How did Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation? differ from the Webbs’ earlier belief in gradual reform?

The Webbs were long-standing proponents of Fabian socialism, which advocated for the establishment of a democratic socialist state in Great Britain through gradual, evolutionary reform rather than revolutionary upheaval. Their early work focused on using factual analysis to reform industrial society incrementally.1

However, their 1935 book, Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation?, marked a significant departure from this lifelong commitment to gradualism. Following their disillusionment with the political prospects of the British Labour Party in the early 1930s, the Webbs visited the Soviet Union and became deeply enamored with the Soviet system. In this work, they appeared to abandon their foundational belief in evolutionary social and political change, instead embracing the radical, state-directed model they observed in the Soviet Union.2