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Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Fabians water down socialist
creedFabians water down socialist creed
Lucy Ward, political correspondent
Monday November 19, 2001
The Guardian
For a society committed to evolutionary socialism rather than revolution, it
was perhaps inevitable that the Fabian Society would follow in the footsteps
of the Labour party and drop its longstanding unqualified commitment to
collective ownership.
The leftwing thinktank, founded by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, removed the
pledge in a revised wording of its socialist aims and values, although only
after a two year consultation befitting of the society - it was named after
the Roman Fabius Cunctator ("the delayer"), whose patience in avoiding
costly battles ultimately secured victory over the Carthaginian Hannibal.
The society - whose membership includes the prime minister and most of the
cabinet - follows in the footsteps of the Labour party, which axed
references to collective ownership of the means of production when it
revised clause IV.
However, Fabian members have resisted a full-scale Blairite makeover of
their society's binding principles, rejecting a move to drop a commitment to
a classless society and insisting on a reference to democratic control of
the economy.
Members' objections have also ensured that references to collective
ownership are not lost altogether, although the replacement - "to promote
where appropriate the social and cooperative ownership of economic
resources" - will be seen by some as a longwinded compromise.
The proposed new statement will now be put to the society's 7,000 members.
It is half as long again as the original, which was drafted after the second
world war but is thought to date back to the 1930s.
The Fabian general secretary, Michael Jacobs, admitted that the support for
cooperative ownership "where appropriate" could look "woolly", but said: "It
is the only way of expressing what 99.99% of Labour party members feel. It
is actually accurate, because most people on the left would like to see
cooperative ownership, but don't think it is a panacea. So the new version
is actually realistic."
At the society's recent AGM, a quarter of members were still opposed to the
new statement.
Out
The Fabians' rule 2, which would be replaced: "The [Fabian] Society consists
of socialists. It therefore aims at a society in which equality of
opportunity will be assured and the economic power and privileges of
individuals and classes abolished through the collective ownership and
democratic control of the economic resources of the community. It seeks to
secure these ends by the methods of political democracy."
In
The proposed new rule 2: "The Fabian Society consists of socialists. It
therefore aims at a classless society, where a just distribution of wealth
and power assures true equality of opportunity. It holds that society,
through its democratic institutions, should determine the overall direction
and distribution of economic activity, and seeks to promote where
appropriate the social and cooperative ownership of economic resources. It
argues for strong and accountable public institutions reflecting the values
of public service to meet need."
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