Annie Besant's Many Lives, by Kumari Jayawardena

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Order of the Star in the East
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The Order of the Star in the East (OSE) was an organization established by the leadership of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, India, from 1911 to 1927. Its mission was to prepare the world for the expected arrival of the World Teacher or Maitreya. The precursor of the OSE was the Order of the Rising Sun (1910-1911) and the successor was the Order of the Star (1927-1929). The founding, as well as the disbanding of the Order in 1929, led to crises in the Theosophical Society.

History

Prehistory

One of the founders of modern-era Theosophy and of the Theosophical Society, Helena Blavatsky, wrote about its future in the Key to Theosophy:

"Not only so, but besides a large and accessible literature ready to men's hands, the next impulse will find a numerous and united body of people ready to welcome the new torch-bearer of Truth. He will find the minds of men prepared for his message, a language ready for him in which to clothe the new truths he brings, an organization awaiting his arrival, which will remove the merely mechanical, material obstacles and difficulties from his path. Think how much one, to whom such an opportunity is given, could accomplish. Measure it by comparison with what the Theosophical Society actually has achieved in the last fourteen years, without any of these advantages and surrounded by hosts of hindrances which would not hamper the new leader." [1]

Following the original publication of the book in 1889, and based on this passage, many Theosophists anticipated the advent of Maitreya.[2] Blavatsky had also founded, and led, the so-called Esoteric Section of the Society, whose main purpose was to inform and prepare select members of the Society about the expected World Teacher. [3]

Sometime in late April or early May 1909,[4] one of the members of the Esoteric Section instructed on the World Teacher, the high-ranking Theosophist and occultist C.W. Leadbeater, encountered 14 year old Jiddu Krishnamurti on the private beach attached to the headquarters of the Theosophical Society at Adyar. At the time, Krishnamurti's father was employed by the Society, and the family lived next to the compound. Leadbeater came to believe young Krishnamurti was a suitable candidate for the "vehicle" of the supposed soon-to-reappear World Teacher, and placed him under his and the Society's wing. In late 1909, Annie Besant, then President of the Society and head of its Esoteric Section, admitted Krishnamurti into both [5] and in March 1910 she became his legal guardian. [6]

Order of the Rising Sun

Annie Besant had started commenting on the possible imminent arrival of the World Teacher in 1896, several years before her assumption of the Society's presidency in 1907. By 1909 the "coming" Teacher was a main topic of her lectures and writings.[7][8] In late 1910 the Order of the Rising Sun was founded by prominent theosophist George Arundale (the official founding date was in January 1911). The organization was generally focused on the expected World Teacher, yet the newly "discovered" Krishnamurti was - somewhat obliquely - at the center of its attention. [2]

Order of the Star in the East


Membership Card of the Order of the Star in the East (Dutch Section).

In April 1911 Besant founded the Order of the Star in the East (OSE), which replaced the Order of the Rising Sun. The high offices of the organization were filled: "Mrs Besant and Leadbeater were made Protectors of the new Order of which Krishna" [Jiddu Krishnamurti] "was the Head, Arundale Private Secretary to the Head, and Wodehouse Organizing Secretary". [9] [10]

In December 1911 during a ceremony officiated by Krishnamurti at the close of the annual Theosophical Convention, those present were reported to be suddenly overwhelmed by a strange feeling of "tremendous power" that seemed to be flowing through Krishnamurti. In Leadbeater's description, "it reminded one irresistibly of the rushing, mighty wind, and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. The tension was enormous, and every one in the room was most powerfully affected." The next day, at a meeting of the Esoteric Section, Annie Besant for the first time announced that it was now obvious Krishnamurti was indeed the chosen "vehicle". [11]

In 1912 Krishnamurti's father sued Annie Besant in order to annul her guardianship of Krishnamurti, which he had previously granted. Among other reasons stated in his deposition was his objection to the "deification" of Krishnamurti caused by Besant's "announcement that he was to be the Lord Christ, with the result that a number of respectable persons had prostrated before him." Besant eventually won the case on appeal. [12]

Because the German Section, under the General Secretaryship of Dr. Steiner, opposed the pushing of the Order of the Star in the East within the Theosophical Society in Germany, Mrs. Besant, as President of the Theosophical Society, in March, 1913, dischartered and expelled from the Theosophical Society the whole of that Section with all its Branches and over two thousand members, cancelling the diplomas of all these. [14] Most of the German Section left with Dr. Steiner and the Antroposophical Society was formed.

In 1913 some members of the OSE had to leave the Central Hindu College (CHC) in Varanasi, because the activities of the Order were deemed "unacademical". [14]

The goal of the Order was to remove the mechanical, material obstacles and difficulties from the path of the World Teacher. Most of the members were also members of the Theosophical Society; [2] however, membership was open to anyone, the only precondition being acceptance of the Order's Six Principles.

The Six Principles

The six principles of the Order of the Star in the East were: [15]

• 1. We believe that a great Teacher will soon appear in the world, and we wish so to live now that we may be worthy to know Him when He comes.
• 2. We shall try, therefore, to keep Him in our minds always, and to do in His name, and therefore to the best of our ability, all the work which comes to us in our daily occupations.
• 3. As far as our ordinary duties allow, we shall endeavour to devote a portion of our time each day to some definite work which may help to prepare for His coming.
• 4. We shall seek to make Devotion, Steadfastness and Gentleness prominent characteristics of our daily life.
• 5. We shall try to begin and end each day with a short period devoted to the asking of His blessing upon all that we try to do for Him and in His name.
• 6. We regard it as our special duty to try to recognise and reverence greatness in whomsoever shown, and to strive to co-operate, as far as we can, with those whom we feel to be spiritually our superiors.

During the existence of the OSE, Krishnamurti held many discourses and lectures in several countries, and had a large following among the membership of the Theosophical Society. National Sections of the Order were organized in many countries, with official bulletins eventually appearing in twenty-one of them, in fourteen different languages. [16] [2]

Order of the Star

In June 1927 the name of the organization was changed to Order of the Star, headquartered in Ommen, the Netherlands. In ongoing developments, Besant had proclaimed in January 1927 that "the World Teacher is here", [17] and many members expected Krishnamurti's unequivocal public proclamation of his messianic status. The renamed order had two objectives: [18]

• 1. To draw together all those who believe in the Presence of the World Teacher in the world.
• 2. To work with Him for the establishment of His ideas.

However, Krishnamurti's emphasis, in public talks and private discussions, had changed, and he talked less about the expected World Teacher. This shift in emphasis mirrored fundamental changes in Krishnamurti as a person, including his gradual disenchantment with the "World Teacher Project", which led to a complete reevaluation of his continuing association with it. [19] Finally, he disbanded the Order in Ommen on 3 August 1929, in front of about 3000 members [20] [21] and Besant herself. The Order had about 60000 members at the time. In his speech dissolving the organization, Krishnamurti said:

"I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path." [22]

Krishnamurti denounced the concept of saviors, leaders and spiritual teachers, and soon after the dissolution severed his ties to Theosophy and the Theosophical Society. [23] He returned to donors estates, property, and funds that had been gifted to the Order in its various incarnations, [24] and spent the rest of his life pursuing an independent course, becoming widely known as an original, influential thinker and speaker on philosophical and religious subjects.

Consequences

In 1907 - the first year for which reliable records were kept [25] -- the worldwide membership of the Theosophical Society was estimated at over 15000; membership peaked in 1928 at about 45000. [26] Many members of the OSE were also members of the Theosophical Society; [27] consequently, as many as a third of the members of the Theosophical Society left "within a few years" of Krishnamurti's disbanding of the Order. [28] [2]

Notes

1. Blavatsky, H. P. (1889). The Key to Theosophy. London: The Theosophical Publishing Company. pp. 306-307. Italics in quoted text appear in original.
2. Schuller, Govert W. (1997). "Krishnamurti and the World Teacher Project". Theosophical History: Occasional Papers 5. (Fullerton, California: Theosophical History Foundation). ISSN 1068-2597. Alpheus. 2001. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
3. Blavatsky, H. P. (August 1931). "The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society: Preliminary Memorandum, 1888". The Theosophist 52: 594-595. (Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House). ISSN 0040-5892.
4. Lutyens, Mary (1975). Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening. Farrar Straus and Giroux. pp. 20-21. ISBN 0374182221.
5. Lutyens p. 30.
6. Lutyens p. 40.
7. Lutyens pp. 11-12, 46.
8. "Christ Will Soon Visit Earth Again. Head of Theosophical Society Declares His Spirit Will Manifest Itself." Associated Press (New York City). New York: 3 August 1909. Newswire report on Besant's lecture tour in the United States.
9. Lutyens p. 46. A.E. Wodehouse, an educator and brother of the poet and writer P.G. Wodehouse, was another prominent Theosophist.
10. News regarding Krishnamurti and the Order received wide coverage: "New Religion is Headed by Youth". Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, North Dakota). 2 April 1912. p. 1. OCLC 12165939. "A stipling of fifteen, Krishnamurti, a Hindu is thought by many Theosophists to be a second Messiah and a new sect has been formed for his support with the star of the east the emblem."
11. Lutyens pp. 54-55. According to Leadbeater and other Theosophists, Krishnamurti had already previously passed a spiritual Initiation and had been "accepted" as a pupil by Theosophy's Spiritual Hierarchy. Lutyens "Chapter 4: First Initiation" and "Chapter 5: First Teaching", pp. 29-46 [cumulative].
12. Lutyens pp. 62, 64, 82, 84; "Chapter 8: The Lawsuit" pp 64-71.
13. Rudolf Steiner, at the time leader of the German Section of the Theosophical Society, rejected the claims made of Krishnamurti's messianic status. The resulting tensions between the German Section and Besant and Leadbeater was one of the reasons that led to a split in the Society and, in 1912, to Steiner forming the Anthroposophical Society; immediately following this step, Besant revoked the German Section's charter. The great majority of German members left the Theosophical Society in 1912-13 to join Steiner in the new group. Steiner, Rudolph; Buursink, Marijke; Schuwirth, Wim; Blomaard, Pim & Mees, Wijnand (1993) (in Dutch). Wegen naar Christus [Roads to Christ. (Bing Translator)]. Partially translated from German by Marijke Buursink. Zeist, Netherlands: Vrij Geestesleven. ISBN 9060385128.
14. Das, Bhagwan (Bhagavan) (1913). "The Central Hindu College and Mrs. Besant". (PDF). Parascience. Guerneville, California: The Science and Spirit Foundation. Retrieved 2010-04-12. The author, a co-founder (along with Annie Besant) of the CHC, was in opposition to the World Teacher Project and to the creation of the OSE.
15. Wodehouse, Ernest A. (1911). The Order of the Star in the East: its outer and inner work. Adyar: Theosophist Office. Pamphlet. OCLC 258767581.
16. "The Star: Its Purpose and Policy" (All issue dates). The Star [All issues, usually in back pages]. (Los Angeles: Star Publishing Trust). OCLC 10990552. Bulletin of the USA National Section of the Order.
17. Lutyens p. 241. Statement of Besant to the Associated Press.
18. "The Order of the Star" (All issue dates). The Star [All issues, usually in back pages]. (Los Angeles: Star Publishing Trust). OCLC 10990552. Bulletin of the USA National Section of the Order.
19. In sympathy with Krishnamurti, in 1928 Besant closed the Esoteric Section. She reopened it after the dissolution of the Order. Lutyens pp. 265-266, 276.
20. "Editorial Policy". International Star Bulletin 2 [Volume not numbered in original] (2) [Issues renumbered starting August 1929]: 4. September 1929. (Eerde: Star Publishing Trust). OCLC 34693176. From the previously official bulletin of the Order of the Star. The bulletin published several issues post-dissolution, following Krishnamurti's new direction.
21. "Cult Is Dissolved By Krishnamurti; Surprises Devotees by Asserting Organization Is Not Necessary". The Washington Post. p. M21. 4 August 1929. Associated Press (New York City). [Dateline Ommen, 3 August 1929]. ISSN 0190-8286.
22. Jiddu, Krishnamurti (September 1929). "The Dissolution of the Order of the Star: A Statement by J. Krishnamurti". International Star Bulletin 2 [Volume not numbered in original] (2) [Issues renumbered starting August 1929]: 28-34. (Eerde: Star Publishing Trust). OCLC 34693176. J.Krishnamurti Online. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
23. Lutyens pp. 276, 285.
24. Lutyens p. 276.
25. Tillet, Gregory John (1987). "Appendix 4: Membership of the Theosophical Society: Statistical Summary". Charles Webster Leadbeater 1854-1934: A Biographical Study. Volume III: Appendices, Notes and Bibliographies. [Thesis (Ph. D.)]. Department of Religious Studies. University of Sydney. pp. 942-950. OCLC 271774444. (Context from p. 943n[2]). URI http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1623. [Filename: "10Append&NotesTillett.pdf"]. Sydney escholarship. 2007. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
26. Taylor, Anne (1992). Annie Besant: A Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 328. ISBN 0192117963.
27. Roe, Jill (1986). Beyond Belief: Theosophy in Australia 1879-1939. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press. p. 288. ISBN 0868400424.
28. Campbell, Bruce F. (1980). History of the Theosophical Movement. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. Hardcover. p. 130. ISBN 0-520-03968-8.

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Beatrice Webb
by Wikipedia

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Martha Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield. She coined the term collective bargaining.[1]

Along with her husband Sidney Webb and numerous others, she co-founded the London School of Economics and Political Science and played a crucial role in the forming of the Fabian Society.


Webb, photographed circa 1875

Biography

Beatrice Potter was born in Standish House in the village of Standish, Gloucestershire, the daughter of a businessman Richard Potter and Laurencina Heyworth, daughter of a Liverpool merchant. Her grandfather was Radical MP, Richard Potter. From an early age she was self-taught and cited her influences as the cooperative movement and the philosopher Herbert Spencer with whom she became acquainted after an early stay with relatives in Lancashire.

In 1882, she had a relationship with Radical politician Joseph Chamberlain, by then a Cabinet minister. After this relationship failed, she took up Social Work and assisted her cousin Charles Booth who was carrying out a pioneering survey of the Victorian slums of London, bringing her own experiences as rent-collector in the model dwellings at Katherine Buildings, Aldgate, operated by the East End Dwellings Company. Upon the death of her father, Potter inherited an endowment of £1,000 pounds a year which she used to support herself during this research. In 1890 she was introduced to Sidney Webb whose help she sought in this research and in 1891 she published The Co-operative Movement in Great Britain, based on her experiences in Lancashire. Marrying Webb in 1892, the two remained together and shared political and professional activities, becoming active members of the Fabian Society. With support from the Fabians, she co-authored books and pamphlets on socialism and the co-operative movement including The History of Trade Unionism in 1894 and Industrial Democracy in 1897. In 1895, a donation from Henry Hutchinson, a solicitor from Derby, was used by the Society to found the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Minority Report to Royal Commission



Between 1905 and 1909, Beatrice Webb was a member of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress 1905-09. The Commission was established by the Conservative government of AJ Balfour, and reported to the Liberal government of HH Asquith.[2][3] Webb headed the minority report which outlined a welfare state which would "secure a national minimum of civilised life ... open to all alike, of both sexes and all classes, by which we meant sufficient nourishment and training when young, a living wage when able-bodied, treatment when sick, and modest but secure livelihood when disabled or aged". William Beveridge, who was later to author the Beveridge Report in 1942, worked as a researcher for the Webbs on the Minority Report.

Later career

In 1913, she co-founded with her husband the New Statesman, a political weekly edited by Clifford Sharp with contributions from many philosophers, economists and politicians of the time including George Bernard Shaw and John Maynard Keynes.

In late 1914, the Webbs became members of the Labour Party. At this time, their leadership of the Fabian Society was facing opposition from H.G. Wells, who lampooned them in his 1911 novel The New Machiavelli as 'the Baileys', a pair of short-sighted, bourgeois manipulators. They were also opposed from the left in the Labour Party by the Guild Socialists and the historian and economist G.D.H. Cole. During this time, Webb collaborated with her husband in his writings and policy statement such as Labour and the New Social Order in 1918 and his election in 1922 to the parliamentary seat of Seaham in Durham.

In 1928 the Webbs retired to Liphook in Hampshire, where they lived until their deaths. In 1932, Sidney and Beatrice travelled to the Soviet Union and later published in support of the Soviet economic experiment with Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation? and The Truth About Soviet Russia. When she died in 1943, Webb's ashes were interred in the nave of Westminster Abbey, close to those of her husband, and were to be joined subsequently by the remains of Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin.

Webb as co-operative theorist


Beatrice and Sidney Webb during a trip to the Soviet Union in 1932

Webb made a number of important contributions to political and economic theory of the co-operative movement. It was, for example, Webb who coined the terms “Co-operative Federalism” and “Co-operative Individualism” in her 1891 book Cooperative Movement in Great Britain. Out of these two categories, Webb identified herself as a co-operative federalist; a school of thought which advocates consumer co-operative societies. Webb argued that consumers’ co-operatives should form co-operative wholesale societies (by forming co-operatives in which all members are co-operatives, the best historical example being the English Co-operative Wholesale Society) and that these federal co-operatives should undertake purchasing farms or factories. Webb dismissed the idea of worker co-operatives where the people who did the work and benefited from it had some control over how it was done, arguing that – at the time she was writing – such ventures had proved largely unsuccessful, at least in ushering in her form of socialism led by volunteer committees of people like herself.[4] Examples of successful worker Cooperatives did of course exist then as now. In some professions they were the norm. But Webb’s final book, The Truth About The Soviet Union celebrated central planning.

Family

Webb's nephew, Sir Stafford Cripps, became a well-known British Labour politician in the 1930s and 1940s, serving as British ambassador to Moscow during World War II and later as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Clement Attlee. His daughter, Peggy, went on to marry the Nana Joe Appiah, a noted African statesman and tribal chieftain who served as something of a founding father of the Republic of Ghana.

Her niece, Barbara Drake, was a prominent trade unionist and a member of the Fabian Society. Another niece, Katherine Dobbs, married the journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, whose experience reporting from the Soviet Union subsequently made him highly critical of the Webbs' optimistic portrayal of Stalin's rule. Their books, Soviet Communism: A new civilization? (1935) and The Truth About Soviet Russia (1942) have been widely denounced for adopting an uncritical view of Stalin's conduct during periods that witnessed a brutal process of agricultural collectivization as well as extensive purges and the creation of the gulag system.[5]

Archives

Beatrice Webb's papers, including her diaries, are among the Passfield archive at the London School of Economics. For a small online exhibition featuring some of these papers see 'A poor thing but our own': the Webbs and the Labour Party. Posts about Beatrice Webb regularly appear in the LSE Archives blog, Out of the box.

Bibliography

Works by Beatrice Webb

• Cooperative Movement in Great Britain (1891)
• Wages of Men and Women: Should they be equal? (1919)
• My Apprenticeship (1926)
• Our Partnership (1948)

Works by Beatrice and Sidney Webb

• History of Trade Unionism (1894)
• Industrial Democracy (1897)
• The Webbs' Australian Diary (1898)
• English Local Government Vol. I-X (1906 through 1929)
• The Manor and the Borough (1908)
• The Break-Up of the Poor Law (1909)
• English Poor-Law Policy (1910)
• The Cooperative Movement (1914)
• Works Manager Today (1917)
• The Consumer's Cooperative Movement (1921)
• Decay of Capitalist Civilization (1923)
• Methods of Social Study (1932)
• Soviet Communism: A New Civilization? (1935)
• The Truth About Soviet Russia (1942)

References

1. "A Timeline of Events in Modern American Labor Relations". Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (United States). http://www.fmcs.gov/internet/itemDetail ... emID=15810. Retrieved 2010-08-18. "1891: The term “collective bargaining” is first used by Mrs. Sidney Webb, a British labor historian."
2. BBC Radio 4 Women's Hour discussion on 1909 Minority Report http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/ ... _wed.shtml
3. From the Workhouse to Welfare, edited by Ed Wallis (Fabian Society and Webb Memorial Trust, 2009)
4. Potter, Beatrice, "The Co-operative Movement in Great Britain", London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1891.
5. See, e.g., Robert Conquest, The Great Terror (1968 and subsequent editions).

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Order of the Star in the East
by Theosophy Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/25/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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Copper plate used to print The Herald of the Star. From Theosophical Society in America Archives.

The Order of the Star in the East (OSE) was an organization established by the leadership of the Theosophical Society (Adyar), India, from 1911 to 1927. Its mission was to prepare the world for the expected arrival of World Teacher, known as Lord Maitreya in Theosophical circles.

Order of the Rising Sun

In May, 1909, C. W. Leadbeater discovered Jiddu Krishnamurti and regarded him as a likely "vehicle" for Lord Maitreya, the World Teacher.

On January 11, 1911, George S. Arundale formed The Order of the Rising Sun to draw together those in India who believed in the near coming of a great spiritual teacher and prepare public opinion to receive him. At the same time a quarterly magazine printed at Adyar called The Herald of the Star was started.

Order of the Star in the East

A few months after The Order of the Rising Sun was formed, Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater made of this Order an international movement and renamed it as The Order of the Star in the East, with J. Krishnamurti as its head.

Order of the Star

The Order of the Star was a successor to the OSE. It was formed in June 1927, after what many regarded as the manifestation of the World Teacher. Krishnamurti's close associate and friend D. Rajagopal served as the Chief Organizer.

The renamed order had two stated objectives:

- To draw together all those who believe in the Presence of the World Teacher in the world.
- To work with Him for the establishment of His ideas.

Relationship of the Order to the Theosophical Society

The Order of the Star in the East under its various names was founded by prominent leaders of the Theosophical Society. It was a surprising development to members, and unwelcome to many who questioned its cult-like qualities.

An example was published in the "Questions Answered" section of the American Section's journal. The response was written by Mr. Leadbeater:

Q. Do you regard it as important that members of the T. S. should join the Order of the Star in the East when (say) they feel they are not from their own studies acquainted with the grounds of expectation of the coming of the Great World-Teacher?

A. Certainly. If they are not by their own study acquainted with the grounds for such expectation, they should study more. All T. S. members should join, because they alone can bring knowledge and reason to bear on the subject where others can only bring a feeling. And even if they cannot grasp it intellectually, they should still join, because the President is the one chosen to be the Outer Head for this organization in the world. As members of the T. S. have followed her in other things, they should be able to follow her in this too. C. W. L.[1]

Charles Leadbeater was unequivocal in expecting members to embrace the Order based purely on his own supposedly superior intellectual understanding of the World Teacher and on the authority of President Annie Besant. This ran counter to the principles of intellectual freedom and responsibility on which the Society was founded.

Dissolution

During a Camp of the Order of the Star at Ommen, on August 3, 1929, Krishnamurti made a speech dissolving it.

Krishnamurti speech

Among other things, Krishnamurti said:

I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organised; nor should any organisation be formed to lead or coerce people along any particular path...

Truth cannot be brought down, rather the individual must make the effort to ascend to it. You cannot bring the mountain-top to the valley...

If an organisation be created for this purpose, it becomes a crutch, a weakness, a bondage, and must cripple the individual, and prevent him from growing, from establishing his uniqueness, which lies in the discovery for himself of that absolute, unconditioned Truth...

I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all cages, from all fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to establish new theories and new philosophies...

You are all depending for your spirituality on someone else, for your happiness on someone else, for your enlightenment on someone else; and although you have been preparing for me for eighteen years, when I say all these things are unnecessary, when I say that you must put them all away and look within yourselves for the enlightenment, for the glory, for the purification, and for the incorruptibility of the self, not one of you is willing to do it. There may be a few, but very, very few. So why have an organization? ...

"How many members are there in it?" That is the first question I am asked by all newspaper reporters. "How many followers have you? By their number we shall judge whether what you say is true or false." I do not know how many there are. I am not concerned with that. As I said, if there were even one man who had been set free, that were enough...

But those who really desire to understand, who are looking to find that which is eternal, without beginning and without an end, will walk together with a greater intensity, will be a danger to everything that is unessential, to unrealities, to shadows. And they will concentrate, they will become the flame, because they understand. Such a body we must create, and that is my purpose. Because of that real understanding there will be true friendship. Because of that true friendship–which you do not seem to know–there will be real cooperation on the part of each one. And this not because of authority, not because of salvation, not because of immolation for a cause, but because you really understand, and hence are capable of living in the eternal. This is a greater thing than all pleasure, than all sacrifice...

For two years I have been thinking about this, slowly, carefully, patiently, and I have now decided to disband the Order, as I happen to be its Head. You can form other organizations and expect someone else. With that I am not concerned, nor with creating new cages, new decorations for those cages. My only concern is to set men absolutely, unconditionally free.[2]

Reactions to dissolution

THIS SECTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION

See also

• Jiddu Krishnamurti
Online resources

Articles

• Information for Inquirers Extract from an Order of the Star in the East pamphlet at Katinkahesselink.net

Video

• "C W Leadbeater, Annie Besant, Krishnamurti - Theosophy UK". Footage of Annie Besant, C. W. Leadbeater, and J. Krishnamurti in mid-1920s, found in the archives of The International Theosophical Centre, Naarden, Netherlands. Available from Theosophy World Resource Centre.

Notes

1. C.W.L. [Charles Webster Leadbeater], "Questions Answered" The Messenger 3.6 (November, 1915), 180.
2. Truth is a pathless land at J. Krishnamurti Online

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Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 7/7/19

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YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

-- Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation?, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Vol. I

-- Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation?, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Vol. II

-- The Truth About Soviet Russia, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb

The Right Honourable
The Lord Passfield
OM PC
Carbon print by W. & D. Downey, published in 1893
President of the Board of Trade
In office: 22 January 1924 – 3 November 1924
Monarch George V
Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by Sir Philip Lloyd-Graeme
Succeeded by Sir Philip Lloyd-Graeme
Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
In office: 7 June 1929 – 5 June 1930
Monarch George V
Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by Leo Amery
Succeeded by James Henry Thomas
Secretary of State for the Colonies
In office
7 June 1929 – 24 August 1931
Monarch George V
Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by Leo Amery
Succeeded by James Henry Thomas
Personal details
Born 13 July 1859
London
Died 13 October 1947 (aged 88)
Liphook, Hampshire
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Spouse(s) Beatrice Potter
(1858–1943)
Alma mater Birkbeck, University of London
King's College London

Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield, OM, PC (13 July 1859 – 13 October 1947) was a British socialist, economist, reformer and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. He was one of the early members of the Fabian Society in 1884, along with George Bernard Shaw (they joined three months after its inception). Along with his wife Beatrice Webb, Annie Besant, Graham Wallas, Edward R. Pease, Hubert Bland, and Sydney Olivier, Shaw and Webb turned the Fabian Society into the pre-eminent political-intellectual society of England during the Edwardian era and beyond. He wrote the original Clause IV for the British Labour Party.

Background and education

Webb was born in London to a professional family. He studied law at the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution for a degree of the University of London in his spare time, while holding down an office job. He also studied at King's College London, prior to being called to the Bar in 1885.

Professional life

In 1895, he helped to establish the London School of Economics, using a bequest left to the Fabian Society. He was appointed Professor of Public Administration in 1912, a post he held for fifteen years. In 1892, Webb married Beatrice Potter, who shared his interests and beliefs.[1] The money she brought with her enabled him to give up his clerical job and concentrate on his other activities. Sidney and Beatrice Webb founded the New Statesman magazine in 1913.[2]

Political career


Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb

Webb and Potter were members of the Labour Party and took an active role in politics. Sidney became Member of Parliament for Seaham at the 1922 general election.[3] The couple's influence can be seen in their hosting of the Coefficients, a dining club which attracted some of the leading statesmen and thinkers of the day. In 1929, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Passfield, of Passfield Corner in the County of Southampton.[4] He served as both Secretary of State for the Colonies and Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs in Ramsay MacDonald second Labour Government in 1929. As Colonial Secretary he issued the Passfield White Paper revising the government's policy in Palestine, previously set by the Churchill White Paper of 1922. In 1930, failing health caused him to step down as Dominions Secretary, but he stayed on as Colonial Secretary till the fall of the Labour government in August 1931.

Ignoring mounting evidence of the atrocities committed by Joseph Stalin, the Webbs were supporters of the Soviet Union until their deaths. Having reached their seventies and early eighties, their books Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation? (1935) and The Truth About Soviet Russia (1942) give a very positive assessment of Joseph Stalin's regime. Trotskyist historian Al Richardson later described Soviet Communism: A New Civilization? as "pure Soviet propaganda at its most mendacious".[5]

Writings

Webb co-authored, with his wife, a pivotal book on The History of Trade Unionism (1894). For the Fabian Society he wrote on poverty in London,[6] the eight-hour day,[7][8] land nationalisation[9] the nature of socialism,[10] education,[11] eugenics[12] and reform of the House of Lords.[13] He also drafted Clause IV, which committed the Labour Party to public ownership of industry.

References in literature


Beatrice and Sidney Webb working together in 1895

In H. G. Wells' The New Machiavelli (1911), the Webbs, as "the Baileys", are mercilessly lampooned as short-sighted, bourgeois manipulators. The Fabian Society, of which Wells was briefly a member (1903–08), fares no better in his estimation.

In her diary, Beatrice Webb records that they have "read the caricatures of ourselves … with much interest and amusement. The portraits are very clever in a malicious way."[14] She reviews the book and Wells' character in detail, summarising: "As an attempt at representing a political philosophy the book utterly fails …".[15]

Personal life

When Beatrice Webb died in 1943, the casket containing her ashes was buried in the garden of their house in Passfield Corner. Lord Passfield's ashes were also buried there in 1947. Shortly afterwards, George Bernard Shaw launched a petition to have both reburied to Westminster Abbey, which was eventually granted. Today, the Webbs' ashes are interred in the nave of Westminster Abbey, close to those of Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin.

He and his wife were friends with the philosopher Bertrand Russell.[16]

In 2006, the London School of Economics, alongside the Housing Association landlord Places for People, renamed their Great Dover Street student residence Sidney Webb House in his honour.

Archives

Sidney Webb's papers are among the Passfield archive at the London School of Economics. Posts about Sidney Webb regularly appear in the LSE Archives blog, Out of the box.

Bibliography

Works by Sidney Webb

• Facts for Socialists (1887)
• Fabian Essays in Socialism – The Basis of Socialism – Historic(1889)
• A plea for an eight hours bill (1890)
• English progress towards social democracy (1890)
• Practicable land nationalization (1890)
• The workers' political programme (1890)
• What the farm laborer wants (1890)
• A Labour policy for public authorities (1891)
• London's neglected heritage (1891)
• London's water tribute (1891)
• Municipal tramways (1891)
• The municipalisation of the gas supply (1891)
• The reform of the poor law (1891)
• The scandal of London's markets (1891)
• The "unearned increment" (1891)
• Socialism : true and false (1894)
• The London vestries : what they are and what they do : with map, table of vestries, etc. (1894)
• The difficulties of individualism (1896)
• Labor in the longest reign (1837-1897) (1897)
• Problems of Modern Industry (1898)
• The economics of direct employment (1898)
• Five years' fruits of the Parish Councils Act (1901)
• The education muddle and the way out (1901)
• Twentieth century politics : a policy of national efficiency (1901)
• The Education Act, 1902 : how to make the best of it (1903)
• London Education (1904)
• The London Education Act, 1903 : how to make the best of it(1904)
• Paupers and old age pensions (1907)
• The decline in the birth-rate (1907)
• Grants in Aid: A Criticism and a Proposal (1911)
• The necessary basis of society (1911)
• Seasonal Trades, with A. Freeman (1912)
• What about the rates? : or, Municipal finance and municipal autonomy (1913)
• The War and the workers : handbook of some immediate measures to prevent unemployment and relieve distress (1914)
• The Restoration of Trade Union Conditions (1916)
• When peace comes : the way of industrial reconstruction (1916)
• The reform of the House of Lords (1917)
• The teacher in politics (1918)
• National finance and a levy on capital (1919)
• The root of labour unrest (1920)
• The constitutional problems of a co-operative society (1923)
• The Labour Party on the threshold (1923)
• The need for federal reorganisation in the co-operative movement(1923)
• The Local Government Act, 1929 - how to make the best of it(1929)
• What happened in 1931 : a record (1932)
Works by Sidney and Beatrice Webb
• History of Trade Unionism (1894).
• Industrial Democracy (1897); translated into Russian by Lenin as The Theory and Practice of British Trade Unionism, St Petersburg, 1900.
• English Local Government (1906 through 1929) Vol. I–X
• The Manor and the Borough (1908)
• The Break-Up of the Poor Law (1909)
• English Poor-Law Policy (1910)
• The Cooperative Movement (1914)
• Works Manager Today (1917)
• The Consumer's Cooperative Movement (1921)
• Decay of Capitalist Civilization (1923)
• Methods of Social Study (1932)
• Soviet Communism: A new civilisation? (1935, Vol I Vol II) (the 2nd and 3rd editions of 1941 and 1944 did not have "?" in the title)
• The Truth About Soviet Russia (1942)

Notes

1. "Sidney and Beatrice Webb | British economists". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
2. The world movement towards collectivism, Beatrice and Sidney Webb, New Statesman, 12 April 1913;
Bending the arc of history towards justice and freedom, New Statesman, 12 April 2013; retrieved 13 May 2014.
3. The History of the Fabian Society, Edward R. Pease, Frank Cass and Co. LTD, 1963
4. "No. 33509". The London Gazette. 25 June 1929. p. 4189.
5. Al Richardson, "Introduction" to C. L. R. James, World Revolution 1917–1936: The Rise and Fall of the Communist International. Humanities Press, 1937 ISBN 0-391-03790-0
6. Webb, Sidney (1889), "Facts for Londoners: An exhaustive collection of statistical and other facts relating to the metropolis: with suggestions for reform on socialist principles", Fabian Tract, 8
7. Webb, Sidney (May 1890), "An Eight Hours Bill in the form of an amendment of the Factory Acts, with further provisions for the improvement of the conditions of labour", Fabian Tract, 9
8. Webb, Sidney (1891), "The case for an Eight Hours Bill", Fabian Tract, 23
9. Webb, Sidney (1890), "Practicable land nationalization", Fabian Tract, 12
10. Webb, Sidney (21 January 1894), "Socialism: true and false. A lecture delivered to the Fabian Society", Fabian Tract, 51
11. Webb, Sidney (1901), "The education muddle and the way out: a constructive criticism of English educational machinery", Fabian Tract, 106
12. Webb, Sidney (1907), "The decline in the birth-rate", Fabian Tract, 131
13. Webb, Sidney (1917), "The reform of the House of Lords", Fabian Tract, 183
14. Beatrice Webb's typescript diary, 2 January 1901 – 10 February 1911, LSE Digital Library http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/object ... 2/mode/2up
15. Beatrice Webb's typescript diary, 2 January 1901 – 10 February 1911, LSE Digital Library http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/object ... /mode/2up/
16. Autobiography of Bertrand Russell (London:Allen and Unwin, 1969).

Further reading

• Bevir, Mark. "Sidney Webb: Utilitarianism, positivism, and social democracy." Journal of Modern History 74.2 (2002): 217-252. online
• Cole, Margaret, et al. The Webbs and their work (1949).
• Davanzati, Guglielmo Forges, and Andrea Pacella. "Sidney and Beatrice Webb: Towards an Ethical Foundation of the Operation of the Labour Market." History of Economic Ideas (2004): 25-49.
• Farnham, David. “Beatrice and Sidney Webb and the Intellectual Origins of British Industrial Relations.” Employee Relations (2008). 30: 534-52
• Harrison, Royden. The Life and Times of Sydney and Beatrice Webb, 1858-1905 (2001)
• Kaufman, Bruce E. "Sidney and Beatrice Webb's Institutional Theory of Labor Markets and Wage Determination." Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society 52.3 (2013): 765-791. online
• MacKenzie, Norman Ian, and Jeanne MacKenzie. The First Fabians (Quartet Books, 1979).
• Radice, Lisanne. Beatrice and Sidney Webb: Fabian Socialists (Springer, 1984).
• Stigler, George. “Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb, and the Theory of Fabian Socialism,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (1959) 103#3: 469-75.

Primary sources

• Mackenzie, Norman,ed. The Letters of Sidney and Beatrice Webb (3 volumes. Cambridge University Press, 1978. Pp. xvii, 453; xi, 405; ix, 482).
o Volume 1, Apprenticeships 1873-1892. (1978).
o Volume 2. Partnership 1892-1912 (1978).
o Volume 3: Pilgrimage, 1912–1947 (1978).

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sidney Webb
• Critique of Webb by Leon Trotsky in The Revolution Betrayed
• The Webb Bibliography
• The Webb Diaries available in full from LSE
• Works by Sidney Webb at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Sidney Webb at Internet Archive
• Newspaper clippings about Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics

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Coefficients (dining club)
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 7/7/19

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

Milner was the creator of the Round Table Group (since this is but another name for the Kindergarten) and remained in close personal contact with it for the rest of his life. In the sketch of Milner in the Dictionary of National Biography, written by Basil Williams of the Kindergarten, we read: "He was always ready to discuss national questions on a non-party basis, joining with former members of his South African 'Kindergarten' in their 'moot,' from which originated the political review, The Round Table, and in a more heterogeneous society, the 'Coefficients,' where he discussed social and imperial problems with such curiously assorted members as L. S. Amery, H. G. Wells, (Lord) Haldane, Sir Edward Grey, (Sir) Michael Sadler, Bernard Shaw, J. L. Garvin, William Pember Reeves, and W. A. S. Hewins.""

-- The Anglo-American Establishment: From Rhodes to Cliveden, by Carroll Quigley

The Coefficients was a monthly dining club founded in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb as a forum for British socialist reformers and imperialists of the Edwardian era.[1] The name of the dining club was a reflection of the group's focus on "efficiency".[2]

Membership

The Webbs proposed that the club's membership reflect the entire gamut of political beliefs, and "proposed to collect politicians from each of the parties". Representing the Liberal Imperialists were Sir Edward Grey and Richard Burdon Haldane; the Tories were represented by economist William Hewins and editor of the National Review Leopold Maxse; and the British military was represented by Leo Amery, an "expert on the conditions of the army", and Carlyon Bellairs, a naval officer.[2]

The club's membership included:[3]

• Leo Amery, statesman and Conservative politician
• Richard Burdon Haldane, Liberal politician, lawyer, and philosopher
• Halford John Mackinder, geographer and politician
• Leopold Maxse, editor, National Review
• Alfred Milner, statesman and colonial administrator
• Henry Newbolt, author and poet
• Carlyon Bellairs, naval commander and MP
• James Louis Garvin, journalist and editor
• William Hewins, economist
• William Pember Reeves, New Zealand statesman, historian, and poet
• Bertrand Russell, philosopher and mathematician
• Sir Clinton Edward Dawkins, businessman and civil servant
• Sir Henry Birchenough, businessman and civil servant
• Sir Edward Grey, Liberal politician
• H. G. Wells, novelist

Of the initiates or probable initiates whom we have mentioned, Rothschild, Johnston, Hawksley, Rosebery, Jameson, Michell, and Maguire played little or no role in the society after 1902. Beit died in 1906, and Garrett the following year. Of the others, Grey, Brassey, Esher, and Balfour continued in active cooperation with the members of the Group. The real circle of initiates in the twentieth century, however, would appear to include the following names: [Alfred] Milner, Abe Bailey, George Parkin, Lord Selborne, Jan Smuts, A. J. Glazebrook, R. H. Brand (Lord Brand), Philip Kerr (Lord Lothian), Lionel Curtis, Geoffrey Dawson, H. A. L. Fisher, Edward Grigg, Leopold Amery, and Lord Astor. Since 1925, when Milner died, others have undoubtedly been added. This circle, with certain additional names, we shall call the "inner core" or the "inner circle" of the Milner Group....

The Cecil Bloc became increasingly a political force. Gladstone remained socially a member of it, and so did his protege, John Morley, but almost all the other members of the Bloc were Unionists or Conservatives. The chief exceptions were the four leaders of the Liberal Party after Gladstone, who were strong imperialists: Rosebery, Asquith, Edward Grey, and Haldane. These four supported the Boer War, grew increasingly anti-German, supported the World War in 1914, and were close to the Milner Group politically, intellectually, and socially. (7)

-- The Anglo-American Establishment: From Rhodes to Cliveden, by Carroll Quigley

Wells was recruited because he was deemed "capable of original thoughts on every subject" and proved to be "an especially active member".[2]

History

The Webbs came up with the idea of the dinner club as a forum for "serious discussions and to formulate or propose political policy", but shortly after its founding the members "abandoned immediate political goals" but continued to meet and discuss issues of interest. Haldane hosted the first dinner at his home in December 1902.[2]

In 1903 Bertrand Russell, who believed that the Entente cordiale policy would lead to war, resigned after Edward Grey espoused it in a speech.[4]The group was further divided over the issue of Tariff Reform following Joseph Chamberlain's resignation as Secretary of State for the Colonies and the increasing dominance of the pro-Unionist membership, which favoured Chamberlain and his tariff reform policies, contributed to the club's dissolution in 1909.[5] Amery would invite those Coefficients supporting reform to form a new club called "The Compatriots".[6]

Printed minutes of its meetings are held by the British Library of Political and Economic Science.

References

1. Bertrand Russell. The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell. p. 452. ISBN 0-415-10462-9.
2. Gollin, Alfred M. (1984). No Longer an Island: Britain and the Wright Brothers, 1902-1909. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 231. ISBN 978-0804712651.
3. "Archives Catalogue - Coefficients". LSE Library.
4. Bertrand Russell. Autobiography. p. 156. ISBN 0-415-22862-X.
5. Russell, Bertrand (1985). The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, Vol. 12: Contemplation and Action (1902-14). London: George Allen & Unwin. p. 452. ISBN 9780049200951.
6. Walter Nimocks (1970). Milner's young men: The "kindergarten" in Edwardian Imperial affairs. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 145. ISBN 0-340-12931-X.