LASKI, HAROLD J(OSEPH)

born June 30, 1893, Manchester, Eng. died March 24, 1950, London British political scientist, educator, and prominent member of the British Labour Party who turned to Marxism in his effort to interpret the crisis in democracy in Britain in the 1930s. Laski was educated at New College, Oxford, and left England to teach at McGill University, Montreal, from 1914 to 1916. He then obtained a post at Harvard University, where he taught from 1916 to 1920, and during this period he wrote Authority in the Modern State (1919) and The Foundations of Sovereignty, and Other Essays (1921). In these works he attacked the notion of an all-powerful sovereign state, arguing instead for political pluralism. In his Grammar of Politics (1925), however, he defended the opposite position and came to see the state as the fundamental instrument of society. After his return to England in 1920, Laski became an active worker for the Labour Party in the election campaign of 1923. In 1926 he accepted a position at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he taught political science until his death. His doubts about the eventual implementation of reform by the ruling class led him to embrace Marxism during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In The State in Theory and Practice (1935), The Rise of European Liberalism: An Essay in Interpretation (1936), and Parliamentary Government in England: A Commentary (1938), Laski argued that economic difficulties of the capitalist system might lead to the destruction of political democracy. He came to view socialism as the only available and possible alternative to the rising menace of fascism. During World War II, Laski lectured throughout England and served as assistant to Clement Attlee, deputy prime minister to Winston Churchill. In Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time (1943) and Faith, Reason, and Civilization: An Essay in Historical Analysis (1944) he again called for broad economic reforms. In 1945 he was chosen chairman of his party and felt that his cause was at least partially vindicated by Labour's electoral triumph that year. Among his many other works are The American Presidency: An Interpretation (1940) and the lengthy and controversial The American Democracy: A Commentary and Interpretation (1948).