This book, originally published in 1949 (but here re-issuing the second edition of 1966) presents a history of international socialism, not just from the political but also the economic standpoint.

This book, originally published in 1949 (but here re-issuing the second edition of 1966) presents a history of international socialism, not just from the political but also the economic standpoint.

This is the third and final volume of the letters of Sidney and Beatrice Webb. As leading figures in the Fabian Society, prominent historians and public figures, they numbered among their correspondents some of the most outstanding personalities of their day, including E. M. Forster, H. G. Wells, J. M. Keynes, William Beveridge and Leonard Woolf. The letters in this volume run from 1912, when the Webbs signalled a fresh start in British politics by founding the New Statesman, to the death of Beatrice in 1943 and Sidney in 1947.

Sidney and Beatrice Webb were among the outstanding political personalities in the period 1890 1945. They were leading figures in the Fabian Society, prominent historians, and founders of the London School of Economics and the New Statesman. They exchanged letters with many of the leading figures in the political, intellectual and literary worlds of the time, among them Herbert Asquith, Ramsay MacDonald, George Bernard Shaw and Bertrand Russell. Volume II of the letters covers the years between the Webb marriage and their return from Asia in 1912. They were the prime years of the partnership, in which the Webbs came to dominate the Fabian Society, founded the London School of Economics and launched their campaign for the reform of the Poor Law.

The Webbs were a unique partnership. Their idea of 'the inevitability of gradualness' dominated the Fabian Society and Labour thinking for half a century, though their theory of political permeation also led them into close association with Liberal and Conservative politicians. They were scholars as well as propagandists, writing massive histories of trade unionism and local government, and the famous Minority Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Law which paved the way for the welfare state. They were the founders of the London School of Economics and of the New Statesman. This crowded public life is reflected in the hundreds of letters they exchanged in their long lifetimes, as well as in their correspondence with many of the outstanding personalities of their day, including Herbert Asquith, Joseph Chamberlain, William Beveridge, E. M. Forster, R. B. Haldane, J. M. Keynes, Ramsay MacDonald, Alfred Marshall, Sydney Olivier, G. B. Shaw, Charlotte Shaw, Bertrand Russell, Herbert Samuel, Herbert Spencer, Graham Wallas, H. G. Wells and Leonard Woolf. Their letters also reveal the hidden but intense emotional character of their relationship.

These diaries present a unique record of the time in which Beatrice Webb and her husband, Sidney, lived. They were at the centre of British intellectual and political life for almost 70 years, and the diaries feature appearances by figures including Churchill, Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf. Rich in insights and anecdotes about the people and politics of late-Victorian and early modern Britain, the diaries reveal Beatrice as the mistress of salon politics. She devoted herself to the causes that she and Sidney had at heart - including the founding of the London School of Economics, trade unionism, local government, the war against poverty and their books.