THE FABIAN SOCIETY
(1883 to 1996)
By: Rebekah Sutherland
I am a public school educated, public school trained science teacher with a
Masters degree in the Sciences. I know that I have never heard about the
Fabian Society with its influence upon the American political system. May I
share some recent research?
QUOTE FROM A NINTH GRADE CONSERVATIVE HISTORY TEXTBOOK:
"In 1883, the year in which Karl Marx died, a group of restless English
intellectuals formed a new socialist organization. The group called itself
the LONDON FABIAN SOCIETY . . . the Fabians are committed to achieving
socialism gradually by passing new laws. Thus, the Marxists are
revolutionary socialists, while the Fabians are evolutionary socialists . . .
. The key element in all of the ideas [ of the group ] is environmentalism --
the belief that man was not created by God but is the product of his
surroundings and that to change man, one must simply manipulate the economic,
political, and social environment."
"The early Fabians were all vehement in their denial of God and their
rejection of the historic Christian faith, although they were not above using
liberal Christian ministers to advance their cause . . . . The Fabians chose
POLITICS, EDUCATION, and the PRINTED WORD as the primary media through which
they would persuade the people of the need for change. Leading Fabians were
to penetrate the political parties, the labor unions, the government offices,
the schools, the press, and Parliament by securing key positions in these
institutions."
"The first changes in English life were made in the schools. Because of its
Christian culture, Victorian England had viewed education as a way to train
each individual to use his God-given abilities for the glory of God . . .
Fabianism, in common with liberalism, progressivism, and the other new
philosophies of the 20th century, called for a new philosophy of education.
[They ] espoused PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION (education that adjusts the student
to society in order progressively to bring in a new world)."
"Education was now viewed as the most advanced phase of the social
evolutionary process; thus, the goal of the new education was to adjust the
individual to his environment and to control the child for the sake of the
welfare of the society. . . EDUCATION BECAME A MEANS OF DESTROYING
TRADITIONAL BELIEFS, ATTITUDES, AND VALUES in order to prepare the British
people for socialism . . . Accordingly, education began to be centralized,
and curriculum, discipline, and teaching methods were revised to fit the goal
of SOCIALIZATION."
Examples of Fabian members are: Bertrand Russell, H.G. Wells, Sir Julian
Huxley, Aldous Huxley, John Maynard Keynes.
"The English British Labour Party formed in 1906 . . . and it adopted for its
permanent party platform a Fabian study entitled LABOUR AND THE NEW SOCIAL
ORDER. It proposed what it termed -- The Four Pillars of the House :
(1) a national minimum wage and state-financed social welfare programs
(2) government control of land, utilities, transportation, mining, and heavy
industry
(3) abolition of private savings and private investment through confiscatory
taxation
(4) disarmament, an international court, international economic controls,
international social legislation, and an international One-World authority.
Many of these aims were incorporated into the League of Nations and later the
United Nations."
"Few Americans describe themselves as socialists; European socialists,
however, point out that in America -- LIBERALISM -- means the same as
socialism in Europe. . . .
Liberalism is rooted in the desire of fallen human nature to be freed from
the shackles of established authority and accepted norms. . . . The primary
value of practicing liberals, therefore, is a liberty divorced from moral
absolutes, which often becomes licentiousness. . . . Robert Niesbet, a
respected scholar from Columbia University, points out that there is another
side to the liberal mindset: a desire for centralized political power."
Americans who have supported liberal ideals are: John Dewey, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, B.F. Skinner, Betty Friedan, Francis Crick, Isaac
Asimov.
QUOTES FROM A BRITISH PROFESSOR:
A recent article has appeard in the journal called, SOCIETY, (v. 27 Jan./Feb.
1990 p. 71). Its title is "1890-1990: up from Fabian socialism".
Article's ABSTRACT in USC's library database:
"Sidney Webb's Fabian Essays, published in England in 1890, purged
socialism of its romantic elements and paved the way for today's almost
universal subservience of the individual to the state. Based on Bismarck's
Prussian model, Webb's concept of bureaucratic planning and management for
public welfare, known as FABIANISM, NOW THRIVES IN ENGLAND, THE UNITED
STATES, FRANCE, and elsewhere."
EXCERPTS from the article:
". . . Fabianism flourished when the double impact of WWI and the Great
Depression had destroyed many other illusions. In spite of its claim to be a
form of socialism, FABIANISM BECAME ASSIMILATED BY LIBERALS, as liberalism
took on the ideas of state regulation of the economy, bureaucratic planning,
income transfers to relieve poverty, and the subordination of civil and
political rights to so-called social and economic rights. This is as true of
American as of English liberals, despite America's deep traditional
attachment to economic freedom."
"Between 1890 and 1990 an age of imperialism has given way, not to an age of
self-determination, but to an age of almost universal subservience of the
individual to the state."
AUTHOR: Maurice W. Cranston, Professor of Political Science, LONDON School
of Economics and Political Science.
PERSONAL OBSERVATION:
For forty years, our Congress was controlled by the liberal democrats of this
country. I see a political war for American values taking place during the
Republican primaries as this country prepares to vote for the next President.
My concern is that most Americans are illiterate about the deliberate and
slowly controlled movement which has come from the Fabian Society. Even more
alarming, there are now two generations who have been taught in a public
school system which teaches both children and teachers to think . . .and
VOTE . . . liberal democrat.
IT SHOULD BE NOTED that the federal bureaucracy called the U.S. Department of
Education did not exist in this country until President Jimmy Carter
instituted it in 1979. The American Constitution leaves the duty of education
at the state level of government.
I support my observations with the following quote from the Secretary of
Education, Mr. Riley. He has a letter in the teaching magazine, TEACHING
K-8, dated May, 1995 which states:
"The education budget that President Clinton proposed to Congress - arrived
at after much analysis and deliberation - was remarkable because it was so
responsible. Instead of randomly cutting education programs across the
board, as the new Congress has done, it made significant cuts in many
programs that had outlived their usefulness, .
. . It concerns me that some members of Congress, in their haste to meet an
arbitrary deadline, are focusing on short-term solutions, like changing the
school lunch program, CUTTING more than $100 million in Title I funding . . .
And, as I'm sure you have heard, they've even proposed shutting down the
Department of Education. . . .
So all the recent talk about eliminating the U.S. Dept. of Education or
cutting out basic education programs that work is, to my mind, out of step
with the American people. And, I don't think its the kind of message we want
to be sending to our CHILDREN, or to the rest of the world, in this day and
age."
CONCLUDING REMARKS:
If I am misunderstanding the relevance of the historical Fabian Society, I
would like for someone to enlighten me.
If I am correct that it is a driving force for liberals in both the Democrat
and Republican parties, then I invite you to educate others about it.
The best tool for eliminating Socialism is the voting booth. Please, use it
wisely.