HAROLD JOSEPH LASKI - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 04/06/1938 - HFSID 18062

HAROLD LASKI
He signs a typed 1938 letter, arranging to meet New Deal official Morris Cooke at the Cosmos Club.
Typed Letter signed: "Harold J. Laski", 1 page, 8x10½. Washington, D.C., 1938 April 6. On letterhead of the Committee on Public Lectures, George Washington University, to Morris Cooke, The Hay-Adams, Washington, D.C. In full: "If it is convenient to you I will come and see you at the Cosmos Club at 3:00 o'clock on Friday afternoon of this week. I am, Sincerely yours". 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. Morris Cooke (18772-1960), an efficiency expert and exponent of the "Taylor method" of scientific management, headed the Rural Electrification Administration in President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. The Cosmos Club is an elite Washington social club - membership by election - founded in 1878. Horizontal and vertical mailing folds not affecting signature. Adhesive residue (previous mounting) at upper corners. Lightly creased. Otherwise, fine condition.