| Notes |
The London School of Economics & the New Statesman
Two other abiding contributions of the Webbs that persist until the present day are the New Statesman magazine and the London School of Economics.
The London School of Economics, today one of the most pre-eminent universities in the world, began far more humbly. A bequest of £20,000 left by Derby Fabian Henry Hutchinson to the Society for “propaganda and other purposes” was used by the Webbs, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw to found a research institute to provide proof positive of the collectivist ideal. The LSE flourished and continued to associate with Fabian academics including Harold Laski, Richard Titmuss and Brian Abel-Smith.
Today, the society and the LSE continue to work together. The London School of Economics holds the Fabian Society archives including extensive correspondence and early photographs of Fabian Society events. It is also home to the Fabian window, a stained-glass image of early Fabians, designed by George Bernard Shaw.
The New Statesman was founded in 1913, the brainchild of Beatrice and Sidney Webb. With the financial support of George Bernard Shaw and other Fabian Society members, the Webbs recruited Clifford Sharp as the founding editor of the magazine and sold over 2,000 copies of the initial edition.
Writing in the Manchester Guardian of the new magazine, Sidney Webb said:
“Its distinctive feature will be its point of view – absolutely untrammelled by party, or sect, or creed. Its general attitude will be best designated by the term ‘Fabian,’ but it will endeavour to bring to light and to appreciate in a wide catholic spirit all those features in other social projects or movements which can be recognised as making for progress. A number of these connected with it are members of the Fabian Society, but this is true of nearly every enterprise nowadays, and the paper is in no sense the organ of the Fabian Society, any more than it will be that of the Liberal party. It is going to be really independent.
The New Stateman remained true to Webb’s independent vision and the voice of Fabianism gradually diminished over time. But the New Statesman remains a leading voice on the left in contemporary British politics. |