Britain’s 141-year old socialist think tank the Fabian Society outlines how the English government can “upscale the circular economy” — the inspiration behind the “Own Nothing; Be Happy” phrase.
With a heavy emphasis on reducing unnecessary waste through various means such as recycling and increasing product durability, the Fabian Society report from August, “Repair, Reuse, Recycle: Making the Circular Economy in England Work at Scale,” is a blueprint for how the government could upscale the circular economy in three sectors: construction, automotives, and food and drink.
The report; however, leaves little mention that circular economy business models do not favor individual ownership of private property, but rather operate on Product as a Service models, where manufacturers maintain ownership of their products that they rent out, so that individuals don’t own anything.
“A circular economy is a system where materials are kept in use for as long as possible. This can be done in a number of ways, including sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling”
Fabian Society; “Repair, Reuse, Recycle: Making the Circular Economy in England Work at Scale;” August 2025
Written by Fabian Society senior researcher Eloise Sacares and sponsored by Allianz, the report makes the case that designing products to make them more durable is a benefit to “consumers,” but perhaps not for the reasons one might intuitively think.
According to Sacares, “Designing products to make them more durable saves consumers money and stress by saving them from ‘buying twice’ because of poor quality, easily breakable items.”
Sounds great right? This implies ownership.
But there’s also flip side to designing durable products as the very next sentence in the report demonstrates how quickly the meaning of “consumers” can move from owners to renters:
“The development of sharing platforms for tools, clothes and other items can also benefit consumers by allowing them to borrow products for a short time at a lower cost, instead of buying new.”
This is what the end goal of the circular economy is all about — borrowing everything at a cost, which is a very roundabout way of saying, “You’ll Own Nothing.”
“This also made the breakthrough of the circular economy easier. When products are turned into services, no one has an interest in things with a short life span”
WEF Young Global Leader Ida Auken, “Welcome To 2030: I Own Nothing, Have No Privacy And Life Has Never Been Better,” November 2016
“While recycling is relatively well-established in England, other key features of the circular economy such as more durable design, repurposing products, and sharing products are less common”
Fabian Society; “Repair, Reuse, Recycle: Making the Circular Economy in England Work at Scale;” August 2025
Being roundabout is one of the principle ways in which the Fabian Society operates.
It is not an organization based on radical revolution, but rather a slow evolution that slices away at the foundations of society like a million tiny cuts.
In fact the Fabian Society’s crest was originally a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but that was abandoned after too many people caught wind of the socialist think tank’s true intentions.
Later, the crest became a turtle to illustrate the slow and mundane march towards communism through tiny reforms.
As far as influence goes, the Fabians setup the London School of Economics (LSE) and the New Statesman magazine, and they helped found the Labour party in 1900.
All of the Fabian Society archives are housed at the LSE.
“The Fabians are associated for the purpose of spreading the following opinions held by them, and discussing their practical consequences […]
Fabian Society Member George Bernard Shaw, Tracts Number 2: A Manifesto, 1884
“That the practice of entrusting the Land of the nation to private persons in the hope that they will make the best of it has been discredited by the consistency with which they have made the worst of it; and that the Nationalization of the Land in some form is a public duty.
“That the pretentions of Capitalism to encourage Invention, and to distribute its benefits in the fairest way attainable, have been discredited by the experience of the nineteenth century […]
“That the State should compete with private individuals — especially with parents — in providing happy homes for children, so that every child may have a refuge from the tyranny or neglect of its natural custodians”
The Fabian Society credits two of its founding members, Beatrice and Sidney Webb, of being the most significant in the group’s methodology as they were instrumental in establishing the New Statesmen magazine and the LSE.
In its history section, the Fabian website states that the LSE was born out of a £20,000 bequest that would serve as “propaganda and other purposes” for the Fabian Society, with the Webbs and Nobel Prize in Literature awardee George Bernard Shaw being in charge of using those funds.
Shaw believed that there was “an extraordinary amount of people” who were useless to society and that every five to seven years, you should be taken before the State to explain why you shouldn’t be killed for, among many things, “not producing as much as you consume.”
“I don’t want to punish anybody, but there are an extraordinary number of people whom I want to kill […]
George Bernard Shaw, Newsreel, 1931
“I think it would be a good thing to make everybody come before a properly appointed board […] and say every five years or every seven years […] and say:
“‘Sir or madame, now will you be kind enough to justify your existence? If you cannot justify your existence; if you’re not pulling your weight […] if you’re not producing as much as you consume, or perhaps a little more, then clearly we cannot use the organization of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive'”
Socialist to its core, the Fabian Society Manifesto of 1884, written by Shaw, says that capitalism is a failure, that individual’s shouldn’t own property, that the State should compete with parents in raising their kids, and that prison and workhouse labor is a good thing.
Over 140 years later, and the Fabians are advocating for the elimination of ownership through agendas like the circular economy.
“Young people are not crazy about owning things. They want to share things. They want to benefit from the services”
Dr. Anders Wijkman, Club of Rome, July 2015
According to the Circularity Gap Report 2023, the circular economy is about “moving away from ownership and accumulation” in favor of models that “distribute resources more equally.”
As such, circular economy business models risk creating a neofeudalistic, technocratic serfdom out of the ashes of the middle class, who like peasants and serfs, wouldn’t be able to buy things like houses, cars, and appliances, but rather lease them from their futuristic lords and vassals who would digitally track and trace every product they provided as a service.
“In circular economy business models, I would like products to come back to me as the original designer and manufacturer, and once you get your head around that notion, why would I actually sell you the product if you are primarily interested in the benefit of the product?
Royal Philips Electronics CEO Frans Van Houten, World Economic Forum, 2016
“Maybe I can stay the owner of the product and just sell you the benefit as a service”
“Reducing waste and promoting a more circular economy would deliver significant benefits, including cutting emissions and helping deliver on the government’s net zero targets; improving resource security; producing higher quality products for consumers; and creating more jobs“
Fabian Society; “Repair, Reuse, Recycle: Making the Circular Economy in England Work at Scale;” August 2025
In keeping with its tradition of waiting patiently in disguise for its agendas to materialize and to pounce, the latest Fabian Society report lays out “practical steps to reduce unnecessary waste and upscale the circular economy,” which can occur over any given length of time.
There is little sense of urgency in the report, which stands in contrast with the messaging coming from groups like the Malthusian Club of Rome and the stakeholder capitalist and great reset architect World Economic Forum (WEF).
Instead, the Fabians prefer to lull their opposition into complacency with wearisome word salads until they feel the time is right to strike hard, just as the Roman general Quintus Fabius did, and who’s namesake was adopted by the society.
Such is the slow sleepwalk towards the “Own Nothing, Be Happy” circular economy agenda.
How long until the wolf sheds its sheepskin to show the sharpness of its incisors?
Image Source: AI generated with Grok
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