Harold Laski's Socialism

Abstract

This essay, originally commissioned in 1958 or 1959 for a Fabian Society pamphlet but never published, offers unique insights into the influence of Laski on Miliband's thought. It reveals much about Miliband's own thinking in the late 1950s just as he was writing Parliamentary Socialism. Reading it today demonstrates, moreover, considerable parallels in many aspects of both their approaches to socialism over the course of their lives. In addition to so many of the themes and ideas in this essay having direct relevance for contemporary debates, the publication of Miliband's manuscript on Laski at this time contributes to the revival of interest in Laski occasioned by the two biographies published in 1993.