SOURCE: "Harold J. Laski: A Preliminary Analysis," in Political Science Quarterly, Vol. LXV, No. 3, September, 1950, pp. 370-92.

In the following essay, Hawkins takes a critical look at Laski's Marxism, and the ways this ideology affected his interpretation of the world.

To all who are concerned with the scope and function of political authority the ideas of Harold Joseph Laski are of signal importance. Over the course of his lifetime Laski' s ideas reflected in many respects the strength and weakness both of those who strive to maintain liberty as the main end of democratic government, and of those who see in equality the fountainhead of democracy which is secured largely through state action. Beginning his public career as an extreme critic of the state, Laski had been for many years prior to his death an outstanding spokesman for collectivism. This vigorous personality was one of the most controversial...