The History Of The Fabian Society

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Originally published in 1918. Whatever one's views no one can deny the endurance or influence of a society in which the Webbs, Shaw, Annie Besant, Wallas, Wells, etc., almost all the 'personalities' of the period, were involved to a lesser or greater extent and which has played such an important part in the oscial thought of England. Yet, so little is known about the society's early history that even in 1916 Pease said that the only sources were 'shabby notebooks and the memories of a few men now rapidly approaching old age.' Since its first publication 'The History of the Fabian Society' by Edward Pease has been increasingly recognized as almost the only contemporary source for the genesis and early development of Fabianism. Twenty-five years as secretary and his presence at the institution of the Society enabled Pease, in a truly Fabian way, to give a valuable survey of the growth of the Society from its days of middle-class 'fellowship' down to the typical solid Fabian workmanship embodied in the Minority Report of the Poor-Law Commission. Margaret Cole's new introduction evaluates the present-day significance of a book which is indispensable for any student of Labour history.

Excerpt from The History of the Fabian Society I have described in my book the care with which the Fabian Tracts have been revised and edited by members of the Executive Committee. Two of my colleagues, Sidney Webb and Bernard Shaw, have been good enough to revise this volume in like manner, and I have to thank them for innumerable corrections in style, countless suggestions of better words and phrases, and a number of amplifications and additions, some of which I have accepted without specific acknowledgment, whilst others for one reason or another are to be found in notes; and I am par ticularly grateful to Bernard Shaw for two valuable memoranda on the history of Fabian Economics, and on Guild Socialism, which are printed as an appendix. The ms. Or proofs have also been read by Mrs. Sidney Webb, Mrs. Bernard Shaw, Sir Sydney Olivier. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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