Beatrice Webb

democratic socialist

what views did she put forward in ‘The minority report of the poor law commission’(1990)?

argued for a ‘national minimum of civilised life’, including suffrage, living wage, training etc.

what is her theory of ‘the inevitability of gradualness’?

belief that parliamentary democracy and not revolution will deliver the inevitable socialist society, this is inevitable as universal suffrage leads to political equality in favour of the majority

what are revolutions according to Webb?

‘chaotic, insufficient and counter-productive’

what is her view on HN?

capitalism has damaged the human psyche. However , Webb believed in intellectual + moral human imperfection

why is the expansion of state vital to deliver socialism?

it’ll develop a highly trained elite of administrators to organise the social society, and will produce equality of opportunity and socialism peacefully

what is her view on the economy?

the free-market economy would gradually be nationalised as the workers obtain common ownership of the means of production