Rainbow Circle
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The Rainbow Circle was a political group consisting of Liberals,
Fabians The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fab ...
and
socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...
who first began to meet in 1893 in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
to consider if it was possible to resolve the relationship between the various progressive forces they represented to advance the cause of political, industrial and social reform in a consistent and coherent programme. In 1894, they were meeting regularly at the Rainbow Tavern in
Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...
from which the group took its name. However, in 1896, it moved its gatherings to a member's house in
Bloomsbury Square Bloomsbury Square is a garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London. Developed in the late 17th century, it was initially known as Southampton Square and was one of the earliest London squares. By the early 19th century, Be ...
but retained the name Rainbow Circle. According to one source, the group continued to meet until 1931. but the archives at the British Library of Political and Economic Science indicate there are papers going as late as 1966. The circle's heydey however was the early years, before the formation of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900 and that organisation's journey to become the Labour Party. Amongst the leading figures in the group were Charles Trevelyan,
Herbert Samuel Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, (6 November 1870 – 5 February 1963) was a British Liberal politician who was the party leader from 1931 to 1935. He was the first nominally-practising Jew to serve as a Cabinet minister and to beco ...
,
J. A. Hobson John Atkinson Hobson (6 July 1858 – 1 April 1940) was an English economist and social scientist. Hobson is best known for his writing on imperialism, which influenced Vladimir Lenin, and his theory of underconsumption. His principal and ea ...
James Hobson – Liberal Thinkers – Liberalism
and
Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rainbow Circle Political advocacy groups in England Organizations established in 1893