Chapter 14. Evolutionary Socialism

¹ Perhaps we are at times in danger of forgetting how recent a phenomenon, so far as concerns this country, is the widespread interest in Marx. But occasionally a trifle may bring the point vividly before us. Dr. Joad, in a lecture published in 1944 and obviously delivered shortly before publication, speaking of the intellectuals of our time, says: ‘We have, almost all of us, been on the Left. Most of us, especially the younger, have been strongly influenced by Marxism....’ The remark suggests an interesting collocation of dates. The Communist Manifesto, which contains the clotted cream of Marx, was published in 1848; the first volume of Capital appeared in 1867; Marx died in 1883; in 1944, it can at last be said that the younger generation of intellectuals have been strongly influenced by Marxism. This might be interpreted as suggesting that we intellectuals are not very spry in getting off the mark; but in fact there is another and more plausible explanation.

¹ Pease: The History of the Fabian Society, pp. 26, 28.

²Ibid. pp. 31–35.

³ ‘Certain members of that circle, modestly feeling that the revolution would have to wait an unreasonably long time if postponed until they personally had attained perfection, set up the banner of socialism militant’ (Mr. Bernard Shaw in Tract No. 41).

¹ Pease: History of the Fabian Society, p. 38.

² Pease: op. cit. p. 39.

³ Tradition assigns the authorship of the ‘quotation’ to Mr. Frank Podmore.

¹ Mr. Bernard Shaw in the Preface to the 1908 reprint of Fabian Essays.

² It will be found embalmed in the Second Appendix of Pease: History of the Fabian Society.

³ Fabian Tract No. 41.

¹ The essayists were Bernard Shaw, Sydney Olivier, William Clarke, Hubert Bland, Sidney Webb, Annie Besant and Graham Wallas.

² Barker: Political Thought in England, from Herbert Spencer to the Present Day, p. 213. Beer: History of British Socialism, vol. 2, p. 281.

³ Pease: op. cit. p. 259.

⁴ Fabian Tract No. 15, p. 11. See also Webb: Socialism in England, p. 19.

⁵ Barker: op. cit., p. 215. Also Fabian Tract No. 41.

⁶ This agrees with the considered views of Mr. Shaw: ‘Accordingly, the abstract economics of the Fabian Essays are, as regards value, the economics of Jevons. As regards rent they are the economics of Ricardo’ (Memorandum by Mr. Shaw, attached to Mr. Pease's History of the Fabian Society, p. 261).

¹Fabian Essays, p. 18.

²Ibid. p. 24.

³Ibid. p. 165.

¹Fabian Essays, p. 9.

¹ Take, as an illustration of the point indicated in this paragraph, the following: ‘If those who are never happy unless they are working insist on putting in extra work to please themselves, they must not pretend that this is a painful sacrifice for which they should be paid’ (The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism, etc., Section 23, on ‘Incentive’).

² Fabian Tract No. 15, p. 13.

³ Preface to the 1931 reprint of Fabian Essays.

⁴Fabian Essays, p. 32.

¹Fabian Essays, p. 46.

²Ibid. p. 123.

³Ibid. p. 141.

⁴Ibid. p. 58.

⁵Ibid. p. 195.

¹Fabian Essays, pp. 44–45. These two pages must be seen to be believed.

²Ibid. p. 198.

³Ibid. p. 46.

⁴ Fabian Tract No. 51.

⁵Fabian Essays, p. 45.

⁶Ibid. pp. 94–95.

¹Fabian Essays, p. 146.

² Fabian Tract No. 51, p. 7.

³Fabian Essays, p. 147.

⁴Ibid. p. 182.

⁵ Introduction (1919) to the Fabian Essays.

¹Fabian Essays, pp. 53–54.

² Pease: op. cit. p. 268.

¹ In case this may appear an uncharitable judgment, the reader should refer to Mr. Shaw's chapter on ‘Personal Righteousness’ addressed to his Intelligent Woman, e.g.: ‘Should you become a convert to Socialism you will not be committed to any change in your private life, nor indeed will you find yourself able to make any change that would be of the smallest use in that direction.’ Neither Jesus of Nazareth nor Lenin, one feels, would have addressed a new disciple in quite these terms; but, of course, neither was a Fabian.

¹Die Voraussetzungen des Sozialismus und die Aufgaben der Sozialdemokratie (1899).

¹ Evolutionary Socialism (English version), p. 26.

² Ibid. p. xi.

³Ibid. p. xi.

¹Evolutionary Socialism, p. xiii.

²Ibid. p. xiv.

³ Ibid. p. xxii.

⁴Ibid. p. 14.

⁵Ibid. p. 36.

⁶ Ibid. p. 40.

⁷Ibid. p. 38.

⁸Ibid. p. 39.

¹Evolutionary Socialism, p. 43.

²Ibid. pp. 48–49.

³Ibid. p. 71.

⁴Ibid. p. 72.

⁵Ibid. pp. 103–105.

⁶Ibid. p. 120.

¹Evolutionary Socialism, p. 119.

²Ibid. p. 154.

³Ibid. p. 141.

⁴Ibid. p. 119.

⁵Ibid. p. 142.

⁶Ibid. p. 144.

⁷Ibid. pp. 146–147.

¹Evolutionary Socialism, pp. 169–170.

²Ibid. p. 166.

³Ibid. pp. 149–154.

⁴Ibid, p. 153.

¹ Evolutionary Socialism, pp. 168–169.

²Ibid. p. 199.

³ Ibid. p. 203.

⁴Ibid. p. 213.