Croydon & Sutton

We are very sorry to report the sad passing of our Local Society Chair Phil Robinson. Our condolences to his partner Alison and the rest of his family. 

Phil was active in Fabianism and the Labour, Co-operative & Trade Union Movement and a short memorial text is below:

Chair of Croydon and Sutton Fabians. Former Sutton & Cheam CLP Fundraising Officer and Chair of Sutton Branch. Secretary of Unite South West London Community Branch. Unite Trade Union Representative to the CLP EC and member of the Sutton Borough Labour LCF. Member of the Co-op Party. Active member of Sutton & Cheam CLP and Wimbledon CLP, being a very energetic fundraiser for both along with his partner Alison who has also held CLP roles. Former Chair of the Sutton Civic Society. He often attended Council and Committee meetings to ask public questions. In his trade union work he helped raise funds for a school in Rugando, Uganda and his name is permanently commemorated there. Phil was a highly respected history teacher in Surrey with a strong reputation for pastoral support for pupils who fondly recall the support he gave them.

We are the Croydon & Sutton Local Society of the Fabian Society - a left-leaning think tank dedicated to new public policy and political ideas.

We are also a membership movement - with over 7000 members nationally and 150 members locally - who are active throughout Britain and open to everyone on the left.

We are a democratically governed socialist society, a Labour Party affiliate and one of the party’s original founders. 

As well as the national society and us as a local society, members under the age of 31 can be involved with the Young Fabians who have a Greater London Group and there is also a Fabian Women's Network too. There are also member policy groups for those with experience, expertise or an interest in a specific policy area. You can read all about the activity of the society in its annual reports. and in our quarterly magazine Fabian Review.

We champion and celebrate Fabianism, the belief that radical long-term goals are best advanced through empirical, practical, gradual reform. Fabians have produced hundreds of very influential publications impacting on Government policies over the last 140 years with more recent ones published here & those published before 2000 online here.

We don’t have organisational policy views and instead embrace debate and difference.

Locally we hold regular meetings and discuss issues and also recommend books or pamphlets to read. On other pages you can read about our local activity and find out more about our local team of officers.

Examples of the quality of Fabian discussion are posted in the videos below