Fabian Society

The Fabian Society is considered the precursor to the foundation of the Labour party in 1900. Against a backdrop of increased socialist activity in late Victorian Britain, the society was formed on 4th January 1884. It was an off-shoot of another socialist society called The Fellowship of the New Life, members were able to attend both societies, until The Fellowship dissolved in 1899. The Fabian Society was named in honour of the Roman general Quintus Fabius, who successfully implemented the strategy of delaying his attacks on the invading Carthaginian Army. The ground breaking Fabian Essays by writers including George Bernard Shaw and Annie Besant, championed the power of local government and trade unionism over violent upheaval. Beatrice and Sidney Webb are two of the society's most significant figures and Beatrice's 'Minority Report to the Commission of the Poor Law' is considered to have provided the foundations for the modern welfare state. The society founded the London Schools of Economics and the New Statesmen magazine.