Words of wisdom

The Fabian Society was founded in 1884 to permeate British institutions with evolutionary socialism. Its tools were hard facts, fashioned into compelling arguments by rigorous prose. This is not to say Fabianism was bloodless. There was room for outrage, pity, passion, and anger at the state of the world. This blend of facts plus passion (what Aristotle would call logos plus pathos) is of course clear in the vast back catalogue of Fabian pamphlets.

The Fabian tradition is also built on the spoken word: in noisy debates, in labour halls, at summer schools and weekend conferences, and of course in parliament. Fabians have been standing for parliament in every election since the 1880s. Yet is possible to place too much emphasis on public speaking. A helpful Fabian tract in 1895 offered a warning (which has stood the test of time): “How to Lose an Election is very simple. You will be sure to lose if you devote your energies to 1. Shouting at meetings, 2. Alienating all sympathizers who don’t yet call themselves Socialists, 3· Spending all your time talking in the committee-rooms; 4. Betting that you will win. (If at the same time you NEGLECTALL ORGANIZATION).” It continues:

“Plenty of political meetings should be held; but don’t trust to these to win an election. The candidate who has the biggest and most enthusiastic meetings is often at the bottom of the poll. Meetings are necessary to educate and stir up the people, but Canvassing gets Votes.” Wait, rallies don’t win elections?

Nevertheless, oratory has proved to be a powerful tool in the hands of Fabians, particularly in parliament. The first recorded mention of the Fabians in a parliamentary debate was in May 1890, in the House of Lords, when Earl Wemyss fulminated against ‘socialistic’ legislation while naming George Bernard Shaw “as the ablest writer and the best reasoner upon the Socialistic question”. The Earl provided the House with a definition of Fabianism, should they be unaware of this dangerous six-year-old creed:

“I had better say what “Fabian” means. As explained to me, it means that this Society does not look to revolution to make its ways prevail, but trusts to Fabian tactics, to silent influences, and the potent action of legislation.”

Guilty as charged, your Lordship. Presumably to his dismay, Fabians have been speaking in Parliament ever since, from Sidney Webb to Keir Starmer. The first three women to be elected as Labour MPs in 1923 – Susan Lawrence, Dorothy Jewson, and Margaret Bond field – were all Fabians. In the 1945 landslide, Zena Parker, wife of lifelong Fabian John Parker, said the new parliamentary Labour party looked like a Fabian Society school. The roll call since1900 includes everyone from Ramsay MacDonald to Tony Benn, from Robin Cook to Rachel Reeves. Their speeches have helped to shape the country and drive forward progress. As illustration, here are five Fabians permeating parliament with the arguments for socialism:

First, Margaret Bondfield (1873–1953) attacking the government in 1924 for mass unemployment, especially among the women who had worked in factories while the men were at the front:

“The points on which I wish to address this … have a great deal to do with the suffering that is going on in this country at the present time amongst unemployed women. Unemployment amongst women, I recognise, is only a small part of a very large problem, but at the same time those of us who have to face these unemployed women day after day realise that for the unemployed women itis the most vital question before the country, and my criticism of the government is, that in this small problem there was much that could have been done to mitigate the lot of the women, with very little expense, but with a certain amount of administrative common sense, and they have consistently refused to do that little.”

Half a century later, Education Secretary Shirley Williams (1930–2021) made the case for comprehensive schools and against the divisive 11-plus in 1978:

 “There are boys and girls today who would never have had an opportunity in the past to go to university or a polytechnic because the necessary examinations would not have been available to them, but who today are attending those institutions because they went to comprehensive schools. Today, comprehensive schools provide a range of courses which allows those pupils who mature later to take examinations. The truth is that parental choice is immensely widened by comprehensive schools and not immensely narrowed.”

I was lucky enough to be in the public gallery to hear Chris Smith MP (1951–) debating socialism with a phalanx of Thatcherites in December 1991. He railed against their belief ‘there is no such thing as society’ and evoked the radical William Godwin:

 “There is such a thing as society. It is extremely important that the government realises that and take into account the needs of the community as a whole as well as those of individuals. William Godwin’s treatise, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice – I realise that political justice is a foreign concept to Conservative members – was written in 1793. It contains these words, which are still relevant today:

‘Democracy restores to man a consciousness of his value, teaches him, by the removal of authority and oppression, to listen only to the suggestions of reason’. Would that that were true of Conservative members. Godwin said that democracy ‘gives him confidence to treat all other men with frankness and simplicity and induces him to regard them no longer as enemies against whom to be upon his guard, but as brethren whom it becomes him to assist’. That text could stand as a fundamental tenet of the democratic socialism which my party espouses, and which will guide a Labour government.”

It was a memorable debate for me because, rarely for parliament, it represented a clash of philosophies rather than narrow debates about legislation.

Dianne Hayter (1949–) was Fabian general secretary from 1976 to 1982 and joined the House of Lords in 2010. That year, she spoke in support of women’s equality: “Unless we enable women to study and flourish and to be supported by nurseries, flexible working and good care provision not simply for their children but also for elderly relatives, today’s generation of bright young things will not occupy high office when their time comes. But what do we see from the government? Support for children is being cut by £2bn. There are cuts in SureStart, maternity grants, health in pregnancy grants, child benefit and tax credits. Who do we think will be harmed by those? It is no way to produce the leaders of the future. Women are losing out on their chance to serve, but… society also is losing out on the chance of having women as decision-makers. We cannot just want change; we cannot just wait for change; we must work for it.”

Last in our selective sampler of Fabians speaking in parliament is Alf Dubs (1932–) who was Fabian chair in 1994. As a beneficiary of the Kindertransport, Lord Dubs has made many great speeches to oppose the Conservatives’ immigration and asylum policies. But this is him on the 75th anniversary of the NHS:

“My Lords, exactly 75 years ago today, I was as a child ill in Stockport infirmary, and I am totally taken by the memories of that day. In the morning, the consultant came by with his entourage of doctors, matrons, and so on. Consultants were very important in those days; they still are, but in those days, one did not speak unless one was spoken to. I said to him: ‘Excuse me– I have a question to ask. ’He turned around. ‘What is it?’ ‘Are we having a party today?’ He asked: ‘What for? ‘I said: ‘The hospital is ours –it’s a great day.’ He was not very impressed and walked on. Later on, they asked me at the other end of the ward: ‘What’s going on?’ and I explained how the hospital was ours and what a great day it was. It was a privilege to be ill on the day the health service started.”

Poverty and unemployment. Equality and opportunity. Democracy and social change. These have been Fabian themes for a century or more. A society dedicated to spreading the socialist message through argument and evidence has used parliament to great effect. I could have chosen Ellen Wilkinson, Harold Wilson, Tony Crosland, Denis Healey, Giles Radice, Neil Kinnock, Gordon Brown, or a hundred others.

We can peruse Hansard for great speeches establishing the National Health Service, the Open University, the national minimum wage, free museums, Sure Start, and the other legislation that civilises our society. From these pages of the official record, we can hear the Fabian voice – rational, insistent, passionate, and clear. Following the Starmer landslide in July, there are141 Fabians elected to the House of Commons, with scores more in the Lords. Many are now ministers, making the changes that the country so desperately needs. Half the Cabinet are paid-up members of the Fabian Society. When it comes to great Fabian parliamentary speeches, in this Fabian moment, perhaps the best is yet to come.

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