On the other hand the Fabian Society,
which at first confined its permeation almost entirely to the Liberal
Party, because this was the only existing organisation accessible--we
could not work through the Trade Unions, because we were not eligible to
join them--was perfectly willing to place its views before the Labour
Party, from which it was assured of sympathetic attention. Neither the
Fabian Society nor the I.L.P. desired to lose its identity, or to
abandon its special methods. But half or two-thirds of the Fabians
belonged also to the I.L.P., and nearly all the I.L.P. leaders were or
had been members of the Fabian Society.
The suggestion was made in March, 1911, by Henry H. Slesser, then one of
the younger members of the Executive, that the friendly relations of the
two bodies should be further cemented by the formation of a Joint
Standing Committee. Four members of each Executive together with the
secretaries were appointed, and W.C. Anderson, later M.P. for the
Attercliffe Division of Sheffield, and at that time Chairman of the
I.L.P., was elected Chairman, a post which he has ever since retained.
The Joint Committee has wisely confined its activities to matters about
which there was no disagreement, and its proceedings have always been
harmonious to the verge of dullness. The Committee began by arranging a
short series of lectures, replacing for the time the ordinary Fabian
meetings, and it proposed to the Labour Party a demonstration in favour
of Adult Suffrage, which was successfully held at the Royal Albert Hall.
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