Fabian Society - History, Legacy, Current and recent activities, Current Organisational Structure, Recommendations for reform of the British monarchy

A socialist group established in 1884 which took its name from the Roman general Fabius Cunctator, noted for his cautious military tactics. It adopts a gradualist approach to social reform, and sometimes ‘Fabian’ is applied to people who are not members of the Society but who believe in reformist socialism. The Society was traditionally a small select group of intellectuals, but has a close association with the British Labour Party, and has been a source of socialist ideas and arguments which are frequently promulgated through the Society's extensive publication activities. In 2006 it had 6800 members and around 70 local societies. Following the 1997 general election over 200 MPs were members of the society. About 1000 members are Young Fabians (under 31).

The Fabian Society is a British socialist intellectual movement, whose purpose is to advance the socialist cause by reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. The society laid many of the foundations of the Labour Party during this period; Similar societies exist in Australia (the Australian Fabian Society), Canada (the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation, and in past the League for Social Reconstruction), and New Zealand.

History

The society was founded on January 4, 1884 in London as an offshoot of a society founded in 1883 called The Fellowship of the New Life. They wanted to transform society by setting an example of clean simplified living for others to follow. But when some members also wanted to become politically involved to aid society's transformation, it was decided that a separate society, The Fabian Society, also be set up. All members were free to attend both societies. The Fellowship of the New Life disbanded sometime in the early 1890s but the Fabian Society grew to become the pre-eminent intellectual society in the United Kingdom in the Edwardian era.

Immediately upon its inception it began attracting many intellectuals drawn to its socialist cause, including Bernard Shaw, H.

At the core of the Fabian Society were the Webbs - Sidney Webb and his wife, Beatrice Potter Webb (married 1892).

The group, which favoured gradual rather than revolutionary change, was named — at the suggestion of Frank Podmore — in honour of the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus (nicknamed "Cunctator", meaning "the Delayer").

Fabian socialists were critical of free trade and embraced protectionism in the interests of protecting the realm from foreign competition.

The Fabians also favored the nationalization of land, believing that rents collected by landowners were unearned, an idea which drew heavily from the work of American economist Henry George.

Many Fabians participated in the formation of the Labour Party in 1900, and the group's constitution, written by Shaw, borrowed heavily from the founding documents of the Fabian Society. At the Labour Party Foundation Conference in 1900, the Fabian Society claimed 861 members and sent one delegate.

In the period between the two World Wars, the "Second Generation" Fabians, including the writers R.

It was at this time that many of the future leaders of the Third World were exposed to Fabian thought; It is a little known fact that the founder of Pakistan, Barrister Mahomed Ali Jinnah, later despised by some British liberals who hold him largely responsible for the Partition of India, was an avid member of the Fabian Society in the early 1930s. Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore, stated in his memoirs that his initial political philosophy was strongly influenced by the Fabian Society.

Legacy

Through the course of the 20th century the group has always been influential in Labour Party circles, with members including Ramsay MacDonald, Clement Attlee, Anthony Crosland, Richard Crossman, Tony Benn, Harold Wilson and more recently Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. (A Pimlott Prize for Political Writing was organised in his memory by the Fabian Society and The Guardian in 2005, and continues annually). The Society is affiliated to the Party as a Socialist Society. In recent years the Young Fabian group, founded in 1960, has become an important networking and discussion organisation for younger (under 31) Labour Party activists and played a role in the 1994 election of Tony Blair as Labour Leader.

The society's 2004 annual report showed that there were 5,810 individual members (down 70 from the previous year), of whom 1,010 were Young Fabians, and 294 institutional subscribers, of which 31 were Constituency Labour Parties, co-operative societies, or trade unions, 190 were libraries, 58 corporate, and 15 other—making 6,104 members in total. The society's net assets were £86,057, its total income £486,456, and its total expenditure £475,425.

The latest edition of the Dictionary of National Biography (a reference work listing details of famous or significant Britons throughout history) includes 174 Fabians.

Four Fabians, Beatrice and Sidney Webb, Graham Wallas, and George Bernard Shaw founded the London School of Economics with the money left to the Fabian Society by Henry Hutchinson.

Current and recent activities

The Fabian Society's publications and activities continue to provide an influential forum for thinking and debate on the centre-left. Recent Fabian projects on inequality and child poverty and on Britishness have been seen by commentators as influencing the political and policy agenda of Gordon Brown, although the Society stresses its pluralist and non-factional approach.

The Fabian Society's recent work has focused strongly on the issue of Equality and 'Life Chances'. The Commission's interim report in March 2005 focused on public attitudes towards inequality, reporting Fabian Society and MORI deliberative workshops on public attitudes. The Equality special issue of the Fabian Review published to accompany the report in April 2006 included a proposal to rewrite Clause IV of the party's constitution again, to put equality at the heart of Labour thinking.

The Fabian Society holds an annual New Year Conference each year in January or Februrary.

Recent Fabian pamphlets have included 'Raising Lazarus: the future of organised Labour' on union renewal by David Coats (December 2005), former head of research at TUC and now at the Work Foundation.

Current Organisational Structure

Unlike most other think tanks the Fabian Society is a membership organisation. It is a socialist society affiliated to the British Labour Party.

Most members are full members of the society, and have voting rights.

A smaller number are Associate Members, these are those individuals who do not wish to have Full membership or are ineligable for full membership of Society. Associate Members of the society tend to be those who have been expelled from the Labour Party, or who are members of other political parties.

There are local Societies in many parts of Britain which are affiliated to the UK Fabian Society. Many of these Local Societies are affiliated to one or more Constituency Labour Parties. Individuals may join either the National UK Society, a Local Society, or both.

Like other membership organisations it is governed by an AGM and a National Executive Committee.

Twelve places are contested by individuals who nominate themselves for election, two of these places must be filled by Young Fabians. Four places, (Local Societies Representatives) are contested by individuals nominated by their own local society, one of these places must be filled by a Young Fabian. All full members of both the local and national societies can vote in these elections.

In addition one Convenor each for Wales and Scotland are elected by full members in each Country.

The Young Fabian Executive Committee elects one member, (by convention the Chair of the Young Fabians).

The paid staff of the Society also elect one member.

There are a small number of non-elected members.

The Chair - currently Seema Malhotra - is elected annually by the National Executive Committee

The Society staff are based in Dartmouth Street in Westminster and headed by the General Secretary, Sunder Katwala.

Young Fabians

Members aged under 31 Years of age are also members of the Young Fabians.

The Scottish Young Fabians are the Scottish wing of the Fabian Society under-31s.

Dublin University Fabian Society (a disambiguation)

Until the late 1960s, the Trinity College authorities were reluctant to allow student political societies, largely restricting formal debate to the Phil and the Hist. An exception was the Dublin University Fabian Society, which was in practice an umbrella for a range of left-wing opinion, from members of the Irish Labour Party to the Irish Workers' Party. After 1964, individual members of the Society were affiliated to the Universities Branch of Dublin, North-Central, Constituency, and were active in the election of Michael O'Leary to Dáil Éireann. This Society was, therefore, related in little more than name to the London-based organisation.

In general, Dublin Fabians agreed on little more than a commitment to nuclear disarmament, opposition to the proposed Irish accession to the Common Market of 1961-63, and support for socialist alternatives in Ireland. Apart from its own occasional publications, two of the Society's members, Bob Mitchell and John Darley, devised the pseudonym of Malcolm Redfellow for articles in mainstream Dublin periodicals.

Recommendations for reform of the British monarchy

The following are some recommended reforms of the British monarchy that the Society has devised. The following were among the constitutional provisions recommended:

Succession

The line of succession should in the future pass to the eldest child, regardless of gender. Wells Shirley Williams Harold Wilson

Fabians in parliament today

Since Labour's 1997 election victory there have been about 200 Labour MPs who are members of the Fabian society. Prominent Fabians in parliament include:

Tony Blair David Blunkett Gordon Brown Clare Short Jack Straw Margaret Beckett David Miliband Ed Balls (current Fabian Executive member) John Denham (current Fabian Executive member) Douglas Alexander (current Fabian Executive member) Charles Clarke Tessa Jowell John Reid Ruth Kelly Hazel Blears Patricia Hewitt John Hutton Hilary Benn Ed Miliband Harriet Harman Angela Eagle

Texts which are related to the Fabian Society

Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and Major Barbara P.L. Travers's Mary Poppins

Quotations relating to the Fabian Society

"What do we want?"