FABIANISM. – Movement of English theorists belonging to the middle class, whose leading exponents are Bernard Shaw and Sidney Webb, who seek to give a new formulation of socialism inspired by the most recent developments in economic science.
The Fabian Society, founded in 1884, takes its name from the Roman dictator Fabius Cunctator and draws its inspiration from the prudent policy symbolized by him. Like that of Marx, Fabian doctrine has a theoretical side and a historical side; but in their study of the existing economic society they avoided the error into which Marx had fallen. They rejected Ricardo’s law of value, making instead extensive use of his theory of rent, and succeeded in demonstrating convincingly that a large part of the national wealth was consumed by the idle classes in the form of rent and interest. Economic analysis provided the Fabians with the means to criticize the existing system, while historical inquiry suggested the appropriate solution. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, social evolution had unquestionably tended toward state control; the economically weaker classes had been granted legal protections in the form of industrial and sanitary regulations, etc., while important branches of economic activity, such as postal services, tramway operations, and the supply of gas and water, had been taken over by public bodies. With the same confidence as Marx, but for different reasons, the Fabians therefore announced that socialism was inevitable, and declared that all the economic activities of society would one day be controlled by public bodies. These hopes were disappointed. State and municipal enterprises have continued to develop, but have remained almost exclusively limited to certain services of a monopolistic character; they have not invaded the fields where competition is most active, and it seems that this tendency stops short of reaching the point at which it would bring about a social revolution.