About 580 Fabian Tracts are now available online| for you to download for free (as pdf files) from the LSE Archives. The tracts date from 1884 to 1997 and cover a great number of topics. For example, the earlier tracts debate the nature of socialism, campaign for better working conditions (such as an eight-hour working day) and detail hopes for better living conditions through increased local government. Many of these early tracts were written by LSE founders George Bernard Shaw and Sidney Webb.
Among the many other notable authors included in the archive are Tony Benn, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, G D H Cole, Tony Crosland, R H S Crossman, Denis Healey, Harold Laski, Chris Smith, Richard Titmuss, Peter Townsend and Beatrice Webb. For a complete list of authors you can browse the index|.
The tracts also include biographies of famous progressives, such as John Stuart Mill|, Thomas Paine| and the Webbs|.
Also included in the archive are digitised versions of some of the earliest Fabian Society minute books|.
Further details on the Fabian Society Online Archive is available at www.lse.ac.uk/library/archive/online_resources/fabianarchive/home.aspx|