Harold Laski's Indian students and the power of education, 1920–1950

This paper examines the experience of Indians studying at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) under Professor Harold Laski between 1920 and 1950. Focusing on a group of students who became important figures in Indian public life following graduation, I argue that the experience of LSE and Laski deepened these students' understanding of the dilemmas India faced in the decades before independence. In particular, pupils broadened their sense of India's challenges from a prior focus on attaining independence to an increasing emphasis on inequality and social problems.