Lee Kuan Yew's Fabian Phase

Abstract

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first Prime Minister and its current Senior Minister, was undoubtedly genuine in his belief in Fabian socialism in his university days, but there has been very little detailed attention paid to the later development and eventual abandonment of his socialist ideas, or his attitude to the welfare state. This article explores the conflicts and paradoxes in Lee's own accounts of his early socialism and argues that Lee never intended to build a welfare state in Singapore, Malaya or Malaysia, but that despite the apparent contradiction, he regarded himself genuinely as a socialist in the early years of the People's Action Party (PAP) government. The basis for this conclusion is four‐fold: a study of Lee's reminiscences of his ‘socialist youth’; a study of the politics of the major welfare issue facing the first PAP Government; a brief examination of the PAP's record during the period of Singapore's membership of Malaysia, and; a study of Lee's statements regarding socialism and welfarism at the time. The article also considers the relationship between Lee's socialism and British and Chinese socialism.