years its
destiny was controlled by the seven who subsequently wrote "Fabian
Essays." But it was still a very small and quite obscure body. Mrs.
Besant, alone of its leaders, was known beyond its circle, and at that
period few outside the working classes regarded her with respect. The
Society still met, as a rule, at the house of one or other of the
members, and to the founders, who numbered about 20, only about 67
members had been added by June, 1886. The receipts for the year to
March, 1886, were no More than L35 19s., but as the expenditure only
amounted to L27 6s. 6d., the Society had already adopted its lifelong
habit of paying its way punctually, though it must be confessed that a
complaisant printer and a series of lucky windfalls have contributed to
that result.

[Illustration: _From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, W._

SYDNEY OLIVIER, IN 1903]

The future success of the Society was dependent in the main on two
factors then already in existence. The first was its foundation before
there was any other definitely Socialist body in England. The Social
Democratic Federation did not adopt that name until August, 1884; the
Fabian Society can therefore claim technical priority, and consequently
it has never had to seek acceptance by the rest of the Socialist
movement. At any later date it would have been impossible for a
relatively small middle-class society to obtain recognition as an
acknowledged member of the Socialist confraternity. We were thus in a
position to welcome the formation of working-class Socialist societies,
but it is certain that in the early days they would never have welcomed
us.

Regret has been sometimes expressed, chiefly by foreign observers, that
the Society has maintained its separate identity. Why, it has been
asked, did not the middle-class leaders of the Society devote their
abilities directly to aiding the popular organisations, instead of
"keeping themselves to themselves" like ultra-respectable suburbans?

If this had been possible I am convinced that the loss would have
exceeded the gain, but in the early years it was not possible. The
Social Democrats of those days asserted that unquestioning belief in
every dogma attributed to Marx was essential to social salvation, and
that its only way was revolution, by which they meant, not the complete
transformation of society, but its transformation by means of rifles and
barricades; they were convinced that a successful repetition of th