Auction 80 Part 1 Jewish and Israeli History, Culture and Art
Jun 29, 2021
8 Ramban St, Jerusalem., Israel

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LOT 227:

Harold Laski – Collection of Handwritten Drafts – Lengthy Pro-Zionist Article, with a Plan to Establish a Jewish ...

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Harold Laski – Collection of Handwritten Drafts – Lengthy Pro-Zionist Article, with a Plan to Establish a Jewish State – 1940s
Collection of signed autograph drafts by economist and political theorist Harold Laski, chairman of the British Labour Party after World War II. [England, ca. 1940s]. English.
Harold Joseph Laski (1893-1950), a political theorist economist, was considered one of the most extreme politicians of the English left, supporting Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union almost unequivocally, even implicitly calling for the use of violence if the Labour Party did not win the elections. Several important leaders warned against him after the War - Winston Churchill claimed that if the Labour won the elections, Laski will be "the power behind the throne"; John F. Kennedy wrote that "It's that spirit which builds dictatorships, as has been shown in Russia"; and Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Sharett wrote (in a letter) that Laski "knows no pity and nothing is sacred to him. He destroys but does not build anew. He is no socialist, no Jewish nationalist; just a plain Jew whose Jewish bitterness is spilling over". Laski's name appeared in Orwell's List – a list communist sympathisers compiled by George Orwell before his death.
This is a collection of drafts of articles by Laski:
1. Draft of the article "Palestine, the economic aspect". A pro-Zionist analysis of the economic development of Palestine in the years of the British Mandate, with a 17-steps plan for establishing a Jewish State in the spirit of Socialism: the establishment of labor unions, the establishment of collective settlements, the establishment of cooperatives for marketing products and more.
16 handwritten pages. Hand-signed by Laski on the last page.
The article was published in the book Palestine's Economic Future, edited by J.B. Hobman (London: Percy Lund Humphries, 1946).
2-15. London Letter, fourteen drafts of opinion pieces for the Scottish journal of the Labour Party, Forward, on a variety of subjects.
2-4 handwritten pages per draft, most of them hand-signed by Laski on the last page. Two of them are, presumably, incomplete.
Enclosed: • A letter to the readers of the "Davar" newspaper – greetings for the May 1st, the International Workers' Day (presumably, of 1945, the eve of Nazi Germany's surrender). One typewritten page, with handwritten additions and corrections, unsigned. • An autograph eulogy for Harold Laski. Written, presumably, by a leader or a member of the Zionist Movement. 7 pp.
Good condition. Stains. Some creases. Small tears to edges. Fold lines and minor blemishes.
Provenance: The Molad Archive.

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