The above cited article by the Webbs, along with Bernard Shaw's Fabianism and the Empire have often been cited by numerous scholars as proof that the Fabians, and in particular, their leaders, were imperialists and (worse yet) racists. Though this may certainly be somewhat true and can be inferred from some of the writings of the various Fabians who espoused an imperialist position between 1884 and 1914, it only tells a small portion of the story. For although the Fabian Society was a fairly homogenous group mostly of middle class and upper class intellectuals, and though they agreed on many issues, they did not agree on all. Like any other political society there were bound to be differences in opinion. Ironically, it was an issue such as imperialism, described as an issue "outside the special province of the Society," that proved to cause the most disagreement. [1]
By looking at the work done by numerous Fabians between 1884 and 1914, whether in the form of articles, books, or lectures, one immediately realizes that there was no uniformity in opinion on the matter of imperialism and that there was much contention and political debate. Furthermore, even those members who were "imperialists" often had differing conceptions of how the British Empire should operate from what existed at the time and from other imperialists. If they still are to be classified as imperialists, they were certainly of the reforming type.
Though the anti-imperialists did not include the big names of Shaw or the Webbs or [H.G.] Wells among their ranks, one should not marginalize them as unimportant, as has been done too often by previous historians. They certainly were important, not only because they forced imperialism to be debated and forced the pro-imperialists to defend their positions, but also as well because they demonstrate a higher degree of complexity in Fabian socialism than previous scholars have seen. Instead of being completely distinct from other Socialists - socialists who by and large opposed the Boer War and opposed imperialism - Fabians shared much in common with their fellow left-wingers. Though there were differences to be sure, the lines need to be blurred somewhat.
Further notice must be made as well of the linkages between the "Little Englander" liberalism (mid-19th century ideology that opposed British imperial expansion) of the nineteenth century and Fabianism. For although Webb and some of the leaders of the Fabian Society openly disdained liberalism and wanted to replace it with a more collectivist society, other Fabians such as William Clarke, Graham Wallas, and S.G. Hobson, were deeply steeped in liberalism and its critique on empire. Furthermore, moral arguments do etch their way into even the tracts published by pro-imperialist Fabians, something that one would not find if Fabianism were as materialistically driven as it claimed to be or as previous scholars have described them.
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