ABSTRACT
It was in an England undergoing the changes discussed in the preceding chapter that Fabian socialism developed, as a flexible school of socialist thought. It therefore differed in a number of respects from Marxian socialism, formulated during the revolutionary period of the late forties. Adapting itself to these changed conditions, Fabian socialism regarded the transition from capitalism to socialism as a gradual process; looked forward to the socialization of industry by the peaceful economic and political agencies already at hand; saw in the middle class a group that could be utilized in developing the technique of administration in behalf of the new social order, and felt that an important step in the attainment of socialism was the arousing of the social conscience of the community in favor of the socialist ideal.
