Título: George Bernard Shaw
Seção: Political awakening: Marxism, socialism, Fabian Society
Background: George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 - 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist, and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1912) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Conteúdo: On 5 September 1882 Shaw attended a meeting at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon, addressed by the political economist Henry George. Shaw then read George's book Progress and Poverty, which awakened his interest in economics. He began attending meetings of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), where he discovered the writings of Karl Marx, and thereafter spent much of 1883 reading Das Kapital. He was not impressed by the SDF's founder, H. M. Hyndman, whom he found autocratic, ill-tempered and lacking leadership qualities. Shaw doubted the ability of the SDF to harness the working classes into an effective radical movement and did not join it--he preferred, he said, to work with his intellectual equals.  After reading a tract, Why Are The Many Poor?, issued by the recently formed Fabian Society, Shaw went to the society's next advertised meeting, on 16 May 1884. He became a member in September, and before the year's end had provided the society with its first manifesto, published as Fabian Tract No. 2. He joined the society's executive committee in January 1885, and later that year recruited Webb and also Annie Besant, a fine orator.  From 1885 to 1889 Shaw attended the fortnightly meetings of the British Economic Association; it was, Holroyd observes, "the closest Shaw had ever come to university education." This experience changed his political ideas; he moved away from Marxism and became an apostle of gradualism. When in 1886-87 the Fabians debated whether to embrace anarchis

user: What were Shaw's first political activities?

assistant: He began attending meetings of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF),

user: Was he an active member?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: Is there any additional information about his time with the SDF?

assistant: Shaw doubted the ability of the SDF to harness the working classes into an effective radical movement and did not join it

user: What did he get involved with next?

assistant: Fabian Society, Shaw went to the society's next advertised meeting, on 16 May 1884. He became a member

user: How did he involve himself in it?

assistant: He joined the society's executive committee

user: What did he do as a member of the committee?

assistant: provided the society with its first manifesto,

user: is there information about the manifesto?

assistant: published as Fabian Tract No. 2.

user: When did he come to believe in Marxism?

assistant: He began attending meetings of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), where he discovered the writings of Karl Marx,

user: what was his attitude on socialism?

assistant: he largely accepted the principle of "permeation" as advocated by Webb: the notion whereby socialism could best be achieved by infiltration of people and ideas into existing political parties.