The History of the Fabian SocietyPease, Edward R. (Edward Reynolds)
History
The History of the Fabian Society
Pease, Edward R. (Edward Reynolds)
Fabian Society (Great Britain); Socialism -- Great Britain
the guarantee fund for expenses was £100; 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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