Harold Laski - Political Career

Political Career

Laski was involved in Labour party politics from the early 1920s. In 1923, he turned down the offer of a parliament seat and cabinet position by Ramsay MacDonald. In 1931 he left the Labour party after becoming disillusioned with party politics. In 1932, Laski joined the Socialist League. In 1937, he was involved in the failed attempt by the Independent Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain to form a Popular Front to bring down the Conservative government of Neville Chamberlain. During 1934–45 he served as an alderman in the Fulham Borough Council and also the chairman of the libraries committee. In 1937, he rejoined the Labour party and became a member of its National Executive Committee, of which he remained a member until 1949. Laski suffered a nervous breakdown during the World War II years, brought about by overwork. In 1944, he chaired the Labour party conference and served as the party's chair during 1945–46.

During the 1945 general elections Laski was involved in a libel trial which was used by the Conservative party to criticise Clement Attlee. While speaking against the Conservative candidate in Newark, Nottinghamshire on 16 June 1945, Laski said "If Labour did not obtain what it needed by general consent, we shall have to use violence even if it means revolution". He was replying to a question posed by a member of the audience, Wentworth Day. The next day accounts of Laski's speech appeared in the Newark Advertiser and other newspapers. The Conservatives seized this issue and criticised the Labour party for advocating violence. Laski's position as the member of Labour executive committee and a popular member of the LSE faculty meant the issue could do serious damage to Labour party's electoral chances. To mitigate the damage, Laski filed a libel suit against the Conservative Daily Express newspaper. Appearing for the defense, Patrick Hastings was able to convince the jury to throw out the case. The jury found for the defendant within forty minutes of deliberations and pronounced the Newark Advertiser's account to be a fair and accurate representation of Laski's speech. Laski met the cost of the case (about £13,000) through public donations.

Though Laski played a prominent role in Labour party winning the 1945 elections, he did not have any practical influence in the Labour government's decision-making process. Even before the Newark libel case Laski's relationship with Attlee was a strained one. Laski had once called Attlee "uninteresting and uninspired" in the American press and even tried to remove him by asking for Attlee's resignation in an open letter. He tried to delay the Potsdam Conference until after Attlee's position was clarified. He tried to bypass Attlee by directly dealing with Winston Churchill. When Laski began laying down guidelines for the new Labour government's foreign policy, Attlee rebuked him:

This rebuke together with the Newark libel case damaged Laski's reputation irreparably. Though he continued to work for the Labour party till the 1950 elections, he never regained his earlier influence.