Sidney and Beatrice Webb

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Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield (July 13, 1859 – October 13, 1947) and Martha Beatrice Potter Webb (January 22, 1858 - April 30, 1943) were British socialists, economists and reformers, the early members of the Fabian Society. Together with G. Bernard Shaw, Annie Besant, Graham Wallas, Edward R. Pease, and Sidney Olivier, they turned the Fabian Society into the pre-eminent political-intellectual society in England in the Edwardian era and beyond.

Biography

Early life and career of Sidney Webb

A self-portrait

Sidney Webb was born in London to a professional family. His father held radical political views and has supported John Stuart Mill in the 1865 General Election. Sidney started to work at the age of 16, holding down an office job. In his spare time he studied law at the Birkbeck, University of London, getting qualifications to enter the Civil Service. Webb taught at the London Working Men's College and contributed to the Christian Socialist journal.

While at the university, Webb developed his interest for socialist ideas, and in 1885 joined the Fabian Society. Webb agreed with the ideas of the society that capitalism had created an unjust social system and needed to be replaced with a better system. The early members of the society included Edward Carpenter, Annie Besant, Walter Crane, and George Bernard Shaw. Webb immediately started to work on finding the facts that supported society’s claims, publishing articles on different social issues. He wrote Facts for Socialists in 1887, Facts for Londoners in 1888, and The Eight Hour Day in 1891. He argued for the abolishing of the laissez-faire economics and for active role of government in economics. He rejected Marxist idea of revolution as the necessary requirement for social change and advocated instead the need for reforms.

In 1892, Webb married Beatrice Potter, who shared his interests and beliefs. The money she brought with her had enabled him to give up his clerical job and concentrate on his political activities.

Early life and career of Beatrice Potter

Beatrice Webb

Beatrice Potter was born in Gloucester, England, the daughter of a railway magnate Richard Potter and Laurencina Heyworth. She received basic education at her home, and has read most of the works in her father’s library. Her mother died while Beatrice was young.

Beatrice started to work already in young age as an associate of her father, remaining at that job for six years. It was during this time that Beatrice started to question the capitalist social system and has spent long hours with the people from the working class. She also helped her cousin, Charles Booth in a research for his book The Life and Labour of the People in London, learning a lot about the hard life of London’s poor.

Beatrice Potter made several important contributions to political and economical theory of the Co-operative movement. It was, for example, Webb who coined the terms “Co-operative Federalism” and “Co-operative Individualism” in her 1891 book Cooperative Movement in Great Britain. Out of these two categories, Webb identified herself as a Co-operative Federalist; a school of thought which advocates Consumer Co-operative societies. Webb argued that Consumers' Co-operatives should form co-operative wholesale societies (by forming Co-operatives in which all members are co-operatives, the best historical example being the English CWS) and that these Federal Co-operatives should undertake purchasing farms or factories. Webb was dismissive of the prospects of Worker cooperatives ushering in socialism, pointing out that - at the time she was writing - such ventures had proved largely unsuccessful.

In 1882, she had a relationship with Radical politician Joseph Chamberlain, by then a Cabinet minister. She however renounced her sexual passion for Chamberlain and, rebelling against the social and class norms of her time, decided to marry an accountant’s son, Sidney Webb, in 1892.

The Webbs

After their marriage, the Webbs continued to be active in politics. Sidney ran as the Fabian Society candidate for Deptford in the London County Council elections, winning the seat in 1892. He retained it for the next eighteen years. He was also appointed the Chairman of the Technical Instruction Committee, being known as the Minister of Public Education for London.

The Webbs collaborated on numerous books, including The History of Trade Unionism (1894) and Industrial Democracy (1897). They argued that there was an urgent need for the establishment of a new political party, the one that would carry socialistic ideas through parliamentary elections.

London School of Economics

In 1894, wealthy solicitor Henry Hutchinson donated £10,000 to the Fabian Society. Sidney and Beatrice Webb suggested investing the money in opening a new university in London, to "teach political economy on more modern and more socialist lines than those on which it had been taught hitherto, and to serve at the same time as a school of higher commercial education"[1]. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) was founded in 1895. W. A. S. Hewins was appointed its first director and the school soon became an important center of education in Great Britain.

Social reformers

The Webbs were strong critics of the Poor Law system in United Kingdom. In 1905, Royal Commission was established to look into the efficacy of the system and Beatrice Webb was asked to serve as a member on the commission. Sidney Webb assisted with collecting the data. Although the commission mostly positively evaluated the system, the Webbs disagreed and published their own Minority Report. They called for abolishment of the Poor Law system, establishment of a system that would be more efficient, and improvement in health and educational services.

The Webbs had a high regard for the Ricardian theory of rent which they applied to capital and land (as well as labor). They argued that it was the state's responsibility to acquire this rent. Their admired Soviet Union and had high praise for Stalin’s efficiency to acquire this rent. Webbs also supported monopolies, believing that competitive prices always fall down on workers. They argued that monopolies thus have more room to treat the workers better.

The Webbs founded the New Statesman magazine in 1913.

In 1915 Sidney Webb was appointed to the Labour Party National Executive, and until 1922 served as Chairman of the National Executive. When in 1923 he won a seat in General Elections representing Labour Party in the Seaham constituency, he was appointed President of the Board of Trade in the government of Ramsay MacDonald.

The Webbs were famous couple, whose influence can be seen in their hosting of "the Coefficients", a dining club which attracted some of the leading statesmen and thinkers of the day.

In 1929, Sidney Webb was created Baron Passfield, continuing as a government minister (serving as both Secretary of State for the Colonies and Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs). Although her husband became a baron, Beatrice refused to be known as Lady Passfield.

In 1930 ailing health resulted in Sidney’s stepping down from the Dominions Office, but retaining the Colonial Office.

Later life

The Webbs were supporters of the Soviet Union until their deaths. They visited the Soviet Union in 1932 and published a book Soviet Communism: A New Civilization? (1935) based on their experience there. Although they expressed concern about the lack of political freedom in the country, they were highly impressed with the improvement in the health and educational services, as well as the political and economical equality of women. They believed that Soviet type of planned economy would eventually spread around the world. Webbs published their book, The Truth about Soviet Russia in 1942, continued to support Soviet Union.

Beatrice Webb died on 30th April, 1943. Sidney Webb died four years later on 13th October, 1947. Their ashes were interred into Westminster Abbey in 1947.

Legacy

With their socialist ideas, Beatrice and Sidney Webb deeply influenced British political thought and British institutions in the first half of the 20th century. They wrote several important works in empirical sociology that provided the blueprint for the British welfare state. In her Minority Report, written for the Commission on the Poor Laws, Beatrice Webb designed one of the first charters for a comprehensive social security system (i.e. state pensions), 35 years before the “Beveridge Report”.

Serving from 1892 to 1910 on the London County Council, Sidney created the system of secondary state schools and the scholarship system for elementary school students. He also helped establish the technical and other post-school education in London. The Webbs founded the London School of Economics and helped reorganize the University of London into a federation of teaching institutions.

Publications

Sidney Webb

  • Webb, Sidney. 1887. Facts for Socialists. London: The Fabian Society
  • Webb, Sidney. 1911. Grants in Aid: A Criticism and a Proposal. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
  • Webb, Sidney. 1917. The Restoration of Trade Union Conditions. London: Nisbet & Co.
  • Webb, Sidney. 2004 (original published 1917). Works Manager Today. Thoemmes Continuum. ISBN 1843716267

Beatrice Webb

  • Webb, Beatrice P. 1891. Cooperative Movement in Great Britain. London: George Allen & Unwin
  • Webb, Beatrice P. 1919. Wages of Men and Women: Should they be equal? London: Fabian Society
  • Webb, Beatrice P. 1975 (original published 1948). Our Partnership. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521208521
  • Webb, Beatrice P. 1979 (original published 1926). My Apprenticeship. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521229413

Sidney and Beatrice Webb

  • Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 1897. Industrial Democracy. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
  • Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 1908. The Manor and the Borough. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
  • Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 1921. The Consumer's Cooperative Movement. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
  • Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 1935. Soviet Communism: A New Civilization? London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
  • Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 1942. The Truth about Soviet Russia. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
  • Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 1970 (original published 1923). Decay of Capitalist Civilization. Freeport, N.Y., Books for Libraries Press. ISBN 083695453X
  • Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 1975 (original published 1932). Methods of Social Study. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521208505
  • Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 1976 (original published 1894). History of Trade Unionism. New York: AMS Press. ISBN 0404068855
  • Webb, Sidney and Webb, Beatrice. 2003 (original published 1898). Problems of Modern Industry. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1403917450

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Cole, Margaret. 1961. The story of Fabian socialism. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
  • Lengermann, P. M., & Niebrugge-Brantley, J. 1998. The women founders: Sociology and social theory 1830-1930. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies. ISBN 0070371695
  • MacKenzie, Jeanne. 1979. A Victorian courtship: The story of Beatrice Potter and Sidney Webb. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195201663
  • Muggeridge, Kitty, & Ruth Adam. 1968. Beatrice Webb: A life, 1858-1943. New York: Knopf.
  • Pease, Edward R. 2007. The History of the Fabian Society. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 1426473176
  • Radice, Lisanne. 1984. Beatrice and Sidney Webb Fabian Socialists. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312070551
  • Seymour-Jones, Carole. 1992. Beatrice Webb a life. Chicago: I.R. Dee. ISBN 1566630010
  • Sidney Webb. Spartacus, on <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk>. Retrieved on November 17, 2007, from <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUwebbS.htm>

External links

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