Fabian Society logo
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Abbreviation | Fabian Society |
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Formation | January 4, 1884 |
Legal status | Unincorporated membership association |
Purpose | It aims to promote greater equality of power, wealth and opportunity; the value of collective action and public service; an accountable, tolerant and active democracy; citizenship, liberty and human rights; sustainable development; and multilateral international cooperation |
Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
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Membership
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7,000 |
Official language
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English |
General Secretary
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Andrew Harrop |
Main organ
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Executive Committee |
Subsidiaries | Young Fabians, Fabian Women's Network, Scottish Fabians, around 60 local Fabian Societies |
Affiliations | Labour Party, Foundation for European Progressive Studies |
Website | fabians |
The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. As one of the founding organisations of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900, and as an important influence upon the Labour Party which grew from it, the Fabian Society has had a powerful influence on British politics. Later members of the Fabian Society included Jawaharlal Nehru and other leaders of new nations created out of the former British Empire, who used Fabian principles to create socialist democracies in India, Pakistan, Nigeria and elsewhere as Britain decolonised after World War II.
The Fabian Society founded the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1895 "for the betterment of society", now one of the leading institutions in the world, an incubator of influential politicians, economists, and journalists.
Today, the society functions primarily as a think tank and is one of 15 socialist societies affiliated with the Labour Party. Similar societies exist in Australia (the Australian Fabian Society), in Canada (the Douglas–Coldwell Foundation and the now disbanded League for Social Reconstruction), in Sicily (Sicilian Fabian Society) and in New Zealand (The NZ Fabian Society).