SOURCE: "Laski and British Socialism," in History of Political Thought, Vol. II, No. 3, Winter, 1981, pp. 573-91.

In the following essay, Greenleaf examines the development of Laski's socialist ideas.

I

It is just over a quarter of a century now since Harold Laski died. His writings have since received a certain amount of attention, most of it critical, some of it downright pejorative. I confess that for a long while I shared this deprecatory attitude; but lately I have begun to wonder whether it is justified. The main difficulty which has been raised by commentators centres on the matter of consistency. It is pointed out how Laski, beginning as a libertarian pluralist, then seems to swing over to Fabian collectivism, and finally appears to come to rest in some form of Marxist position. And (it is urged or implied) ideological tergiversation of this kind is hardly compatible with a...