Introduction
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Notes The following abbreviations have been used for the location of collections of archives: Bodleian Library Oxford = BLO British Library of Political and Economic Science at the London School of Economics = LSE Felix Frankfurter Papers at Library of Congress = FFP (All references are in the Frankfurter-Laski correspondence unless otherwise indicated) Franklin D. Roosevelt Library = FOR University of Hull, Laski correspondence, 1973 Collection= H 1973 University of Hull, Laski papers, Eastwood Collection = HE University of Hull, Correspondence between Frida and Harold Laski= FHL International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam = IISH Labour Party Archives = LP Papers (other than those of Felix Frankfurter) held at Library of Congress = LC Public Record Office = PRO Rockefeller Archive Center = RAC University of Illinois = UI Yale University Library= YUL All letters cited are from Laski unless otherwise stated. Works by Laski are cited without the author's name. INTRODUCTION Notes to pp. x-xii 1. Norman Palmer, quoted in G. Eastwood, Harold Laski (Mowbrays, 1977) p. 94 (hereafter Eastwood, Laski). 2. Max Beloff, The Age of Laski', The Fortnightly, CLXVII, June 1950. 3. Kingsley Martin, Harold Laski (Gollancz, 1953) (hereafter Martin, Laski); Mark DeWolfe Howe (ed.) Haimes-Laski Letters: The Correspondence of Mr Justice Holmes and Harold f. Laski 1916-1935,2 vols (Harvard Univer sity Press, 1953) (hereafter Haimes-Laski). 4. H. A. Deane, The Political Ideas of Harold f. Laski (Columbia University Press, 1955) (hereafter Deane, Laski). 5. Punch, 16 September 1953. 6. H. L. Beales, 'The Professor-Politician', Leader, 30 June 1945. 7. Quoted in Eastwood, Laski, p. 133. 8. 8 December 1921 in Haimes-Laski, I, pp. 386--7 (hereafter all Laski's letters to Holmes from these volumes are cited as follows: date, volume number, page. For example, 8 December 1921, I, pp. 386--7). 9. George Catlin in American Political Science Review, September 1953, p. 860. 375 376 Notes to pp. xii-3 10. Martin Gilbert, Winston Churchill, vol. IV (Heinemann, 1975), p. 675. 11. N. and J. MacKenzie (eds), The Dian; of Beatrice Webb, vol. 4 (Virago/ LSE, 1985) 22 January 1931, p. 235. 12. 22 April1952, FFP, Container 151. 13. 15 August 1952, Kingsley Martin papers, General Correspondence, Box 12/1, University of Sussex. 14. Laski to Joe Kennedy, 12 August 1940, H 1973. 15. Kenneth 0. Morgan Labour People (Oxford University Press, 1987) p. 98. 16. 'The Words Came too Easily', New York Times Magazine, 17 May 1953. 17. Deane, Laski, p. 333. 18. New York Times, 25 July 1955. 19. The 'Harold Laski Institute of Political Science' was established in Ahmedabad and published the Laski Institute Review. Several articles and memorial lectures on Laski have been delivered in India as well as two books, G. N. Sarma, The Political Thought of Harold J. Laski (Orient Longmans, 1965), and R. C. Gupta, Harold Laski: A Critical Analysis of his Political Ideas (Ram Prasad and Sons) 1966. Some of the work- particu larly Sarma's book- is critical of Laski. But even in 1989 in India it was possible to publish a book (by A. Bhattacharjee) entitled History of Political Thought from Plato to Laski (Ashish). 20. The full references for the sources cited (unless already mentioned) are as follows: M. Peretz, 'Laski Redivivus', Journal of Contemporary His tory, 1 (2) 1966; B. Zylstra, From Pluralism to Collectivism: the Develop ment of Harold Laski's Political Thought (van Gorcum, 1968) (hereafter Zylstra, From Pluralism); D. Nicholls The Pluralist State (Macmillan, 1975) (hereafter, Nicholls, Pluralist State); P. Hirst, The Pluralist Theory of the State, (Routledge, 1989) (hereafter, Hirst, Pluralist Theory); C. Palazzola, La Liberta alia Prova - Stato e societa in Laski (ETS, 1979) (hereafter Palazzola, La Liberta); W. H. Greenleaf, 'Laski and British Socialism' History of Political Thought, 2 (3) Winter 1981; Kingsley Martin, Harold Laski (Cape, 1969). (The references used here are to the 1953 edition cited in note 3). In 1974, G. Feaver also wrote a critical, but stimulating paper, 'Intellectuals and Politics: Harold Laski Revisited': delivered at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, University of Toronto, 3-6 June, in Proceedings of the An nual Meetings of the CPSA (mimeo), republished in a shorter form as 'Intellectuals and Politics: The Moral of Harold Laski,' The Lugano Review, 2, 1975. 21. H. N. Brailsford to Frida Laski, 26 March 1950, H 1973. 22. Joan Abse (ed.), My LSE (Robson, 1977) p. 151. CHAPTER ONE 1. H. Laski, Communism (Williams and Northgate, 1927) [hereafter Com munism] p 79. 2. I am grateful to Bill Williams (author of The Making of Manchester Jewry, 1740-1875 (Manchester University Press, 1985) for this, and for much of the information on the Laski family. 3. Laski told Holmes that his father 'worshipped Gladstone'. 17 February 1925, I, 713. Notes to pp. 3-15 377 4. I am grateful to Ian Bailey for this information and that concerning Harold Laski at Manchester Grammar School. 5. Sarah Laski, Some Impressions of a Trip to India (J. Cornish, Manchester, 1905). 6. Summary of taped interview J28, Manchester Jewish Museum. 7. Obituary of Nathan Laski, Manchester Guardian, 21 October 1941. 8. For Sarah Laski's obituary, see Manchester Guardian, 24 February 1945. (When Nathan died, Churchill wrote to Harold: 'He was a man whose heart overflowed with human feeling and whose energies were tire lessly used for other people and large causes. I feel I have lost a friend .. .'.Quoted in Martin, Laski, p. 12.) 9. Stella Jacobs, summary of taped interview 128, Manchester Jewish Museum. 10. Martin, Laski, p. 12. 11. Laski's first book, 'The Chosen People' was never published. I am very grateful to his grandson, Andrew Mathewson, for lending it to me. 12. Information supplied by Ian Bailey. 13. Reference of 17 July 1914, File 3 AJ/33 Laski Papers, Anglo-Jewish Archives, University of Southampton. 14. Letter to Frida, 2 November 1911, FHL. 15. Letter to Frida, 9 October 1911, FHL. 16. See Chapter 2. 17. This is evident from the correspondence between the two in the Uni versity of Hull archives. 18. 'The Memoirs of Frida Laski' (unpublished MS) p. 20. I am grateful to Andrew Mathewson for lending this manuscript to me. (It is worth noting that Frida Laski was ninety-two when the memoirs were writ ten and that she talked about her life to someone else- Sheila Roberts -who transcribed the text. The style is different from Frida's.). 19. Letter to Frida, undated (between January and June 1911) FHL. 20. Letter to Frida, undated (also between January and June 1911) FHL. 21. Letter to Frida, 9 October 1911, FHL. 22. Letter to Frida, 1 August 1910, FHL. 23. Letter to Frida, undated (probably between March and June 1911), FHL. 24. Letter to Frida, undated (also between March and June 1911), FHL. 25. 'The Chosen People', p. 71. 26. Frida Laski, 'Memoirs', p. 33. 27. Letter to Frida, 15 November 1911, FHL. 28. 'The Chosen People', p. 87 (also quoted in Eastwood, Laski, pp. 7-8. 29. 'The Chosen People', pp. 88-9. 30. Letter to Frida, 17 August 1945, FHL. 31. Frida to Ben Huebsch (undated, 1916?), Huebsch papers, container 16, LC. 32. The Chosen People', pp. 69-70. 33. Ibid., p. 56. 34. Psalm 118, verse 9. (Paton, his head teacher, noted: 'He has no fear of any amount of titles and rank'. Letter to Crammer(?), 14 July 1920, H 1973.) 35. Letter to Frida, undated 1911, FHL. 36. This was Laski's favourite phrase which he attributed to Heine and quoted throughout his life. 378 Notes to pp. 16-25 CHAPTER TWO 1. 'Harold J. Laski' in C. Fadiman (ed.), I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Twenty Three Eminent Men and Women of Our Time (Allen and Unwin, 1940) (hereafter I Believe) p. 163. 2. Letter to Frida, 28 March 1910, FHL. 3. Ibid. 4. Michael Freeden, 'Eugenics and Progressive Thought: A Study in Ideo logical Affinity', The Historical Journal (hereafter 'Eugenics') 22 (3) 1979. 5. Greta Jones, Social Danvinism and English Thought (Harvester Press, 1980) p. 99. 6. Ibid., p. 112. 7. Freeden, 'Eugenics', p. 658. 8. Frida Laski, 'Memoirs', p. 16. 9. 'The Scope of Eugenics', Westminster Review, July 1910 (hereafter 'Scope of Eugenics'). 10. Ibid., p. 32. 11. Ibid., p. 34. 12. Ibid., p. 34. 13. Karl Pearson, Life and Letters of Francis Galton, val. III, B, pp. 606-9, quoted in Martin, Laski, p. 16. 14. Letters to Frida, 30 October 1911, and (undated) March/ April 1912, FHL. 15. Minutes of Oxford University Fabian Society, Mss. Top Oxon d. 465, BLO. 16. Ethel M. Elderton et a!., On the Correlation of Fertility with Social Value (Cambridge University Press, 1913). 17. H. A. L. Fisher to Laski, 13 December 1910, in Laski Carr. 1, IISH. 18. Minutes of Meetings of Warden and Tutors, 6 February 1912, Modern Archive 308, New College, Oxford. 19. Letter to Frida, 18 October 1911, FHL. 20. Minutes of Meetings of Warden and Tutors, 10 July 1912. 21. Minutes of Meetings of Warden and Tutors, 9 December 1912. 22. Letter to Frida, undated (March-June) 1911, FHL. 23. 'Scope of Eugenics', p. 34. 24. Ulula (Manchester Grammar School Magazine), Autumn Term 1910. 25. The Beit Prize, January 1914. (The essay does not appear to have been retained, but I am grateful to the Oxford University Archivist for tracing the title.) 26. Martin, Laski, p. 18. 27. Ernest Barker, Age and Youth (Oxford University Press, 1953) (hereafter Barker, Age and Youth) pp. 74-{;. 28. Frida Laski, 'Memoirs', pp. 22-5. 29. Oxford Review, 9 November 1912. 30. Isis, 9 November 1912. 31. Oxford Review, 25 October 1913.