essays" describes the schools of the future with
+"associated meals [served] on tables spread with flowers, in halls
+surrounded with beautiful pictures, or even, as John Milton proposed,
+filled with the sound of music." Our contribution towards this ideal was
+Tract No. 120, "After Bread Education: a Plan for the State Feeding of
+School Children," published in 1905, one of the few tracts for which
+Hubert Bland was largely responsible, which advocated a reform carried
+into law a year later.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In 1893, and even before, the Fabian Society had urged the Trade
+Unionists to form a Labour Party of their own, and earlier in the same
+year the Independent Labour Party had been founded which was originally
+intended to achieve the object indicated by its name, but which quickly
+became a purely Socialist society. It carried on a vigorous and
+successful propaganda amongst Trade Unionists, with the result that in
+1899 the Trade Union Congress passed a resolution directing its
+Parliamentary Committee, in co-operation with the Socialist Societies,
+to call a conference in order "to devise ways and means for securing an
+increased number of Labour members in the next Parliament." In
+accordance with this resolution the Society was invited to appoint two
+representatives to meet the delegates of the Parliamentary Committee and
+of the two other Socialist organisations. Bernard Shaw and myself were
+appointed, and we took part in the business of arranging for the
+Conference. This was held on the last two days of February, 1900, and I
+was appointed the one delegate to which the Society was by its numbers
+entitled. The "Labour Representation Committee" was duly formed, and it
+was decided that the Executive Committee of twelve should include one
+elected by the Fabian Society. This Committee was constituted then and
+there, and, as "Fabian News" reports, "Edward R. Pease provisionally
+appointed himself, as the only Fabian delegate, to be on the Executive
+Committee, and the Executive Committee has since confirmed the
+appointment." This little comedy was carried on for some years. The
+Fabian Society was only entitled to send one delegate to the annual
+conference, but that delegate had the right of electing one member to
+the Executive Committee, and I was appointed by my Committee to serve in
+both capacities. But the incident embodies a moral. The Trade Unionists
+on the Committee represented in the earlier years about 100,000 members
+each: I then represented some 700. But although it was often proposed to
+amend the constitution by giving every vote an equal value, the Trade
+Union leaders always defended the over-representation of the Socialists
+(the I.L.P. were also over-represented, though their case was not so
+extreme) partly because the Labour Representation Committee was founded
+as a federation of Socialists and Trade Unionists, and partly because
+Socialist Societies, consisting exclusively of persons keenly concerned
+in politics, were entitled to larger representation per head of
+membership than Unions which were primarily non-political. But when we
+remember how attractive to the average man are broad generalisations
+like "one vote one value," and how plausible a case could be made out
+against discrimination in favour of Socialist Societies, it has always
+seemed to me a remarkable example of the practical common sense of
+organised labour that the old constitution has been preserved, in fact
+though not precisely in form, to the present day. By the present
+constitution the "Socialist Section" elects three members to the
+Executive from nominations sent in advance; but as the I.L.P. always
+makes two nominations, and the Fabian Society one, the alteration of the
+rule has not in fact made any change, and the over-representation of
+this section is of course undiminished.
+
+Six months after the Labour Representation Committee was formed the
+Society adopted a project drafted by Mr. S.G. Hobson for a Labour
+Members' Guarantee Fund, and circulated it amongst the Unions affiliated
+to the Committee. The proposal was submitted by its author on behalf of
+the Society to the Labour Representation Conference of 1901, but an
+amendment both approving of the scheme and declaring that the time was
+not ripe for it was carried. A year later however the Conference
+unanimously agreed to establish its Parliamentary Fund by which salaries
+for their M.P.'s were provided until Parliament itself undertook the
+business.
+
+For several years after this the Fabian Society did not greatly concern
+itself with the Labour Party. I attended the Annual Conferences and took
+a regular part in the work of the Executive Committee, but my
+colleagues of the Fabian Society as a whole showed little interest in
+the new body. In a sense, it was not in our line. Its object was to
+promote Labour Representation in Parliament, and the Fabian Society had
+never run, and had never intended to run, candidates for Parliament or
+for any local authority. We had made appeals for election funds on a
+good many occasions and had succeeded once or twice in collecting
+substantial sums, but this was a very different matter from accepting
+responsibility for a candidate and his election expenses. Therefore, for
+a good while, we remained in a position of benevolent passivity.
+
+The Labour Representation Committee was founded as a Group, not as a
+Party, and one of the two members elected under its auspices at the
+General Election of 1900 ran as a Liberal. In 1903 it transformed itself
+into a Party, and then began the somewhat strange anomaly that the
+Fabian Society as a whole was affiliated to the Labour Party, whilst
+some of its members were Liberal Members of Parliament. It is true that
+the Trade Unions affiliated to the party were in the same position:
+their members also were sometimes official Liberals and even Liberal
+M.P.'s. The Labour Party itself never complained of the anomaly in the
+position of the Society or questioned its collective loyalty. And the
+Liberals in our Society never took any action hostile to the Labour
+Party, or indeed, so far as I know, supported any of the proposals
+occasionally made that we should disaffiliate from it. These proposals
+always came from "Fabian reformers," the younger men who wanted to
+create a revolution in the Society. And so little was their policy
+matured that in several cases the same member first tried to get the
+Society to expel all members who worked with any party other than the
+Labour Party, and a short time later moved that the Society should
+leave the Labour Party altogether. Or perhaps it was the other way
+round. Logical consistency is usually incompatible with political
+success: compromise runs smooth, whilst principle jams. But the lesser
+sort of critic, on the look out for a grievance, can always apply a
+principle to a compromise, point out that it does not fit, and that
+difficulties may arise. In the case in question they have in fact rarely
+arisen, and such as have occurred have been easily surmounted. It is not
+necessary to record here all the proposals put forward from time to time
+that the Society should disaffiliate from the Labour Party, or on the
+other hand, that it should expel, directly or indirectly, all members
+who did not confine their political activities to co-operating with the
+Labour Party. It may be assumed that one or other of these proposals was
+made every few years after the Labour Party was constituted, and that in
+every case it was defeated, as a rule, by a substantial majority.
+
+The Labour Party won three remarkable victories in the period between
+the General Election of 1900 and that of 1906. In 1902 Mr. David
+Shackleton was returned unopposed for a Liberal seat, the Clitheroe
+Division of Lancashire; in 1903 Mr. (now the Right Hon.) Will Crooks, an
+old member of our Society, captured Woolwich from the Conservatives by a
+majority of 3229, amidst a scene of enthusiasm which none who were
+present will ever forget: and five months later Mr. (now the Right Hon.)
+Arthur Henderson, who later became a member of our Society, beat both
+Liberal and Tory opponents at the Barnard Castle Division of Durham.
+
+When the election campaign of 1906 began the Labour Party put fifty
+candidates into the field and succeeded in carrying no fewer than
+twenty-nine of them, whilst another joined the party after his
+election. Four of these were members of the Fabian Society, and in
+addition three Fabians were successful as Liberals, including Percy
+Alden, then a member of our Executive Committee.
+
+Whilst the election was in progress Mr. H.G. Wells began the Fabian
+reform movement which is described in the next chapter. At that time he
+did not bring the Labour Party into his scheme of reconstruction, but
+some of the members of his Committee were then ardent adherents of that
+party, and they persuaded his Committee to report in favour of the
+Society's choosing "in harmonious co-operation with other Socialist and
+Labour bodies, Parliamentary Candidates of its own. Constituencies for
+such candidates should be selected, a special election fund raised and
+election campaigns organised."
+
+The result was that a resolution proposed by the Executive Committee was
+carried early in March, 1907, directing the appointment of a Committee
+to report on "the best means of promoting local Socialist societies of
+the Fabian type with the object of increasing Socialist representation
+in Parliament as a party co-operating as far as possible with the Labour
+Party whilst remaining independent of that and of all other Parties."
+
+This, it will be observed, is a different proposition, and one which
+resulted in a lot of talk and nothing else. Bernard Shaw had the idea
+that there might be county constituencies in the South of England, where
+independent middle-class Socialists could win when Labour candidates had
+no chance. No such constituency has ever been discovered and the Fabian
+scheme has never even begun to be realised.
+
+In January, 1908, the Committee's Report was considered and adopted, the
+important item being the decision to send a circular to every member
+inviting promises to an election fund of at least L5,000, contributions
+to be spread over five years. This ultimately resulted in promises
+amounting to L2637--a much larger sum than the Society had ever had at
+its command--and with this substantial fund in prospect the Society was
+in a position to begin the business of electioneering.
+
+A favourable opportunity soon presented itself. A vacancy at the little
+town of Taunton was not to be fought by the Liberals, while the
+Conservative candidate, the Hon. W. (now Viscount) Peel, was a London
+County Councillor, bitterly opposed even to the mild collectivism of the
+London Progressives, Frank Smith, a member both of the Society and the
+London County Council, was willing to fight, the Labour Party Executive
+cordially approved, and the members promptly paid up the first
+instalment of their promises. The election cost L316, of which the
+Society paid L275, and although our candidate was beaten by 1976 votes
+to 1085, the result was not contrary to our anticipations.
+
+During 1909 the Executive Committee resolved to run two candidates, both
+already nominated by the I.L.P., who willingly transferred to us the
+responsibility for their election expenses. W. Stephen Sanders had been
+third on the poll out of six candidates who fought in 1906 for the two
+seats at Portsmouth, and as he had polled 8172 votes, more than either
+Conservative, it was reasonably hoped that the Liberals would leave one
+of the seats to him. Harry Snell at Huddersfield was opposing both
+parties, but had a fair chance of winning. At the General Election of
+January, 1910, neither of these candidates was successful, Sanders,
+opposed by Lord Charles Beresford with an irresistible shipbuilding
+programme, only obtaining 3529 votes, whilst at Huddersfield Snell was
+second on the poll, but 1472 behind the Liberal. Elsewhere, however, the
+members of the Society did well, no less than eight securing seats, four
+for the Labour Party and four as Liberals.
+
+In December, 1910, we won our first electoral victory. Will Crooks had
+lost his seat at Woolwich in January by 295 votes. It was decided to
+take over his candidature from the Coopers' Union, a very small society
+which only nominally financed it, and also to support Harry Snell again
+at Huddersfield. Will Crooks was victorious by 236 votes, but Harry
+Snell failed to reduce the Liberal majority. Elsewhere members of the
+Society were very successful. In all eight secured seats for the Labour
+Party and four for the Liberals, amongst the latter Mr. (now Sir) L.G.
+Chiozza Money, then a member of the Executive Committee.
+
+This brings the electoral record of the Society up to the present time,
+except that it should be mentioned that Mr. Arthur Henderson, M.P., who
+became a member of the Society in 1912, was in 1915 both Secretary of
+the Labour Party Executive and Chairman of the party in the House of
+Commons, until he relinquished the latter position on joining the
+Coalition Cabinet as Minister for Education, being thus actually the
+first member of a Socialist society to attain Cabinet rank in this
+country during his membership.
+
+During these later years the Fabian Society with its increased numbers
+was entitled to several delegates at the annual conference of the Labour
+Party, and it frequently took part in the business by putting motions or
+amendments on the agenda paper. All talk of forming a Fabian Socialist
+Party had died away, and the Executive Committee had shown itself far
+more appreciative of the importance of the Labour Party than in earlier
+years. I continued to represent the Society on the Executive Committee
+until the end of 1913, when I retired, and the new General Secretary, W.
+Stephen Sanders, took my place. When in December, 1915, he accepted a
+commission for the period of the war, as a recruiting officer, Sidney
+Webb was appointed to fill the vacancy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The account of the part taken by the Society in the work of the Labour
+Party has carried us far beyond the period previously described, and a
+short space must now be devoted to the years which intervened between
+the Education episode and the outburst of activity to be described in
+the next chapter.
+
+Social progress advances in waves, and outbursts of energy are always
+succeeded by depressions. Up to 1899 the Society slowly grew in
+membership until this reached 861. Then it slowly declined to 730 in
+1904. This was symptomatic of a general lack of interest in Socialism.
+The lectures and meetings were poorly attended, and the really important
+debates which decided our educational policy were conducted by only a
+few dozen members. Twenty years had passed since the Society was
+founded. Of the Essayists Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb, Hubert Bland, and
+when in England, Sydney Olivier were still leaders of the Society, and
+so until January, 1904, was Graham Wallas, who then resigned his
+membership on account of his disagreement with the tract on Tariff
+Reform, but really, as his letter published in "Fabian News" indicated,
+because in the long controversy over education policy he had found
+himself constantly in the position of a hostile critic. It should be
+added that his resignation has been followed by none of those personal
+and political disagreements which so commonly accompany the severance of
+old associations. Mr. Wallas has remained a Fabian in all except name.
+His friendship with his old colleagues has been unbroken, and he has
+always been willing to assist the Society out of his abundant stores of
+special knowledge both by lecturing at its meetings and by taking part
+in conferences and even by attending quite small meetings of special
+groups.
+
+In all these years a large number of younger members had come forward,
+none of them of quite the same calibre as the Essayists, but many of
+them contributing much to the sum total of the Society's influence. Of
+these perhaps the most active was Henry W. Macrosty,[33] who sat on the
+Executive from 1895 till 1907, when he retired on account of the
+pressure of official duties. During and indeed before his period of
+office Mr. Macrosty was constantly engaged in research and writing for
+the Society. He prepared the Eight Hours Bill which approached nearest
+to practicability (Tract 48, "Eight Hours by Law," 1893); in 1898 he
+wrote for the Society "State Arbitration and the Living Wage" (Tract
+83); in 1899, Tract 88, "The Growth of Monopoly in English Industry"; in
+1905 "The Revival of Agriculture, a national policy for Great Britain,"
+the last named an extraordinarily farsighted anticipation of the chief
+reforms which were advocated with such vigour by the Liberal Party, and
+indeed by all parties in the years preceding the great war. In the same
+year his "State Control of Trusts" was published as Tract 124. As I have
+before explained, a great part of the published work of the Society has
+been prepared co-operatively, and in this process Mr. Macrosty always
+took an active part. He had a considerable share in drafting the
+innumerable documents issued in connection with the education
+controversy, and indeed participated in all the activities of the
+Executive until his retirement.
+
+Scarcely less active was Joseph F. Oakeshott, who has been already
+mentioned in connection with the Fellowship of the New Life. He joined
+the Executive when it was first enlarged in 1890, and sat until 1902. A
+Somerset House official, like Macrosty, he was strong on statistics, and
+for many years he undertook the constant revisions of the figures of
+national income, in the various editions of our "Facts for Socialists,"
+
+His "Democratic Budget" (Tract 39) was our first attempt to apply
+Socialism to taxation: and his "Humanising of the Poor Law" (Tract 54),
+published in 1894, set out the policy which in recent years has been
+widely adopted by the better Boards of Guardians.
+
+John W. Martin sat on the Executive from 1894 to 1899, wrote Tract No.
+52, "State Education at Home and Abroad" (1894), and did a lot of
+valuable lecturing, both here and in America, where he married the
+leading exponent of Fabianism and editor of a monthly called "The
+American Fabian," and, settling in New York, has since, under the name
+of John Martin, played a considerable part in the educational and
+progressive politics of his adopted city.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I will conclude this chapter with a short account of some of the
+applications of Socialism to particular problems which were studied by
+the Society in or about this period of its history.
+
+In 1897 and 1898 a good deal of time was devoted to working out a scheme
+for the municipalisation of the Drink Trade. This was before the
+publication of "The Temperance Problem and Social Reform," by Joseph
+Rowntree and Arthur Sherwell, in 1899, a volume which was the first to
+treat the subject scientifically on a large scale. I took the lead on
+the question, and finally two tracts were published in 1898, "Liquor
+Licensing at Home and Abroad" (No. 85), giving a sketch of the facts,
+and "Municipal Drink Traffic" (No. 86), which set out a scheme drafted
+by me, but substantially modified as the result of discussions by the
+Executive Committee and by meetings of members. This is one of the few
+causes taken up by the Society which has made but little progress in
+popular favour in the seventeen years that have elapsed since we adopted
+it.
+
+Old Age Pensions, proposed in 1890 by Sidney Webb in Tract 17, "Reform
+of the Poor Law," was definitely advocated in Tract No. 73, "The Case
+for State Pensions in Old Age," written in 1896 by George Turner, one of
+the cleverest of the younger members. The Society did not make itself
+responsible for the scheme he proposed, universal pensions for all, and
+the Old Age Pensions Act of 1908 adopted another plan.
+
+In 1899 and 1900 we devoted much time to the working out of further
+schemes of municipalisation in the form of a series of leaflets, Nos. 90
+to 97. We applied the principle to Milk, Pawnshops, Slaughterhouses,
+Bakeries, Fire Insurance, and Steamboats. These were written by various
+members, and are all careful little studies of the subject, but they
+were not issued in a convenient form, and none of the schemes advocated
+has yet been generally carried out.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Tariff Reform agitation could not pass unnoticed, and for a time
+Bernard Shaw showed a certain inclination to toy with it. A tract
+advocating Free Trade was actually set up, but got no further. Finally
+Shaw drafted "Fabianism and the Fiscal Question An Alternative Policy"
+(Tract 116), which we adopted with practical unanimity, though it was
+the occasion of the resignation of Graham Wallas.
+
+It was perhaps the least successful of the many pronouncements written
+by Bernard Shaw on behalf of the Society. A subtle and argumentative
+criticism of Mr. Chamberlain's policy on one side and of the Free Trade
+rejoinder on the other is neither simple nor decisive enough for the
+general reader: and the alternatives advocated--reorganisation of the
+consular service in the interests of export trade, free ocean transit
+for the purpose of consolidating the Empire and nationalisation of
+railways as a necessary corollary together with improved technical
+education--were too futurist, and appealed directly to too small and
+conservative a class, to attract much attention in the heat of a vital
+controversy. The writer had no anticipation of the triumph of
+Liberalism, then so near, and Evidently expected that Mr. Chamberlain
+would carry the country for his policy. The tract was also issued in a
+shilling edition on superior paper with a preface by the author, and it
+is the only one of his publications which has failed to sell freely.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At this period we had a number of Committees appointed to investigate
+various problems, and one of them, which had for its reference the
+Birth-rate and Infant Mortality, produced a report of more that
+temporary significance. When the Society was formed the Malthusian
+hypothesis held the field unchallenged and the stock argument against
+Socialism was that it would lead to universal misery by removing the
+beneficent checks on the growth of population, imposed by starvation
+and disease upon the lowest stratum of society. Since the year 1876 the
+birth-rate had declined, and gradually the fear of over-population,
+which had saddened the lives of such men as John Stuart Mill, began to
+give way to the much less terrifying but still substantial fear of
+under-population, caused either by race degeneracy or race suicide. At
+that period the former of the two was the accepted explanation, and only
+by vague hints did scientific statisticians indicate that there might be
+or perhaps must be something else than "natural" causes for the decline.
+To the Society it seemed an all-important question. Was our race to
+perish by sterility, and if so, was sterility due to wealth and luxury
+or to poverty and disease? Or was the cause of the decline a voluntary
+limitation of families? We determined, as a first step, to form some
+sort of statistical estimate of the extent of voluntary restriction. We
+thought, and, as the event proved, thought rightly, that our members
+would be willing to assist us in this delicate enquiry. They were a
+sample of the population, selected in a manner which bore no sort of
+relation to the question at issue, and if we could get returns from them
+indicating their personal practice in the matter, we might have some
+clue to the facts. It turned out that the result was far more startling
+and far more conclusive than we suspected.
+
+In November, 1905, carefully drafted enquiry forms were sent out to all
+members of the Society except unmarried women, so arranged as to allow
+exact answers to be given to the questions without disclosure of the
+name or handwriting of the deponent. Of the 634 posted 460 were returned
+or accounted for, and only two members signified objection to the
+enquiry. After deduction of bachelors and others not relevant, we
+obtained particulars of 316 marriages. I prepared an elaborate
+statistical report, which showed that in the period 1890-1899 out of 120
+marriages only 6 fertile marriages were recorded in which no restriction
+had been adopted. This was the first and possibly is the only
+statistical enquiry yet made on the subject, and although the number of
+cases was minute in proportion to the population, the evidence afforded
+by that sample was sufficient to be conclusive, that at any rate a
+cause, and probably the chief cause, of the fall in the birth-rate was
+voluntary limitation of families.
+
+The method of publication presented some difficulty, and finally it was
+decided, in order to secure the most generally impressive publicity, to
+ask Sidney Webb to collect the other available evidence and to make an
+article out of the whole, to be published over his name. It appeared as
+two special articles in "The Times" for October 11th and 18th, 1906, and
+was subsequently reprinted by us as Tract 131, "The Decline of the
+Birth-rate."
+
+Other Committees at this period discussed Agriculture, Poor Law, Local
+Government Areas, Public Control of Electricity, and Feeding of School
+Children. Reports on all these subjects were issued as tracts, some of
+which have been mentioned already in connection with their authors, H.W.
+Macrosty and Hubert Bland, whilst others will be referred to in a future
+chapter.
+
+[Illustration: _From a copyright photograph by Lambert Weston and Son,
+Folkestone_
+
+H.G. WELLS, IN 1908 At the door of his house at Sandgate]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[33] Born 1865. Clerk in the Exchequer and Audit Dept. 1884, Assistant
+Director of the Census of Production 1908. Author of "Trusts and the
+State" (1901) and "The Trust Movement in British Industry" (1907).
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+The Episode of Mr. Wells: 1906-8
+
+   His lecture on administrative areas--"Faults of the Fabian"--The
+   Enquiry Committee--The Report, and the Reply--The real issue, Wells
+   v. Shaw--The women intervene--The Basis altered--The new
+   Executive--Mr. Wells withdraws--His work for Socialism--The writing
+   of Fabian Tracts.
+
+
+The long controversy introduced by Mr. H.G. Wells attracted much public
+attention to the Fabian Society, added greatly to its numbers, and for a
+time made it more of a popular institution than it had been before or
+has been since. But, in fact, its main permanent interest arises from
+the persons who played the leading parts. The real question at issue was
+one neither of Socialist theory nor of Socialist policy. In so far as
+these entered in, Mr. Wells preached to willing listeners, and the only
+difference of opinion was as to the relative stress to be laid on
+particular points. When the episode was over, the chief change made in
+Fabian policy was one which Mr. Wells did not initiate, and which as
+soon as it was actually adopted he virtually repudiated.[34] The
+substance of the controversy was whether the members desired to hand
+over their Society to be managed by Mr. Wells alone, or whether they
+preferred to retain their old leaders and only to accept Mr. Wells as
+one amongst the rest.
+
+Mr. Wells became a member in February, 1903, and in March gave his first
+lecture to the Society on a very technical subject, "The Question of
+Scientific Administrative Areas in Relation to Municipal Undertakings,"
+a paper subsequently published as an appendix to "Mankind in the
+Making."
+
+It was probably his first appearance on a public platform; and as a
+lecture it was by no means a success, because he read his paper in a low
+monotonous voice, addressed to a corner of the hall. If Mr. Wells had
+been by nature or practice as effective in speaking as he is in writing
+the fate of the Fabian Society might have been different. He was
+severely handicapped in his contest with the skilled debaters of the
+"Old Gang," and though after a short time he learnt the art up to a
+point, he was never really at home on a platform, and since the Fabian
+episode he has confined himself for the most part to controversy in
+writing.
+
+The next contribution of Mr. Wells to Fabian propaganda was on January
+12th, 1906. This date had been fixed for his paper next referred to, but
+in view of the General Election then in progress he read in its place
+his admirable article entitled "This Misery of Boots," which was
+subsequently issued as a special Fabian publication.
+
+On February 9th the great controversy began by the paper entitled
+"Faults of the Fabian," read by Mr. Wells to a members' meeting, and
+subsequently issued as a private document to all the members of the
+Society. It was couched altogether in a friendly tone, expressed cordial
+appreciation of the record of the Society, but criticised it for lack of
+imaginative megalomania. It was "still half a drawing-room society,"
+lodged in "an underground apartment," or "cellar," with one secretary
+and one assistant. "The first of the faults of the Fabian, then, is that
+it is small, and the second that strikes me is that, even for its
+smallness, it is needlessly poor." The task undertaken by the Fabians
+"is nothing less than the alteration of the economic basis of society.
+Measure with your eye this little meeting, this little hall: look at
+that little stall of not very powerful tracts: think of the scattered
+members, one here, one there.... Then go out into the Strand. Note the
+size of the buildings and business places, note the glare of the
+advertisements, note the abundance of traffic and the multitude of
+people.... That is the world whose very foundations you are attempting
+to change. How does this little dribble of activities look then?"
+
+The paper goes on to complain that the Society did not advertise itself,
+made the election of new members difficult, and maintained a Basis
+"ill-written and old-fashioned, harsh and bad in tone, assertive and
+unwise." The self-effacive habits and insidious methods of the Society
+were next criticised, and the writer exclaimed, "Make Socialists and you
+will achieve Socialism; there is no other plan." The history of the
+Fabian motto was made use of to enforce the view that victory can only
+be gained by straight fighters like Scipio, whilst Fabius, however
+successful at first, ended his career as a stumbling-block to progress.
+To effect the desired expansion the writer proposed to raise an income
+of L1000 a year, to increase the staff, to prepare literature for the
+conversion of unbelievers, and to get a number of young men and women,
+some paid and some unpaid, to carry on the propaganda and the
+administrative work. "Unless I am the most unsubstantial of dreamers,
+such a propaganda as I am now putting before you ought to carry our
+numbers up towards ten thousand within a year or so of its
+commencement."
+
+At the close of the meeting it was unanimously agreed "that the
+Executive Committee be instructed to appoint a Committee consisting of
+members and non-members of the Executive to consider what measures
+should be taken to increase the scope, influence, income, and activity
+of the Society." Further, a temporary amendment was made to the rules
+deferring the Annual Meeting and Executive election until after the
+Committee had reported.
+
+"The Executive Committee," says "Fabian News," "was of opinion that a
+large Committee including both the Executive and an equal number of
+unofficial members should be appointed. But as Mr. Wells, the author of
+the proposal, was resolutely opposed to this plan, the Executive decided
+that in the circumstances it was best to fall in with his wishes, and
+they accordingly appointed only those members, both Executive and other,
+whom Mr. Wells nominated and who were willing to serve."
+
+The Committee thus appointed consisted of the Rev. Stewart Headlam, Mrs.
+Bernard Shaw, and G.R.S. Taylor of the Executive; Dr. Stanton Coit, W.A.
+Colegate, Dr. Haden Guest, Sydney Olivier, Mrs. Pember Reeves, H.G.
+Wells, and Mrs. Wells.
+
+The Committee held its first sitting on February 28th, but its report
+was not completed and presented to the Executive until the following
+October, Mr. Wells having in the interval visited the United States.
+
+"Faults of the Fabian," written before the election of 1906, gave little
+indication that its author anticipated the sudden outburst of interest
+in Socialism which followed the astonishing success of the Labour Party
+at the polls. When Keir Hardie was chosen as leader of the party, it was
+recognised that Socialism was no longer the creed of a few fanatics, but
+a political force supported, actively or passively, by the great
+organisations of Labour throughout the country, able to fight, and
+sometimes to beat both the older parties. A new era in politics had
+begun. The Tories had been defeated before by Mr. Gladstone's unrivalled
+personality. Now they were defeated, as they had not been for
+three-quarters of a century, by a party none of whose leaders possessed
+an outstanding personality, and by a programme which contained no item
+with any popular appeal. Everybody was thinking and talking politics;
+every political conversation began or ended with that unknown factor,
+the new Labour Party; every discussion of the Labour Party involved a
+discussion of Socialism.
+
+Perhaps Mr. Wells with the intuition of genius in fact foresaw what was
+about to happen: perhaps it was only chance. Anyway his proposal for an
+enlarged and invigorated society came at the precise moment, when the
+realisation of his project was in fact possible; and, of course, his own
+vigorous and interesting personality attracted many to us who might have
+moved in other directions, or indeed never have moved at all.
+
+The inner history of the Wells Committee has never been revealed, but
+the composition of the Committee indicates the probable truth of the
+rumours that the meetings were anything but dull, though in the end the
+Committee arrived at an unanimous report. Sydney Olivier was one of the
+"old gang," though at that time a vigorous supporter of all sorts of
+changes. Mr. Headlam has always stood at the extreme right of the
+movement, and in party politics has never abated his loyalty to
+Liberalism. Mr. G.R.S. Taylor and Dr. Haden Guest were at that time
+eager adherents of the Labour Party, and Dr. Coit, who had just fought
+an election for the Party, no doubt took the same line. Mrs. Shaw by
+habit and Mrs. Reeves by instinct belonged to the government rather than
+to the opposition: and Mr. Colegate, a judicious person, then quite
+young, doubtless inclined to the same side. Last but not least, Mr.
+Wells himself, then as always mercurial in his opinions, but none the
+less intensely opinionated, and unable to believe that anybody could
+honestly differ from him, was by himself sufficient to disturb the
+harmony of any committee.
+
+Mrs. Wells acted as secretary, and the Committee took evidence from
+myself and others before the report was drawn up.
+
+The Report of the Committee is a much less inspiring document than the
+irresponsible and entertaining "Faults of the Fabian." It was largely
+concerned with a number of administrative details. New books and "short
+readable tracts" were to be written, and the format of our publications
+was to be changed. Groups were to be revived in all localities (to be
+called "Wandsworth 1, Wandsworth 2, Wandsworth 3," and so on), together
+with Head-quarters groups, also numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. This perhaps is
+the chief remaining trace of the megalomania of the original scheme, and
+is hidden away in an appendix: all our efforts never yielded Wandsworth
+No. 1, let alone the others! A fixed minimum subscription payable on a
+fixed date and a list of subscriptions to be published annually were
+further suggestions. The rule of the Society had been and is to the
+contrary in both particulars. "Fabian News" was to be enlarged into a
+weekly review addressed to the public, a change which would have
+required an editorial staff and extensive new offices. A publications
+editor was to be appointed who would be able to publish, or to arrange
+for the publication of, such books as Mr. Wells' "A Modern Utopia" and
+Mr. Money's "Riches and Poverty." The Basis of the Society was to be
+rewritten, its name changed to the British Socialist Party--a title
+since adopted by the old Social Democratic Federation--the Executive
+Committee was to be replaced by a Council of twenty-five, which was to
+appoint three Committees of three members each for Publishing, for
+Propaganda, and General Purposes respectively. The last, to be entitled
+the Directing Committee, was to meet frequently and manage most of the
+affairs of the Society. Finally, "in harmonious co-operation with other
+Socialist and Labour bodies," the Society was to run candidates for
+Parliament and raise a fund for the purpose.
+
+It will be seen that some of these proposals were merely speculative.
+Groups could be organised easily enough when the members in any district
+numbered hundreds instead of units, or, at best, dozens. New tracts
+could be published when they were written: a weekly review was possible
+if the capital was provided. The new Basis and the new name were matters
+of emphasis and taste rather than anything else. The new machinery of
+government was in the main a question to be decided by experience. Mr.
+Wells had none; it is said that he never sat on a Committee before that
+under discussion, and certainly while he remained a Fabian he never
+acquired the Committee habit. On the principle underlying some of these
+proposals, viz. that the Society should cease to treat membership as a
+privilege, and should aim at increasing its numbers, there was no
+serious controversy. The Executive Committee had already carried through
+a suggestion made in the discussion on "Faults of the Fabian" for the
+creation of a class of Associates, entitled to all privileges except
+control over policy, with a view to provide a means of attracting new
+adherents. The one constructive proposal, direct collective
+participation in Parliamentary Elections, was quite alien to Mr. Wells'
+original ideas; it was forced on him, it is said, by other members of
+his Committee and was described by himself later on as "secondary and
+subordinate."[35]
+
+The Executive Committee transmitted the Special Committee's Report to
+the members of the Society accompanied by a Report of their own, drafted
+by Bernard Shaw and incomparably superior to the other as a piece of
+literature.[36]
+
+The reply of the Executive Committee began by welcoming criticism from
+within the Society, of which they complained that in the past they had
+had too little. An opposition, they said, was a requisite of good
+government. They were prepared to welcome expansion, but they pointed
+out that the handsome offices proposed must be produced by the large
+income and not the income by the handsome offices. A publishing business
+on the scale suggested could not be undertaken by an unincorporated
+society; moreover, at present the Society had not sufficient income to
+pay its officials at the market rate, or to keep out of debt to its
+printer. They agreed that the Executive Committee should be enlarged,
+but recommended twenty-one instead of twenty-five members; and that the
+three proposed sub-committees be appointed, but of seven members each
+instead of three. The project of triumvirates they could not endorse,
+both for other reasons and because all the leading members of the
+Society refused to serve on them, while the essence of the scheme was
+that the triumvirs should be the most influential members of the
+Society. The abolition of the old-fashioned restrictions on admission to
+membership was approved, but not the proposal for a fixed subscription
+payable on an appointed date. The Executive Committee did not object to
+the proposed new Basis as a whole (and in fact it is on record that its
+adoption by the Executive was only lost by 7 votes to 6); but considered
+that passages were open to criticism and that the time and effort
+necessary for carrying through any new Basis, so worded as to unite
+practically the whole Society, would be better spent in other ways. A
+Socialist weekly would be valuable, but it would not replace "Fabian
+News," which was required for the internal purposes of the Society, and
+capable journalists like Mr. Wells himself preferred the publicity of
+the "Fortnightly Review" and "The Times," to the "Clarion" and the
+"Labour Leader." The Reply goes at great length into the difficulty of
+forming a Socialist Party, and into the composition and policy of the
+Labour Party, all admirably argued, but just a little unreal; for
+Bernard Shaw has never quite understood the Labour Party which he did so
+much to create, and at the same time he is thoroughly convinced that he
+sees it as it is, in the white light of his genius. Permeation is
+described, explained, and defended--the Special Committee had suggested
+rather than proposed, in scarcely more than a sentence, that the policy
+be abandoned--and it is announced that as long as the Executive was
+unchanged there would be no reversal of the political policy of the
+Society. Finally the Reply asserts that the time had come to attempt the
+formation of a middle-class Socialist Party. At the end three
+resolutions were set out, which the Executive submitted to the Society
+for discussion.
+
+How much of personality, how little of principle there was in the great
+controversy is indicated by the fact that Mrs. Bernard Shaw signed the
+Special Committee Report, with the reservation that she also completely
+agreed with the Reply. Mr. Headlam also was a party to both documents:
+Mr. G.R.S. Taylor, alone of the three Executive members of the Special
+Committee, supported the Report and dissociated himself from the Reply.
+Of course the Executive Committee had to decide points in their Report
+by a majority. That majority, in the case of the proposed revision of
+the Basis, was, as already mentioned, one vote only. I did not concur
+with the view expressed about the Labour Party, a body scarcely less
+easy to be understood by an outsider than the Fabian Society itself: and
+at that time I was the only insider on the Fabian Executive.
+
+But the real issue was a personal one. The Executive Committee at that
+time consisted, in addition to the three just named, of Percy Alden
+(Liberal M.P. for Tottenham), Hubert Bland, Cecil E. Chesterton, Dr. F.
+Lawson Dodd, F.W. Galton, S.G. Hobson, H.W. Macrosty, W. Stephen
+Sanders, Bernard Shaw, George Standring, Sidney Webb and myself. Mr.
+Alden was too busy with his new parliamentary duties to take much part
+in the affair. All the rest, except of course Mr. Taylor, stood
+together on the real issue--Was the Society to be controlled by those
+who had made it or was it to be handed over to Mr. Wells? We knew by
+this time that he was a masterful person, very fond of his own way, very
+uncertain what that way was, and quite unaware whither it necessarily
+led. In any position except that of leader Mr. Wells was invaluable, as
+long as he kept it! As leader we felt he would be impossible, and if he
+had won the fight he would have justly claimed a mandate to manage the
+Society on the lines he had laid down. As Bernard Shaw led for the
+Executive, the controversy was really narrowed into Wells versus Shaw.
+
+The Report was sent to the members with "Fabian News" for December,
+1906, and it was the occasion of much excitement. The Society had grown
+enormously during the year. The names of no less than ninety applicants
+for membership are printed in that month's issue alone. In March, 1907,
+the membership was 1267, an increase of nearly 500 in two years.
+
+The discussion was carried on at a series of meetings held at Essex
+Hall, Strand, under the chairmanship of Mr. H. Bond Holding, on December
+7th and 14th, 1906, and January 11th and 18th, February 1st and March
+8th, and also at the Annual Meeting for 1905-6, held on February 22nd,
+1907. The series was interrupted for the London County Council Election
+on March 2nd, in which many of the members were concerned.
+
+With a view to a "Second Reading" debate the executive Committee had put
+down a general resolution that their report be received, but Mr. Wells
+did not fall in with this plan, and the resolution on the motion of
+Bernard Shaw was adopted without discussion. On the first clause of the
+next resolution, instructing the Executive to submit amendments to the
+Rules for increasing their number to twenty-five, Mr. Wells, acting for
+himself, moved an amendment "approving the spirit of the report of the
+Committee of Enquiry, and desiring the outgoing Executive to make the
+earliest possible arrangements for the election of a new Executive to
+give effect to that report." His speech, which occupied an hour and a
+quarter and covered the whole field, would have been great if Mr. Wells
+had been a good speaker. Written out from notes, it was printed in full
+by himself for circulation amongst the members, and it is vigorous,
+picturesque entertaining, and imaginative, as his work always is. But it
+delivered him into the hands of his more experienced opponents by
+virtually challenging the society to discard them and enter on a
+regenerated career under his guidance. It was a heroic issue to force;
+and it was perhaps the real one; but it could have only one result. The
+discussion was adjourned to the 14th, and at 9 o'clock on that evening
+Bernard Shaw replied on the whole debate. His main proposition was that,
+as the amendment had been converted by Mr. Wells' printed and circulated
+speech into a motion of want of confidence, the leaders of the Society
+must and would retire if it were adopted. They were willing to discuss
+every point on its merits and to abide by the decision of the Society,
+but they would not accept a general approval of the Committee's Report
+as against their own when it implied an accusation of misconduct. In the
+course of the speech Mr. Wells pledged himself not to retire from the
+Society if he was defeated; and at the end of it he consented to
+withdraw his amendment. Bernard Shaw's speech, probably the most
+impressive he has ever made in the Society, was delivered to a large and
+keenly appreciative audience in a state of extreme excitement. A long
+report pacifically toned down by Shaw himself, appears in "Fabian News"
+(January, 1907). It succeeded in its object. The Executive Committee
+welcomed the co-operation of Mr. Wells; the last thing they desired was
+to drive him out of the Society, and whilst they could not accept his
+report as a whole, they were willing to adopt any particular item after
+full discussion. There is no doubt that they would have won if the
+amendment had gone to a division, but they were only too glad not to
+inflict a defeat on their opponents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The next episode in the debate requires a few words of introduction. The
+Society had always been in favour of votes for women. A proposition in
+the Manifesto, Tract No. 2, published as early as 1884, states that "men
+no longer need special political privileges to protect them against
+women," and in all our publications relating to the franchise or local
+government the claims of women to equal citizenship were prominently put
+forward. But we had published no tract specially on the subject of the
+Parliamentary Vote for Women. This was not mere neglect. In 1893 a
+committee was appointed "to draw up a tract advocating the claims of
+women to all civil and political rights at present enjoyed by men," and
+in March, 1894, it reported that "a tract had been prepared which the
+Committee itself did not consider suitable for publication." Later the
+Committee was discharged, and in face of this fiasco nothing further was
+done.
+
+Mr. Wells took a strong view on the importance of doing something in
+relation to women and children, though exactly what he proposed was
+never clear. He offered to the Society his little book on "Socialism and
+the Family," subsequently published by Mr. Fifield, but the Executive
+Committee declined it precisely because of its vagueness: they were not
+disposed to accept responsibility for criticisms on the existing
+system, unless some definite line of reform was proposed which they
+could ask the Society to discuss and approve, or at any rate to issue as
+a well-considered scheme suitable for presentation to the public.
+
+The new Basis proposed by the Special Committee declared that the
+Society sought to bring about "a reconstruction of the social
+organisation" by
+
+   _(a)_ promoting transfer of land and capital to the State,
+
+   _(b)_ "enforcing equal citizenship of men and women,
+
+   _(c)_ "substituting public for private authority in the education
+   and support of the young."
+
+Precisely what the last clause meant has never been disclosed. Mr. Wells
+in his speech did nothing to elucidate it. Mr. Shaw in his reply
+criticised its vagueness and protested against possible interpretations
+of it. Mr. Wells stated some time later that he had resigned from the
+Society because we refused to adopt it. I do not think that any of his
+colleagues attached much importance to it, and none of them has
+attempted to raise the issue since.[37]
+
+Clause (b) was another matter. Nobody objected to the principle of
+this, but many demurred to inserting it in the Basis. We regarded the
+Basis as a statement of the minimum of Socialism, without which no man
+had the right to call himself a Socialist. But there are a few
+Socialists, such as Mr. Belfort Bax, who are opposed to women's
+suffrage, and moreover, however important it be, some of us regard it as
+a question of Democracy rather than Socialism. Certainly no one would
+contend that approval of women's suffrage was acceptance of a part of
+the creed of Socialism. It is a belief compatible with the most
+thoroughgoing individualism.
+
+But many of the women members had made up their minds that this clause
+must appear in the Basis, and under the leadership of Mrs. Pember
+Reeves, they had indicated they would vote for the Special Committee
+Report unless they got their way. Those who, like myself, regarded this
+amendment of the Basis as inexpedient, recognised also that the adoption
+of the Wells report was far more inexpedient, and the Executive
+consequently decided to support a proposal that they be instructed to
+submit an addition to the Basis declaring for equal citizenship for men
+and women. On January 11th, 1907, Mrs. Pember Reeves obtained precedence
+for a resolution to this effect, and she was seconded by Mrs. Sidney
+Webb, who, after fourteen years of membership, was now beginning to take
+a part in the business of the Society. The opposition was led by Dr.
+Mary O'Brien Harris, who objected not to the principle but to its
+inclusion in the Basis, but she was unsuccessful, and the instruction
+was carried.
+
+On January 18th the debate on the Executive resolutions was resumed, and
+it was resolved to increase the Executive Committee to twenty-one, to
+form three standing Sub-Committees, and to abolish the old restrictions
+on membership. On February 1st the debate on Political Action began, and
+largely turned on the question whether we should attempt to found a
+Socialist Party or should subordinate our political activity to the
+Independent Labour Party. As the first step towards founding a
+middle-class Socialist Party was to be the establishment of Fabian
+Societies throughout the country, those of us who like myself did not
+believe in the possibility of the proposed new party could none the less
+support the scheme. Co-operation with the Labour Party was not in
+question; nor was the continuance of our friendly relations with the
+I.L.P., but the proposal to subordinate our political activity to the
+latter society met with but little support, and finally on March 2nd the
+Executive resolution to appoint a Committee for the purpose of drawing
+up a political policy was adopted against a very small minority. Mr.
+Wells took very little part in the proceedings after the Second Reading
+debate, and only one speech of his is mentioned in the report.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile the controversy was being fought out on another field. The
+January meetings had settled the number of the new Executive and decided
+how the Basis should be altered. The Executive therefore was now able to
+summon the Annual Meeting in order to make the necessary amendments to
+the Rules. This was held on February 22nd, when the resolutions were
+adopted without discussion. The meeting then took up some minor items in
+the Report, and in particular certain other amendments to the Basis
+proposed by individual members. On these a resolution was carried that
+the new Executive appoint a Committee to revise the Basis. The Committee
+was in fact appointed, and consisted of Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb, H.G.
+Wells, and Sidney Ball of Oxford. Mr. Wells resigned from the Society
+before its labours were completed, and no report was ever presented.
+
+The Annual Meeting over, the way was now clear for the election of the
+new Executive. The ballot papers, sent out with the March "News,"
+contained the names of 37 candidates, 13 out of the 15 of the retiring
+Committee and 24 others. In normal years the practice of issuing
+election addresses is strictly discouraged, because of the advantage
+they give to those rich enough to afford the expense. Therefore the
+record of new candidates, severely concrete statements of past
+achievements, is published in "Fabian News." On this occasion the usual
+distinction between old and new candidates was not made, and the
+Executive undertook to send out Election Addresses of candidates subject
+to necessary limits and on payment by the candidates of the cost of
+printing. In addition numerous other addresses were posted to the
+electors. The Old Gang made no attempt to monopolise the Executive by
+running a full ticket. The candidates in effect formed three groups, 15
+supporters of the outgoing Executive, including 10 retiring members who
+issued a joint address; 13 candidates selected by a temporary Reform
+Committee whose names were sent out by Mr. Wells and his chief
+adherents; 7 independents, some of them supporters of the Executive and
+the others of the Reformers; and finally myself. As I was paid secretary
+and returning officer I did not formally associate myself with any
+party, though my general sympathy with my old colleagues was well known.
+Nine hundred and fifty-four members cast very nearly 17,000 votes.
+Sidney Webb headed the poll with 819 votes; I followed with 809. Bernard
+Shaw received 781, and Mr. Wells came fourth with 717. All the retiring
+members were re-elected except Cecil Chesterton, and including G.R.S.
+Taylor, who had vehemently opposed his colleagues. Eleven of the
+Executive list, nine of the Reformers, and myself constituted the new
+Committee. In fact it was an able and effective body. The Old Gang
+brought in Mr. Granville Barker; the Reformers included Mr. Wells, Mrs.
+Pember Reeves, Aylmer Maude, R.C.K. Ensor, Dr. Haden Guest, Sidney Ball,
+F.W. Pethick Lawrence, and Miss B.L. Hutchins--most, if not all, of whom
+received support from the friends of the Old Gang. Scarcely anything
+less like revolutionists can be imagined than this list. Mr. Pethick
+Lawrence, it is true, has since then done some hard fighting in another
+cause, but he has always acted with seriousness and deliberation. Most
+of the others might as well have figured on one ticket as the other. The
+Old Gang including myself had 12 votes and all the experience, against 9
+on the other side. But the two sides did not survive the first meeting
+of the new Committee. There was, as I have already said, no differences
+of principle between the two parties. The expansion of the parent
+Society had come about, local Societies were growing up all over the
+country; Mr. Wells said no more about public authority over the
+young--indeed his election address made no reference to it--and Mr. Shaw
+did nothing to establish his Middle-Class Socialist Party.
+
+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.
+
+Of this the chiefest is his books, and as the Society as such had no
+part in them, anything more than a reference to them is outside the
+scope of this volume. But it must be said that his "New Worlds for Old,"
+published in 1908, whilst he was a member of the Fabian Executive, is
+perhaps the best recent book on English Socialism.
+
+In this connection Mr. Wells displayed unexpected modesty and at the
+same time inexperience of the ways of the world. His first criticism of
+the Society, his first project of reform, related to our tracts. To this
+point he directed an unpublished preface to his paper "This Misery of
+Boots," when he read it to the Society before the controversy had
+actually started. He justly observed that very few of our publications
+were addressed to the unconverted, were emotional appeals to join our
+movement, or effective explanations of our general principles. He said
+that these ought to be written, and the odd thing is that he appeared to
+imagine that anybody, or at any rate a considerable number of people,
+could just sit down and write them. He was aware that he could do it
+himself, and he innocently imagined that plenty of other people could do
+it too. He blamed the Executive for failing to make use of the members
+in this respect, and persuaded them to invite any member to send in
+manuscripts.
+
+In fact of course something like genius, or, at any rate, very rare
+ability, is required for this sort of work. Any competent writer can
+collect the facts about Municipal Drink Trade, or Afforestation, or Poor
+Law Reform: many can explain an Act of Parliament in simple language:
+but only one here and there can write what others care to read on the
+principles of Socialism and the broad aspects of its propaganda. If our
+list of tracts be examined it will be found that the great majority of
+the "general" tracts have been written by Sidney Webb and Bernard Shaw.
+A few other writers have contributed general tracts from a special
+standpoint, such as those on Christian Socialism. When we have mentioned
+reprinted papers by William Morris and Sir Oliver Lodge, and a tract by
+Sidney Ball, the list is virtually complete. Mr. Wells himself only
+contributed to us his paper "This Misery of Boots," and his appeal to
+the rank and file yielded nothing at all. Of course there are plenty of
+people as innocent in this respect as Mr. Wells was at that period
+referred to. Hardly a month has passed in the last twenty years without
+somebody, usually from the remote provinces, sending up a paper on
+Socialism, which he is willing to allow the Society to publish on
+reasonable terms. But only once have we thus found an unknown author
+whose work, on a special subject, we could publish, and he resigned a
+year or two later because we were compelled to reject a second tract
+which he wrote for us.
+
+The history of the intervention of Mr. Wells is now complete. Some
+account of the expansion of the Society at this period will be given in
+the next chapter.
+
+[Illustration: _From a drawing by Jessie Holliday_
+
+SIDNEY WEBB, IN 1909]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[34] The "Wells Report" in October, 1906, recommended cordial
+co-operation with the Labour Party, including the running of candidates
+for Parliament, and it "warmly endorsed the conception of Socialists
+whenever possible,... standing as Socialists in Municipal and
+Parliamentary elections." In January, 1908, a scheme for effecting this
+was adopted by the Society. In May, 1908, Mr. Wells, writing to "Fabian
+News," said he should resign if the Society rejected his view that "the
+Fabian Society is a Society for the study, development, and propaganda
+of the Socialist idea. It extends a friendly support to the Labour
+Party, but it is not a political society and membership involves no
+allegiance to any political party."
+
+This was written in connection with his support of a Liberal against a
+Socialist Candidate at North-West Manchester.
+
+[35] In his election address referred to on p. 179.
+
+[36] Private.--Report of the special Committee appointed in February,
+1906, to consider measures for increasing the scope, influence, income,
+and activity of the Society, together with the Executive Committee's
+Report, and Resolutions thereon. To be submitted to the members at Essex
+Hall on Fridays the 7th and 14th December, 1906, at 7.30 p.m. The Fabian
+Society. November, 1906 (pp. 48).
+
+[37] See his "New Worlds for Old," Chapter III, The First Main
+Generalisation of Socialism, which according to Mr. Wells is as
+follows:--
+
+"The ideas of private individual rights of the parent and of his
+isolated responsibility for his children are harmfully exaggerated in
+the contemporary world. We do not sufficiently protect children from
+negligent, incompetent, selfish, or wicked parents.... The Socialist
+holds that the community should be responsible ... it is not simply the
+right but the duty of the State ... to intervene in any default for the
+child's welfare. Parentage rightly undertaken is a service as well as a
+duty to the world ... in any completely civilised state it must be
+sustained, rewarded, and controlled...."
+
+Except for the last three words all this is neither new nor
+controversial amongst not merely Socialists but the mildest of social
+reformers, always excepting the Charity Organisation Society. The last
+word is not, I think, further explained.
+
+[38] A Tramway or a Gasworks consists of two things: the actual plant,
+and the nominal capital which represents its value. When the plant is
+municipalised, its control is vested in the community, and the
+shareholders are "compensated" with municipal securities or cash
+obtained by loans from other investors in these securities. The capital
+value of the tramway still virtually belongs to the private holders of
+the municipal loan. But no second such step is possible. Holders of
+municipal stock cannot be "compensated," if it is taken from them. They
+can be paid off; or their property can be confiscated either by taxation
+or by repudiation of the debt: there is no middle course. The whole
+problem therefore arises from confusion of thought.
+
+See Fabian Tract 147 "Capital and Compensation."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+The Policy of Expansion: 1907-12
+
+   Statistics of growth--The psychology of the Recruit--Famous
+   Fabians--The Arts Group--The Nursery--The Women's Group--Provincial
+   Fabian Societies--University Fabian Societies--London Groups
+   revived--Annual Conferences--The Summer School--The story of
+   "Socialist Unity"--The Local Government Information Bureau--The Joint
+   Standing Committee--Intervention of the International Socialist
+   Bureau.
+
+
+The episode described in the last chapter, which took place during the
+years 1906 to 1908, was accompanied by many other developments in the
+activities of the Society which must now be described. In the first
+place the membership grew at an unprecedented rate. In the year ended
+March, 1905, 67 members were elected. Next year the number was 167, to
+March, 1907, it was 455, to March, 1908, 817, and to March, 1909, 665.
+This was an enormous accession of new blood to a society which in 1904
+had only 730 members in all. In 1909 the Society consisted of 1674 men
+and 788 women, a total of 2462; of these 1277 were ordinary members
+residing in or near London, 343 scattered elsewhere in the United
+Kingdom, 89 abroad; 414 were members of provincial Societies and 339 of
+University Societies. There were in addition about 500 members of local
+Fabian Societies who were not also members of the London Society, and
+the Associates numbered 217. The income from subscriptions of all sorts
+was L473 in 1904 and L1608 in 1908, the high-water mark in the history
+of the Society for contributions to the ordinary funds.
+
+Of course there is all the difference in the world between a new member
+and an old. The freshly elected candidate attends every meeting and
+reads every word of "Fabian News." He begins, naturally, as a
+whole-hearted admirer and is profoundly impressed with the brilliance of
+the speakers, the efficiency of the organisation, the ability of the
+tracts. A year or two later, if he has any restlessness of intellect, he
+usually becomes a critic: he wants to know why there are not more
+brightly written tracts, explanatory of Socialism and suitable for the
+unconverted: he complains that the lectures are far less interesting
+than they used to be, that the debates are footling, the publications
+unattractive in appearance and too dull to read. A few years later he
+either settles down into a steady-going member, satisfied to do what
+little he can to improve this unsatisfactory world; or else, like Mr.
+Wells, he announces that the Society is no longer any good: once (when
+he joined) it was really important and effective: its methods _were_ all
+right: it _was_ proclaiming a fresh political gospel. But times have
+changed, whilst the Society has only grown old: it has done its work,
+and missed its opportunity for more. It is no longer worthy of his
+support.
+
+In 1907 and 1908 the Society consisted largely of new members;
+consequently the meetings were crowded and we were driven out from one
+hall after another. Moreover the propagandist enthusiasm of Mr. Wells
+and the glamour of his name helped to attract a large number of
+distinguished persons into our ranks. Mr. Granville Barker was one of
+the most active of these. He served on the Executive from 1907 to 1912
+and took a large share in the detailed work of the Committees, besides
+giving many lectures and assisting in social functions. The Rev. R.J.
+Campbell, who addressed large meetings on several occasions, as also
+elected to the Executive for the year 1908-9, but did not attend a
+single meeting. Mr. Aylmer Maude joined the Executive in 1907, held
+office to 1912, and is still a working member of the Society. Arnold
+Bennett, Laurence Irving, Edgar Jepson, Reginald Bray, L.C.C. (member of
+the Executive 1911-12), Sir Leo (then Mr.) Chiozza Money, M.P. (who sat
+on the Executive from 1908 to 1911), Dr. Stanton Coit, H. Hamilton Fyfe,
+A.R. Orage, G.M. Trevelyan, Edward Garnett, Dr. G.B. Clark (for many
+years M.P.), Miss Constance Smedley, Philip Snowden, M.P., Mrs. Snowden
+(Executive 1908-9), George Lansbury, Herbert Trench, Jerome K. Jerome,
+Edwin Pugh, Spencer Pryse, and A. Clutton Brock are amongst the people
+known in politics, literature, or the arts who joined the Society about
+this period.
+
+Some of these took little or no part in our proceedings, beyond paying
+the necessary subscription, but others lectured or wrote for the Society
+or participated in discussions and social meetings. These were at this
+time immensely successful. In the autumn of 1907, for example, Mrs.
+Bernard Shaw arranged for the Society a series of crowded meetings of
+members and subscribers at Essex Hall on "The Faith I Hold." Mrs. Sidney
+Webb led off and was followed by the Rev. R.J. Campbell, S.G. Hobson,
+Dr. Stanton Coit, H.G. Wells, and Hubert Bland: with an additional
+discourse later in the spring by Sir Sydney Olivier. Mr. Wells' paper,
+which proved to be far too long for a lecture, was the first draft of
+his book "First and Last Things"; but he had tired of the Society when
+it was published, and the preface conceals its origin in something of a
+mystery. Sir John Gorst, Mrs. Annie Besant, Dr. Suedekum (German M.P.),
+Sir John Cockburn, K.C.M.G., the Hon. W.P. Reeves, Raymond Unwin, and
+Sir Leo Chiozza Money were amongst the other lecturers of that year.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In 1906 and succeeding years a new form of organisation was established.
+Members spontaneously associated themselves into groups, "The Nursery"
+for the young, the Women's Group, the Arts Group, and Groups for
+Education, Biology, and Local Government. The careers of these bodies
+were various. The Arts Group included philosophy, and, to tell the
+truth, almost excluded Socialism. But all of us in our youth are
+anxiously concerned about philosophy and art and many who are no longer
+young are in the same case. Moreover artists and philosophers are always
+attractive. Mr. Holbrook Jackson and Mr. A.R. Orage, at that time
+associated in "The New Age," founded the group early in 1907, and soon
+obtained lecturers as distinguished, and audiences scarcely less
+numerous than the Society itself. But in eighteen months "Art and
+Philosophy in Relation to Socialism" seems to have been exhausted, and
+after the summer of 1908 the Group disappears from the calendar. Biology
+and Local Government had a somewhat longer but far less glorious career.
+The meetings were small and more of the nature of classes. Education is
+the life-work of a large class, which provides a sensible proportion of
+Fabian membership, and teachers are always eager to discuss and explain
+the difficult problems of their profession and the complex law which
+regulates it. The Education Group has led a diligent and useful life; it
+prepared a tract (No. 156), "What an Education Committee can do
+(Elementary Schools)," and besides its private meetings it arranges
+occasional lectures open to the public, which sometimes attract large
+audiences.
+
+The Nursery belongs to another class. When a society, formed as many
+societies are, of quite young people, has existed over twenty years, the
+second generation begins to be adult, and wants to be quit of its
+parents. Moreover the young desire, naturally, to hear themselves talk,
+whilst the others usually prefer the older and more famous personages.
+So a number of younger members eagerly took up a plan which originated
+in the circle of the Bland family, for forming a group confined to the
+young in years or in membership in order to escape the overmastering
+presence of the elderly and experienced. Sometimes they invite a senior
+to talk to them and to be heckled at leisure. More often they provide
+their own fare from amongst themselves. Naturally the Nursery is not
+exclusively devoted to economics and politics: picnics and dances also
+have their place. Some of the members eventually marry each other, and
+there is no better security for prolonged happiness in marriage than
+sympathy in regard to the larger issues of life. The Nursery has
+produced one tract, No. 132, "A Guide to Books for Socialists,"
+described in the "Wells Report" as intended "to supplement or even
+replace that arid and indiscriminating catalogue, What to Read."
+
+Last in date, but by no means least in importance of the Groups of this
+period, was the Women's Group, founded by Mrs. C.M. Wilson, who after
+nearly twenty years of nominal membership had resumed her active
+interest in the Society. The vigorous part taken by the women of the
+Society under the leadership of Mrs. Reeves in obtaining the only
+alteration yet made in the Basis has been already described. The Group
+was not formed till a year later, and at that time the Women's Suffrage
+movement, and especially the party led by Mrs. Pankhurst, had attracted
+universal attention. The early Suffrage movement was mainly Socialist
+in origin: most of the first leaders of the Women's Social and Political
+Union were or had been members either of the Fabian Society or of the
+I.L.P. and it may almost be said that all the women of the Society
+joined one or more of the Suffrage Societies which for the next seven
+years played so large a part in national politics. But besides the
+question of the vote, which is not peculiar to Socialism, there is a
+very large group of subjects of special interest to Socialist women,
+either practical problems of immediate politics relating to the wages
+and conditions of women's labour and the treatment of women by Education
+Acts, National Insurance Acts, and Factory Acts; or remoter and more
+theoretical problems, especially those connected with the question
+whether the wife in the ideal state is to be an independent wage-earner
+or the mistress and manager of an isolated home, dependent on her
+husband as breadwinner. Efficiently organised by Mrs. C.M. Wilson, until
+ill-health required her resignation of the secretaryship in 1914; by
+Mrs. Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Pember Reeves, Miss Murby, Miss Emma Brooke, and
+many others, including in later years Dr. Letitia Fairfield, the Group
+has had many of the characteristics of an independent society. It has
+its own office, latterly at 25 Tothill Street, rented from the parent
+Society, with its own paid assistant secretary, and it has issued for
+private circulation its own publications. In 1913 it prepared a volume
+of essays on "Women Workers in Seven Professions," which was edited by
+Professor Edith Morley and published by George Routledge and Sons. It
+has prepared five tracts for the Society, published in the general list,
+under a sub-title, "The Women's Group Series," and it has taken an
+active part, both independently and in co-operation with other bodies,
+in the political movements specially affecting women, which have been
+so numerous in recent years.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It will be recollected that the only direct result of the Special
+Enquiry Committee, apart from the changes made in the organisation of
+the Society itself, was the decision to promote local Socialist
+Societies of the Fabian type with a view to increasing Socialist
+representation in Parliament. I have recounted in a previous chapter how
+this scheme worked out in relation to the Labour Party and the running
+of candidates for Parliament. It remains to describe here its measure of
+success in the formation of local societies.
+
+The summer of 1905 was about the low-water mark of provincial Fabianism.
+Nine societies are named in the report, but four of these appeared to
+have no more than a nominal existence. The Oxford University Society had
+but 6 members; Glasgow had 30 in its University Society and 50 in its
+town Society; Liverpool was reduced to 63, Leeds and County to 15, and
+that was all. A year later the Cambridge University Society had been
+formed, Oxford had more than doubled its membership to 13, but only five
+other societies were in existence. By the following year a revival had
+set in. W. Stephen Sanders, at that time an Alderman of the London
+County Council, who had been a member of the Society since 1890 and of
+the executive Committee since 1904, was appointed Organising Secretary
+with the special object of building up the provincial organisation. By
+1910 there were forty-six local societies, and in 1912 the maximum of
+fifty was reached. Since then the number has declined. These societies
+were scattered over the country, some of them in the great cities,
+Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, and so on: others within hail of
+London, at Croydon, Letchworth, Ilford: others again in small towns,
+Canterbury, Chelmsford, Carnarvon: another was at Bedales School,
+Petersfield, run by my son and his schoolfellows. The local societies
+formed at this period, apart from the University Societies, were in the
+main pallid reflections of the parent Society in its earlier days; none
+of them had the good fortune to find a member, so far as we yet know, of
+even second-class rank as a thinker or speaker. One or two produced
+praiseworthy local tracts on housing conditions and similar subjects.
+They usually displayed less tolerance than the London Society, a greater
+inclination to insist that there was but one way of political salvation,
+usually the Labour Party way, and that all who would not walk in it
+should be treated as alien enemies. If Socialism is only to be achieved
+by the making of Socialists, as Mr. Wells announced with all the
+emphasis of a rediscovery, no doubt the local societies achieved some
+Socialism, since they made some members. If Socialism is to be attained
+by the making of Socialist measures, doubtless they accomplished a
+little by their influence on local administration. Organisation for
+political work is always educative to those who take part in it, and it
+has some effect on the infinitely complex parallelogram of forces which
+determines the direction of progress. Possibly I underestimate the
+importance of local Fabian Societies; there is a school of thought,
+often represented in the Society, which regards the provinces with
+reverent awe--omne ignotum pro magnifico--as the true source of
+political wisdom, which Londoners should endeavour to discover and obey.
+Londoners no doubt see little of organised labour, and even less of
+industrial co-operation: the agricultural labourer is to them almost a
+foreigner: the Welsh miner belongs to another race. But the business
+men, the professional class, and the political organisers of Manchester
+and Glasgow have, in my opinion, no better intuitions, and usually less
+knowledge than their equivalents in London, and they have the
+disadvantage of comparative isolation. London, the brain of the Empire,
+where reside the leaders in politics and in commerce, in literature, in
+journalism and in art, and which consequently attracts the young men who
+aspire to be the next generation of leaders, where too are stationed all
+the higher ranks of Civil Service, is different in kind, as well as in
+size, from other cities. New thought on social subjects is almost always
+the product of association. Only those who live in a crowd of other
+thinkers know where there is room for new ideas; for it takes years for
+the top layer of political thought to find expression in books.
+Therefore the provincial thinker on social problems is always a little
+out of date. Except for one or two University men (e.g. Sidney Ball and
+Sir Oliver Lodge) practically all Fabian tract-writers have been
+Londoners. The local Fabian Societies have so far achieved nothing
+towards the making of a middle-class Socialist party, and they have
+achieved but little else. They have been fully justified because every
+association for mutual instruction adds something to the mass of
+political intelligence, does something to disseminate ideas, but that is
+all that can be said for them.
+
+The University Societies belong to a different type. Nothing is more
+important than the education of young men and women in politics, and the
+older Universities have always recognised this. Socialist Societies
+accordingly grew up naturally alongside Liberal and Tory Clubs, and
+under the shadow of the "Unions." Oxford, as we have seen, had a
+University Fabian Society from early days. Cambridge followed at a much
+later date. For years Glasgow University and University College,
+Aberystwyth, maintained flourishing societies. The newer Universities,
+dependent largely on the bounty of wealthy capitalist founders and
+supporters, and assisted by, or in close touch with, town councils and
+local industries, have been much less willing to sanction political
+free-thought amongst their undergraduates, and the pernicious influence
+of wealth, or rather the fear of alarming the wealthy, has at times
+induced the authorities to interfere with the freedom of the
+undergraduates to combine for the study and propaganda of Socialism.
+
+Undergraduate societies are composed of a constantly shifting
+population, and we arranged from the first that all their members should
+also be elected direct to the parent Society in order that they might
+remain automatically in membership when they "go down." In fact of
+course the percentage which retains its membership is very small. "Men"
+and women at Universities join any organisation whose leaders at the
+moment are influential and popular. They are sampling life to discover
+what suits them, and a few years later some of them are scattered over
+the globe, others immersed in science or art, or wholly occupied in law
+and medicine, in the church and the army, in the civil service and in
+journalism. Most of them no doubt have ceased to pretend to take
+interest in social and political reform. A few remain, and these are
+amongst the most valuable of our members. At times, when an
+undergraduate of force of character and high social position, the heir
+to a peerage for example, is for the moment an ardent Socialist, the
+Fabian Society becomes, in a certain set or college, the fashionable
+organisation. On the whole it is true that Socialists are born and not
+made, and very few of the hundreds who join at such periods stay for
+more than a couple of years. The maximum University membership--on
+paper--was in 1914, when it reached 541 members, of whom 101 were at
+Oxford and 70 at Cambridge. But the weakness of undergraduate Socialism
+is indicated by the extraordinary difficulty found in paying to the
+parent Society the very moderate fee of a shilling a head per annum, and
+the effect of attempting to enforce this in 1915, combined with the
+propaganda of Guild Socialism, especially at Oxford, was for the moment
+to break up the apparently imposing array of University Fabianism.
+
+In 1912 Clifford Allen of Cambridge formed the University Socialist
+Federation, which was in fact a Federation of Fabian Societies though
+not nominally confined to them. Mr. Allen, an eloquent speaker and
+admirable organiser, with most of the virtues and some of the defects of
+the successful propagandist, planned the foundations of the Federation
+on broad lines. It started a sumptuous quarterly, "The University
+Socialist," the contents of which by no means equalled the excellence of
+the print and paper. It did not survive the second number. The
+Federation has held several conferences, mostly at Barrow House--of
+which later--and issued various documents. Its object is to encourage
+University Socialism and to found organisations in every University. It
+still exists, but whether it will survive the period of depression which
+has coincided with the war remains to be seen.
+
+Lastly, amongst the organs of Fabian activity come the London Groups. In
+the years of rapid growth that followed the publication of "Fabian
+Essays" the London Groups maintained a fairly genuine existence. London
+was teeming with political lectures, and in the decade 1889-1899 its
+Government was revolutionised by the County Councils Act of 1888, the
+Local Government Act of 1894, and the London Government Act of 1899
+which established the Metropolitan Boroughs. Socialism, too, was a
+novelty, and the few who knew about it were in request.
+
+Anyway even with the small membership of those days, the London Groups
+managed to persist, and "Fabian News" is full of reports of conferences
+of Group Secretaries and accounts of Group activities. In the trough of
+depression between the South African War and the Liberal victory of 1906
+all this disappeared and the Group system scarcely existed even on
+paper.
+
+With the expansion which began in 1906 the Groups revived. New members
+were hungry for lectures: many of them desired more opportunities to
+talk than the Society meetings afforded. All believed in or hoped for
+Mr. Wells' myriad membership. He himself was glad to address
+drawing-room meetings, and the other leaders did the same. Moreover the
+Society was conducting a series of "Suburban Lectures" by paid
+lecturers, in more or less middle-class residential areas of the Home
+Counties. Lectures to the Leisured Classes, a polite term for the idle
+rich, were arranged with considerable success in the West End, and other
+lectures, meetings, and social gatherings were incessant.
+
+For co-ordinating these various bodies the Fabian Society has created
+its own form of organisation fitted to its peculiar circumstances, and
+more like that of the British Empire than anything else known to me. As
+is the United Kingdom in the British Empire, so in the Fabian movement
+the parent Society is larger, richer, and more powerful, and in all
+respects more important than all the others put together. Any form of
+federal organisation is impossible, because federation assumes some
+approach to equality amongst constituents. Our local societies, like the
+British self-governing Dominions, are practically independent,
+especially in the very important department of finance. The Groups, on
+the other hand, are like County Councils, local organisations within
+special areas for particular purposes, with their own finances for those
+purposes only. But the parent Society is not made up of Groups, any more
+than the British Government is composed of County Councils. The local
+Groups consist of members of the Society qualified for the group by
+residence in the group area; the "Subject Groups" of those associated
+for some particular purpose.
+
+The problem of the Society (as it is of the Empire) was to give the
+local societies and the groups some real function which should emphasise
+and sustain the solidarity of the whole; and at the same time leave
+unimpaired the control of the parent Society over its own affairs.
+
+The Second Annual Conference of Fabian Societies and Groups was held on
+July 6th, 1907, under the chairmanship of Hubert Bland, who opened the
+proceedings with an account of the first Conference held in 1892 and
+described in an earlier chapter. Fifteen delegates from 9 local and
+University Societies, 16 from 8 London Groups, 8 from Subject Groups,
+and 9 members of the Executive Committee were present. The business
+consisted of the sanction of rules for the Pan-Fabian Organisation.
+
+The Conference of 1908 was a much bigger affair. A dozen members of the
+Executive, including Mr. H.G. Wells and (as he then was) Mr. L.G.
+Chiozza Money. M.P., and 61 delegates representing 36 Groups and
+Societies met for a whole-day conference at University Hall, Gordon
+Square. Miss Murby was chairman, and addressed the delegates on the
+importance of tolerance, an apposite subject in view of the discussion
+to follow on the proposed parliamentary action, especially the delicate
+issue between co-operation with the Labour Party and the promotion of a
+purely Socialist party. A resolution favouring exclusive support of
+independent Socialist candidatures moved by Mr. J.A. Allan of Glasgow
+received only 10 votes, but another advocating preference for such
+candidates was only defeated by 26 to 21. The resolution adopted left
+the question to be settled in each case by the constituency concerned.
+Another resolution directed towards condemnation of members who worked
+with the Liberal or Tory Party failed by 3 votes only, 17 to 20. In the
+afternoon Mr. Money gave an address on the Sources of Socialist Revenue,
+and a number of administrative matters were discussed.
+
+The 1909 Conference was attended by 29 delegates of local and University
+Societies, and by 46 delegates from London Groups and from the parent
+Society. On this occasion a Constitution was adopted giving the
+Conference a regular status, the chief provisions of which required the
+submission to the Conference of any alteration of the Basis, and "any
+union affiliation or formal alliance with any other society or with any
+political party whereby the freedom of action of any society ... is in
+any way limited ... "; and of any change in the constitution itself.
+These are all matters which concern the local organisations, as they are
+required to adopt the Basis, or some approved equivalent, and are
+affiliated to the Labour Party through the parent Society. No
+contentious topic was on this occasion seriously discussed.
+
+The Conference of 1910 was smaller, sixty-one delegates in all.
+Resolutions against promoting parliamentary candidatures and favouring
+the by this time vanishing project for an independent Socialist party
+obtained but little support, and the chief controversy was over an
+abstract resolution on the "economic independence of women," which was
+in the end settled by a compromise drafted by Sidney Webb.
+
+Sixty delegates were present at the 1911 Conference, held at Clifford's
+Inn, who, after rejecting by a seven to one majority a resolution to
+confine Fabian membership to Labour Party adherents, devoted themselves
+mainly to opposition to the National Insurance Bill then before
+Parliament.
+
+In 1912 the Conference was still large and still concerned in the
+position of the Society in relation to Labour and Liberalism.
+
+Both in 1913 and in 1914 the Conference was well attended and prolonged,
+but in 1915, partly on account of the war and partly because of the
+defection of several University Societies, few were present, and the
+business done was inconsiderable.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Summer School was another enterprise started at the period. It was
+begun independently of the Society in this sense, that half a dozen
+members agreed to put up the necessary capital and to accept the
+financial responsibility, leaving to the Society the arrangement of
+lectures and the management of business.
+
+It was opened at the end of July, 1907, at Pen-yr-allt, a large house,
+previously used as a school, looking out over the sea, near Llanbedr, a
+little village on the Welsh coast between Barmouth and Harlech. The
+house was taken for three years partly furnished, and the committee
+provided the beds, cutlery, etc., needed. One or two other houses near
+by were usually rented for the summer months.
+
+The value of the plan for a propagandist society is largely this, that
+experience shows that people can only work together efficiently when
+they know each other. Therefore in practice political and many other
+organisations find it necessary to arrange garden parties, fetes,
+picnics, teas, and functions of all sorts in order to bring together
+their numbers under such conditions as enable them to become personally
+acquainted with each other. In times of expansion the Fabian Society
+has held dinners and soirees in London, many of which have been
+successful and even brilliant occasions, because the new members come in
+crowds and the old attend as a duty. When new members are few these
+entertainments cease, for nothing is so dreary as a social function that
+is half failure, and a hint of it brings the series to an end. But a
+Summer School where members pass weeks together is far more valuable in
+enabling the leaders and officials to find out who there is who is good
+as a speaker or thinker, or who is a specialist on some subject of value
+to the movement. Moreover, gatherings of this class attract those on the
+fringe of the movement, and many of our members have come to us through
+attendance at the school. Apart from the direct interests of the
+Society, a School of this character is valued by many solitary people,
+solitary both socially, such as teachers and civil servants, who are
+often lonely in the world, and solitary intellectually because they live
+in remote places where people of their way of thinking are scarce.
+
+It is not necessary to describe the arrangements of the School, for
+these institutions have in the last few years become familiar to
+everybody. We do not, however, as a rule make quite such a business of
+the schooling as is usual where the term is short, and study is the sole
+object. One regular lecture a day for four days a week is the rule, but
+impromptu lectures or debates in the evenings, got up amongst the
+guests, are customary. Moreover, frequent conferences on special
+subjects are held, either by allied bodies, such as the Committee for
+the Prevention of Destitution, or by a Group, such as the Education
+Group or the Research Department. On these occasions the proportion of
+work to play is higher. The School-house belongs to the Society for the
+whole year, and parties are arranged for Christmas, Easter, and
+Whitsuntide whenever possible.
+
+After four years at Llanbedr the lease was terminated and the original
+Committee wound up. The capital borrowed had all been repaid, and there
+remained, after a sale by auction, a lot of property and nearly L100 in
+cash. This the Committee transferred to the Society, and thereupon the
+quasi-independence of the Summer School came to an end. In 1911 a new
+experiment was tried. A small hotel at Saas Grund, off the Rhone Valley,
+was secured, and during six weeks three large parties of Fabians
+occupied it for periods of a fortnight each. The summer was one of the
+finest of recent years, and the high mountains were exceptionally
+attractive. On account of the remoteness of the place, and the desire to
+make the most of a short time, lectures were as a rule confined to the
+evening, and distinguished visitors were few, but an address by Dr.
+Hertz of Paris, one of the few French Fabians, may be mentioned, partly
+because in the summer of 1915 his promising career was cut short in the
+trenches which protected his country from the German invaders.
+
+In 1912 Barrow House, Derwentwater, was taken for three years, a
+beautiful place with the Barrow Falls in the garden on one side, and
+grounds sloping down to the lake on the other, with its own boating pier
+and bathing-place. A camp of tents for men was set up, and as many as
+fifty or sixty guests could be accommodated at a time. Much of the
+success of the School has throughout been due to Miss Mary Hankinson,
+who from nearly the beginning has been a most popular and efficient
+manager. A director is selected by the Committee to act as nominal head,
+and holds office usually for a week or a fortnight; but the chief of
+staff is a permanent institution, and is not only business manager, but
+also organiser and leader of excursions and a principal figure in all
+social undertakings. A great part in arranging for the School from the
+first has been taken by Dr. Lawson Dodd, to whose experience and energy
+much of its success has been due.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The year 1911 saw the formation of the Joint Standing Committee with the
+I.L.P., and this is a convenient place to describe the series of
+attempts at Socialist Unity which began a long way back in the history
+of the Society. For the first eight years or so of the Socialist
+movement the problem of unity did not arise. Until the publication of
+"Fabian Essays" the Fabian Society was small, and the S.D.F., firm in
+its Marxian faith, and confident that the only way of salvation was its
+particular way, had no more idea of uniting with the other societies
+than the Roman Catholic Church has of union with Lutherans or
+Methodists. The Socialist League was the outcome of an internal dispute,
+and, if my memory is correct, the S.D.F. expected, not without reason,
+that the seceders would ultimately return to the fold. The League ceased
+to count when at the end of 1890 William Morris left it and
+reconstituted as the Hammersmith Socialist Society the branch which met
+in the little hall constructed out of the stable attached to Kelmscott
+House.
+
+In January, 1893, seven delegates from this Society held a conference
+with Fabian delegates, and at a second meeting at which S.D.F. delegates
+were present a scheme for promoting unity was approved. A Joint
+Committee of five from each body assembled on February 23rd, when
+William Morris was appointed Chairman, with Sydney Olivier as Treasurer,
+and it was decided that the Chairman with H.M. Hyndman and Bernard Shaw
+should draft a Joint Manifesto. The "Manifesto of English Socialists,"
+published on May 1st, 1893, as a penny pamphlet with the customary red
+cover, was signed by the three Secretaries, H.W. Lee of the S.D.F.,
+Emery Walker of the H.S.S., and myself, and by fifteen delegates,
+including Sydney Olivier and Sidney Webb of the F.S., Harry Quelch of
+the S.D.F., and the three authors.
+
+Like most joint productions of clever men, it is by no means an
+inspiring document. The less said, the less to dispute about, and so it
+only runs to eight pages of large print, four devoted to the evils of
+capitalism, unemployment, the decline of agriculture, and the
+ill-nurture of children, and the rest to remedies, a queer list,
+consisting of:--
+
+   An eight hours law.
+
+   Prohibition of child labour for wages.
+
+   Free Maintenance for all necessitous children (a compromise in which
+   Fabian influence may be traced by the insertion of the word
+   "necessitous").
+
+   Equal payment of men and women for equal work.
+
+(A principle which, whether good or bad, belongs rather to individualism
+than to Socialism: Socialism according to Bernard Shaw--and most of us
+agree with him--demands as an ideal equal maintenance irrespective of
+work; and in the meantime payment according to need, each to receive
+that share of the national product which he requires in order to do his
+work and maintain his dependents, if any, appropriately.)
+
+To resume the programme:--
+
+   An adequate minimum wage for all adults employed in Government and
+   Municipal services or in any monopolies such as railways enjoying
+   State privileges.
+
+   Suppression of all sub-contracting and sweating (an ignorant
+   confusion between a harmless industrial method and its occasional
+   abuse).
+
+   Universal suffrage for all adults, men and women alike.
+
+   Public payment for all public service.
+
+These of course were only means tending towards the ideal, "to wit, the
+supplanting of the present state by a society of equality of condition,"
+and then follows a sentence paraphrased from the Fabian Basis embodying
+a last trace of that Utopian idealism which imagines that society can be
+constituted so as to enable men to live in freedom without eternal
+vigilance, namely, "When this great change is completely carried out,
+the genuine liberty of all will be secured by the free play of social
+forces with much less coercive interference than the present system
+entails."
+
+From these extracts it will be seen that the Manifesto, drafted by
+William Morris, but mutilated and patched up by the other two, bears the
+imprint neither of his style, nor that of Shaw, but reminds one rather
+of mid-Victorian dining-room furniture, solid, respectable, heavily
+ornate, and quite uninteresting. Happily there is not much of it!
+
+Unity was attained by the total avoidance of the contentious question of
+political policy. But fifteen active Socialists sitting together at a
+period when parties were so evenly divided that a General Election was
+always imminent could not refrain from immediate politics, and the
+S.D.F., like many other bodies, always cherished the illusion that the
+defeat of a minority at a joint conference on a question of principle
+would put that minority out of action.
+
+Accordingly, as soon as the Manifesto had been published resolutions
+were tabled pledging the constituent societies to concentrate their
+efforts on Socialist candidates accepted as suitable by the Joint
+Committee. On this point the Fabian Society was in a hopeless minority,
+and an endless vista of futile and acrimonious discussions was opened
+out which would lead to unrest in our own society--for there has always
+been a minority opposed to its dominant policy--and a waste of time and
+temper to the delegates from our Executive. It was therefore resolved at
+the end of July that our delegates be withdrawn, and that put an end to
+the Joint Committee.
+
+The decision was challenged at a members' meeting by E.E. Williams, one
+of the signatories of the Joint Manifesto, subsequently well known as
+the author of "Made in Germany," and in some sense the real founder of
+the Tariff Reform movement; but the members by a decisive vote upheld
+the action of their Executive.
+
+Four years later, early in 1897, another effort after Unity was made. By
+this time Morris, whose outstanding personality had given him a
+commanding and in some respects a moderating influence in the movement,
+was dead; and the Hammersmith Socialist Society had disappeared. Instead
+there was the new and vigorous Independent Labour Party, already the
+premier Socialist body in point of public influence. This body took the
+first step, and a meeting was held in April at the Fabian office,
+attended by Hubert Bland, Bernard Shaw, and myself as delegates from our
+Society. The proposal before the Conference was "the formation of a
+court of appeal to adjudicate between rival Socialist candidates
+standing for the same seat at any contested election," an occurrence
+which has in fact been rare in local and virtually unknown in
+Parliamentary elections.
+
+As the Fabian Society did not at that time officially run candidates,
+and has always allowed to its members liberty of action in party
+politics, it was impossible for us to undertake that our members would
+obey any such tribunal. The difficulty was however solved by the S.D.F.,
+whose delegates to the second meeting, held in July, announced that they
+were instructed to withdraw from the Committee if the Fabian delegates
+remained. The I.L.P. naturally preferred the S.D.F. to ourselves,
+because their actual rivalry was always with that body, and we were only
+too glad to accept from others the dismissal which we desired. So our
+delegates walked out, leaving the other two parties in temporary
+possession of our office, and Socialist Unity so far as we were
+concerned again vanished. I do not think that the court of appeal was
+ever constituted, and certainly the relations between the other two
+Societies continued to be difficult.
+
+The next move was one of a practical character. The Fabian Society had
+always taken special interest in Local Government, as a method of
+obtaining piecemeal Socialism, and had long acted as an informal
+Information Bureau on the law and practice of local government
+administration. The success of the I.L.P. in getting its members elected
+to local authorities suggested a conference of such persons, which was
+held at Easter, 1899, on the days preceding the I.L.P. Annual Conference
+at Leeds. Sidney Webb was invited to be President, and gave an address
+on "The Sphere of Municipal Statesmanship"; Will Crooks was Chairman of
+the Poor Law Section. At this Conference it was resolved to form a Local
+Government Information Bureau, to be jointly managed by the I.L.P. and
+the Fabian Society; it was intended for Labour members of local
+authorities, but anybody could join on payment of the annual
+subscription of 2s. 6d. For this sum the subscriber obtained the right
+to have questions answered free of charge, and to receive both "Fabian
+News" and the official publications of the I.L.P., other than their
+weekly newspaper. The Bureau also published annual Reports, at first on
+Bills before Parliament, and latterly abstracts of such Acts passed by
+Parliament as were of interest to its members. It pursued an uneventful
+but useful career, managed virtually by the secretaries of the two
+societies, which divided the funds annually in proportion to the
+literature supplied. Several Easter Conferences of Elected Persons were
+held with varying success. Later on the nominal control was handed over
+to the Joint Committee, next to be described.
+
+The problem of Socialist Unity seemed to be approaching a settlement
+when the three organisations, in 1900, joined hands with the Trade
+Unions in the formation of the Labour Representation Committee, later
+renamed the Labour Party. But in 1901, eighteen months after the
+Committee was constituted, the S.D.F. withdrew, and thereafter unity
+became more difficult than ever, since two societies were united for
+collective political action with the numerically and financially
+powerful trade unions, whilst the third took up the position of hostile
+isolation. But between the Fabian Society and the I.L.P. friendly
+relations became closer than ever. The divergent political policies of
+the two, the only matter over which they had differed, had been largely
+settled by change of circumstances. The Fabian Society had rightly held
+that the plan of building up an effective political party out of
+individual adherents to any one society was impracticable, and the
+I.L.P. had in fact adopted another method, the permeation of existing
+organisations, the Trade Unions. On the other hand the Fabian Society,
+which at first confined its permeation almost entirely to the Liberal
+Party, because this was the only existing organisation accessible--we
+could not work through the Trade Unions, because we were not eligible to
+join them--was perfectly willing to place its views before the Labour
+Party, from which it was assured of sympathetic attention. Neither the
+Fabian Society nor the I.L.P. desired to lose its identity, or to
+abandon its special methods. But half or two-thirds of the Fabians
+belonged also to the I.L.P., and nearly all the I.L.P. leaders were or
+had been members of the Fabian Society.
+
+The suggestion was made in March, 1911, by Henry H. Slesser, then one of
+the younger members of the Executive, that the friendly relations of the
+two bodies should be further cemented by the formation of a Joint
+Standing Committee. Four members of each Executive together with the
+secretaries were appointed, and W.C. Anderson, later M.P. for the
+Attercliffe Division of Sheffield, and at that time Chairman of the
+I.L.P., was elected Chairman, a post which he has ever since retained.
+The Joint Committee has wisely confined its activities to matters about
+which there was no disagreement, and its proceedings have always been
+harmonious to the verge of dullness. The Committee began by arranging a
+short series of lectures, replacing for the time the ordinary Fabian
+meetings, and it proposed to the Labour Party a demonstration in favour
+of Adult Suffrage, which was successfully held at the Royal Albert Hall.
+
+In the winter of 1912-13 the Joint Committee co-operated with the
+National Committee for the Prevention of Destitution (of which later) in
+a big War against Poverty Campaign, to demand a minimum standard of
+civilised life for all. A demonstration at the Albert Hall, a Conference
+at the Memorial Hall, twenty-nine other Conferences throughout Great
+Britain, all attended by numerous delegates from Trade Unions and other
+organisations, and innumerable separate meetings were among the
+activities of the Committee. In 1913 a large number of educational
+classes were arranged. In the winter of 1913-14 the I.L.P. desired to
+concentrate its attention on its own "Coming of Age Campaign," an
+internal affair, in which co-operation with another body was
+inappropriate. A few months later the War began and, for reasons
+explained later, joint action remains for the time in abeyance.
+
+It will be convenient to complete the history of the movements for
+Socialist Unity, though it extends beyond the period assigned to this
+chapter, and we must now turn back to the beginning of another line of
+action.
+
+The International Socialist and Trade Union Congresses held at intervals
+of three or four years since 1889 were at first no more than isolated
+Congresses, arranged by local organisations constituted for the purpose
+in the preceding year. Each nation voted as one, or at most, as two
+units, and therefore no limit was placed on the number of its delegates:
+the one delegate from Argentina or Japan consequently held equal voting
+power to the scores or even hundreds from France or Germany. But
+gradually the organisation was tightened up, and in 1907 a scheme was
+adopted which gave twenty votes each to the leading nations, and
+proportionately fewer to the others. Moreover a permanent Bureau was
+established at Brussels, with Emile Vandervelde, the distinguished
+leader of the Belgian Socialists, later well known in England as the
+Ministerial representative of the Belgian Government during the war, as
+Chairman. In England, where the Socialist and Trade Union forces were
+divided, it was necessary to constitute a special joint committee in
+order to raise the British quota of the cost of the Bureau, and to
+elect and instruct the British delegates. It was decided by the Brussels
+Bureau that the 20 British votes should be allotted, 10 to the Labour
+Party, 4 to the I.L.P., 4 to the British Socialist Party (into which the
+old S.D.F. had merged), and 2 to the Fabian Society, and the British
+Section of the International Socialist Bureau was, and still remains,
+constituted financially and electorally on that basis.
+
+In France and in several other countries the internal differences
+between sections of the Socialist Party have been carried to far greater
+lengths than have ever been known in England. In France there have been
+hostile groups of Socialist representatives in the Chamber of Deputies
+and constant internecine opposition in electoral campaigns. In Great
+Britain the rivalry of different societies has consisted for the most
+part in separate schemes of propaganda, in occasional bickerings in
+their publications, in squabbles over local elections, and sometimes
+over the selection but not the election of parliamentary candidates. On
+the other hand co-operation on particular problems and exchange of
+courtesies have been common.
+
+The International Socialist Bureau, under instructions from the
+Copenhagen Conference had made a successful attempt to unite the warring
+elements of French Socialism, and in the autumn of 1912 the three
+British Socialist Societies were approached with a view to a conference
+with the Bureau on the subject of Socialist unity in Great Britain.
+Convenient dates could not be fixed, and the matter was dropped, but in
+July, 1913, M. Vandervelde, the Chairman, and M. Camille Huysmans, the
+Secretary of the Bureau, came over from Brussels and a hurried meeting
+of delegates assembled in the Fabian office to discuss their proposals.
+The Bureau had the good sense to recognise that the way to unity led
+through the Labour Party; and it was agreed that the three Socialist
+bodies should form a United Socialist Council, subject to the condition
+that the British Socialist Party should affiliate to the Labour Party.
+
+In December, 1913, a formal conference was held in London, attended on
+this occasion by all the members of the International Socialist Bureau,
+representing the Socialist parties of twenty different countries. The
+crux of the question was to find a form of words which satisfied all
+susceptibilities; and Sidney Webb, who was chosen chairman of a part of
+the proceedings when the British delegates met by themselves to
+formulate the terms of agreement, was here in his element; for it would
+be hard to find anybody in England more skilful in solving the
+difficulties that arise in determining the expression of a proposition
+of which the substance is not in dispute.
+
+An agreement was arrived at that the Joint Socialist Council should be
+formed as soon as the British Socialist Party was affiliated to the
+Labour Party. The B.S.P. confirmed the decision of its delegates, but
+the Labour Party referred the acceptance of affiliation to the Annual
+Conference of 1915[39].
+
+Then came the War. The Labour Party Conference of 1915 did not take
+place, and a sudden new divergence of opinion arose in the Socialist
+movement. The Labour Party, the Fabian Society, and the leaders of the
+B.S.P. gave general support to the Government in entering into the war.
+The I.L.P. adopted an attitude of critical hostility. Amidst this
+somewhat unexpected regrouping of parties, any attempt to inaugurate a
+United Socialist Council was foredoomed to failure. The project for
+Socialist Unity therefore awaits the happy time when war shall have
+ceased.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[39] The Labour Party Conference held in January, 1916, unanimously
+accepted the affiliation of the British Socialist Party.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+The Minority Report, Syndicalism and Research: 1909-15
+
+   The emergence of Mrs. Sidney Webb--The Poor Law Commission--The
+   Minority Report--Unemployment--The National Committee for the
+   Prevention of Destitution--"Vote against the House of Lords"--Bernard
+   Shaw retires--Death of Hubert Bland--Opposition to the National
+   Insurance Bill--The Fabian Reform Committee--The "New Statesman"--The
+   Research Department--"The Rural Problem"--"The Control of
+   Industry"--Syndicalism--The Guildsmen--Final Statistics--The War.
+
+
+A former chapter was entitled "The Episode of Mr. Wells." The present
+might have been called "The Intervention of Mrs. Sidney Webb," save for
+the fact that it would suggest a comparison which might be misleading.
+
+I have insisted with some iteration that the success of the Society,
+both in its early days and afterwards, must be mainly attributed to the
+exceptional force and ability of the Essayists. Later in its history
+only two persons have come forward who are in my opinion entitled in
+their Fabian work to rank with the original leaders, to wit, Mr. Wells
+and Mrs. Webb. Of the former I have said enough already. The present
+chapter will be largely devoted to the influence of the latter.
+
+[Illustration: MRS. SIDNEY WEBB, IN 1909]
+
+It must however be observed that in all their achievements it is
+impossible to make a clear distinction between Mrs. Webb and her
+husband. For example, the Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission,
+shortly to be dealt with, purported to be the work of Mrs. Webb and
+her three co-signatories. In fact the investigation, the invention, and
+the conclusions were in the fullest sense joint, although the draft
+which went to the typist was in the handwriting of Mr. Webb. On some
+occasions at any rate Mrs. Webb lectures from notes in her husband's
+eminently legible handwriting: her own--oddly unlike her character--is
+indecipherable without prolonged scrutiny even by herself. Sometimes, on
+the other hand, it is possible to separate the work of the two. Mrs.
+Webb, although elected a member in 1893, took practically no part in the
+Fabian Society until 1906. It may be said, with substantial if not
+literal accuracy, that her only contributions to the Society for the
+first dozen years of her membership were a couple of lectures and Tract
+No. 67, "Women and the Factory Acts." The Suffrage movement and the
+Wells episode brought her to our meetings, and her lecture in "The Faith
+I Hold" series, a description of her upbringing amongst the captains of
+industry who built some of the world's great railways, was amongst the
+most memorable in the long Fabian series. Still she neither held nor
+sought any official position; and the main work of a Society is
+necessarily done by the few who sit at its Committees often twice or
+thrice a week.
+
+The transformation of Mrs. Webb from a student and writer, a typical
+"socialist of the chair," into an active leader and propagandist
+originated in December, 1905, when she was appointed a member of the
+Royal Commission on the Poor Law. The Fabian Society had nothing to do
+with the Commission during its four years of enquiry, though as usual
+not a few Fabians took part in the work, both officially and
+unofficially. But when in the spring of 1909 the Minority Report was
+issued, signed by Mrs. Webb and George Lansbury, both members of the
+Society, as well as by the Rev. Russell Wakefield (now the Bishop of
+Birmingham) and Mr. F. Chandler, Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of
+Carpenters and Joiners, the Society took it up. Mr. and Mrs. Webb
+reprinted the Minority Report with an introduction and notes in two
+octavo volumes, and they lent the Society the plates for a paper edition
+in two parts at a shilling and two shillings, one dealing with
+Unemployment and the other with the reconstruction of the Poor Law, some
+6000 copies of which were sold at a substantial profit.
+
+The Treasury Solicitor was rash enough to threaten us with an injunction
+on the ground of infringement of the Crown copyright and to demand an
+instant withdrawal of our edition. But Government Departments which try
+conclusions with the Fabian Society generally find the Society better
+informed than themselves; and we were able triumphantly to refer the
+Treasury Solicitor to a published declaration of his own employers, the
+Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, a score of years before, in which
+they expressly disclaimed their privilege of copyright monopoly so far
+as ordinary blue books were concerned, and actually encouraged the
+reprinting of them for the public advantage. And, with characteristic
+impudence, we intimated also that, if the Government wished to try the
+issue, it might find that the legal copyright was not in the Crown at
+all, as the actual writer of the Report, to whom alone the law gives
+copyright, had never ceded his copyright and was not a member of the
+Royal Commission at all! At the same time we prepared to get the utmost
+advertisement out of the attempt to suppress the popular circulation of
+the Report, and we made this fact known to the Prime Minister. In the
+end the Treasury Solicitor had to climb down and withdraw his objection.
+What the Government did was to undercut us by publishing a still
+cheaper edition, which did not stop our sales, and thus the public
+benefited by our enterprise, and an enormous circulation was obtained
+for the Report.
+
+The Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission--although never, from
+first to last, mentioning Socialism--was a notable and wholly original
+addition to Socialist theory, entirely of Fabian origin. Hitherto all
+Socialist writings on the organisation of society, whether contemporary
+or Utopian, had visualised a world composed exclusively of healthy,
+sane, and effective citizens, mostly adults. No Socialist had stopped to
+think out how, in a densely populated and highly industrialised
+Socialist community, we should provide systematically for the orphans,
+the sick, the physically or mentally defective and the aged on the one
+hand, and for the adults for whom at any time no immediate employment
+could be found. The Minority Report, whilst making immediately
+practicable proposals for the reform of all the evils of the Poor Law,
+worked out the lines along which the necessary organisation must
+proceed, even in the fully socialised State. We had, in the Fabian
+Society, made attempts to deal with both sides of this problem; but our
+publications, both on the Poor Law and on the Unemployed, had lacked the
+foundation of solid fact and the discovery of new principles, which the
+four years' work of the Fabians connected with the Poor Law Commission
+now supplied.
+
+English Socialists have always paid great and perhaps excessive
+attention to the problem of unemployment. Partly this is due to the fact
+that Socialism came to the front in Great Britain at a period when
+unemployment was exceptionally rife, and when for the first time in the
+nineteenth century the community had become acutely aware of it. In our
+early days it was commonly believed to be a rapidly growing evil.
+Machinery was replacing men: the capitalists would employ a few hands to
+turn the machines on and off: wealth would be produced for the rich, and
+most of the present manual working class would become superfluous. The
+only reply, so far as I know, to this line of argumentative forecast is
+that it does not happen. The world is at present so avid of wealth, so
+eager for more things to use or consume, that however quickly iron and
+copper replace flesh and blood, the demand for men keeps pace with it.
+Anyway, unemployment in the twentieth century has so far been less
+prevalent than it was in the nineteenth, and nobody now suggests, as did
+Mrs. Besant in 1889, that the increasing army of the unemployed,
+provided with work by the State, would ultimately oust the employees of
+private capitalism. Unemployment in fact is at least as old as the days
+of Queen Elizabeth, when the great Poor Law of 1601 was passed to cope
+with it. Whilst labour was scattered and the artisan still frequently
+his own master, unemployment was indefinite and relatively
+imperceptible. When masses of men and women came to be employed in
+factories, the closing of the factory made unemployment obvious to those
+on the spot. But two generations ago Lancashire and Yorkshire were far
+away from London, and the nation as a whole knew little and cared less
+about hard times amongst cotton operatives or iron-workers in the remote
+north.
+
+It may be said with fair accuracy that Unemployment was scarcely
+recognised as a social problem before the last quarter of the nineteenth
+century, though in fact it had existed for centuries, and had been
+prevalent for fifty years. Mill in his "Political Economy," which treats
+so sympathetically of the state of labour under capitalism, has no
+reference to it in the elaborate table of contents. Indeed the word
+unemployment is so recent as to have actually been unknown before the
+early nineties[40].
+
+But the Trade Unionists had always been aware of unemployment, since,
+after strike pay, it is "out-of-work benefit" which they have found the
+best protection for the standard rate of wages, and nothing in the
+program of Socialism appealed to them more directly than its claim to
+abolish unemployment. Finally it may be said that unemployment is on the
+whole more prevalent in Great Britain than elsewhere; the system of
+casual or intermittent employment is more widespread; throughout the
+Continent the working classes in towns are nearly everywhere connected
+with the rural peasant landowners or occupiers, so that the town
+labourer can often go back to the land at any rate for his keep; whilst
+all America, still predominantly agricultural, is in something like a
+similar case.
+
+The Fabian Society had since its earliest days been conscious of the
+problem of unemployment; but it had done little to solve it. The "Report
+on the Government Organisation of Unemployed Labour," printed "for the
+information of members" in 1886, had been long forgotten, and an attempt
+to revise it made some time in the nineties had come to nothing. In
+"Fabian Essays" unemployment is rightly recognised as the Achilles heel
+of the proletarian system, but the practical problem is not solved or
+even thoroughly understood; the plausible error of supposing that the
+unemployed baker and bootmaker can be set to make bread and boots for
+one another still persists. In 1893 we reprinted from the "Nineteenth
+Century" as Tract No. 47 a paper on "The Unemployed" by John Burns, and
+we had published nothing else.
+
+In fact we found the subject too difficult. There were plenty of
+palliatives familiar to every social enquirer; Socialism, the
+organisation of industry by the community for the community, we regarded
+as the real and final remedy. But between the former, such as labour
+bureaux, farm colonies, afforestation, the eight hours day, which
+admittedly were at best only partial and temporary, and Socialism, which
+was obviously far off, there was a great gulf fixed, and how to bridge
+it we knew not. At last the Minority Report provided an answer. It was a
+comprehensive and practicable scheme for preventing unemployment under
+existing conditions, and for coping with the mass of incompetent
+destitution which for generations had Been the disgrace of our
+civilisation.
+
+Into the details of this scheme I must not enter because it is, properly
+speaking, outside the scope of this book. The propaganda for carrying
+the Report into effect was undertaken by the National Committee for the
+Prevention of Destitution, established by Mrs. Webb as a separate
+organisation. The necessity for this step was significant of the extent
+to which Socialism, as it crystallises into practical measures, invades
+the common body of British thought. People who would not dream of
+calling themselves Socialists, much less contributing to the funds of a
+Socialist Society, become enthusiastically interested in separate parts
+of its program as soon as it has a program, provided these parts are
+presented on their own merits and not as approaches to Socialism. Indeed
+many who regard Socialism as a menace to society are so anxious to find
+and support alternatives to it, that they will endow expensive
+Socialistic investigations and subscribe to elaborate Socialistic
+schemes of reform under the impression that nothing that is thoughtful,
+practical, well informed, and constitutional can possibly have any
+connection with the Red Spectre which stands in their imagination for
+Socialism. To such people the Minority Report, a document obviously the
+work of highly skilled and disinterested political thinkers and experts,
+would recommend itself as the constitutional basis of a Society for the
+Prevention of Destitution: that is, of the condition which not only
+smites the conscientious rich with a compunction that no special
+pleading by arm-chair economists can allay, but which offers a hotbed to
+the sowers of Socialism. Add to these the considerable number of
+convinced or half-convinced Socialists who for various reasons are not
+in a position to make a definite profession of Socialism without great
+inconvenience, real or imaginary, to themselves, and it will be plain
+that Mrs. Webb would have been throwing away much of her available
+resources if she had not used the device of a new organisation to
+agitate for the Minority Report _ad hoc_.
+
+Many Fabians served on the Committee--indeed a large proportion of our
+members must have taken part in its incessant activities--and the
+relations between the two bodies were close; but most of the subscribers
+to the Committee and many of its most active members came from outside
+the Society, and were in no way committed to its general principles.
+
+For two whole years Mrs. Webb managed her Committee with great vigour
+and dash. She collected for it a considerable income and a large number
+of workers: she lectured and organised all over the country; she
+discovered that she was an excellent propagandist, and that what she
+could do with success she also did with zest.
+
+
+In the summer of 1911 Mr. and Mrs. Webb left England for a tour round
+the world, and Mrs. Webb had mentioned before she left that she was
+willing to be nominated for the Executive. At the election in April,
+1912, whilst still abroad, she was returned second on the poll, with 778
+votes, only a dozen behind her husband.
+
+From this point onwards Mrs. Webb has been on the whole the dominant
+personality in the Society This does not necessarily mean that she is
+abler or stronger than her husband or Bernard Shaw. But the latter had
+withdrawn from the Executive Committee, and the former, with the rest of
+the Old Gang, had made the Society what it already was. Mrs. Webb
+brought a fresh and fertile mind to its councils. Her twenty years of
+membership and intimate private acquaintance with its leaders made her
+familiar with its possibilities, but she was free from the influence of
+past failures--in such matters for example as Socialist Unity--and she
+was eager to start out on new lines which the almost unconscious
+traditions of the Society had hitherto barred.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The story of the Society has been traced to the conclusion of the
+intervention of Mr. Wells, and I then turned aside to describe the
+numerous new activities of the booming years which followed the Labour
+Party triumph of 1906. I must now complete the history of the internal
+affairs of the Society.
+
+As a political body, the Society has usually, though not invariably,
+issued some sort of pronouncement on the eve of a General Election. In
+January, 1910, the Executive Committee published in "Fabian News" a
+brief manifesto addressed to the members urging them to "Vote against
+the House of Lords." It will be recollected that the Lords had rejected
+the Budget, and the sole issue before the country was the right of the
+House of Commons to control finance. Members were urged to support any
+duly accredited Labour or socialist candidate; elsewhere they were, in
+effect, advised to vote for the Liberal candidates. In April their
+action in publishing this "Special advice to members" without the
+consent of a members' meeting was challenged, but the Executive
+Committee's contention that it was entitled to advise the members, and
+that the advice given was sound, was endorsed by a very large majority.
+
+At the Annual Meeting the Executive Committee, with a view to setting
+forth once more their reasoned view on a subject of perennial trouble to
+new members, accepted a resolution instructing them to consider and
+report on the advisability of limiting the liberty of members to support
+political parties other than Labour or Socialist, and on November 4th
+R.C.K. Ensor on behalf of the Executive gave an admirable address on
+Fabian Policy. He explained that the Society had never set out to become
+a political party, and that in this respect it differed in the most
+marked manner from most Socialist bodies. Its collective support of the
+Labour Party combined with toleration of Liberals suited a world of real
+men who can seldom be arranged on tidy and geometrical lines. This
+report was accepted by general consent, and in December, when Parliament
+was again dissolved, this time on the question of the Veto of the Lords,
+the Executive repeated their "Advice to Members" to vote for Liberals
+whenever no properly accredited Labour or Socialist candidate was in the
+field.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But the dissatisfaction with the old policy, and with its old exponents,
+was not yet dispelled. A new generation was knocking at the door, and
+some of the old leaders thought that the time had come to make room for
+them. Hubert Bland was suffering from uncertain health, and he made up
+his mind to retire from the official positions he had held since the
+formation of the Society. Bernard Shaw determined to join him and then
+suggested the same course to the rest of his contemporaries. Some of
+them concurred, and in addition to the two already named R.C.K. Ensor
+(who returned a year later), Stewart Headlam, and George Standring
+withdrew from the Executive in order to make room for younger members.
+Twenty-two new candidates came forward at the election of April, 1911;
+but on the whole the Society showed no particular eagerness for change.
+The retiring members were re-elected ahead of all the new ones, with
+Sidney Webb at the top of the poll, and the five additions to the
+Executive, Emil Davies, Mrs. C.M. Wilson, Reginald Bray, L.C.C., Mrs. F.
+Cavendish Bentinck, and Henry D. Harben, were none of them exactly
+youthful or ardent innovators.
+
+By this time it was apparent that the self-denying ordinance of the
+veterans was not really necessary, and the Executive, loath to lose the
+stimulation of Shaw's constant presence, devised a scheme to authorise
+the elected members to co-opt as consultative members persons who had
+already held office for ten years and had retired. The Executive itself
+was by no means unanimous on this policy, and at the Annual Meeting one
+of them, Henry H. Slesser, led the opposition to any departure from "the
+principles of pure democracy." On a show of hands the proposal appeared
+to be defeated by a small majority, and in the face of the opposition
+was withdrawn. This is almost the only occasion on which the Executive
+Committee have failed to carry their policy through the Society, and
+they might have succeeded even in this instance, either at the meeting
+or on a referendum, if they had chosen to insist on an alteration in the
+constitution against the wishes of a substantial fraction of the
+membership.
+
+Here then it may be said that the rule of the essayists as a body came
+to an end. Sidney Webb alone remained in office. Hubert Bland was in
+rapidly declining health. Only once again he addressed the Society, on
+July 16th, 1912, when he examined the history of "Fabian Policy," and
+indicated the changes which he thought should be made to adapt it to new
+conditions. Soon after this his sight completely failed, and in April,
+1914, he died suddenly of long-standing heart disease.
+
+Bernard Shaw happily for the Society has not ceased to concern himself
+in its activities, although he is no longer officially responsible for
+their management. His freedom from office does not always make the task
+of his successors easier. The loyalest of colleagues, he had always
+defended their policy, whether or not it was exactly of his own choice;
+but in his capacity of private member his unrivalled influence is
+occasionally something of a difficulty. If he does not happen to approve
+of what the Executive proposes he can generally persuade a Business
+Meeting to vote for something else!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At this same period, the spring of 1911, the National Insurance Bill was
+introduced. This was a subject to which the Society had given but little
+attention and on which it had not formulated a policy. It had opposed
+the contributory system as proposed to be applied to Old Age Pensions,
+and a paper on "Paupers and Old Age Pensions," published by Sidney Webb
+in the "Albany Review" in August, 1907, and reprinted by the Society as
+Tract No. 135, had probably much influence in deciding the Government
+to abandon its original plan of excluding paupers permanently from the
+scheme by showing what difficulties and anomalies would follow from any
+such course. The National Insurance Bill when first introduced was
+severely criticised by Sidney Webb in documents circulated amongst Trade
+Unionists and published in various forms; but a few weeks later he
+started on his tour round the world and could take no further part in
+the affair. At the Annual Conference of Fabian Societies in July, 1911,
+an amendment proposed by H.D. Harben to a resolution dealing with the
+Bill was carried against a small minority. The amendment declared that
+the Bill should be opposed, and in furtherance of the policy thus
+casually suggested and irregularly adopted, the Executive Committee
+joined with a section of the I.L.P. in a vigorous campaign to defeat the
+Bill. This was a new role for the Society. Usually it has adopted the
+principle of accepting and making the best of what has already happened;
+and in politics a Bill introduced by a strong Government is a _fait
+accompli_; it is too late to say that something else would have been
+preferable. It may be amended: it may possibly be withdrawn: it cannot
+be exchanged for another scheme.
+
+I shall not however dwell on this episode in Fabian history because for
+once I was in complete disagreement with all my colleagues, except Sir
+Leo Chiozza Money, and perhaps I cannot yet view the matter with entire
+detachment. The Labour Party decided to meet the Bill with friendly
+criticism, to recognise it as great measure of social reform, and to
+advocate amendments which they deemed improvements. The Fabian Society
+attacked the Bill with hostile amendments, prophesied all sorts of
+calamities as certain to result from it: magnified its administrative
+difficulties, and generally encouraged the duchesses and farmers who
+passively resisted it; but their endeavour to defeat the Bill was a
+failure.
+
+It may be too soon to be confident that the policy of the Society in
+this matter was wrong. But the Trade Unions are stronger than ever: the
+Friendly Societies are not bankrupt: the working people are insured
+against sickness: and anybody who now proposed to repeal the Act would
+be regarded as a lunatic.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile the withdrawal of some of the older had by no means satisfied
+the younger generation, and during the autumn of 1911 a Fabian Reform
+Committee was constituted, with Henry H. Slesser as Chairman, Dr. Marion
+Phillips as Vice-Chairman, Clifford Allen as Secretary, and fifteen
+other members, including Dr. Ethel Bentham, who, like Mr. Slesser, was a
+member of the Executive. Their programme, like that of Mr. Wells,
+included a number of reforms of procedure, none of them of much
+consequence; and a political policy, which was to insist "that if
+Fabians do take part in politics, they should do so only as supporters
+of the Labour Party."[41] The campaign of the Committee lasted a year,
+and as usual in such cases led to a good deal of somewhat heated
+controversy over matters which now appear to be very trivial. It is
+therefore not worth while to recount the details of the proceedings,
+which can be found by any enquirer in the pages of "Fabian News." Two of
+the leaders, Dr. Marion Phillips and Clifford Allen, were elected to the
+Executive at the election of 1912, and some of the administrative
+reforms proposed by the Committee were carried into effect. The
+Reformers elected to fight the battle of political policy on point of
+detail, until in July, 1912, the Executive Committee resolved to bring
+the matter to an issue, and to that end moved at a members' meeting:
+"That this meeting endorses the constitutional practice of the Society
+which accords complete toleration to its members; and whilst reaffirming
+its loyalty to the Labour Party, to which party alone it as a society
+has given support, it declines to interfere ... with the right of each
+member to decide on the manner in which he can best work for Socialism
+in accordance with his individual opportunities and circumstances." (The
+phrase omitted refers to the rule about expulsion of members, a
+safeguard which in fact has never been resorted to.) An amendment of the
+Reformers embodying their policy was defeated by 122 to 27 and after the
+holiday season the Reform Committed announced that their mission was
+accomplished and their organisation had been disbanded[42].
+
+"Fabian Reform" embodied no new principle all through the history of the
+Society there had been a conflict between the "constitutional practice"
+of political toleration, and the desire of a militant minority to set up
+a standard of party orthodoxy, and to penalise or expel the dissenters
+from it.
+
+The next storm which disturbed Fabian equanimity involved an altogether
+new principle, and was therefore a refreshing change to the veterans,
+who were growing weary of winning battles fought over the same ground.
+In order to explain this movement it is necessary to describe a new
+development in the work of the Society.
+
+In the autumn of 1912 Mrs. Webb came to the conclusion that the work of
+the National Committee for the Prevention of Destitution could not be
+carried on indefinitely on a large scale. Reform of the Poor Law was
+not coming as a big scheme. It was true that the Majority Report was
+almost forgotten, but there appeared to be no longer any hope that the
+Government would take up as a whole the scheme of the Minority Report.
+It would come about in due time, but not as the result of an agitation.
+The National Committee had a monthly paper, "The Crusade," edited by
+Clifford Sharp, a member of the Society who came to the front at the
+time of the Wells agitation, had been one of the founders of the
+Nursery, and a member of the Executive from 1909 to 1914. In March,
+1913, Bernard Shaw, H.D. Harben, and the Webbs, with a few other
+friends, established the "New Statesman," with Clifford Sharp as editor.
+This weekly review is not the organ of the Society, and is not in any
+formal way connected with it, but none the less it does in fact express
+the policy which has moulded the Society, and it has been a useful
+vehicle for publishing the results of Fabian Research.
+
+Fabian Research, the other outgrowth of the Committee for the Prevention
+of Destitution, was organised by Mrs. Webb in the autumn of 1912.
+Investigation of social problems was one of the original objects of the
+Society and had always been a recognised part of its work. As a general
+rule, members had taken it up individually, but at various periods
+Committees had been appointed to investigate particular subjects. The
+important work of one of these Committees, on the Decline of the
+Birth-rate, has been described in an earlier chapter. Mrs. Webb's plan
+was to systematise research, to enlist the co-operation of social
+enquirers not necessarily committed to the principles of the Society,
+and to obtain funds for this special purpose from those who would not
+contribute to the political side of the Society's operations.
+
+The "Committees of Inquiry" then formed took up two subjects, the
+"Control of Industry" and "Land Problems and Rural Development." The
+latter was organised by H.D. Harben and was carried on independently.
+After a large amount of information had been collected, partly in
+writing and partly from the oral evidence of specialists, a Report was
+drafted by Mr. Harben and published first as a Supplement to the "New
+Statesman" on August 4th, 1913, and some months later by Messrs.
+Constable for the Fabian Society as a half-a-crown volume entitled "The
+Rural Problem."
+
+In fact there is a consensus of opinion throughout all parties on this
+group of questions. Socialists, Liberals, and a large section of
+Conservatives advocate Wages Boards for providing a statutory minimum
+wage for farm labourers, State aid for building of cottages and a
+resolute speeding up in the provision of land for small holdings. The
+Fabian presentment of the case did not substantially differ from that of
+the Land Report published a few months later under Liberal auspices, and
+our Report, though useful, cannot be said to have been epoch-making.
+
+Meanwhile the Enquiry into the Control of Industry was developing on
+wider lines. The Research Department set up its own office and staff,
+and began to collect information about all the methods of control of
+industry at present existing as alternatives to the normal capitalist
+system. Co-operation in all its forms, the resistances of Trade
+Unionism, the effects of professional organisations, such as those of
+the Teachers and of the Engineers, and all varieties of State and
+Municipal enterprise were investigated in turn; several reports have
+been published as "New Statesman" Supplements, and a volume or series of
+volumes will in due time appear.
+
+The problem of the Control of Industry had become important because of
+the rise of a new school of thought amongst Socialists, especially in
+France, where the rapid growth of Trade Unionism since 1884, combined
+with profound distrust of the group system of party politics, had led to
+a revival of old-fashioned anarchism in a new form. Syndicalism, which
+is the French word for Trade Unionism, proposes that the future State
+should be organised on the basis of Trade Unions; it regards a man's
+occupation as more vitally important to him than his place of residence,
+and therefore advocates representation by trades in place of localities:
+it lays stress on his desire, his right, to control his own working life
+directly through his own elected representatives of his trade: it
+criticises the "servile state" proposed by collectivists, wherein the
+workman, it is said, would be a wage-slave to officials of the State, as
+he is now to officials of the capitalists. Thus it proposes that the
+control of industry should be in the hands of the producers, and not, as
+at present, in the hands of consumers through capitalists catering for
+their custom, or through co-operative societies of consumers, or through
+the State acting on behalf of citizens who are consumers.
+
+A quite extraordinary diversity of streams of opinion converged to give
+volume to this new trend of thought. There was the literary criticism of
+Mr. Hilaire Belloc, whose ideal is the peasant proprietor of France,
+freed from governmental control, a self-sufficient producer of all his
+requirements. His attack was directed against the Servile State,
+supposed to be foreshadowed by the Minority Report, which proposed
+drastic collective control over the derelicts of our present social
+anarchy. Then Mr. Tom Mann came back from Australia as the prophet of
+the new proletarian gospel, and for a few months attracted working-class
+attention by his energy and eloquence. The South Wales miners, after
+many years of acquiescence in the rule of successful and highly
+respected but somewhat old-fashioned leaders, were awakening to a sense
+of power, and demanding from their Unions a more aggressive policy. The
+parliamentary Labour Party since 1910 had resolved to support the
+Liberal Government in its contest with the House of Lords and in its
+demand for Irish Home Rule, and as Labour support was essential to the
+continuance of the Liberals in power, they were debarred from pushing
+their own proposals regardless of consequences. Although therefore the
+party was pledged to the demand for Women's Franchise, they refused to
+wreck the Government on its behalf. Hence impatient Socialists and
+extreme Suffragists united in proclaiming that the Labour Party was no
+longer of any use, and that "direct action" by Suffragettes and Trade
+Unionists was the only method of progress. The "Daily Herald," a
+newspaper started by a group of compositors in London, was acquired by
+partisans of this policy, and as long as it lived incessantly derided
+the Labour Party and advocated Women's Franchise and some sort of
+Syndicalism as the social panacea. Moreover a variant on Syndicalism, of
+a more reasoned and less revolutionary character, called "Guild
+Socialism," was proposed by Mr. A.R. Orage in the pages of his weekly,
+"The New Age," and gained a following especially in Oxford, where Mr.
+G.D.H. Cole was leader of the University Fabian Society. His book on
+Trade Unionism, entitled "The World of Labour," published at the end of
+1913, attracted much attention, and he threw himself with great energy
+into the Trade Union enquiry of the Research Department, of which his
+friend and ally, Mr. W. Mellor, was the Secretary. Mr. Cole was elected
+to the Executive Committee in April, 1914, and soon afterwards began a
+new "Reform" movement. He had become a prophet of the "Guild Socialism"
+school, and was at that time extremely hostile to the Labour Party.
+Indeed a year before, when dissatisfaction with the party was prevalent,
+he had proposed at a business meeting that the Fabian Society should
+disaffiliate, but he had failed to carry his resolution by 92 votes
+against 48. In the summer of 1914 however he arrived at an understanding
+with Mr. Clifford Allen, also a member of the Executive, and with other
+out and out supporters of the Labour Party, by which they agreed to
+combine their altogether inconsistent policies into a single new program
+for the Fabian Society. The program of the "several schools of thought,"
+published in "Fabian News" for April, 1915, laid down that the object of
+the Society should be to carry out research, that the Basis should be
+replaced merely by the phrase, "The Fabian Society consists of
+Socialists and forms part of the national and international movement for
+the emancipation of the community from the capitalist system"; and that
+a new rule should be adopted forbidding members to belong to, or
+publicly to associate with, any organisation opposed to that movement of
+which this Society had declared itself a part. The Executive Committee
+published a lengthy rejoinder, and at the election of the Executive
+Committee a few weeks later the members by their votes clearly indicated
+their disapproval of the new scheme. At the Annual Meeting in May, 1915,
+only small minorities supported the plan of reconstruction, and Mr. Cole
+then and there resigned his membership of the Society, and was
+subsequently followed by a few other members. A little while later the
+Oxford University Fabian Society severed its connection with the parent
+Society, and Mr. Cole adopted the wise course of founding a society of
+his own for the advocacy of Guild Socialism.
+
+This episode brings the history of the Society down to the present
+date, and I shall conclude this chapter with a brief account of its
+organisation at the time of writing, the summer of 1915.
+
+At the end of 1913 my own long term of service as chief officer of the
+Society came to an end, and my colleague for several previous years, W.
+Stephen Sanders, was appointed my successor. The Executive Committee
+requested me to take the new office of Honorary Secretary, and to retain
+a share in the management of the Society. This position I still hold.
+
+The tide of Socialist progress which began to rise in 1905 had turned
+before 1914, and the period of depression was intensified by the war,
+which is still the dominant fact in the world. The membership of the
+Society reached its maximum in 1913, 2804 in the parent Society and
+about 500 others in local societies. In 1915 the members were 2588 and
+250. The removal to new premises in the autumn of 1914 was more than a
+mere change of offices, since it provided the Society with a shop for
+the sale of its publications, a hall sufficiently large for minor
+meetings, and accommodation in the same house for the Research
+Department and the Women's Group. Moreover a couple of rooms were
+furnished as a "Common Room" for members, in which light refreshments
+can be obtained and Socialist publications consulted. The finances of
+the Society have of course been adversely affected by the war, but not,
+so far, to a very material extent.
+
+The chief new departure of recent years has been the organisation of
+courses of lectures in London for the general public by Bernard Shaw,
+Sidney Webb, and Mrs. Webb, which have not only been of value as a means
+of propaganda, but have also yielded a substantial profit for the
+purposes of the Society. The plan originated with a debate between
+Bernard Shaw and G.K. Chesterton in 1911, which attracted a crowded
+audience and much popular interest. Next year Mr. Shaw debated with Mr.
+Hilaire Belloc: in 1913 Mr. and Mrs. Webb gave six lectures at King's
+Hall on "Socialism Restated": in 1914 Bernard Shaw gave another course
+of six at Kingsway Hall on the "Redistribution of Income," in which he
+developed the thesis that the economic goal of Socialism is equality of
+income for all. Lastly, in 1915 a course of six lectures at King's Hall
+by the three already named on "The World after the War" proved to be
+unexpectedly successful. The lecturing to clubs and other societies
+carried on by new generations of members still continues, but it forms
+by no means so prominent a part of the Society's work as in earlier
+years.
+
+Local Fabian organisation, as is always the case in time of depression,
+is on the down grade. The London groups scarcely exist, and but few
+local societies, besides that of Liverpool, show signs of life. The
+Research Department, the Women's Group, and the Nursery are still
+active.
+
+The Society has an old-established tradition and a settled policy, but
+in fact it is not now controlled by anything like an Old Gang. The
+Executive Committee numbers twenty-one: two only of these, Sidney Webb
+and myself, have sat upon it from its early days: only two others, Dr.
+Lawson Dodd (the Treasurer) and W. Stephen Sanders (the General
+Secretary) were on the Executive during the great contest with Mr. Wells
+ten years ago. All the rest have joined it within the last few years,
+and if they support the old tradition, it is because they accept it, and
+not because they created it. Moreover the majority of the members are
+young people, most of them born since the Society was founded. The
+Society is old, but it does not consist, in the main, of old people.
+
+What its future may be I shall consider in the next, and concluding,
+chapter.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I must add a final paragraph to my history. At the time I write, in the
+first days of 1916, the war is with us and the end is not in sight. In
+accordance with the rule which forbids it to speak, unless it has
+something of value to say, the Society has made no pronouncement and
+adopted no policy. A resolution registering the opinion of the majority
+of a few hundred members assembled in a hall is not worth recording when
+the subject is one in which millions are as concerned and virtually as
+competent as themselves.
+
+Naturally there is diversity of opinion amongst the members. On the one
+hand Mr. Clifford Allen, a member of the Executive, has played a leading
+part in organising opposition to conscription and opposing the policy of
+the Government. On the other hand two other members of the Executive
+Committee, Mr. H.J. Gillespie and Mr. C.M. Lloyd, have, since the
+beginning of the war, resigned their seats in order to take commissions
+in the Army. Another member, the General Secretary, after months of
+vigorous service as one of the Labour Party delegates to Lord Derby's
+Recruiting Committee, accepted a commission in the Army in November,
+1915, in order to devote his whole time to this work, and has been
+granted leave of absence for the period of the war, whilst I have
+undertaken my old work in his place. Many members of the Society joined
+the Army in the early months of the war, and already a number, amongst
+whom may be named Rupert Brooke, have given their lives for their
+country.
+
+[Illustration: EDWARD R. PEASE, IN 1913]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[40] The editors of the Oxford English Dictionary kindly inform me that
+the earliest quotation they have yet found is dated December, 1894. I
+cannot discover it in any Fabian publication before Tract No. 65, which
+was published in July, 1895.
+
+[41] Manifesto on Fabian Policy issued by the Fabian Reform Committee, 4
+pp., 4to, November 28th, 1911.
+
+[42] "Fabian News," November, 1912.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+The Lessons of Thirty Years
+
+   Breaking the spell of Marxism--A French verdict--Origin of
+   Revisionism in Germany--The British School of Socialism--Mr. Ernest
+   Barker's summary--Mill _versus_ Marx--The Fabian Method--Making
+   Socialists or making Socialism--The life of propagandist
+   societies--The prospects of Socialist Unity--The future of Fabian
+   ideas--The test of Fabian success.
+
+
+The Fabian Society was founded for the purpose of reconstructing Society
+in accordance with the highest moral possibilities. This is still the
+most accurate and compendious description of its object and the nature
+of its work. But the stage of idealism at which more than a very modest
+instalment of this cosmic process seemed possible within the lifetime of
+a single institution had passed before the chief Essayists became
+members, and indeed I cannot recollect that the founders themselves ever
+imagined that it lay within their own power to reconstruct Society; none
+of them was really so sanguine or so self-confident as to anticipate so
+great a result from their efforts, and it will be remembered that the
+original phrase was altered by the insertion of the words "to help on"
+when the constitution was actually formulated. Society has not yet been
+reconstructed, but the Fabians have done something towards its
+reconstruction, and my history will be incomplete without an attempt to
+indicate what the Society has already accomplished and what may be the
+future of its work.
+
+Its first achievement, as already mentioned, was to break the spell of
+Marxism in England. Public opinion altogether failed to recognise the
+greatness of Marx during his lifetime, but every year that passes adds
+strength to the conviction that the broad principles he promulgated will
+guide the evolution of society during the present century. Marx
+demonstrated the moral bankruptcy of commercialism and formulated the
+demand for the communal ownership and organisation of industry; and it
+is hardly possible to exaggerate the value of this service to humanity.
+But no man is great enough to be made into a god; no man, however wise,
+can see far into the future. Neither Marx himself nor his immediate
+followers recognised the real basis of his future fame; they thought he
+was a brilliant and original economist, and a profound student of
+history. His Theory of Value, his Economic Interpretation of History,
+seemed to them the incontestible premises which necessarily led to his
+political conclusions. This misapprehension would not have much mattered
+had they allowed themselves freedom of thought. Socialism, as first
+preached to the English people by the Social Democrats, was as narrow,
+as bigoted, as exclusive as the strictest of Scotch religious sects.
+"Das Kapital," Vol. I, was its bible; and the thoughts and schemes of
+English Socialists were to be approved or condemned according as they
+could or could not be justified by a quoted text.
+
+The Fabian Society freed English Socialism from this intellectual
+bondage, and freed it sooner and more completely than "Revisionists"
+have succeeded in doing anywhere else.
+
+Accepting the great principle that the reconstruction of society to be
+worked for is the ownership and control of industry by the community,
+the Fabians refused to regard as articles of faith either the economic
+and historic analyses which Marx made use of or the political evolution
+which he predicted.
+
+Socialism in England remained the fantastic creed of a group of fanatics
+until "Fabian Essays" and the Lancashire Campaign taught the working
+classes of England, or at any rate their leaders, that Socialism was a
+living principle which could be applied to existing social and political
+conditions without a cataclysm either insurrectionary or even political.
+Revolutionary phraseology, the language of violence, survived, and still
+survives, just as in ordinary politics we use the metaphors of warfare
+and pretend that the peaceful polling booth is a battlefield and that
+our political opponents are hostile armies. But we only wave the red
+flag in our songs, and we recognise nowadays that the real battles of
+Socialism are fought in committee rooms at Westminster and in the
+council chambers of Town Halls.
+
+It was perhaps fortunate that none of the Fabian leaders came within the
+influence of the extraordinary personality of Karl Marx. Had he lived a
+few years longer he might have dominated them as he dominated his German
+followers, and one or two of his English adherents. Then years would
+have been wasted in the struggle to escape. It was fortunate also that
+the Fabian Society has never possessed one single outstanding leader,
+and has always refrained from electing a president or permanent
+chairman. There never has been a Fabian orthodoxy, because no one was in
+a position to assert what the true faith was.
+
+Freedom of thought was without doubt obtained for English Socialists by
+the Fabians. How far the world-wide revolt against Marxian orthodoxy had
+its origin in England is another and more difficult question. In his
+study of the Fabian Society[43] M. Edouard Pfeiffer states in the
+preface that the Society makes this claim, quotes Bernard Shaw as saying
+to him, "The world has been thoroughly Fabianised in the last
+twenty-five years," and adds that he is going to examine the accuracy of
+it. Later he says:--
+
+"Les premiers de tous les Socialistes, les Fabiens out inaugure le
+mouvement de critique antimarxiste: a une epoque ou les dogmes du maitre
+etaient consideres comme intangibles, les Fabiens out pretendu que l'on
+pouvait se dire socialiste sans jamais avoir lu le Capital ou en en
+desapprouvant la teneur; par opposition a Marx ils out ressuscite
+l'esprit de Stuart Mill et sur tous les points ils se sont attaques a
+Marx, guerre des classes et materialisme historique, catastrophisme et
+avant tout la question de la valeur-travail."[44]
+
+This is a French view. Germany is naturally the stronghold of Marxism,
+and the country where it has proved, up to a point, an unqualified
+success. Although the Social Democratic Party was founded as an alliance
+between the followers of Marx and of Lassalle, on terms to which Marx
+himself violently objected, none the less the leadership of the party
+fell to those who accepted the teaching of Marx, and on that basis by
+far the greatest Socialist Party of the world has been built up.
+Nowhere else did the ideas of Marx hold such unquestioned supremacy:
+nowhere else had they such a body of loyal adherents, such a host of
+teachers and interpreters. Only on the question of agricultural land in
+the freer political atmosphere of South Germany was there even a breath
+of dissent. The revolt came from England in the person of Edward
+Bernstein, who, exiled by Bismarck, took refuge in London, and was for
+years intimately acquainted with the Fabian Society and its leaders.
+Soon after his return to Germany he published in 1899 a volume
+criticising Marxism,[45] and thence grew up the Revisionist movement for
+free thought in Socialism which has attracted all the younger men, and
+before the war had virtually, if not actually, obtained control over the
+Social Democratic Party.
+
+In England, and in Germany through Bernstein, I think the Fabian Society
+may claim to have led the revolt. Elsewhere the revolt has come rather
+in deeds than in words. In France, in Italy, and in Belgium and in other
+European countries, a Socialist Party has grown up which amid greater
+political opportunities has had to face the actual problems of modern
+politics. These could not be solved by quotations from a German
+philosopher, and liberty has been gained by force of circumstances.
+Nevertheless in many countries, such as Russia and the United States,
+even now, or at any rate until very recent years, the freedom of action
+of Socialist parties has been impeded by excessive respect for the
+opinions of the Founder, and Socialist thought has been sterilised,
+because it was assumed that Marx had completed the philosophy of
+Socialism, and the business of Socialists was not to think for
+themselves, but merely to work for the realisation of his ideas.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But mere freedom was not enough. Something must be put in the place of
+Marx. His English followers did not notice that he had indicated no
+method, and devised no political machinery for the transition; or if
+they noticed it they passed over the omission as a negligible detail. If
+German Socialism would not suit, English Socialism had to be formulated
+to take its place. This has been the life-work of the Fabian Society,
+the working out of the application of the broad principles of Socialism
+to the industrial and political environment of England. I say England
+advisedly, because the industrial and political conditions of Scotland
+are in some degree different, and the application of the principles of
+Socialism to Ireland has not yet been seriously attempted. But for
+England "Fabian Essays" and the Fabian Tracts are by general consent the
+best expositions of the meaning and working of Socialism in the English
+language.
+
+Marxian Socialism regarded itself as a thing apart. Marx had discovered
+a panacea for the ills of society: the old was to be cleared away and
+all things were to become new. In Marx's own thought evolution and
+revolution were tangled and alternated. The evolutionary side was
+essential to it; the idea of revolutionary catastrophe is almost an
+excrescence. But to the Marxians (of whom Marx once observed that he was
+not one) this excrescence became the whole thing. People were divided
+into those who advocated the revolution and those who did not. The
+business of propaganda was to increase the number of adherents of the
+new at the expense of the supporters of the old.
+
+The Fabians regarded Socialism as a principle already in part embodied
+in the constitution of society, gradually extending its influence
+because it harmonised with the needs and desires of men in countries
+where the large industry prevails.
+
+Fabian Socialism is in fact an interpretation of the spirit of the
+times. I have pointed out already that the municipalisation of
+monopolies, a typically Fabian process, had its origin decades before
+the Society was founded, and all that the Fabian Society did was to
+explain its social implications and advocate its wider extension. The
+same is true of the whole Fabian political policy. Socialism in English
+politics grew up because of the necessity for State intervention in the
+complex industrial and social organisation of a Great State. Almost
+before the evil results of Laissez Faire had culminated Robert Owen was
+pointing the way to factory legislation, popular education, and the
+communal care of children. The Ten Hours Act of 1847 was described by
+Marx himself as "the victory of a principle," that is, of "the political
+economy of the working class."[46] That victory was frequently repeated
+in the next thirty years, and collective protection of Labour in the
+form of Factory Acts, Sanitary Acts, Truck Acts, Employers' Liability
+Acts, and Trade Board Acts became a recognised part of the policy of
+both political parties.
+
+Fabian teaching has had more direct influence in promoting the
+administrative protection of Labour. The Fair Wages policy, now
+everywhere prevalent in State and Municipal employment, was, as has been
+already described, if not actually invented, at any rate largely
+popularised by the Society. It was a working-class demand, and it has
+been everywhere put forward by organised labour, but its success would
+have been slower had the manual workers been left to fight their own
+battle.
+
+I have said that the work of the Society was the interpretation of an
+existing movement, the explanation and justification of tendencies which
+originated in Society at large, and not in societies, Fabian or other.
+That work is only less valuable than the formulation of new ideas. None
+of the Fabians would claim to rank beside the great promulgators of new
+ideas, such as Owen and Marx. But the interpretation of tendencies is
+necessary if progress is to be sustained and if it is to be unbroken by
+casual reaction. In an old country like ours, with vast forces of
+inertia built up by ages of precedents, by a class system which forms a
+part of the life of the nation, by a distribution of wealth which even
+yet scarcely yields to the pressure of graduated taxation, legislation
+is always in arrear of the needs of the times; the social structure is
+always old-fashioned and out of date, and reform always tends to be
+late, and even too late, unless there are agitators with the ability to
+attract public attention calling on the men in power to take action.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But this victory of a principle is not a complete victory of the
+principles of Socialism. It is a limitation of the power of the
+capitalist to use his capital as he pleases, and Socialism is much more
+than a series of social safeguards to the private ownership of capital.
+Municipal ownership is a further step, but even this will not carry us
+far because the capital suitable for municipal management on existing
+lines is but a small fraction of the whole, and because municipal
+control does not directly affect the amount of capital in the hands of
+the capitalists who are always expropriated with ample compensation.
+
+We have made some progress along another line. Supertax, death duties,
+and taxes on unearned increment do a little to diminish the wealth of
+the few: old age pensions, national insurance, and workmen's
+compensation do something towards mitigating the poverty of the poor.
+
+But it must be confessed that we have made but little progress along the
+main road of Socialism. Private ownership of capital and land flourishes
+almost as vigorously as it did thirty years ago. Its grosser cruelties
+have been checked, but the thing itself has barely been touched. Time
+alone will show whether progress is to be along existing lines, whether
+the power of the owners of capital over the wealth it helps to create
+and over the lives of the workers whom it enslaves will gradually fade
+away, as the power of our kings over the Government of our country has
+faded, the form remaining when the substance has vanished, or whether
+the community will at last consciously accept the teaching of Socialism,
+setting itself definitely to put an end to large-scale private
+capitalism, and undertaking itself the direct control of industry. The
+intellectual outlook is bright; the principles of Socialism are already
+accepted by a sensible proportion of the men and women in all classes
+who take the trouble to think, and if we must admit that but little has
+yet been done, we may well believe that in the fullness of time our
+ideas will prevail. The present war is giving the old world a great
+shake, and an era of precipitated reconstruction may ensue if the
+opportunity be wisely handled.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The influence of the Fabian Society on political thought is already the
+theme of doctoral theses by graduates, especially in American
+universities, but it has not yet found much place in weightier
+compilation. Indeed so far as I know the only serious attempts in this
+country to describe its character and estimate its proportions is to be
+found in an admirable little book by Mr. Ernest Barker of New College,
+Oxford, entitled "Political Thought in England from Herbert Spencer to
+the Present Day."[47] The author, dealing with the early Fabians, points
+out that "Mill rather than Marx was their starting point," but he infers
+from this that "they start along the line suggested by Mill with an
+attack on rent as the 'unearned increment' of land," a curious
+inaccuracy since our earliest contribution to the theory of Socialism,
+Tract No. 7, "Capital and Land," was expressly directed to emphasising
+the comparative unimportance of Land Nationalisation, and nothing in the
+later work of the Society has been inconsistent with this attitude. Then
+Mr. Barker goes on: "Fabianism began after 1884 to supply a new
+philosophy in place of Benthamite Individualism. Of the new gospel of
+collectivism a German writer[48] has said Webb was the Bentham and Shaw
+the Mill.[49] Without assigning roles we may fairly say there is some
+resemblance between the influence of Benthamism on legislation after
+1830 and the influence of Fabianism on legislation since, at any rate,
+1906.[50] In either case we have a small circle of thinkers and
+investigators in quiet touch with politicians: in either case we have a
+'permeation' of general opinion by the ideas of these thinkers and
+investigators.... It is probable that the historian of the future will
+emphasise Fabianism in much the same way as the historian of to-day
+emphasises Benthamism."[51]
+
+Mr. Barker next explains that "Fabianism has its own political creed, if
+it is a political creed consequential upon an economic doctrine. That
+economic doctrine advocates the socialisation of rent. But the rents
+which the Fabians would socialise are not only rents from land. Rent in
+the sense of unearned increments may be drawn, and is drawn, from other
+sources. The successful entrepreneur for instance draws a rent of
+ability from his superior equipment and education. The socialisation of
+every kind of rent will necessarily arm the State with great funds which
+it must use.... Shaw can define the two interconnected aims of Fabianism
+as 'the gradual extension of the franchise and the transfer of rent and
+interest to the State.'"
+
+As Mr. Barker may not be alone in a slight misinterpretation of Fabian
+doctrine it may be well to take this opportunity of refuting the error.
+He says that Fabianism advocates the socialisation of rent, and in
+confirmation quotes Shaw's words "rent _and interest_"! That makes all
+the difference. If the term rent is widened to include all differential
+unearned incomes, from land, from ability, from opportunity (i.e.
+special profits), interest includes all non-differential unearned
+incomes, and thus the State is to be endowed, not with rents alone, but
+with all unearned incomes.[52] It is true that the Fabians, throwing
+over Marx's inaccurate term "surplus value," base their Socialism on the
+Law of Rent, because, as they allege, this law negatives both equality
+of income and earnings in proportion to labour, so long as private
+ownership of land prevails. It is also true that they have directed
+special attention to the unearned incomes of the "idle" landlord and
+shareholder, because these are the typical feature of the modern system
+of distribution, which indeed has come to the front since the time of
+Marx, and because they furnish the answer to those who contend that
+wealth is at present distributed approximately in accordance with
+personal capacity or merit, and tacitly assume that "the rich" are all
+of them great captains of industry who by enterprise and ability have
+actually created their vast fortunes.[53] Indeed we might say that we do
+not mind conceding to our opponents all the wealth "created" by superior
+brains, if they will let us deal with the unearned incomes which are
+received independent of the possession of any brains, or any services at
+all!
+
+But although we regard the case of the capitalist employer as relatively
+negligible, and although we prefer to concentrate our attack on the
+least defensible side of the capitalist system--and already the State
+recognises that unearned incomes should pay a larger proportion in
+income-tax, that property which passes at death, necessarily to those
+who have not earned it, should contribute a large quota to the public
+purse, and that unearned increment on land should in part belong to the
+public--that does not mean that we have any tenderness for the
+entrepreneur. Him we propose to deal with by the favourite Fabian method
+of municipalisation and nationalisation. We take over his "enterprise,"
+his gasworks and waterworks, his docks and trams, his railways and
+mines. We secure for the State the profits of management and the future
+unearned increment, and we compensate him for his capital with
+interest-bearing securities. We force him in fact to become the idle
+recipient of unearned income, and then we turn round and upbraid him and
+tax him heavily precisely because his income is unearned! If there is
+any special tenderness in this treatment, I should prefer harshness. To
+me it seems to resemble the policy of the wolf towards the lamb.[54]
+
+I will proceed with quotations from Mr. Barker, because the view of a
+historian of thought is weightier than anything I could say.
+
+"But collectivism also demands in the second place expert government. It
+demands the 'aristocracy of talent' of which Carlyle wrote. The control
+of a State with powers so vast will obviously need an exceptional and
+exceptionally large aristocracy. Those opponents of Fabianism who desire
+something more revolutionary than its political 'meliorism' and
+'palliatives' accuse it of alliance with bureaucracy. They urge that it
+relies on bureaucracy to administer social reforms from above; and they
+conclude that, since any governing _class_ is anti-democratic, the
+Fabians who believe in such a class are really anti-democratic. The
+charge seems, as a matter of fact, difficult to sustain. Fabians from
+the first felt and urged that the decentralisation of the State was a
+necessary condition of the realisation of their aim. The municipality
+and other local units were the natural bodies for administering the new
+funds and discharging the new duties which the realisation of that aim
+would create. 'A democratic State,' Shaw wrote, 'cannot become a Social
+Democratic State unless it has in every centre of population a local
+governing body as thoroughly democratic in its constitution as the
+central Parliament.' The House of Commons he felt must develop 'into the
+central government which will be the organ of federating the
+municipalities.' Fabianism thus implied no central bureaucracy; what it
+demanded was partly, indeed, a more efficient and expert central
+government (and there is plenty of room for that), but primarily an
+expert local civil service in close touch with and under the control of
+a really democratic municipal government. It is difficult to say that
+this is bureaucracy or that it is not desirable. Many men who are not
+Fabians or Socialists of any kind feel strongly that the breathing of
+more vigour and interest into local politics, and the creation of a
+proper local civil service, are the great problems of the future.
+
+"The policy of Fabianism has thus been somewhat as follows. An
+intellectual circle has sought to permeate all classes, from the top to
+the bottom, with a common opinion in favour of social control of
+socially created values. Resolved to permeate all classes, it has not
+preached class-consciousness; it has worked as much with and through
+Liberal 'capitalists' as with and through Labour representatives.
+Resolved gradually to permeate, it has not been revolutionary: it has
+relied on the slow growth of opinion. Reformist rather than
+revolutionary, it has explained the impossibility of the sudden
+'revolution' of the working classes against capital: it has urged the
+necessity of a gradual amelioration of social conditions by a gradual
+assertion of social control over unearned increment.[55] Hence Fabianism
+has not adopted the somewhat cold attitude of the pure Socialist Party
+to Trade Unions, but has rather found in their gradual conquest of
+better wages and better conditions for the workers the line of social
+advance congenial with its own principles. Again, it has preached that
+the society which is to exert control must be democratic, if the control
+is to be, as it must be, self-control: it has taught that such
+democratic self-control must primarily be exerted in democratic local
+self-government: it has emphasised the need of reconciling democratic
+control with expert guidance. While it has never advocated 'direct
+action' or the avoidance of political activity, while on the contrary,
+it has advocated the conquest of social reforms on the fields of
+parliamentary and municipal government, it has not defended the State as
+it is, but has rather urged the need for a State which is based on
+democracy tempered by respect for the 'expert.' In this way Socialism of
+the Fabian type has made representative democracy its creed. It has
+adopted the sound position that democracy flourishes in that form of
+state in which people freely produce, thanks to an equality of
+educational opportunity, and freely choose, thanks to a wide and active
+suffrage, their own members for their guidance, and, since they have
+freely produced and chosen them, give them freely and fully the honour
+of their trust. And thus Socialists like Mr. Sidney Webb and Mr. Ramsay
+Macdonald have not coquetted with primary democracy, which has always
+had a magnetic attraction for Socialists. The doctrine that the people
+itself governs directly through obedient agents--the doctrine of mandate
+and plebiscite, of referendum and initiative--is not the doctrine of
+the best English Socialism." Mr. Barker next explains that behind these
+ideas lies "an organic theory of society," that society is regarded as
+"an organic unity with a real 'general will' of its own," and after
+stating that "the development of Liberalism, during the last few years,
+shows considerable traces of Fabian influence," concludes the subject
+with the words "Collectivism of the Fabian order was the dominant form
+of Socialism in England till within the last three of four years." Of
+the movement of Guild Socialists and others which he deems to have
+replaced it I shall speak later.
+
+I have ventured to quote from Mr. Barker at some length because his
+summary of Fabian doctrine seems to me (with the exception noted) to be
+both correct and excellent, and it is safer to borrow from a writer
+quite unconnected with the Society an estimate of its place in the
+history of English political thought, rather than to offer my own
+necessarily prejudiced opinion of its achievements.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But I must revert again to the Fabian "method." "Make Socialists," said
+Mr. Wells in "Faults of the Fabian," "and you will achieve Socialism.
+There is no other way"; and Mr. Wells in his enthusiasm anticipated a
+society of ten thousand Fabians as the result of a year's propaganda.
+Will Socialism come through the making of Socialists?
+
+If so, Socialism has made but little progress in England, since the
+number who profess and call themselves Socialist is still insignificant.
+The foregoing pages have shown in the words of a student of political
+thought how Socialism has been made in England in quite another way.
+
+We did not at the time repudiate Mr. Wells' dictum: indeed we adopted
+his policy, and attempted the making of Socialism on a large scale. No
+doubt there is a certain ambiguity in the word "Socialists." It may mean
+members of Socialist societies, or at any rate "unattached Socialists,"
+all those in fact who use the name to describe their political opinions.
+Or it may merely be another way of stating that the existing form of
+society can only be altered by the wills of living people, and change
+will only be in the direction of Socialism, when the wills which are
+effective for the purpose choose that direction in preference to
+another.
+
+Mr. Wells himself described as a "fantastic idea" the notion that "the
+world may be manoeuvred into Socialism without knowing it": that
+"society is to keep like it is ... and yet Socialism will be soaking
+through it all, changing without a sign,"[56] and he at any rate meant
+by his phrase, "make members of Socialist societies."
+
+The older and better Fabian doctrine is set out in the opening
+paragraphs of Tract 70, the "Report on Fabian Policy" (1896).
+
+
+"THE MISSION OF THE FABIANS
+
+The object of the Fabian Society is to persuade the English people to
+make their political constitution thoroughly democratic and so to
+socialise their industries as to make the livelihood of the people
+entirely independent of private capitalism.
+
+The Fabian Society endeavours to pursue its Socialist and Democratic
+objects with complete singleness of aim. For example:--
+
+It has no distinctive opinions on the Marriage Question, Religion, Art,
+abstract Economics, historic Evolution, Currency, or any other subject
+than its own special business of practical Democracy and Socialism.
+
+It brings all the pressure and persuasion in its power to bear on
+existing forces, caring nothing by what name any party calls itself or
+what principles, Socialist or other, it professes, but having regard
+solely to the tendency of its actions, supporting those which make for
+Socialism and Democracy and opposing those which are reactionary.
+
+It does not propose that the practical steps towards Social Democracy
+should be carried out by itself or by any other specially organised
+society or party.
+
+It does not ask the English people to join the Fabian Society."
+
+In old days acting on this view of our "mission" we deliberately allowed
+the Society to remain small. Latterly we tried to expand, and in the
+main our attempt was an expensive failure. The other Socialist bodies
+have always used their propaganda primarily for recruiting; and they
+have sought to enlist the rank and file of the British people. In this
+they too have substantially failed, and the forty or fifty thousand
+members of the I.L.P. and B.S.P. are roughly no larger a proportion of
+the working class than the three thousand Fabians are of the middle
+class. If the advance of Socialism in England is to be measured by the
+"making of Socialists," if we are to count membership, to enumerate
+meetings, to sum up subscriptions, the outlook is gloomy. Thirty-four
+years ago a group of strong men led by Mr. H.M. Hyndman founded the
+Democratic Federation, which survives as the British Socialist Party,
+with Mr. Hyndman still to the fore; the rest have more or less dropped
+out, and no one has arisen to take their places. Twenty-two years ago
+Keir Hardie founded the Independent Labour Party: he has died since the
+first draft of this passage was written, and no one is left who commands
+such universal affection and respect amongst the members of the Society
+he created. Of the seven Essayists who virtually founded the Fabian
+Society only one is still fully in harness, and his working life must
+necessarily be nearing its term. It may be doubted whether a society for
+the propagation of ideas has the power to long outlive the inspiration
+of its founder, unless indeed he is a man of such outstanding
+personality that his followers treat him as a god. The religions of the
+world have been maintained by worshippers, and even in our own day the
+followers of Marx have held together partly because they regard his
+teachings with the uncritical reverence usually accorded to the prophets
+of new faiths. But Marxism has survived in Germany chiefly because it
+has created and inspired a political party, and political parties are of
+a different order from propagandist societies. Socialism in England has
+not yet created a political party; for the Labour Party, though entirely
+Socialist in policy, is not so in name or in creed, and in this matter
+the form counts rather than the fact.
+
+Europe, as I write in the early days of 1916, is in the melting-pot, and
+it would be foolish to prophesy either the fate of the nations now at
+war or, in particular, the future of political parties in Great Britain,
+and especially of the Labour Party.
+
+But so far as concerns the Fabian Society and the two other Socialist
+Societies, this much may be said: three factors in the past have kept
+them apart: differences of temperament; differences of policy;
+differences of leadership. In fact perhaps the last was the strongest.
+
+I do not mean that the founders of the three societies entertained
+mutual antipathies or personal jealousies to the detriment of the
+movement. I do mean that each group preferred to go its own way, and saw
+no sufficient advantage in a common path to compensate for the
+difficulties of selecting it.
+
+In a former chapter I have explained how a movement for a form of
+Socialist Unity had at last almost achieved success, when a new factor,
+the European War, interposed. After the war these negotiations will
+doubtless be resumed, and the three Socialist Societies will find
+themselves more closely allied than ever before. The differences of
+policy which have divided them will then be a matter of past history.
+The differences of temperament matter less and less as the general
+policy becomes fixed, and in a few years the old leaders from whose
+disputes the general policy emerged must all have left the stage. The
+younger men inherit an established platform and know nothing of the
+old-time quarrels and distrusts. They will come together more easily. If
+the organised propaganda of Socialism continues--and that perhaps is not
+a matter of certainty--it seems to me improbable that it will be carried
+on for long by three separate societies. In some way or other, in
+England as in so many other countries, a United Socialist organisation
+will be constituted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But what of the future of Fabian ideas? In a passage already quoted Mr.
+Barker indicates that the dominance of "Collectivism of the Fabian
+order" ceased three or four years ago, and he goes on to indicate that
+it has been replaced by an anti-state propaganda, taking various forms,
+Syndicalism, Guild Socialism, and the Distributivism of Mr. Belloc. It
+is true that Fabianism of the old type is not the last event in the
+history of political thought, but it is still, I venture to think, the
+dominant principle in political progress. Guild Socialism, whatever its
+worth, is a later stage. If our railways are to be managed by the
+Railwaymen's Union, they must first be acquired for the community by
+Collectivism.
+
+This is not the place to discuss the possibilities of Guild Socialism.
+After all it is but a form of Socialism, and a first principle of
+Fabianism has always been free thought. The leading Guild Socialists
+resigned from the Society: they were not expelled: they attempted to
+coerce the rest, but no attempt was made to coerce them. Guild Socialism
+as a scheme for placing production under the management of the producers
+seems to me to be on the wrong lines. The consumer as a citizen must
+necessarily decide what is to be produced for his needs. But I do not
+belong to the generation which will have to settle the matter. The
+elderly are incompetent judges of new ideas. Fabian doctrine is not
+stereotyped: the Society consists in the main of young people. The
+Essayists and their contemporaries have said their say: it remains for
+the younger people to accept what they choose, and to add whatever is
+necessary. Those who repudiated the infallibility of Marx will be the
+last to claim infallibility for themselves. I can only express the hope
+that as long as the Fabian Society lasts it will be ever open to new
+ideas, ever conscious that nothing is final, ever aware that the world
+is enormously complex, and that no single formula will summarise or
+circumscribe its infinite variety.[57]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The work of the Fabian Society has been not to make Socialists, but to
+make Socialism. I think it may be said that the dominant opinion in the
+Society--at any rate it is my opinion--is that great social changes can
+only come by consent. The Capitalist system cannot be overthrown by a
+revolution or by a parliamentary majority. Wage slavery will disappear,
+as serfdom disappeared, not indeed imperceptibly, for the world is now
+self-conscious, not even so gradually, for the pace of progress is
+faster than it was in the Middle Ages, but by a change of heart of the
+community, by a general recognition, already half realised, that
+whatever makes for the more equitable distribution of wealth is good;
+that whatever benefits the working class benefits the nation; that the
+rich exist only on sufferance, and deserve no more than painless
+extinction; that the capitalist is a servant of the public, and too
+often over-paid for the services that he renders.
+
+Again, Socialism succeeds because it is common sense. The anarchy of
+individual production is already an anachronism. The control of the
+community over itself extends every day. We demand order, method,
+regularity, design; the accidents of sickness and misfortune, of old age
+and bereavement, must be prevented if possible, and if not, mitigated.
+Of this principle the public is already convinced: it is merely a
+question of working out the details. But order and forethought is wanted
+for industry as well as for human life. Competition is bad, and in most
+respects private monopoly is worse. No one now seriously defends the
+system of rival traders with their crowds of commercial travellers: of
+rival tradesmen with their innumerable deliveries in each street; and
+yet no one advocates the capitalist alternative, the great trust, often
+concealed and insidious, which monopolises oil or tobacco or diamonds,
+and makes huge profits for a fortunate; few out of the helplessness of
+the unorganised consumers.
+
+But neither the idle rich class nor the anarchy of competition is so
+outstanding an evil as the poverty of the poor. We aim at making the
+rich poorer chiefly in order to make the poor richer. Our first tract,
+"Why are the Many Poor?" struck the keynote. In a century of abounding
+wealth England still has in its midst a hideous mass of poverty which is
+too appalling to think of. That poverty, we say, is preventible. That
+poverty was the background of our thoughts when the Society was founded.
+Perhaps we have done a little to mitigate it: we believe we have done
+something to make clear the way by which it may ultimately be abolished.
+We do not constantly talk of it. We write of the advantages of Municipal
+Electricity, of the powers of Parish Councils, of the objections to the
+Referendum; but all the while it is that great evil which chiefly moves
+us, and by our success or our failure in helping on the reconstruction
+of society for the purpose of abolishing poverty, the work of the Fabian
+Society must ultimately be judged.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[43] "La Societe Fabienne et le Mouvement socialiste anglais
+contemporain." By Edouard Pfeiffer, Paris, F. Giard and E. Briere, 1911;
+an excellent volume but full of errors.
+
+[44] "The Fabians were the first amongst Socialists to start the
+movement of anti-Marxist criticism. At a period when the dogmas of the
+Master were regarded as sacred, the Fabians ventured to assert that it
+was possible to call oneself a Socialist without ever having read 'Das
+Kapital,' or without accepting its doctrine. In opposition to Marx, they
+have revived the spirit of J.S. Mill, and they have attacked Marx all
+along the line--the class war, the economic interpretation of history,
+the catastrophic method, and above all the theory of value."
+
+[45] Published in English by the Independent Labour Party in 1909 as
+"Evolutionary Socialism."
+
+[46] Address to the International, 1862, quoted from Spargo's "Karl
+Marx," p. 266.
+
+[47] Home University Library, Williams and Norgate, 1915, 1s.
+
+[48] M. Beer, "Geschichte des Socialismus in England" (Stuttgart, 1913),
+p. 462. Mr. Beer devotes seven pages to the Society, which he describes
+with accuracy, and interprets much as Mr. Barker has done. The book was
+written at the request of the German Social Democratic Party.
+
+[49] I quote, but do not endorse the opinion that G.B.S. markedly
+resembles James Mill (Mr. Barker confuses the two Mills). Beer adds
+"Webb was the thinker, Shaw the fighter." This antithesis is scarcely
+happy. The collaboration of the two is much too complicated to be summed
+up in a phrase.
+
+[50] But see chapter VIII for its influence before 1906; and see
+Appendix 1. A. for a much fuller discussion of this subject.
+
+[51] The same idea is expressed by a Canadian Professor:--
+
+"It is necessary to go back to the Philosophical Radicals to find a
+small group of men who have exercised such a profound influence over
+English political thought as the little band of social investigators who
+organised the Fabian Society."
+
+"Socialism: a critical analysis." By O.D. Skelton, Ph.D., Professor of
+Economic Science, Kingston, Canada. (Constable, 1911.) p. 288.
+
+[52] Mr. Barker erroneously uses the word "increment" for "income" in
+several places. Unearned increment is quite another thing.
+
+[53] See "Socialism and Superior Brains: a reply to Mr. Mallock," by
+G.B. Shaw. Fabian Tract 146.
+
+[54] Mr. Barker emphasises the "discrimination advocated by the Fabians"
+in favour of profits in a later passage (p. 224) not here quoted.
+
+[55] This should read "incomes."
+
+[56] "Faults of the Fabian," p. 9.
+
+[57] See Appendix I. B.
+
+
+
+
+Appendix I
+
+Memoranda by Bernard Shaw
+
+
+Bernard Shaw has been good enough to write the following memoranda on
+Chapter XII. For various reasons I prefer to leave that chapter as it
+stands; but the memoranda have an interest of their own and I therefore
+print them here.
+
+
+A
+
+ON THE HISTORY OF FABIAN ECONOMICS
+
+Mr. Barker's guesses greatly underrate the number of tributaries which
+enlarged the trickle of Socialist thought into a mighty river. They also
+shew how quickly waves of thought are forgotten. Far from being the
+economic apostle of Socialism, Mill, in the days when the Fabian Society
+took the field, was regarded as the standard authority for solving the
+social problem by a combination of peasant proprietorship with
+neo-Malthusianism. The Dialectical Society, which was a centre of the
+most advanced thought in London until the Fabian Society supplanted it,
+was founded to advocate the principles of Mill's Essay on Liberty, which
+was much more the Bible of English Individualism than Das Kapital ever
+was of English Socialism. As late as 1888 Henry Sidgwick, a follower of
+Mill, rose indignantly at the meeting of the British Association in
+Bath, to which I had just read the paper on The Transition to
+Social-Democracy, which was subsequently published; as one of the
+Fabian Essays, and declared that I had advocated nationalisation of
+land; that nationalisation of land was a crime; and that he would not
+take part in a discussion of a criminal proposal. With that he left the
+platform, all the more impressively as his apparently mild and judicial
+temperament made the incident so unexpected that his friends who had not
+actually witnessed it were with difficulty persuaded that it had really
+happened. It illustrates the entire failure of Mill up to that date to
+undo the individualistic teaching of the earlier volumes of his
+Political Economy by the Socialist conclusions to which his work on the
+treatise led him at the end. Sidney Webb astonished and confounded our
+Individualist opponents by citing Mill against them; and it is probably
+due to Webb more than to any other disciple that it is now generally
+known that Mill died a Socialist. Webb read Mill and mastered Mill as he
+seemed to have read and mastered everybody else; but the only other
+prominent Socialist who can be claimed by Mill as a convert was, rather
+unexpectedly, William Morris, who said that when he read the passage in
+which Mill, after admitting that the worst evils of Communism are,
+compared to the evils of our Commercialism, as dust in the balance,
+nevertheless condemned Communism, he immediately became a Communist, as
+Mill had clearly given his verdict against the evidence. Except in these
+instances we heard nothing of Mill in the Fabian Society. Cairnes's
+denunciation of the idle consumers of rent and interest was frequently
+quoted; and Marshall's Economics of Industry was put into our book boxes
+as a textbook; but the taste for abstract economics was no more general
+in the Fabian Society than elsewhere. I had in my boyhood read some of
+Mill's detached essays, including those on constitutional government
+and on the Irish land question, as well as the inevitable one on
+Liberty; but none of these pointed to Socialism; and my attention was
+first drawn to political economy as the science of social salvation by
+Henry George's eloquence, and by his Progress and Poverty, which had an
+enormous circulation in the early eighties, and beyond all question had
+more to do with the Socialist revival of that period in England than any
+other book. Before the Fabian Society existed I pressed George's
+propaganda of Land Nationalisation on a meeting of the Democratic
+Federation, but was told to read Karl Marx. I was so complete a novice
+in economics at that time that when I wrote a letter to Justice pointing
+out a flaw in Marx's reasoning, I regarded my letter merely as a joke,
+and fully expected that some more expert Socialist economist would
+refute me easily. Even when the refutation did not arrive I remained so
+impressed with the literary power and overwhelming documentation of
+Marx's indictment of nineteenth-century Commercialism and the capitalist
+system, that I defended him against all comers in and out of season
+until Philip Wicksteed, the well-known Dante commentator, then a popular
+Unitarian minister, brought me to a standstill by a criticism of Marx
+which I did not understand. This was the first appearance in Socialist
+controversy of the value theory of Jevons, published in 1871. Professor
+Edgeworth and Mr. Wicksteed, to whom Jevons appealed as a mathematician,
+were at that time trying to convince the academic world of the
+importance of Jevons's theory; but I, not being a mathematician, was not
+easily accessible to their methods of demonstration. I consented to
+reply to Mr. Wicksteed on the express condition that the editor of
+To-day, in which my reply appeared, should find space for a rejoinder
+by Mr. Wicksteed. My reply, which was not bad for a fake, and contained
+the germ of the economic argument for equality of income which I put
+forward twenty-five years later, elicited only a brief rejoinder; but
+the upshot was that I put myself into Mr. Wicksteed's hands and became a
+convinced Jevonian, fascinated by the subtlety of Jevons's theory and
+the exquisiteness with which it adapted itself to all the cases which
+had driven previous economists, including Marx, to take refuge in clumsy
+distinctions between use value, exchange value, labour value, supply and
+demand value, and the rest of the muddlements of that time.
+
+Accordingly, the abstract economics of the Fabian Essays are, as regards
+value, the economics of Jevons. As regards rent they are the economics
+of Ricardo, which I, having thrown myself into the study of abstract
+economics, had learnt from Ricardo's own works and from De Quincey's
+Logic of Political Economy. I maintained, as I still do, that the older
+economists, writing before Socialism had arisen as a possible
+alternative to Commercialism and a menace to its vested interests, were
+far more candid in their statements and thorough in their reasoning than
+their successors, and was fond of citing the references in De Quincey
+and Austin's Lectures on Jurisprudence to the country gentleman system
+and the evils of capitalism, as instances of frankness upon which no
+modern professor dare venture.
+
+The economical and moral identity of capital and interest with land and
+rent was popularly demonstrated by Olivier in Tract 7 on Capital and
+Land, and put into strict academic form by Sidney Webb. The point was of
+importance at a time when the distinction was still so strongly
+maintained that the Fabian Society was compelled to exclude Land
+Nationalizers, both before and after their development into Single
+Taxers, because they held that though land and rent should be
+socialized, capital and interest must remain private property.
+
+This really exhausts the history of the Fabian Society as far as
+abstract economic theory is concerned. Activity in that department was
+confined to Webb and myself. Later on, Pease's interest in banking and
+currency led him to contribute some criticism of the schemes of the
+currency cranks who infest all advanced movements, flourishing the paper
+money of the Guernsey Market, and to give the Society some positive
+guidance as to the rapid integration of modern banking. But this was an
+essay in applied economics. It may be impossible to draw a line between
+the old abstract deductive economics and the modern historical concrete
+economics; but the fact remains that though the water may be the same,
+the tide has turned. A comparison of my exposition of the law of rent in
+my first Fabian Essay and in my Impossibilities of Anarchism with the
+Webbs' great Histories of Trade Unionism and of Industrial Democracy
+will illustrate the difference between the two schools.
+
+The departure was made by Graham Wallas, who, abandoning the deductive
+construction of intellectual theorems, made an exhaustive study of the
+Chartist movement. It is greatly to be regretted that these lectures
+were not effectively published. Their delivery wrought a tremendous
+disillusion as to the novelty of our ideas and methods of propaganda;
+much new gospel suddenly appeared to us as stale failure; and we
+recognized that there had been weak men before Agamemnon, even as far
+back as in Cromwell's army. The necessity for mastering the history of
+our own movement and falling into our ordered place in it became
+apparent; and it was in this new frame of mind that the monumental
+series of works by the Webbs came into existence. Wallas's Life of
+Francis Place shows his power of reconstructing a popular agitation with
+a realism which leaves the conventional imaginary version of it
+punctured and flaccid; and it was by doing the same for the Chartist
+movement that he left his mark on us.
+
+Of the other Essayists, Olivier had wrestled with the huge Positive
+Philosophy of Comte, who thus comes in as a Fabian influence. William
+Clarke was a disciple of Mazzini, and found Emerson, Thoreau, and the
+Brook Farm enthusiasts congenial to him. Bland, who at last became a
+professed Catholic, was something of a Coleridgian transcendentalist,
+though he treated a copy of Bakunin's God and the State to a handsome
+binding. Mrs. Besant's spiritual history has been written by herself.
+Wallas brought to bear a wide scholastic culture of the classic type, in
+which modern writers, though interesting, were not fundamental. The
+general effect, it will be perceived, is very much wider and more
+various than that suggested by Mr. Ernest Barker's remark that Mill was
+our starting point.
+
+It is a curious fact that of the three great propagandist amateurs of
+political economy, Henry George, Marx, and Ruskin, Ruskin alone seems to
+have had no effect on the Fabians. Here and there in the Socialist
+movement workmen turned up who had read Fors Clavigera or Unto This
+Last; and some of the more well-to-do no doubt had read the first
+chapter of Munera Pulveris. But Ruskin's name was hardly mentioned in
+the Fabian Society. My explanation is that, barring Olivier, the Fabians
+were inveterate Philistines. My efforts to induce them to publish
+Richard Wagner's Art and Revolution, and, later on, Oscar Wilde's The
+Soul of Man under Socialism, or even to do justice to Morris's News From
+Nowhere, fell so flat that I doubt whether my colleagues were even
+conscious of them. Our best excuse must be that as a matter of practical
+experience English political societies do good work and present a
+dignified appearance whilst they attend seriously to their proper
+political business; but, to put it bluntly, they make themselves
+ridiculous and attract undesirables when they affect art and philosophy.
+The Arts and Crafts exhibitions, the Anti-Scrape (Society for the
+Protection of Ancient Buildings), and the Art Workers' Guild, under
+Morris and Crane, kept up a very intimate connection between Art and
+Socialism; but the maintenance of Fabian friendly relations with them
+was left mostly to me and Stewart Headlam. The rest kept aloof and
+consoled themselves with the reflection--if they thought about it at
+all--that the Utilitarians, though even more Philistine than the
+Fabians, were astonishingly effective for their numbers.
+
+It must be added that though the tradition that Socialism excludes the
+established creeds was overthrown by the Fabians, and the claim of the
+Christian Socialists to rank with the best of us was insisted on
+faithfully by them, the Fabian leaders did not break the tradition in
+their own practice. The contention of the Anti-Socialist Union that all
+Socialists are atheists is no doubt ridiculous in the face of the fact
+that the intellectual opposition to Socialism has been led exclusively
+by avowed atheists like Charles Bradlaugh or agnostics like Herbert
+Spencer, whilst Communism claims Jesus as an exponent; still, if the
+question be raised as to whether any of the Fabian Essayists attended an
+established place of worship regularly, the reply must be in the
+negative. Indeed, they were generally preaching themselves on Sundays.
+To describe them as irreligious in view of their work would be silly;
+but until Hubert Bland towards the end of his life took refuge in the
+Catholic Church, and Mrs. Besant devoted herself to Theosophy, no
+leading Fabian found a refuge for his soul in the temples of any
+established denomination. I may go further and admit that the first
+problems the Fabians had to solve were so completely on the materialist
+plane that the atmosphere inevitably became uncongenial to those whose
+capacity was wasted and whose sympathies were starved on that plane.
+Even psychical research, with which Pease and Podmore varied their
+Fabian activities, tended fatally towards the exposure of alleged
+psychical phenomena as physical tricks. The work that came to our hands
+in our first two decades was materialistic work; and it was not until
+the turn of the century brought us the Suffrage movement and the Wells
+raid, that the materialistic atmosphere gave way, and the Society began
+to retain recruits of a kind that it always lost in the earlier years as
+it lost Mrs. Besant and (virtually) William Clarke. It is certainly
+perceptibly less hard-headed than it was in its first period.
+
+
+B
+
+ON GUILD SOCIALISM
+
+Here I venture to say, with some confidence, that Mr. Barker is
+mistaken. That storm has burst on the Fabian Society and has left it
+just where it was. Guild Socialism, championed by the ablest and most
+industrious insurgents of the rising generation in the Society, raised
+its issue with Collectivism only to discover, when the matter, after a
+long agitation, was finally thrashed out at a conference at Barrow
+House, that the issue was an imaginary one, and that Collectivism lost
+nothing by the fullest tenable concessions to the Guild Socialists. A
+very brief consideration will shew that this was inevitable.
+
+Guild Socialism, in spite of its engaging medieval name, means nothing
+more picturesque than a claim that under Socialism each industry shall
+be controlled by its own operators, as the professions are to-day. This
+by itself would not imply Socialism at all: it would be merely a revival
+of the medieval guild, or a fresh attempt at the now exploded
+self-governing workshop of the primitive co-operators. Guild Socialism,
+with the emphasis on the Socialism, implies that the industries, however
+completely they may be controlled by their separate staffs, must pool
+their products. All the Guild Socialists admit this. The Socialist State
+must therefore include an organ for receiving and distributing the
+pooled products; and such an organ, representing the citizen not as
+producer but as consumer, reintroduces the whole machinery of
+Collectivism. Thus the alleged antithesis between Guild Socialism and
+Collectivism, under cover of which the one was presented as an
+alternative to the other, vanished at the first touch of the skilled
+criticism the Fabians brought to bear on it; and now Mrs. Sidney Webb,
+who was singled out for attack by the Guild Socialists as the arch
+Collectivist, is herself conducting an investigation into the existing
+control of industry by professional organizations, whilst the quondam
+Guild Socialists are struggling with the difficult question of the
+proper spheres of the old form of Trade Union now called the craft
+union, and the new form called the industrial union, in which workers of
+all crafts and occupations, from clerks and railway porters to
+locomotive drivers and fitters, are organized in a single union of the
+entire industry. There is work enough for many years to some of the old
+Fabian kind in these directions; and this work will irresistibly reunite
+the disputants instead of perpetuating a quarrel in which, like most of
+the quarrels which the Society has survived, there was nothing
+fundamental at issue.
+
+There is work, too, to be done in the old abstract deductive department.
+It can be seen, throughout the history of the Society, how any attempt
+to discard the old economic basis of the law of rent immediately
+produced a recrudescence of Anarchism in one form or another, the latest
+being Syndicalism and that form of Guild Socialism which was all Guild
+and no Socialism. But there is still much to be settled by the deductive
+method. The fundamental question of the proportions in which the
+national income, when socialized, shall be distributed, was not grappled
+with until 1914, when I, lecturing on behalf of the Society, delivered
+my final conclusion that equal distribution is the only solution that
+will realize the ideals of Socialism, and that it is in fact the
+economic goal of Socialism. This is not fully accepted as yet in the
+movement, in which there is still a strong leaven of the old craving for
+an easy-going system which, beginning with "the socialization of the
+means of production, distribution, and exchange," will then work out
+automatically without interference with the citizen's private affairs.
+
+Another subject which has hardly yet been touched, and which also must
+begin with deductive treatment, is what may be called the
+democratization of democracy, and its extension from a mere negative and
+very uncertain check on tyranny to a positive organizing force. No
+experienced Fabian believes that society can be reconstructed (or rather
+constructed; for the difficulty is that society is as yet only half
+rescued from chaos) by men of the type produced by popular election
+under existing circumstances, or indeed under any circumstances likely
+to be achieved before the reconstruction. The fact that a hawker cannot
+ply his trade without a licence whilst a man may sit in Parliament
+without any relevant qualifications is a typical and significant anomaly
+which will certainly not be removed by allowing everybody to be a hawker
+at will. Sooner or later, unless democracy is to be discarded in a
+reaction of disgust such as killed it in ancient Athens, democracy
+itself will demand that only such men should be presented to its choice
+as have proved themselves qualified for more serious and disinterested
+work than "stoking up" election meetings to momentary and foolish
+excitement. Without qualified rulers a Socialist State is impossible;
+and it must not be forgotten (though the reminder is as old as Plato)
+that the qualified men may be very reluctant men instead of very
+ambitious ones.
+
+Here, then, are two very large jobs already in sight to occupy future
+Fabians. Whether they will call themselves Fabians and begin by joining
+the Fabian Society is a question which will not be settled by the
+generation to which I belong.
+
+G.B.S.
+
+
+
+
+Appendix II
+
+The Basis of the Fabian Society
+
+
+The Fabian Society consists of Socialists.
+
+It therefore aims at the reorganisation of Society by the emancipation
+of Land and Industrial Capital from individual and class ownership, and
+the vesting of them in the community for the general benefit. In this
+way only can the natural and acquired advantages of the country be
+equitably shared by the whole people.
+
+The Society accordingly works for the extinction of private property in
+Land and of the consequent individual appropriation, in the form of
+Rent, of the price paid for permission to use the earth, as well as for
+the advantages of superior soils and sites.
+
+The Society, further, works for the transfer to the community of the
+administration of such industrial Capital as can conveniently be managed
+socially. For, owing to the monopoly of the means of production in the
+past, industrial inventions and the transformation of surplus income
+into Capital have mainly enriched the proprietary class, the worker
+being now dependent on that class for leave to earn a living.
+
+If these measures be carried out, without compensation (though not
+without such relief to expropriated individuals as may seem fit to the
+community), Rent and Interest will be added to the reward of labour, the
+idle class now living on the labour of others will necessarily
+disappear, and practical equality of opportunity will be maintained by
+the spontaneous action of economic forces with much less interference
+with personal liberty than the present system entails.
+
+For the attainment of these ends the Fabian Society looks to the spread
+of Socialist opinions, and the social and political changes consequent
+thereon, _including the establishment of equal citizenship for men and
+women._[58] It seeks to achieve these ends by the general dissemination
+of knowledge as to the relation between the individual and Society in
+its economic, ethical, and political aspects.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[58] The words in italics were added in 1907. See page 177.
+
+
+
+
+Appendix III
+
+List of the names and the years of office of the ninety-six members of
+the Executive Committee, 1884-1915
+
+
+The full term of office is from April to March, and such an entry as
+1901-2 usually means one year's office. Membership has been terminated
+in many cases by resignation, in the great majority by refusal to stand
+for re-election, in perhaps a dozen cases by defeat, and never by death.
+
+Alden, Percy, M.P., 1903-7.
+Allen, Clifford, 1912 to date.
+Anderson, R. Wherry, 1898-1903.
+Atkinson, Miss Mabel, 1909 to date.
+
+Ball, Sidney, 1907-8.
+Banner, Robert, 1892.
+Barker, Granville, 1907-12.
+Bentham, Dr. Ethel, 1909-14.
+Bentinck, Mrs. R. Cavendish, 1911-13.
+Besant, Mrs. Annie, 1886-90.
+Bland, Hubert, 1884-1911. Honorary Treasurer 1884-1911.
+Blatch, Mrs. Stanton, 1894-5.
+Bray, Reginald A., 1911-12.
+Brooke, Miss Emma, 1893-6.
+
+Cameron, Miss Mary, 1893-4.
+Campbell, Rev. R.J., 1908-9.
+Charrington, Charles, 1899-1904.
+Chesterton, Cecil E., 1904-7.
+Clarke, William, 1888-91.
+Cole, G.D.H., 1914-15.
+
+Davies, Emil, 1911 to date.
+Dearmer, Rev. Percy, 1895-8.
+Dell, Robert E., 1890-3; 1898-9.
+De Mattos, W.S., 1890-4.
+Dodd, F. Lawson, 1900 to date. Honorary Treasurer 1911 to date.
+
+Ensor, R.C.K., 1907-11; 1912 to date.
+Ervine, St. John G., 1913 to date.
+
+Fairfield, Dr. Letitia, 1915 to date.
+
+Galton, F.W., 1901-7.
+Garnett, Mrs. Constance, 1894-5.
+Gillespie, H.J., 1914.
+Green, J.F. 1899-1900.
+Griffith, N.L., 1892-3.
+Grover, Miss Mary, 1890-2.
+Guest, L. Haden, 1907-11
+
+Hammill, Fred, 1892-5.
+Harben, Henry D., 1911 to date
+Harris, Mrs. O'Brien (Miss Mary O'Brien), 1898-1901.
+Headlam, Rev. Stewart D., 1890-1; 1901-11.
+Hoatson, Miss Alice, 1890-2. Assistant Hon. Secretary 1885-6.
+Hobson, Samuel G., 1900-9.
+Holding, H. Bond, 1894-6.
+Hutchins, Miss B.L., 1907-12.
+
+Keddell, Frederick, 1884-5. Honorary Secretary 1884-5.
+
+Lawrence F.W. Pethick, 1907-8.
+Lawrence, Miss Susan (L.C.C.), 1912 to date.
+Lloyd, C.M., 1912-15.
+Lowerison, Harry (Bellerby), 1891-2.
+
+Macdonald, J. Ramsay (M.P.), 1894-1900.
+Macpherson, Mrs. Fenton, 1900-1.
+Macrosty, Henry W., 1895-1907.
+Mallet, Mrs. L.T., 1890-2.
+Mann, Tom, 1896.
+Martin, John W., 1894-9.
+Massingham, H.W., 1891-3.
+Matthews, John E. (L.C.C.), 1901-2.
+Maude, Aylmer, 1907-12.
+Money, (Sir) Leo Chiozza (M.P.), 1908-11.
+Morley, Professor Edith, 1914 to date.
+Morris, Miss May, 1896-8.
+Morten, Miss Honor, 1895-8.
+Muggeridge, H.T., 1903-5.
+Murby, Miss M.B., 1907-13.
+
+Oakeshott, Joseph F., 1890-1902.
+Olivier (Sir), Sydney (K.C.M.G.), 1887-1899. Honorary Secretary 1886-9.
+
+Pease, Edward R., 1885-6; 1890 to date. Honorary Secretary
+  1886, and 1914 to date. Secretary 1890-1913.
+Phillips, Dr. Marion, 1913-14.
+Phillips, W.L., 1887-8.
+Podmore, Frank, 1884; 1886-8.
+Priestley, Miss (Mrs. Bart Kennedy), 1896-8. Assistant Secretary, 1892-5.
+
+Reeves, Mrs. Pember, 1907 to date.
+
+Sanders, W. Stephen, 1904 to date. Organising Secretary
+  1907-13. General Secretary 1914 to date.
+Sandham, Mrs., 1891-3.
+Sharp, Clifford D., 1909-14.
+Shaw, G. Bernard, 1885-1911.
+Shaw, Mrs. Bernard (Miss Payne Townshend), 1898-1915.
+Slesser, Henry H., 1910-14.
+Smith, Miss Ellen, 1915 to date.
+Snell, Harry, 1912 to date.
+Snowden, Mrs. Philip, 1908-9.
+Sparling, H. Halliday, 1892-4.
+Squire, J.C., 1914 to date.
+Standring, George, 1893-1908; 1909-11.
+
+Taylor, G.R.S., 1905-8.
+Townshend, Mrs. Emily C., 1915.
+
+Utley, W.H., 1892-4.
+
+Wallas, Graham, 1888-1895.
+Webb, Sidney, 1886 to date.
+Webb, Mrs. Sidney, 1912 to date.
+Wells, H.G., 1907-8.
+Wells, Mrs. H.G., 1908-10.
+
+West, Julius, 1915 to date. Secretary of Research Department, etc., 1908-12.
+Whelen, Frederick, 1896-1901; 1902-4.
+Williams, Ernest E., 1893-4.
+Wilson, Mrs. C.M., 1885-7; 1911-15.
+Wood, Mrs. Esther, 1902-3.
+
+
+
+
+Appendix IV
+
+Complete List of Fabian Publications, 1884-1915, with names of authors
+
+
+FABIAN TRACTS
+
+The printing of the author's name in italics signifies that the tract
+was adopted and probably amended by the Society and that it was issued
+without the author's name. In the other cases the author's name is given
+in the tract, and as a rule the tract was approved for publication as a
+whole: a star to the author's name signifies "not a member of the
+Society."
+
+No.
+
+
+1884.
+
+1. Why are the Many Poor? 4 pp. _W.L. Phillips_.
+
+2. A Manifesto. 4 pp. _G. Bernard Shaw_.
+
+
+1885.
+
+3. To Provident Landlords and Capitalists: A Suggestion and a Warning.
+4 pp. _G. Bernard Shaw_.
+
+
+1886.
+
+4. What Socialism Is. 12 pp. Mrs. C.M. Wilson and others.
+
+
+1887.
+
+5. Facts for Socialists. 16 pp. _Sidney Webb_.
+
+6. The True Radical Programme (Fabian Parliamentary League). 12 pp.
+_G. Bernard Shaw_.
+
+
+1888.
+
+7. Capital and Land. 16 pp. _(Sir) Sydney Olivier_.
+
+
+1889.
+
+8. Facts for Londoners. 56 pp. _Sidney Webb_.
+
+9. An Eight Hours Bill. 16 pp.   _Do._
+
+10. Figures for Londoners. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+
+1890.
+
+11. The Workers' Political Programme. 20 pp. _Sidney Webb_.
+
+12. Practical Land Nationalisation. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+13. What Socialism Is. 4 pp. _Bernard Shaw_.
+
+14. The New Reform Bill. 20 pp. _J.F. Oakeshott and others_.
+
+15. English Progress towards Social Democracy. 16 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+16. A Plea for an Eight Hours Bill. 4 pp. _Sidney Webb_.
+
+17. Reform of the Poor Law. 20 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+18. Facts for Bristol. 20 pp. _(Sir) Hartmann W. Just_.
+
+19. What the Farm Labourer Wants. 4 pp. _Sidney Webb_.
+
+20. Questions for Poor Law Guardians. 4 pp. _S.W. Group_.
+
+21. Questions for London Vestrymen. 4 pp. _C. Foulger_.
+
+22. The Truth about Leasehold Enfranchisement. 4 pp. _Sidney Webb_.
+
+
+1891.
+
+23. The Case for an Eight Hours Bill. 16 pp. _Sidney Webb_.
+
+24. Questions for Parliamentary Candidates. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+25. Questions for School Board Candidates. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+26. Questions for London County Councillors. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+27. Questions for Town Councillors. 4 pp. _Rev. C. Peach_.
+
+28. Questions for County Council Candidates (Rural). 4 pp. _F. Hudson_.
+
+29. What to Read. 48 pp. _Graham Wallas_ (1st edition). (Fifth edition,
+1910, not included in the series.)
+
+30. The Unearned Increment. 4 pp. _Sidney Webb_.
+
+31. London's Heritage in the City Guilds. 4 pp. _Sidney Webb_.
+
+32. The Municipalisation of the Gas Supply. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+33. Municipal Tramways. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+34. London's Water Tribute. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+35. The Municipalisation of the London Docks. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+36. The Scandal of London's Markets. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+37. A Labour Policy for Public Authorities. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+38. Welsh Translation of No. 1.
+
+
+1892.
+
+39. A Democratic Budget. 16 pp. _J.F. Oakeshott_.
+
+40. Fabian Election Manifesto. 16 pp. _Bernard Shaw_.
+
+41. The Fabian Society: What it has done and how it has done it. 32 pp.
+G. Bernard Shaw.
+
+42. Christian Socialism. 16 pp. Rev. Stewart D. Headlam.
+
+43. Vote! Vote! Vote! 2 pp. _Bernard Shaw_.
+
+
+1893.
+
+44. A Plea for Poor Law Reform. 4 pp. _Frederick Whelen_.
+
+45. Impossibilities of Anarchism. 28 pp. G. Bernard Shaw.
+
+46. Socialism and Sailors. 16 pp. B.T. Hall.
+
+47. The Unemployed. (Rt. Hon.) John Burns.
+
+48. Eight Hours by Law. _Henry W. Macrosty_.
+
+
+1894.
+
+49. A Plan of Campaign for Labour. 28 pp. _G. Bernard Shaw_.
+
+50. Sweating: Its Cause and Remedy. 16 pp. _H.W. Macrosty_.
+
+51. Socialism: True and False. 20 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+52. State Education at Home and Abroad. 16 pp. J.W. Martin.
+
+53. The Parish Councils Act: What it is and how to work it. 20 pp.
+_(Rt. Hon.) Herbert Samuel_.*
+
+54. Humanising of the Poor Law. 24 pp. J.F. Oakeshott.
+
+55. The Workers' School Board Programme. 20 pp. _J.W. Martin_.
+
+56. Questions for Parish Council Candidates. 4 pp. _(Rt. Hon.) Herbert
+Samuel_.*
+
+57. Questions for Rural District Council Candidates. 4 pp.
+_(Rt. Hon.) Herbert Samuel_.*
+
+58. Allotments and How to Get Them. 4 pp. _(Rt. Hon.) Herbert Samuel_.*
+
+59. Questions for Candidates for Urban District Councils. 4 pp.
+
+60. The London Vestries: What they are and what they do. 20 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+
+1895.
+
+61. The London County Council: What it is and what it does. 16 pp.
+_J.F. Oakeshott_.
+
+62. Parish and District Councils: What they are and what they can do.
+16 pp. (No. 53 re-written.)
+
+63. Parish Council Cottages and how to get them. 4 pp. _Edw. R. Pease_.
+
+64. How to Lose and how to Win an Election. 2 pp. _Ramsay Macdonald_.
+
+65. Trade Unionists and Politics. 2 pp. _F.W. Galton_.
+
+66. A Program for Workers. 2 pp. _Edw. R. Pease_.
+
+
+1896.
+
+67. Women and the Factory Acts. 16 pp. Mrs. Sidney Webb.
+
+68. The Tenant's Sanitary Catechism. 4 pp. _Arthur Hickmott_.
+
+69. The Difficulties of Individualism. 20 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+70. Report on Fabian Policy. 16 pp. _Bernard Shaw_.
+
+71. The (London) Tenant's Sanitary Catechism. 4 pp. _Miss Grove_.
+
+72. The Moral Aspects of Socialism. 24 pp. Sidney Ball.
+
+73. The Case for State Pensions in Old Age. 16 pp. _George Turner_.
+
+74. The State and Its Functions in New Zealand. 16 pp. The Hon. W.P.
+Reeves.*
+
+
+1897.
+
+75. Labour in the Longest Reign. 20 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+76. Houses for the People. 20 pp. _Arthur Hickmott_.
+
+77. The Municipalisation of Tramways. 16 pp. F.T.H. Henle.
+
+78. Socialism and the Teaching of Christ. 16 pp. Rev. John Clifford, D.D.
+
+79. A Word of Remembrance and Caution to the Rich. 16 pp. John Woolman.*
+
+80. Shop Life and its Reform. 16 pp. _William Johnson_.
+
+81. Municipal Water. 4 pp. _C.M. Knowles_.*
+
+82. The Workmen's Compensation Act. 20 pp. _C.R. Allen, junr_.
+
+83. State Arbitration and the Living Wage. 16 pp. _H.W. Macrosty_.
+
+84. The Economics of Direct Employment. 16 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+85. Liquor Licensing at Home and Abroad. 16 pp. Edw. R. Pease.
+
+86. Municipal Drink Traffic. 20 pp. _Edw. R. Pease_.
+
+
+1899.
+
+87. A Welsh Translation of No. 78. 16 pp.
+
+88. The Growth of Monopoly in English Industry. 16 pp. Henry W. Macrosty.
+
+89. Old Age Pensions at Work. 4 pp. _Bullock_.
+
+90. The Municipalisation of the Milk Supply. 4 pp. _Dr. G.F. McCleary_.
+
+91. Municipal Pawnshops. 4 pp. _Charles Charrington_.
+
+92. Municipal Slaughterhouses. 4 pp. _George Standring_.
+
+
+1900.
+
+93. Women as Councillors. 4 pp. _Bernard Shaw_.
+
+94. Municipal Bakeries. 4 pp. _Dr. G.F. McCleary._
+
+95. Municipal Hospitals. 4 pp. _Do_.
+
+96. Municipal Fire Insurance. 4 pp. (1901). _Mrs. Fenton Macpherson_.
+
+97. Municipal Steamboats. 4 pp. (1901). _S.D. Shallard_.
+
+98. State Railways for Ireland. 16 pp. _Clement Edwards (M.P.)._
+
+99. Local Government in Ireland. _C.R. Allen, junr_.
+
+100. Metropolitan Borough Councils: Their Powers and Duties. 20 pp.
+_Henry W. Macrosty_.
+
+101. The House Famine and How to Relieve it. 52 pp. Various.
+
+102. Questions for Candidates: Metropolitan Borough Councils. 4 pp.
+_H.W. Macrosty_.
+
+103. Overcrowding in London and its Remedy. 16 pp. W.C. Steadman, M.P.
+
+104. How Trade Unions Benefit Workmen. 4 pp. _Edw. R. Pease_.
+
+
+1901.
+
+105. Five Years' Fruit of the Parish Councils Act. 24 pp _Sidney Webb_.
+
+106. The Education Muddle and the Way Out. 20 pp. _Sidney Webb_.
+
+107. Socialism for Millionaires. 16 pp. Bernard Shaw.
+
+108. Twentieth Century Politics: A Policy of National Efficiency.
+16 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+
+1902.
+
+109. Cottage Plans and Common Sense. 16 pp. Raymond Unwin.
+
+110. Problems of Indian Poverty. 16 pp. S.S. Thorburn.*
+
+111. Reform of Reformatories and Industrial Schools. 16 pp. H.T. Holmes.
+
+112. Life in the Laundry. 16 pp. Dr. G.F. McCleary.
+
+
+1903.
+
+113. Communism. 16 pp. William Morris.* Preface by Bernard Shaw.
+
+114. The Education Act, 1902. How to make the best of it. 20 pp.
+_Sidney Webb_.
+
+115. State Aid to Agriculture. 16 pp. T.S. Dymond.*
+
+
+1904.
+
+116. Fabianism and the Fiscal Question: An Alternative Policy. 28 pp.
+_Bernard Shaw_.
+
+117. The London Education Act, 1903: How to make the best of it. 20 pp.
+_Sidney Webb_.
+
+118. The Secret of Rural Depopulation. 20 pp. Lieut.-Col. D.C. Pedder.*
+
+
+1905.
+
+119. Public Control of Electric Power and Transit. 16 pp. S.G. Hobson.
+
+120. After Bread, Education. 16 pp. Hubert Bland.
+
+121. Public Service versus Private Expenditure. 12 pp. Sir Oliver Lodge.*
+
+122. Municipal Milk and Public Health. 20 pp. F. Lawson. Dodd.
+
+123. The Revival of Agriculture: A National Policy for Great Britain.
+24 pp. Henry W. Macrosty.
+
+124. State Control of Trusts. 16 pp. Henry W. Macrosty.
+
+125. Municipalisation by Provinces. 16 pp. W. Stephen Sanders.
+
+
+1906.
+
+126. The Abolition of Poor Law Guardians. 24 pp. Edw. R. Pease.
+
+127. Socialism and Labour Policy. 16 pp. _Hubert Bland (Editor)._
+
+128. The Case for a Legal Minimum Wage. 20 pp. _W. Stephen Sanders_.
+
+129. More Books to Read. 20 pp. _Edw. R. Pease_.
+
+
+1907.
+
+130. Home Work and Sweating: The Causes and Remedies. 20 pp. Miss B.L.
+Hutchins.
+
+131. The Decline in the Birth-rate. 20 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+132. A Guide to Books for Socialists. 12 pp. "The Nursery."
+
+133. Socialism and Christianity. 24 pp. Rev. Percy Dearmer, D.D.
+
+134. Small Holdings, Allotments, and Common Pastures. 4 pp. Revised
+edition of No. 58.
+
+135. Paupers and Old Age Pensions. 16 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+136. The Village and the Landlord. 12 pp. Edward Carpenter.
+
+
+1908.
+
+137. Parish Councils and Village Life. 28pp. Revised version of No. 105.
+
+138. Municipal Trading. 20 pp. _Aylmer Maude_.
+
+139. Socialism and the Churches. 16 pp. Rev. John Clifford, D.D.
+
+140. Child Labour Under Capitalism. 20 pp. Mrs. Hylton Dale.
+
+
+1909.
+
+141. (Welsh Translation of No. 139).
+
+142. Rent and Value. 12 pp. Adapted by Mrs. Bernard Shaw from Fabian
+Essays, The Economic Basis.
+
+143. Sosialaeth Yng Ngoleuni'R Beibl (Welsh). J.R. Jones.
+
+144. Machinery: Its Masters and its Servants. 20 pp. H.H. Schloesser
+(Slesser) and Clement Game.
+
+145. The Case for School Nurseries. 20 pp. Mrs. Townshend.
+
+146. Socialism and Superior Brains. A Reply to Mr. Mallock. 24 pp.
+Bernard Shaw.
+
+147. Capital and Compensation. 16 pp. Edward R. Pease.
+
+148. What a Health Committee can do. 16 pp. _Miss B.L. Hutchins_.
+
+
+1910.
+
+149. The Endowment of Motherhood. 24 pp. Henry D. Harben.
+
+150. State Purchase of Railways: A Practicable Scheme. 24 pp. Emil Davies.
+
+151. The Point of Honour. A Correspondence on Aristocracy and Socialism.
+16 pp. Mrs. Ruth Cavendish Bentinck.
+
+
+1911.
+
+152. Our Taxes as they are and as they ought to be. 20 pp. Robert Jones.
+
+153. The Twentieth Century Reform Bill. 20 pp. Henry H. Schloesser
+(Slesser).
+
+154. The Case for School Clinics. 16 pp. L. Haden Guest.
+
+155. The Case against the Referendum. 20 pp. Clifford D. Sharp.
+
+156. What an Education Committee can do (Elementary Schools). 36 pp.
+The Education Group.
+
+157. The Working Life of Women. 16 pp. Miss B.L. Hutchins.
+
+158. The Case Against the Charity Organisation Society. 20 pp. Mrs.
+Townshend.
+
+159. The Necessary Basis of Society. 12 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+160. A National Medical Service. 20 pp. F. Lawson Dodd.
+
+
+1912.
+
+161. Afforestation and Unemployment. 16 pp. Arthur P. Grenfell.
+
+162. Family Life on a Pound a Week. 24 pp. Mrs. Pember Reeves.
+
+163. Women and Prisons. 28 pp. Helen Blagg and Charlotte Wilson.
+
+164. Gold and State Banking. A Study in the Economics of Monopoly. 20 pp.
+Edward R. Pease.
+
+165. Francis Place: The Tailor of Charing Cross. 28 pp. St. John G.
+Ervine.
+
+166. Robert Owen: Social Reformer. 24 pp. Miss B.L. Hutchins.
+
+167. William Morris and the Communist Ideal. 24 pp. Mrs. Townshend.
+
+
+1913.
+
+168. John Stuart Mill. 24 pp. Julius West.
+
+169. The Socialist Movement in Germany. 28 pp. W. Stephen Sanders.
+
+170. Profit-Sharing and Co-partnership: A fraud and a failure? 16 pp.
+Edward R. Pease.
+
+171. The Nationalisation of Mines and Minerals Bill. 16 pp. Henry H.
+Schloesser (Slesser).
+
+172. What about the Rates, or Municipal Finance and Municipal Autonomy.
+12 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+173. Public versus Private Electricity Supply. 20 pp. C. Ashmore Baker.*
+
+
+1914.
+
+174. Charles Kingsley and Christian Socialism. 28 pp. Colwyn E. Vulliamy.
+
+175. The Economic Foundations of the Women's Movement. 24 pp. M.A.
+_(Mabel Atkinson_).
+
+176. War and the Workers. Handbook of some immediate measures to prevent
+Unemployment and relieve distress. 24 pp. Sidney Webb.
+
+
+1915.
+
+177. Socialism and the Arts of Use. 16 pp. A. Clutton Brock.
+
+178. The War; Women; and Unemployment. 28 pp. The Women's Group Executive.
+
+
+
+
+BOOKS AND SPECIAL PAMPHLETS.
+
+Those without any publisher's name were published by the Society.
+
+The Government Organisation of Unemployed Labour. Report made by a
+Committee to the Fabian Society and ordered to be printed for the
+information of members. 1886. pp. 24. N.P. _Sidney Webb_ and _Frank
+Podmore._
+
+Fabian Essays in Socialism. Edited by Bernard Shaw. 1889. 1st edition,
+6s. Subsequent editions published by Walter Scott.
+
+Report on Municipal Tramways, presented to the Richmond (Surrey) Town
+Council by Aid. Thompson.* Reprinted for the Society by special
+permission. 4to. pp. 20. 1898. 6d.
+
+Labour in the Longest Reign: 1837-1897. By Sidney Webb. A reprint of
+Tract No. 75. Grant Richards, pp. 62. 1897. 1s.
+
+Fabianism and the Empire. A Manifesto by the Fabian Society. Edited by
+Bernard Shaw. pp. 101. Grant Richards. 1900. 1s.
+
+Fabianism and the Fiscal Question: An Alternative Policy. Special
+edition of Tract 116; with a preface by Bernard Shaw. pp. 39. 1904. 1s.
+
+This Misery of Boots. By H.G. Wells. Cover designed by A.G. Watts, pp.
+48. 1907. 3d.
+
+Tract Index and Catalogue Raisonne of Tracts Nos. 1 to 139. Pp. 35.
+1908. 3d.
+
+Those Wretched Rates, a dialogue. By F.W. Hayes, pp. 16. 1908. 1d.
+
+Ballads and Lyrics of Socialism, 1883-1908. By E. Nesbit (Mrs. Hubert
+Bland), pp. 80. A.C. Fifield. 1908. 6d. and 1s.
+
+Break Up the Poor Law and Abolish the Workhouse. Being Part I of the
+Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission 1909. pp. 601. 2s. By
+_Sidney_ and _Beatrice Webb._
+
+The Remedy for Unemployment. Being Part II. 1909. pp. 345. 1s. By
+_Sidney_ and _Beatrice Webb_.
+
+A Summary of Six Papers and Discussions upon the Disabilities of Women
+as Workers.
+
+The writers of the papers: Miss Emma Brooke, Dr. Constance Long,* Mrs.
+Ernestine Mills, Mrs. Gallichan (G. Gasquoine Hartley), Miss Millicent
+Murby, Dr. Ethel Bentham.
+
+Issued for private circulation only by the Fabian Women's Group, pp. 24.
+1909.
+
+Summary of Eight Papers and Discussions upon the Disabilities of
+Mothers as Workers.
+
+The writers of the papers: Mrs. Pember Reeves, Dr. Ethel Vaughan
+Sawyer,* Mrs. Spence Weiss,* Mrs. Bartrick Baker, Mrs. Stanbury, Mrs.
+S.K. Ratcliffe, Miss B.L. Hutchins, Mrs. O'Brien Harris.
+
+Issued for private circulation only by the Fabian Women's Group, pp. 32.
+1910.
+
+What to Read on
+
+Social and Economic Subjects. 5th edition. Earlier editions published as
+Tract No. 29. pp. 52. P.S. King and Son. 1910. 1s.
+
+Songs for Socialists, compiled by the Fabian Society. A.C. Fifield.
+1912. 3d.
+
+The Rural Problem. By Henry D. Harben. pp. 169. Constable and Co. 1913.
+2s. 6d. net.
+
+Women Workers in Seven Professions. A survey of their economic
+conditions and prospects. Edited for the Studies Committee of the Fabian
+Women's Group. By Edith J. Morley. pp. xxii+318. G. Routledge and Sons.
+1914. 6s.
+
+Wage-Earning Women and their Dependents. By Ellen Smith on behalf of the
+Executive Committee of the Women's Group, pp. 36. 1915. 1s. net.
+
+
+BOUND TRACTS.
+
+The whole of the numbered tracts at any time in print are sold as a
+bound volume with a title-page. As the complete set is in demand and as
+every few months a new tract is published, or an old one is sold out,
+the sets are usually bound a dozen at a time, and each dozen differs as
+a rule from all the rest. Price now 5s. net.
+
+
+FABIAN SOCIALIST SERIES.
+
+Published for the Society by A.C. Fifield at 6d. and is net each.
+
+I. Socialism and Religion. Reprint of Tracts, Nos. 42, 78, 133, and 79.
+pp. 87. 1908.
+
+II. Socialism and Agriculture. Reprint of Tracts, Nos. 136, 118, 115,
+and 123. pp. 94. 1908.
+
+III. Socialism and Individualism. Reprint of Tracts, Nos. 69, 45, 72,
+and 121. pp. 102. 1908.
+
+IV. The Basis and Policy of Socialism. Reprint of Tracts, Nos. 5, 7, 51,
+and 108. pp. 95. 1908.
+
+V. The Common Sense of Municipal Trading. By Bernard Shaw. Reprint with
+a new preface, pp. 120. 1908.
+
+VI. Socialism and National Minimum. Papers by Mrs. Sidney Webb and Miss
+B.L. Hutchins, and reprint of Tract No. 128. pp. 91. 1909.
+
+VII. Wastage of Child Life, as exemplified by Conditions in Lancashire.
+By J. Johnston, M.D.* A reprint, pp. 95. 1909.
+
+VIII. Socialism and Superior Brains. Reprint of Tract, No. 146. pp. 59.
+1910.
+
+IX. The Theory and Practice of Trade Unionism. By J.H. Greenwood.
+Preface by Sidney Webb. pp. 70. 1911.
+
+
+RESEARCH DEPARTMENT PUBLICATIONS.
+
+New Statesman Supplements:
+
+   Industrial Organisation in Germany, Report. By W.S. Sanders. 1913. 8
+   pp. folio.
+
+   National Insurance Act. First Draft Report of the Insurance
+   Committee. March 14, 1914. 32 pp. folio, 1s.
+
+   Co-operative Production and Profit-Sharing. February 14, 1914. 32 pp.
+   folio. 2s. 6d.
+
+   Co-operative Movement. Drafts of the first two parts of the Report on
+   the Control of Industry. By Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb. May 30, 1914.
+   36 pp. folio, 1s.
+
+   Industrial Insurance. March 13, 1915. 32 pp. folio, 1s.
+
+   State and Municipal Enterprise. Draft Report. By Mr. and Mrs. Sidney
+   Webb. May 8, 1915. 32 pp. folio, 1s.
+
+   Suggestions for the Prevention of War.
+
+   Part I. By L.S. Woolf. July 10, 1915. 24 pp. folio, 1s.
+
+   Part II. By the International Agreements Committee July 17, 1915. 8
+   pp. folio, 1s.
+
+   English Teachers and their Professional Organisation. Monograph by
+   Mrs. Sidney Webb.
+
+   Part I. September 25, 1915. 24 pp. folio. 6d.
+
+   Part II. October 2, 1915. 24 pp. folio. 6d.
+
+Labour Year Book, 1915-16, issued under the auspices of the
+Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress, the Executive
+Committee of the Labour Party, and the Fabian Research Department. 1915.
+704 pp. 1s., and 2s. 6d.
+
+
+
+
+Index
+
+Of the principal references to people and subjects
+
+
+A
+
+Agriculture, 15, 47, 157, 228
+Alden, Percy, 153, 172, 231
+Allen, Clifford, 195, 225, 234
+Anarchism, 49, 53, 66
+Arts Group, The, 188
+
+
+B
+
+Balfour, Rt. Hon. Arthur J., 45, 142
+Ball, Sidney, 103, 180, 183
+Barker, Ernest, 244, 258
+Barker, Granville, 180, 186
+Barnett, Canon, 16
+Basis, The Fabian, 71, 169, 177, 178, 231, 269
+Bax, Belfort, 66
+Beale, Mr., 112
+Bentham, Jeremy, 244
+Bernstein, Edward, 239
+Besant, Mrs. Annie, joins, 47;
+  her position, 64;
+  Fabian Essay, 92;
+  resigns, 98;
+  lecture, 187
+Birth-rate, 160
+Bland, Hubert, 31, 35, 222, 223, 265
+Book-boxes, 121
+Brooke, Miss Emma, 190
+Brooke, Rupert, 234
+Brooke, Rev. Stopford, 69
+Burns, Rt. Hon. John, 67, 83, 110, 217
+Butler, Samuel, 105
+
+
+C
+
+Campbell, Rev. R.J., 187
+Carpenter, Edward, 36
+Champion, H.H., 25, 31, 69, 75
+Charrington, Charles, 131, 133
+Christian Socialism, 25, 83
+Chubb, Percival, 29, 69
+Clarke, William, 31, 33;
+  joins, 47;
+  position, 64, 123
+Clifford, Dr. John, 129
+Cole, G.D.H., 230
+Comte, Auguste, 14, 18, 263
+Conference, of 1886, 55;
+  of 1892, 106;
+  of later years, 197
+Conscription, 137
+Co-operation, 44, 92, 114, 228
+Cox, Harold, 46
+Crane, Walter, 66, 71, 75, 88, 129, 131, 133, 264
+Crooks, Rt. Hon. Will, 129, 152, 155
+
+
+D
+
+Darwin, Charles, 15
+Davidson, Thomas, 26, 28
+Decline of birth-rate, 160
+De Mattos, W.S., 93, 105, 123
+Democratic Federation, 24, 38, 49
+Dock Strike, 75, 83, 114
+Dodd, F. Lawson, 129, 131, 172, 202
+Drink Trade, Municipal, 159
+
+
+E
+
+Edgeworth, Professor, 260
+Education, 142
+Education Group, 185
+Eight Hours Bill, 84, 203
+Elections, of 1892, 108, 112;
+  of 1906, 152;
+  of 1910, 220
+Ellis, Havelock, 29, 36
+Ensor, R.C.K., 180, 221
+Evolution, 15, 17
+
+
+F
+
+"Facts for Londoners," 80
+"Facts for Socialists," 69
+"Fair Wages," 109, 114, 241
+"Family, The," 15, 69, 175, 181
+Feeding school children, 148, 203
+Fellowship of the New Life, 28, 32, 35
+Finance, 1884, 35; 1886, 60; 1891, 99; 1893, 100; 1908, 185
+
+
+G
+
+George, Henry, 16, 19, 25, 28, 38, 45, 260
+"Government Organisation of Unemployed Labour," 57
+Green, J. Frederick, 131, 133
+Groups, Fabian, 104, 195
+Guild Socialism, 230, 254
+
+
+H
+
+Haldane, Lord, 74, 111
+Hampstead Historic, The, 65
+Harben, Henry D., 222, 224, 227, 228
+Hardie, J. Keir, 113, 167, 253
+Headlam, Rev. Stewart D., 25, 57, 75, 94, 142, 166, 168, 172
+Henderson, Rt. Hon. Arthur, 152, 155
+Hobson, S.G., 130, 150, 172
+Housing, 140
+Huddersfield Election, 155
+Hutchinson, Henry H., 95, 123
+Hutchinson, Miss, 123
+Huxley, T.H., 18
+Hyndman, H.M., 24, 38, 51, 202, 252
+
+
+I
+
+Ibsen, 94
+Imperialism, 135
+Independent Labour Party, 63, 97, 101, 129, 202
+Industrial Remuneration Conference, 44
+"Intercepted Letter, An," 118
+International Socialist Congress, 126, 209
+
+
+J
+
+Jevons, Stanley, 260
+Joint Standing Committee, 202
+
+
+K
+
+"Kapital, Das," 24, 64, 236, 258
+Keddell, Frederick, 31, 52
+Kropotkin, Prince, 49, 66
+
+
+L
+
+Labour Party, The, 97, 116, 148, 167, 171
+Lancashire Campaign, 95
+Land, 47, 244, 260
+Land taxation, 21, 25, 73
+Lavelaye, Emile de, 16, 19
+Leasehold Enfranchisement, 94, 110, 113
+Lecturing, 77, 105, 108, 124
+Library, 120
+Local Fabian Societies, 99, 102, 191
+Local Government Information Bureau, 206
+London County Council, 79, 92, 109
+London School Board, 109
+London School of Economics, 123
+
+
+M
+
+Macdonald, J. Ramsay, 35, 125, 127, 129, 133, 249
+Macrosty, Henry S., 131, 157, 172
+Martin, J.W., 158
+Marx, Karl, 23, 45, 61, 89, 236, 260
+Massingham, H.W., 109, 116, 117
+Maude, Aylmer, 180
+Middle Class Socialist Party, 153, 172, 178, 180
+Mill, John Stuart, 18, 21, 216, 244, 259
+Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission, 215
+Money, Sir Leo Chiozza, 169, 224
+Morris, Miss May, 88
+Morris, William, 23, 57, 66, 90, 183, 204, 259, 264
+Motto, Fabian, 39, 165
+Municipalisation, 81, 159, 242, 247
+
+
+N
+
+National Committee for the Prevention of Destitution, 219
+National Insurance, 223
+Newcastle Program, 112
+Nursery, The Fabian, 189
+
+
+O
+
+Oakeshott, J.F., 36, 131, 158
+Old Age Pensions, 159, 223
+Olivier, Sir Sydney, 25;
+  joins, 46;
+  secretary, 65;
+  "Capital and Land," 73;
+  Governor of Jamaica, 128;
+  Wells' Committee, 166;
+  opinions, 263, 264
+Owen, Miss Dale, 30, 31
+Owen, Robert, 23, 241
+
+
+P
+
+Pankhurst, Mrs., 57, 133
+Parish Councils, 121, 141
+Parliamentary League, Fabian, 68, 73
+Pease, Edward R., 29, 59, 80, 93, 149, 159, 232
+Phillips, W.L., 39, 73
+Podmore, Frank, 28, 39, 48, 53, 57, 73, 80
+Poor Law, 14, 46, 213
+Portsmouth Election, 155
+Positivism, 14, 18
+
+
+R
+
+Reeves, Mrs. Pember, 166, 177, 180
+Reform Committee, Fabian, 225
+Research Department, 227
+Ritchie, Professor D.G., 75, 116
+Ruskin, John, 27, 263
+
+
+S
+
+Salt, Henry S., 36, 131, 133
+Sanders, W. Stephen, 125, 155, 156, 172, 191, 232
+School Boards, 142
+Shaw, G. Bernard, 25;
+  joins, 40;
+  first tract, 40;
+  on Burglars, 45;
+  Fabian Essays, 87;
+  "Quintessence of Ibsenism," 94;
+  on Newcastle Program, 112;
+  on Fabian policy, 126;
+  Vestryman, 127;
+  "Fabianism and the Empire," 134;
+  Tariff Reform, 159;
+  versus Wells, 173;
+  retires from Executive, 223;
+  on Economics, 258;
+  on Guild Socialism, 265
+Shaw, Mrs. Bernard, 123, 166, 172, 187, 190
+Sidgwick, Henry, 258
+Slesser, Henry H., 208, 222, 225
+Small holdings, 47, 228
+Smith, Samuel, 15, 24
+Snell, Harry, 155
+Social Democratic Federation, 49, 61, 89, 106, 203
+Socialist League, 66, 89
+South African War, 128
+"Spectator," The, 14
+Spencer, Herbert, 18
+Standring, George, 74, 172
+Stepniak, Sergius, 94
+Summer School, 199
+Syndicalism, 229, 254
+
+
+T
+
+Tariff Reform, 159
+Taunton Election, 154
+Tchaykovsky, Nicholas, 66
+Tillett, Ben, 113
+Tobacco, State cultivation of, 59
+"Tory Gold," 50, 63
+Trade Unionism, 44, 91, 112, 114, 228
+Turner, George, 159
+
+
+U
+
+Unemployment, 52, 57, 69, 215
+Unity, Socialist, 202, 253
+University Fabian Societies, 103, 191, 193
+University Socialist Federation, 195
+
+
+W
+
+Wallas, Graham, joins, 47;
+  lectures, 65;
+  London School Board, 127;
+  resigns, 156;
+  ideas, 262
+War of 1914, The, 233, 234
+Webb, Sidney, joins, 46;
+  Executive, 52;
+  "Facts for Socialists," 69;
+  "Facts for Londoners," 83;
+  elected to L.C.C., 109;
+  Education Acts, 142;
+  co-operation with Mrs. Webb, 212;
+  on Mill, 259
+Webb, Mrs. Sidney, 114, 177, 187, Chapter XI
+Wells, H.G., 39, 153, Chapter IX, 250
+Wicksteed, Philip, 260
+Williams, E.E., 205
+Wilson, Mrs. C.M., joins, 48;
+  Tract 4, 54;
+  Women's Group, 189;
+  Executive, 222
+Woolwich Election, 155
+Women's Group, The, 189
+Women's Suffrage, 175, 204
+Workmen's Compensation, 122
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of the Fabian Society
+by Edward R. Pease
+
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