Fabian Society
The Fabian Society (German "Fabianische Gesellschaft"), founded on January 4, 1884, is a British socialist intellectual movement known for its pioneering work in the late 19th century up to the First World War . Similar companies exist in Australia and New Zealand . The ideas of the British Fabians also spread on the European mainland, so representatives of the Fabians in Austria founded the influential social-political party at the turn of 1900 .
Origin of name
Fabianer is derived from the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus , the hesitant, Cunctator, who was known for his calculating strategy that calculates long periods of time. He wanted to achieve military success through disruptive maneuvers and attrition rather than through frontal attacks against the Carthaginians under their famous General Hannibal .
Fabianism / Fabian socialism
Fabianism focuses on the advancement of socialist ideas through constant influence on powerful intellectual circles and groups. The Fabian Society was one of the pioneers of the British Labor Party at the end of the 19th century and is still active today. It was launched in London on January 4, 1884 , as an offshoot of a group founded in 1883 called The Fellowship of the New Life , to which, for example, the poets Edward Carpenter and John Davidson , the sex researcher Havelock Ellis and Edward R. Pease , who later became secretary of the Fabian Society.
The Fellowship aimed to change society by setting examples of a pure and simple life. But when some members wanted to actively promote the change of society politically, it was decided that a separate group, the Fabian Society, should be founded. All members were free to join one or the other or both societies. The Fellowship of the New Life disbanded in the early 1890s as the Fabian Society grew and became a formidable intellectual component in the United Kingdom during the time of King Edward VII .
Immediately after its inception, the society began to attract many intellectuals due to its socialist approach, including George Bernard Shaw , HG Wells , Sidney and Beatrice Webb , Annie Besant , Graham Wallas , Hubert Bland , Sidney Olivier and Emmeline Pankhurst . Even Bertrand Russell joined it later. The mostly very elitist members, who came from the British upper class, were mostly also involved in the eugenics movement. Their principle of action was the evolution of society rather than a revolution .
Many Fabians participated in the founding of the Labor Party in 1900 , and the group's constitution, written by Shaw, has many parallels with the Labor Party's founding documents.
In the period between the world wars, the now second generation of Fabians - including the writers Richard Henry Tawney , George Douglas Cole and Harold Laski - were an important factor influencing the social democratization of the Labor Party.
Since the 1920s the group has been consistently influential in Labor Party circles, with members such as Ramsay MacDonald , Clement Attlee , Anthony Crosland , Richard Crossman , Tony Benn , Harold Wilson , and now Tony Blair and Gordon Brown .
In the years 1945–1951 the highest number of members was around 5,000 members, in 2016 it was around 7,000 members.
In 1960 the Young Fabian Group was founded, an important network and discussion forum for younger (under 31 years) activists of the Labor Party. She played a role in the election of Tony Blair as party leader in 1994.
In 1947 the Australian Fabian Society was established . It is the oldest political " think tank " in Australia.
See also
literature
- Margaret Cole : The Story of Fabian Socialism . Mercury Books, London 1963.
- Herbert Frei: Fabianism and Bernstein'scher Revisionism 1884–1900: an ideology-comparative study of epistemological, philosophical, economic, state-theoretical and revolutionary aspects of Marxian, Fabian and Bernstein's theory . Peter Lang, Frankfurt 1979.
- Sören Niemann-Findeisen: Weeding the Garden. The eugenics reception of the early Fabian Society . Westphalian steam boat, Münster 2004
- Peter Wittig : The English way to socialism: the Fabier and their meaning for the Labor Party and the English politics . Duncker & Humblot , Berlin 1982. ISBN 3-428-05244-7
- Reinhard Markner: Fabianism (PDF), in: Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism , Vol. 4, Argument, Hamburg 1999, Sp. 9-18.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica (1973): Fabianischen Sozialismus, Volume 20, S. 750 f.
- ^ Retrospectives, Eugenics and Economics in the Progressive Era (PDF, 110 kB), by Thomas C. Leonard, Journal of Economic Perspectives — Vol. 19, No. 4 — Fall 2005— pp. 207–224
- ↑ Brockhaus Encyclopedia (17th edition, Volume 6)
- ^ Annual Report of the Fabian Society 2016 - accessed on August 14, 2017