Illustrations

Frontispiece, from a drawing by Miss Bertha Newcombe in 1895

The Seven Essayists

Mrs. Annie Besant, From a photograph

Hubert Bland, From a photograph

William Clarke From a photograph

(Sir) Sydney Olivier, From a photograph

G. Bernard Shaw, From a photograph

Graham Wallas, From a photograph

Sidney Webb, From a drawing

* * * * *

Edward R. Pease, From a photograph

Frank Podmore, From a photograph

Mrs. Sidney Webb, From a photograph

H.G.  Wells, From a photograph

The History of the Fabian Society

Chapter I

The Sources of Fabian Socialism

   The ideas of the early eighties—­The epoch of Evolution—­Sources of
   Fabian ideas—­Positivism—­Henry George—­John Stuart Mill—­Robert
   Owen—­Karl Marx—­The Democratic Federation—­“The Christian
   Socialist”—­Thomas Davidson.

“Britain as a whole never was more tranquil and happy,” said the “Spectator,” then the organ of sedate Liberalism and enlightened Progress, in the summer of 1882.  “No class is at war with society or the government:  there is no disaffection anywhere, the Treasury is fairly full, the accumulations of capital are vast”; and then the writer goes on to compare Great Britain with Ireland, at that time under the iron heel of coercion, with Parnell and hundreds of his followers in jail, whilst outrages and murders, like those of Maamtrasma, were almost everyday occurrences.

Some of the problems of the early eighties are with us yet.  Ireland is still a bone of contention between political parties:  the Channel tunnel is no nearer completion:  and then as now, when other topics are exhausted, the “Spectator” can fill up its columns with Thought Transference and Psychical Research.

But other problems which then were vital, are now almost forgotten.  Electric lighting was a doubtful novelty:  Mr. Bradlaugh’s refusal to take the oath excited a controversy which now seems incredible.  Robert Louis Stevenson can no longer be adequately described as an “accomplished writer,” and the introduction of female clerks into the postal service by Mr. Fawcett has ceased to raise alarm lest the courteous practice of always allowing ladies to be victors in an argument should perforce be abandoned.

But in September of the same year we find a cloud on the horizon, the prelude of a coming storm.  The Trade Union Congress had just been held and the leaders of the working classes, with apparently but little discussion, had passed a resolution asking the Government to institute an enquiry with a view to relaxing the stringency of Poor Law administration.  This, said the “Spectator,” is beginning “to tamper with natural conditions,” “There is no logical halting-place between the theory that it is the duty of the State to make the poor comfortable, and socialism.”