HAROLD JOSEPH LASKI - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 08/17/1937 - HFSID 153825

HAROLD LASKI
He signed this handwritten 1937 letter, declining an un-named commitment because he needed all his spare time to finish a book.
Autograph Letter signed: "Harold J. Laski", 1 page, 5½x7 Manor Cottage, Little Bardfield, Braintree, Essex (England), 1937 August 17. On personal letterhead to "Dear Miss Smith", in full: "It will have, I fear, to be at a later time. I am in the middle of a book which, if I possibly can, I want to finish before the end of the year. I shall need all my spare time to do this. Yours very truly". Harold Joseph Laski (1893-1950) was an influential British political theorist, author and lecturer who taught at the London School of Economics for three decades (1920-1950), while also teaching for short periods at several US universities. A leader of the Fabian Society and of the Left Book Club, Laski was a Marxist who tried to reconcile that ideology with his commitment to civil liberties and representative government. Active in the Labour Party in the 1920s and again in the 1940s, he spent the intervening years trying to form new political movements of a more radical bent. He declined invitations to run for office or serve in government, but was Chairman of the Labour Party in 1945-1946 until roundly criticized by Labour Prime Minister Harold Atlee for meddling in foreign policy. An early advocate of Indian independence, Laski's thought greatly influenced that nation's leaders, many of whom had been his students at the LSE. Laski did not meet his goal of finishing his book by the end of the year. His next book-length publication after he signed this letter was The American Presidency (1940). Horizontal fold passing at the top edge of signature. Lightly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.