Harold Laski, the Reluctant Marxist

Peter Lamb now retired, was Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at Staffordshire University, UK. He is the author of many books, including Socialism (2019), The First Marx: A Philosophical Introduction, with co-author Douglas Burnham (2018), and Harold Laski: Problems of Democracy, the Sovereign State, and International Society (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).

“Indeed, one is struck reading Peter Lamb’s interesting and enlightening new book Harold Laski, the Reluctant Marxist: Socialist Democracy for a World in Turmoil by the sheer breadth and scope of Laski’s work and how, during the 1930s and 40s, he moved in a Marxist direction … . his book demonstrates how a scholar can be led to an ideological position by events, rather than temperament or desire. … Here Lamb provides a new way of seeing Laski historically.” (Matt Dawson, History of European Ideas, November 25, 2024)

• Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Continuity and Discontinuity in the Development of Laski’s Thought.- Chapter 3. Marxist Foundations.- Chapter 4. Intellectual and Socio-Political Aspects of Laski’s Marxism.- Chapter 5. Laski's Class Analysis of Capitalist Democracy.- Chapter 6. Laski on Democracy and Revolution in the Historical Trajectory.- Chapter 7. Laski on Liberty and Emancipation.- Chapter 8. Conclusion: Why Read Laski Today.