By the present
constitution the "Socialist Section" elects three members to the
Executive from nominations sent in advance; but as the I.L.P. always
makes two nominations, and the Fabian Society one, the alteration of the
rule has not in fact made any change, and the over-representation of
this section is of course undiminished.
Six months after the Labour Representation Committee was formed the
Society adopted a project drafted by Mr. S.G. Hobson for a Labour
Members' Guarantee Fund, and circulated it amongst the Unions affiliated
to the Committee. The proposal was submitted by its author on behalf of
the Society to the Labour Representation Conference of 1901, but an
amendment both approving of the scheme and declaring that the time was
not ripe for it was carried. A year later however the Conference
unanimously agreed to establish its Parliamentary Fund by which salaries
for their M.P.'s were provided until Parliament itself undertook the
business.
For several years after this the Fabian Society did not greatly concern
itself with the Labour Party. I attended the Annual Conferences and took
a regular part in the work of the Executive Committee, but my
colleagues of the Fabian Society as a whole showed little interest in
the new body. In a sense, it was not in our line. Its object was to
promote Labour Representation in Parliament, and the Fabian Society had
never run, and had never intended to run, candidates for Parliament or
for any local authority.
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