A Fabian Intellectual? (1920–5)

Abstract

The first five years after Laski’s return to Britain were highly satisfying for him. This was partly because it was a period of personal happiness and outstanding achievement, but also because he genuinely believed that his academic work, public service, and political role were important and mutually reinforcing. By 1925 it seemed that he had become a Fabian intellectual, who was critical of the British system, but confident about the way it could be changed and the contribution that he could make. In fact, this harmony between thought and action was a temporary phase, which would gradually be undermined in subsequent years. Nevertheless, it was a crucially important stage in his life when he wrote his most influential book, A Grammar of Politics (hereafter Grammar). And this work reflected the integration that he had achieved between the different aspects of his activities.