Fabian socialists endorsed imperialism as a civilizing force for workers

Evidence

The 1900 pamphlet, ‘Fabianism and the Empire’, edited by George Bernard Shaw, embraced this imperialist role, arguing that a ‘Great Power’ like the United Kingdom, must ‘govern in the interests of civilization as a whole’. … In contrast to the neoliberals, the Fabians measured civilisation not by the extent of the division of labour, but by labour regulations and living standards; ‘no flag that does not carry a reasonable standard of life with it shall be the flag of a Great Power’, Shaw wrote. … For the neoliberals, the support of the Fabians for the Boer War was evidence that socialism and imperialism shared what Röpke called a ‘common ideological breeding ground’. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 243

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s advanced debate on market ethics — neoliberals and socialists shared an imperial ‘civilizing mission’ frame, which undermines the clean socialism-vs-capitalism dichotomy. — connects to: Fabian socialists shifted their reformist project from Britain’s working class to its colonies — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 239; Labor aristocracy in European and American unions supported imperialism and colonialism — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 944; Anti-colonial socialism can be re-cast as imperialist proletarian nationalism — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 379 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what precisely did Röpke and the Ordoliberals mean by socialism and imperialism sharing a breeding ground — is this a common genealogical claim about centralized state power?
• SEED: Angle: the forgotten socialist endorsement of empire as labor protection — how ‘civilization must follow the flag’ reframes today’s debates about trade agreements and labor standards as neocolonial mechanisms.

Broader Connections

• Labor aristocracy in European and American unions supported imperialism and colonialism #expands (0.85) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 944
• Anti-colonial socialism can be re-cast as imperialist proletarian nationalism #expands (0.75) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 379
• Statism without popular mobilization is intrinsic to Labour’s Fabian heritage #expands (0.70)