The Study Of Sidney Webb's Socialist Thoughts

In the late 19th century, the British politics, economy, society and culture have suffered dramatic changes. As the gradual loss of the industrial monopoly, the British economy was still under development, but the trend of relative decline appeared.Starting from the international economic crisis in 1873, the British economy was in a state of long-term volatility. On the politics, after the Parliamentary Reform of 1832,British political process was still under development, including expanding the Suffrage, establishing the system of civil service and the reform of the local government. In society, the labor movement became active again after the Chartist movement in England. Since the 1880s, with the great depression of economics, a large number of unemployment led to the generation of new trade union movement.Accordingly, many unskilled workers began to join trade unions to protect their own economical and political interests. In the meantime, a large number of social investigation on the status of the poor life of the working class appeared, which led the society, especially the middle classes began to pay attention to it. To solve the problem of endemic poverty, Most of the middle class intellectuals began to criticize the economical policy of laissez faire and Unrestricted competition, and wish the government to intervene the economy. In this context, the Socialism began to be popular again in Britain in 1880s.In the ten years of 1880s, Sidney Webb turned to the Socialism gradually. He received a ethics of emphasizing more personal obligation and overall efficiency.Meantime,he put forward the concept of his own rent theory on account of a new political economy. Under an intense faith of the 'practical' concept, Webb put forward his socialist objective, including the public ownership of the means of production,political and industrial democratization, and equalization of the rent. For the same reason, Webb put forward a series of tactics, such as democratic, gradual reform,permeation, education and so on, to realize his socialist objective.Meanwhile,Webb was not content to simply be a thinker,instead he took an active part in the social reform. When he was in the Technical Education Board in London county council, the middle and technical education in London achieved a great development because of the effort of Webb. He founded the London School of Economics in 1895, reorganized the University of London, and played a magnificent role in the 1902 and 1903 Education Bill. Because of this, Webb was called the creator of the system of London education at that time. Besides, between 1905-1912,The Webbs launched a reform movement in order to break up of the poor law.Although the movement lasted only two years, The Minority Report they wrote,painted a blueprint for the British welfare state later.Webb was the representative of British socialism In the late 19th century and early 20th century, whose thought and practice had distinctive features. The first characteristic of his thought was compromise. He was never easy to follow statements of a school, but absorbing various ideas according to his own needs. Second, Webb stressed the practicalism in theory and practices.He always wanted to solve the specific problems on the basis of one practical scheme on administrative. Third, Webb emphasized the importance of social organization structure and function. He believed that one program will work only on the basis of a proper and efficient social organization. Fourth, Webb was always optimism for the future of the British Socialism. He was convinced that socialism in Britain has become a trend of The Times, which will realize in the near future.Webb's thought of socialism was the product of the social political and economical environment of that time, and the practice of his social reform was an important part of the British social reform. The distinctive British characteristics which Webb's socialist thought and practices revealed,made the socialism very popular in Britain, and be widely recognized by British society. However, because of this, Webb's socialist thought and practices also had certain limitations of the time,such as the theory was weak, the thoughts was scattered, ignoring the existence of the individual, ignoring the power of the working class in the social reform and so on.