The Political Works of Harold Joseph Laski.

LASKI, Harold Joseph.

$3,000.00

Item Number: 90438

London, New York, New Haven: GeorAllen & Unwin Ltd.; Harper & Brothers; Yale University Press , 1919-1941.

Finely bound collection of the political works of English political theorist and economist Harold Laski. Octavos, 22 volumes, uniformly bound by Bayntun Riviere Bindery in three quarters morocco with gilt titles and raised bands to the spine, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Titles include Laski’s well-known An Introduction to Politics, The State in Theory and Practice, The American Democracy, The Dangers of Obedience & Other Essays, and Studies in Law and Politics. In fine condition.

English political theorist, economist, and professor Harold Joseph Laski served as the chairman of the British Labour Party from 1945 to 1946 and and was a professor at the London School of Economics from 1926 to 1950. Initially a promoter of pluralism, Laski shifted to a Marxist emphasis after 1930 which angered Labour leaders and came under attack by Winston Churchill in the 1945 general election. One of Britain's most influential intellectual spokesman for socialism in the interwar years, Laski's teachings greatly inspired many aspiring leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru. Laski was an inspiration for Ellsworth Toohey, the antagonist in Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead (1943). The posthumously published Journals of Ayn Rand, edited by David Harriman, include a detailed description of Rand attending a New York lecture by Laski, as part of gathering material for her novel, following which she changed the physical appearance of the fictional Toohey to fit that of the actual Laski.