FABIAN, PHILOSOPHY OF DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM

Fabian Socialism. I am Professor Qayum Mangi, Principal College of Superior Services (CSS Academy) Sukkur. This is lecture about the Political Philosophy Fabianism. This is important topic of subject History, Political Science, Political Thought and Sociology taught in universities of the world to the students of Graduation and Masters. This topic is also helpful for Competitive Examinations of the world countries such as USA, China, European countries, Australia, Canada, India and Pakistan. This political theory was propounded and presented to deter and contain the fast growing waves of Communism in the Europe and world. Propounders were trying to curb its spread by reforming their rotten and decaying prevalent system, which benefited only elite class of World at the cost of lower strata at that time. The poverty, social decadence, economic deprivation and inequality were rising in the lower and middle class. Fabian philosophy was formed in 1884. It could not curb the breeze of social equality brought by new ideologies, collapsed, and ended by 1930. As usual, Fabian Society only worked for European not for the people of world. Wells and George Bernard Shaw were prominent Fabian Socialist who regarded the transition from Capitalism to Socialism as a gradual process. They looked forward to the socialization of industry peacefully, through the existing economic and political agencies and wanted to arouse the social conscience of the community in favour of the lower strata of society. They believed in evolutionary and constitutional methods and stood for reform and moderation, persuasion and permeation. In their countries, they were trying to introduce reforms through peaceful means while exploiting and ruling the entire population of the world by sheer and brute force. George Bernard Shaw, Sydney, Webb and H.G, Wells were the prominent Fabian Socialist who regarded the transition from capitalism to socialism as a gradual process, looked forward to the socialization of industry peacefully, through the existing economic and political institutions and wanted to arouse the social conscience of the community in favour the policy. Fabianism was a development on state socialism or collectivism. It differed from Marxism in some respects and it rejected the Marxist doctrine of materialistic interpretation of history. Fabianists firmly believed in evolutionary and constitutional methods and stood for reform and moderation, persuasion and permeation into the minds of people. They were not anti state but wanted to reform the prevalent system for the greatest goods of great number of masses. They wanted to deter the surge of new emerging ideologies in the Europe through their reformed system. Eventually they transformed the European society, systems and gradually defeated the Communism, Fascism and Socialism. They gradually reformed their prevalent system by introducing legal, social, political and economic reforms. They strengthen their system, transformed and changed it by responding to the pulse of people and the impacted and influenced other social, economic and religious ideologies. Origin of Fabian socialism. The Fabian society was formed in England in 1884. The Fabianists were appalled of the inhuman acts and cruelties of man-to-man. They wanted to improve the conditions of the working class through state legislation. The Fabian society was named after the great Roman General, Fabius Cuncta who defeated Hannibal, a Carthegenian General through his long and delaying tactics. The Fabianists proposed to improve the conditions of the working class gradually and step by steps. The big four of the Fabian socialist created stirred dogmas and made the society intellectually strong and powerful with a new and practical social gospel. They were influenced by the American thinker and author Hanry George who wrote “Progress and Poverty”. They adopted the “marginal utility theory” and theory of rent of Ricardo. Features of Fabianism. Fabianism was essentially a middle class movement, highly intellectual, launched to spread the doctrine of evolutionary socialism for general happiness and social welfare, through persuasion and preaching. The main aim of Fabianism was to eliminate the evils and injustice of prevalent capitalism in the world. They advocated for extinction of private property in land, and worked for transfer to the community. Fabianism aimed at reorganization of society by the emancipation of land and industrial capital from individual and class ownership, and the vesting of them in the community for the general benefit and equitably shared by the whole people. The Fabianists worked for the consequent individual appropriation, in the form of rent, of the price paid for permission to use the earth, as well for the advantages of superior soils and sites. For the attainment of these ends the Fabian society looks to the spread of socialist opinions, and the social and political changes. Fabianism desired to achieve these ends by the general dissemination of knowledge as to the relation between the individual and society in its economic, ethical and political aspects. Fabianists spread ideology and philosophy through pamphlets novels, plays and peaceful means. In 1912, the Fabianist established the Fabian Research Department to disseminate its principles. A Fabiani school was established in 1906 to educate society. The society joined with elements of the trade union movement to form independent labour party in 1888. During the period 1888 to 1894, many important reforms were introduced in Local Government in Great Britain. They wielded enormous influence not only in the Europe but also in the world. The departure of Fabians from this transitory world proved a fatal blow to the society and it lost its old significance. WISH YOU GOOD LUCK.