Fabian Society

UK socialist organization promoting research, discussion, and publication, founded in London in 1884. Its name is derived from the Roman commander Fabius Maximus, and refers to the evolutionary methods by which it hoped to attain socialism by a succession of gradual reforms. Early members included the playwright George Bernard Shaw and Beatrice and Sidney Webb. The society helped to found the Labour Representation Committee in 1900, which became the Labour Party in 1906. The Society has remained influential in Labour Party circles as a forum for new ideas and critical assessment, and all Labour prime ministers have been members of it, most recently Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.