Webb, Beatrice (née Potter) and Webb, Sydney James

(1858-1943; 1859-1947)

Noted authors of a definitive History of British Trade Unionism, and leading thinkers and activists of the so-called Fabian socialist movement, who made a distinguished contribution to the development and characteristic outlook of the British Labour Party. The Webbs' work on trade unions shows a distaste for the strong craft tradition in Britain and looks forward to a time when state regulation of minimum wages, together with social insurance, will make unions obsolete. Their socialism was distinguished for its advocacy of building democratic socialist institutions by steady accretion. The welfare consensus between the political parties of post-1945 Britain owed much to their ideas.