Quintus Fabius Maximus was a Roman general famous for avoiding direct battle. He developed the tactic of quick, minor attacks and delaying the enemy’s progress. To a group of British socialists in the late 19th century he seemed the perfect model so they borrowed his name when they formed the Fabian Society.
Socialist Group Founded in Victorian London
Edith Nesbitt and Hubert Bland married in 1880 just prior to the birth of their child, the conception of which would have been quite the scandal in polite society. But, Bland and Nesbitt cared little for the opinions or conventions of polite society; they were socialists and, in 1884, they formed The Fabian Society along with a Quaker friend Edward Pease, who later wrote a history of the group.
The Fabians were a debating society and they soon attracted some of the luminaries of the late Victorian period. Among its early members were sexologist Havelock Ellis, Eleanor Marx, the youngest daughter of Karl Marx, playwright George Bernard Shaw, and the economist Sidney Webb and his wife, sociologist Beatrice Webb.
Fabians Aimed for an Egalitarian Society
Surrounded by evidence of the exploitation of workers by factory owners, the Fabians aimed to rebuild society along more equal lines.
They rejected Karl Marx’s notion of revolutionary class struggle and favoured a peaceful and evolutionary change to socialism. They chose education and gradual acceptance of socialist thought, instead of forced, violent indoctrination.
They held lectures, discussion groups, conferences, and summer schools, carried out research into political, economic and social problems, national and international, and published books, pamphlets, and periodicals. They promoted equality through collective ownership and democratic control of the nation’s resources.
Fabian Society Guides the Political Agenda
At the start of the 20th century more liberal notions of social organization were taking hold in the United Kingdom. However, the Fabian Society’s ideas were more progressive than was considered acceptable to political elites. Society members called for a minimum wage, a national education system, replacement of slums with decent housing, universal health care, and an end to inherited titles and privileges.
In 1900, its members were in at the start of Britain’s Labour Party and every prime minister from that party since has been a member of the Fabian Society.
Fabians still Influential Today
There are Fabian Society chapters all over the world and more than 6,000 members in the U.K. It remains a think tank for centre-left political ideas to be debated and formulated into policy.
According to The New Statesman (May 29, 2009), the Society’s “influence has grown under current general secretary Sunder Katwala… In recent times, its research and publications have focused on economic inequality, child poverty, progressive taxation, and constitutional reform.”
The Society's blog, "Next Left" is considered a must read by socialists the world over.
The Fabian Society is not a political party and does not run candidates in elections. Its members do, however, work on the election campaigns of parties that share its goals.
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