CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNTIL 10 P. M.
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
FABIAN SOCIETY CENTENARY DINNER MELBOURNE 18 MAY 1984
For any Association or secular institution to reach its
first century is noteworthy and, in our times, remarkable
enough in itself.
That alone would be sufficient reason for us to join
together tonight in this celebration of the centenary of the
Fabian Society, brought into formal existence in London a
hundred years ago this month.
And, incidentally, I trust it will be noted in the
appropriate quarters that those of us here tonight
associated with the Australian Labor Party and the
Austr lien Labor Government have been so far able to
overcome our notorious prejudices as to celebrate a British
centenary and a British institution indeed, in many
respects, a quintessential British institution.
But seriously, I invite you all to consider the wider and
deeper-significance of this achievement because it goes
far beyond the Fabian Society's more survival In the
technical and temporal sense.
For tonight we are marking the centenary of a Society and an
idea which, of its very nature, could not at its birth be
thought to have had much chance of survival at all much
less aurvive into the very and of the 20th century.
For this was, and is, that most difficult things of all to
maintain a political association. It was founded as, and
remains, a purely voluntary association of lfkce-minded men
and women, bound by no dogma or creed or fixed body of
doctrine. Unable to offer its members inducement or
rewards, or to impose discipline or enforce rules; an
association based entirely on morel and intellectual ground
and, by the very essence of its nature and purpose, having
only the loosest structure and formal organisation.
I I a
Further, the century since 1884 has been the moat turbulent
and eventful in human history, a century of tremendous
change in human attitudes and standards, a revolutionary era
in which no political, social or economic assumption made a
century ago has gone unchallenged, and few, if any, have not
been fundamentally changed.
Yet the Fabian Society and its original ideals endure.
That a Society so conceived could survive in such a century
and survive with continuing vigour is surely striking
testimony to the enduring strength of the cause with which
it has been so closely identified and to which it has
contributed so much -the cause of social democracy.
I deliberately use the words " the cause with which it is
identified", because the Fabian Society did not and does not
claim to be a cause in Itself.
Rather, it was called into existence to represent and
promote an ides and an ideal and, most important a
method, an approach by which that idea could beat be
implemented and by which the ideals of social democracy
could be given practical effect.
And almost from the beginning, its founders envisaged that
the vehicle would be a labour party long before the
British Labour Party as such existed.
Sidney Webb one of the founders of the Fabian Society and
for so long its presiding genius described the process in
this wayi
" From 1887, the Fabians looked to the formation of a
strong and independent Labour Party. we did all we
could to foster and assist, in succession, the
Independent Labour Party, then the Labour Representation
Committee and then the Labour Party but we also
eat ourselves to detach the concept of socialism from
such extraneous ideas as suddenness and simultaneity of
change, violence and compulsion, and atheism or
anti-clericalism nor did we confine our
proapganda to ' the slowly emergi~ ng labour party, or to
those who were prepared to call themselves socialists,
or to the manual workers or to any particular class."
So, from the beginning, the Society drew its strength from
its vision of the future of Labor and the Labor Party.
But beyond this fundamental strength, many factors have
contributed to the strength and survival of the Society.
3.
First, we cannot ignore the personal element that
extraordinary galaxy of political, intellectual and literary
talent which made up the firmament of Fabianism the Webba,
Graham Welles, George Bernard Shaw; then later Tom Mann, who
helped introduce Fabianiam to Australia; then later on again
people like Bertrand Ruesell, G. D. H. Cole$ Harold Laski and
R. H. Tawnoy.
Many may think that, in terms of hia contribution to Fabian
philosophy and social democratic thought, Tawney was the
greatest of them all. Certainly his great work Equality
stands as the definitive exposition of the true meaning of
social democracy, both as an ideal and a practical program.
Another source of the Society's strength was what we may
call the medolgy~ of Fabinaiam -the primacy given to
facts, kw-egproper research and solid information as
the basis for action whether political, social or economic
action. It was the recognition, as Beatrice Webb put it,
that: " Reform will not be brought about by shouting.
What is needed is hard thinking"..
And the third and greatest and most enduring source of the
influence of Fabianism was the idea of practical relevance.
And this is the very essence of Fabianisip.
It is the recognition that the commitment to democracy and
democratic means is fundamental.
It is the recognition that this fundamental commitment
imposes on social democrats obligations and restraints in
terms both means and ends.
It is the recognition, as I myself put it in the " Resolution
of Conflict" lectures the Boyer Lectures, in 1979 " of
the need for those who would advocate change to temper. their
fervour with a sense of gradualism".
Arid it cannot be emphasised, too strongly or too often, that
this approach is not a matter of mere pragmatism. It is
equally a matter of principle.
It is a principle which follows inexorably from our
commitment to democracy.
And it is a principle which lies at the very heart, not only
of Fabianism, but social democracy throughout the world.
It is of course the classic concept of Fabianiam the
inevitability of gradualness.
And nothing is more widely misunderstood or more frequently
misrepresented.
It was never conceived as B Justification for opportunism.
It was, and is, a principle of necessity.
The principle was first and beat propounded by Sidney Wnhh
himself. SPAalcing ae Pzrooident ul' the British Labour
Executive at the Party Conference in 1923, he said:
" Let me Insist on what our opponents habitually ignore,
and, indeed, what they seem intellectually incapable of
understanding, namely the inevitable gradualness of our
scheme of change. The very fact that Socialists have
both principles and a programme appears to confuse
nearly all their critics.
Webb continued:
If we state our principles, we are told ' That is not
practicable'. When we recite our programme the
objection is ' That is not Socialism'. But why, because
we are idealists, should we be supposed to be idiote?
For the Labour Party, it must be plain, Socialism is
rooted in Democracy; which necessarily compels us to
recognise that every step towards our goal is dependent
on gaining the assent and support of at least a
numerical majority of the whole people. Thus, even i~ f
we aimed at revolutionising everything at once, we
should necessarily be compelled to make each particular
change only at the time, and to the extent, and in the
manner, which ten of fifteen million electors, in all
sorts of * conditions, of all aorts of temperaments, from
Lend's End to the Orkneys, could be brought to consent
to it.,,
That was Webb in Britain In 1923. It is as relevant and
true in Australia in 1984. For it represents an unchanging
truth and a fixed principle for the Labor Party and social
democrats everywhere.
And. I repeat and'emphasis it goes beyond pragmatism; it is
the principle which flows from our fundamental commitment to
democracy. I suppose there is no greater hero in the pantheon of
radicaL reform thin Aneurin Bevan, who was also a great
Fabian. He was never accused of selling out, or selling the
cause short. He was never denounced as an opportunist or
derided as a pramgatist.
Thirt-y yeas. uv arL,, r WebbBs analysis which I have just quoted,
Bevan wrote this magnificent confession of his faith:
" The philosophy of democratic Socialism is essentially
cool in temper. it sees society in its context with
nature and is conscious of the limitations imposed by
physical conditions. It sees the individual in his
context with society and is therefore compassionate and
tolerant. Because it knows that all political action
must be a choice between a number of possible
alternatives it eschews all absolute prescriptions and
final decisions.
Consequently it is not able to offer the thrill of the
complete abandonment of private judgment, which is the
allure of modern Soviet Communism and of Faacism, its
running mate It accepts the obligation to
choose among different kinds of social action and in so
doing to bear the pains or rejecting what is not
practicable or less desirable
It seeks the truth in any given situation, knowing all
the time that if this be pushed too far it falls into
error Its chief enemy is vacillation, for it
must achieve passion in action in the pursuit of
qualified judgments. It must know how to enjoy the
struggle, whilst recognising that progress is not the
elimination of struggle but rather a change in its
ter Msn.
In this brief review, I have said enough to indicate the
spirit, ideals, methods and objectives of the Society whose
centenary we celebrate tonight.
I have so far referred only in passing to its Australian
contribution, as part of its general contribution to the
cause of Labor and social democracy.
But Australian Fabianism and Australian Fabians have made a
specific and significant contribution to the Australian
Labor movement and the Austraian Labor Party.
The circumstances in which the Society in Australia has
operatled have, of'course, differed considerably from those
of the parent body. So too has its role.
The Australian Labor Party is many years older than the
British Labour Party. Our Parliamentary success came much
earlier And has been much move con3istent than that of the
British Labour Party. That early and consistent success,
combined with our historic origins in the trade union.
movement, meant an emphasis on practical achievement above
theory and doctrine.
6.
And indeed, the Australian men and women of the 1890' s and
the early 1900' s had already recognised the inevitability of
gradualness and applied it in practice, tit a time when, for
the British Labour Party, it was merely a statement of
principle for future Labour governments, yet to be elected.
A further difference in the role of Fabianism in Australia
lay in the nature of aur Federal system and I mean, not
only the Federal nature of the Australian Constitution, but
the Federal structure of the Australian Labor Party itself.
It may even be that the comparative success of the Society
in Melbourne relative to other capitals reflected something
of our colonial past. It certainly established Melbourne in
its role as the headquarters of the radical tradition in
Australia.
But despite the differences, Fabianism has made a valuable
and enduring contribution to social democracy in Australia#
in both thought and action.
Fabian Societies were formed here as early as 1896.
As Frank Crean has recalled, the present Society, the Fabian
Society of Victoria, now, I am pleased to say, properly
named the Fabian Society of Australia was formed in 1947.
And of course that was a very significant year in the
history of the Australian Labor Party and the Australian
Labor movement.
I hasten to say that I'm not suggesting that Importance
derives anything from the fact that 1947 happened to be the
year I joined the Labor Party in Perth.
But the year 1947 represented both a high tide, and a
turning of the tide, for post war Labor, and for the Chifley
Labor Government. It was for the movement as a whole a year
of great optimism and enthusiasm and achievement. The work
of post war reconstruction was going on apace. Full
employment was established as a national principle and a
national goal.
But 1947 was also's year when the challenge against bank
nationslisation forced on us a realisation of' the
restrictions and restraints imposed by the Constitution, and
in particular by Section 92.
Consequently, this led to a rethinking of our approach.
Because, unless the Platform was just to stagnate into
irrelevance, the search had to be made for alternative means
of achieving our objectives.
And in that search and it was a search and a development
of policy that went on for more than 20 years Fabians were
in the forefront Fabians like Frank Crean, Jim Cairns, Kim
Beazisy, Race Mathews, and not least our own Fabius Maximus
Gough Whitlam himself.
Throughout the long years in the wilderness, the Society
played a valuable role in producing and dissiminating
information and ideas, and in promoting dialogue.
It preserved the Fabian tradition of research as the basis
for reform.
There were times in the bitter years after the Split when
the Fabian Society seemed almost a lone voice for sanityt
civility, realism and genuine idealism amongst us in
Victoria.
But above all, the ongoing importance of Fabianiam, in
Australia has been to help bring to our movement, and our
cause, that quality which I said before was the essence of
social democracy the need for a sense of relevance, in the
application of our ideas and our Ideals to practical
purposes and achievable goals.
And in this I gladly acknowledge the debt of my own
Govsrnmont to Fabisnism.
Earlier I dealt at some length with the principle of the
Inevitability of gradualness.
There was another important idea a method more than a
principle which became closely sssoc a ad with Fabianiam.
Sidney Webb called It " permeation".
Today it would be called " consensus".
Webb put It this wayz
" Moat reformers think that all they have got to do in a
political democracy is to obtain a majority. This is a
profound mistake. What has to be changed is not only
thei-vote that Is cast, but also the mental climate in
which Parliament and the Government both live and work."
That I find, to be an accurate description of the approach I
and my colleagues have tried to bring to the affairs of this
nation in our first term of office. From the National
Summit on, we have attempted to transform the atmosphere of
politics the background, the assumptions, the shared
information and perceptions of common goals, through which
decisions can be made, not just by the Government and
Parliament but by key groups and Interests like business and
unions.
I
.8
Of course there are some who will misunderstand or
misrepresent the nature of this approach and the meaning of'
consensus. It was ever thus.
Beatrice Webb describes in her diary of their Melbourne
visit in 1898 a meeting with people whom she only identifies
as " some Victorian socialists" from her unflattering
description clearly not members of the Labor Party -and
writes: " Sidney tried to explain the Fabian policy of
permeation, with the result that the Chairman, in his
concluding remarks$ recommended the meeting to adopt Mr
Webb's suggestion of taking the capitalist down a back
strebL and then knocking him on the head."
We all have to face the fact that if our Government is to
make really greet and worthwhile reforms reforms that will
endure, reforms that will permanently change this nation
then it is not enough simply to obtain a temporary majority
at an election, or even successive elections.
For our reforms to endure, the whole mood and mind and
attitudes of the nation must be permanently changed.
Certainly, we are proceeding to implement the policy an
which we were elected and the platform of the Party with a
thoroughness, I believe, not excelled by any previous Labor
Government in our history. But-that specific task must go
hand in'hand with the more general and deeper, longer range
task the task of establishing# in the mood and mind of
this nation, permanent acceptance of the naturalness and
Inevitability of change and reform, as the authentic
Australian way of life..
And that, for the first time in our history, is what this
Labor Government is attempting.
Let me conclude:
An occasion like this serves to bring home to us all, one of
the gteat truths dbout our cause In Australia -the cause of
Labor and social democracy.
And that is the continuity of our movement and the
continuity of our role in our nation.
The Party itself is a hundred years old i~ n 1991. The Labor
movement is already wall over the century. I.'
9.
One of the great paradoxes of Australian politics is that
the parties and forces of conservatism and reaction for
all their self-proclaimed loyalty to tradition have no
real continuity and no true sense of continuity.
And without a sense of continuity in the case of
individuals or parties or movements or nations there can
be no true sense of identity.
And I believe it is precisely because our adversaries lack
that sense of their own continuity, and in a deep sense,
their own identity, they are obliged to seek it outside
themselves in other insitutions and even other nations.
And that I believe explains, at least in part, much of their
current conduct their lurches, not only in search of a
policy, but in search of an identity.
It is, by contrast our own sense of continuity, as a
government, a movement, a party, a cause which provides us
with the stability and strength to overcome the countless
setbacks we have suffered and, equally, in the days of
triumph, to live up to the motto set for itself by the
Fabian Society one hundred years ago:
" For the right moment you must wait, as Fabius did, most
patiently, when warring against Hannibal, though many
censured his delayas; but when the time comes you must
strike hard, as Fabius did, or your waiting will be in
vain and fruitless."