In the midst of the establishment of various radical socialist groups, which called for change to be brought about by revolution, the Fabian Society was founded with the aim of introducing socialist principles into British government, by gradualist, reformist and non-revolutionary means. Its first members included diverse cultural luminaries such as George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Annie Besant, Edith Nesbit, Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Ramsay Macdonald and Emmeline Pankhurst, but the pre-eminent figures were Sidney and Beatrice Webb. It received derogatory comments from more conventional political groups for its inclusion of outlandish ideas, and also from more radical groups, who pointed out that it was a perfect halfway house for …
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Fabian society founded". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5288, accessed 23 November 2024.]