Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 8 Fabian Society

Karl Marx died in London on March 1883, 3, and only nine people attended his funeral.

Ten months later, his followers in London formed the Fabian Society, named after the ancient Roman general Quintus Fabius.

The Fabian Society was called Fabius because in ancient Rome, Fabius used guerrilla tactics to defeat his powerful opponent Hannibal. The Fabian Society's idea was to use gradual and moderate reformism to slowly promote social change.

Because of its moderate ideas, the Fabian Society received support from many intellectuals, including famous figures such as George Bernard Shaw. At its peak in 1945, there were more than 200 Fabians in the entire Parliament. The media at the time praised the entire Parliament as a huge Fabian school.

As for why Lin Ran knew this, it was because when he was staying at Li Xiaoman's house, he accidentally found a badge in the crack of the study. The pattern on the badge was very strange.

(Fabian Society badge)
After seeing this, Li Xiaoman put the badge away with a look of surprise, but remained silent about Lin Ran's questions.

Lin Ran searched the Internet for a long time with doubts before he found out that this thing was the emblem of the Fabian Society, with a pattern of a wolf in sheep's clothing. He then learned about this famous but rapidly declining society in modern times.

Even so, more doubts arose. How could the emblem of an English community appear in the hands of a Chinese family? You know, Li Xiaoman's family has been pure-blooded Chinese for three generations.

After a long time, when both parties had become familiar with each other, Lin Ran took the opportunity to ask this question.

Li Xiaoman replied with a melancholy look on his face:
"During the late Qing Dynasty, there were various government-sponsored overseas students, did you know that? Initially, these government-sponsored students mainly went to England and France, but after the Franco-Prussian War, students began to be sent to Germany.

It was in that atmosphere that my great-grandfather went to study in Germany. Unlike most people who went to the Berlin Military Academy, my great-grandfather went to the University of Frankfurt.

Like countless other people of noble character and lofty ideals, he hoped to find a way to save China. At that time, the influence of the Fabian Society had penetrated into Germany, leading to the establishment of the famous Frankfurt School in Frankfurt. A professor whom my great-grandfather greatly respected joined the Frankfurt School, so he joined them at that time as well.

After hearing this, Lin Ran was surprised. He was from a famous family. "It must have been difficult for Chinese people to join the Fabian Society at that time, right?"

In that era and atmosphere, it was difficult for Chinese people to join the Fabian Society, a white intellectual society with a certain background. Lin Ran just thought about it and found it difficult.

There are countless obstacles to overcome.

Li Xiaoman nodded and said, "Of course, but the professor my great-grandfather respected was Max Horkheimer.

He was the founder of the Frankfurt School. With his strong recommendation, and given that people at the time felt that there must be Asian representatives joining and conveying the Frankfurt School's ideas, my great-grandfather finally succeeded in joining the Frankfurt School.

My great-grandfather went to work at the Center for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt, which was also the first institution in Europe to study Makar Marx.

This is the badge he received when he participated in the Frankfurt School. It is also a witness to our family history. I thought I would never find it again!

This badge is different from the badges worn by Fabian Society members today."

Lin Ran thought to himself, I can’t imagine the difficulties contained in these few short sentences. I can’t imagine how many hardships and obstacles the Chinese predecessors at that time had to overcome to get such an opportunity.

Li Xiaoman's smug look at that time was still vivid in his mind, and Lin Ran followed her and said, "What's the difference?"

Li Xiaoman took the badge out of his box and showed the back to Lin Ran:
"Yes, this."

"turtle?"

"Yes, this is the earliest emblem of the Fabian Society. It is a tortoise with the words: Whay I strike, I strike hard."

“What this means is that when I bite, I bite hard!
Specifically, it means that the Fabian Society is not in a hurry. We have plenty of time to wait for opportunities, but when opportunities arise, we will not miss them.

It was along this line that Lin Ran came to know the Fabian Society. The more he learned, the more he realized the extraordinary nature of this organization.

If it were just the Fabian Society, it still did a lot of good things. For example, the Fabian Society was the first to propose the establishment of a national health service in 1911, introduced a minimum wage in 1906, and abolished the hereditary peerage in 1917.

It can be said that the future modern national welfare system originated entirely from the Fabian Society.

The Frankfurt School, which originated from the Fabian Society, is different.

Because the Frankfurt School is most famous for its critical theory.

The international conference held in Moscow in 1922 was to study how to export culture to Europe.

The German representative who attended the meeting, Munzenberg, believed that intellectuals who believed in Marxism should be organized to systematically destroy capitalism. Then the Frankfurt School was born.

Max Horkheimer, mentioned by Li Xiaoman, was the second director of the Center for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt. Their most important achievement was critical theory.

The core of critical theory is to find fault with the world and thereby destroy it. Social problems have nothing to do with specific individuals; they are systemic problems, so the system must be destroyed.

The subsequent theoretical basis for LGBT and Black Lives Matter originated from this.

No matter how well it speaks, the end result is to destroy all traditions and disrupt social order.

After Horkheimer went to the United States, he met Butler, the president of Columbia University in New York. Butler admired Horkheimer very much and asked him to move the Frankfurt School to Columbia University and even gave him a building.

As a result, Frankfurt School researchers became professors at Columbia University. These individuals, after graduating from Columbia, went on to Princeton, Brandeis, and other institutions, spreading across the United States.

Because of the influence of Columbia University, the Frankfurt School was able to radiate its influence to England and America.

Simply put, in the 60s, the Frankfurt School had a very strong influence in America, and the president at that time was Kennedy from the Democratic Party.

Lin Ran now not only has the proof of the founding of the Frankfurt School, that is, the badge of the Fabian Society, but also has an information gap of 60 years.

The combination of the two naturally allowed them to gain the protection of the Frankfurt School, and at least throughout the 60s, they had no problem running rampant in America.

From 1961 to 1969, the Democratic Party held a firm grip on the White House.

As for eight years later, Lin Ran, who had already achieved success and fame by then, there was no way he would be questioned because of some minor issues. He had already made all the preparations.

The only difficulty lies in how to get Li Xiaoman to give him the badge.

This is their ancestral property.

(End of this chapter)