The Associations of Socialism

Abstract

Paul Hirst has long argued that the English pluralist tradition contains important lessons for both socialist theory and the British Labour Party.¹ With the publication of The Pluralist Theory of the State, an elegant and scholarly edition of writings drawn from three of the leading participants in this tradition — Cole, Figgis, Laski — Hirst has placed a capstone on this increasingly influential line of argument. The appearance of these hitherto out-of-print texts presents a suitable occasion on which to venture a preliminary assessment of what this tradition might have to offer.