Dilemmas of an Anti-Fascist (1935–9)

Abstract

The second half of the decade began with an event which caused Laski great sadness, although it was hardly unexpected: the death of Holmes. He had not seen the old man since April 1933 and was about to visit him again when he heard the news. The Judge had long ceased to influence Laski and had not been able to write to him for over two years. Yet Laski’s respect and affection for him never waned. Perhaps this was partly because his obvious importance to the old man, who was so highly regarded, also helped maintain his own self-esteem. In 1931, for example, he had attended his ninetieth birthday celebration when both the President and Chief Justice had broadcast special messages. Laski had reported to Frida:

While they spoke the tears rolled down the old man’s cheeks and he said to me ‘to have you here for this day is the completion of my happiness’. He said just a few words at the end so strongly and so bravely that it was difficult not to cry. Then I left him with the pledge to come back … Dearest he was really majestic.¹

He knew that Holmes was devoted to him and for Laski, who craved affection, this was extremely important. He was not therefore exag-gerating when he told Frankfurter that, with Holmes’s death, he felt that he had lost a limb: ‘I loved him and … he is a big part of the things in life that make me care for its continuance’.² It is also possible that his letters to Holmes had a therapeutic function for Laski himself: his attempt to maintain the old man’s spirits by con-centrating on the brighter side of life may have helped to maintain some optimism himself. If so, this was an outlet which he desperately needed during the 1940s.