Harold Laski
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Harold Joseph Laski (June 30, 1893, Manchester, England - March 24, 1950, London, England) was an English political scientist, economist, author, and lecturer, and served as the 1945-1946 chairman of the Labour Party.
A graduate of Oxford, Laski was a member of the executive committee of the Fabian Society, and served as a professor at the London School of Economics. Some of his more famous books include Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time (which was dedicated to Edward R. Murrow as mentioned in the feature film Good Night, and Good Luck) and The American Democracy. He was active on the American university lecture circuit. His remarkable 19 year friendship with Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, begun when he was 23 and Holmes was 75, is reflected in two volumes of correspondence, published in 1953.
Ayn Rand once saw a speech of Laski's with a friend, and afterwards decided to use his image in forming the character of Ellsworth Toohey, the major antagonist of her novel The Fountainhead.
Selected bibliography
- Studies in the Problem of Sovereignty, 1917
- Authority in the Modern State, 1919, ISBN 1584772751
- Political Thought in England from Locke to Bentham, 1920
- Karl Marx, 1921
- Communism, 1927
- Liberty in the Modern State, 1930
- Democracy in Crisis, 1933
- The American Presidency, 1940
- Reflections On the Revolution of our Time , 1943
- Faith, Reason, and Civilisation, 1944
- The American Democracy, 1948