Why did the Fabian Society favor gradual change instead of revolution?

The Fabian Society, which included prominent leaders like Sidney and Beatrice Webb, favored gradualism over revolution because they believed that persuasion and education were more effective methods for achieving a socialist state than violent class warfare.1

Their strategy was inspired by the Roman general Fabius Cunctator, who famously avoided direct, pitched battles in favor of patient, delaying tactics that gradually wore down his opponent. Applying this philosophy to politics, the Fabians sought to bring about socialism through a slow, evolutionary process rather than a sudden revolutionary upheaval.213

As middle-class intellectuals, the Fabians believed that social change could be best achieved by influencing existing political parties and public opinion through research, lectures, and publications. They aimed to promote the social control of property through an impartially administered state, managed by enlightened experts, rather than through the radical disruption of society.21