ABSTRACT
The Fabian Society was founded in 1883-84 as a non-Marxist socialist society. It took its name from Q.Fabius Maximus (‘Cuncator’), whose legendary patience symbolized the Fabians’ gradualist tactics. The Fabians initially thought that they could promote their ideas by winning converts in the traditional political parties but gradually they recognized the desirability of a separate Labour Party
Fabian influence upon the Labour movement has been out of all proportion to its membership, which has included the Webbs, Annie Besant, Bernard Shaw, H.G.Wells, and R.H. Tawney The 1918 constitution, with its notorious Clause Four (advocating wholesale public ownership of the means of production distribution and exchange), was, for example, Fabianinspired, being penned by Sidney Webb.
