A ‘seedbed’ for post-colonial leaders

This thesis explores the transition between an imperial and post-colonial world by assessing the intellectual and political education of post-colonial leaders from India, as well as Africa, the West Indies and Canada, who studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science [LSE]. The period under scrutiny, from the end of World War I to the early 1950s, witnessed an increasing number of students from British colonies studying in UK universities, with LSE in particular becoming one of the most diverse in the country. At the same time, a number of factors combined to make LSE a fruitful place to examine the larger themes of higher education’s place in late imperial history, the intellectual background of post-colonial leaders and the role of internationalism in nationalist movements. This includes the expansion of LSE’s faculty to include the Marxist Professor of Political Science Harold Laski [1926-50], who developed close relationships with colonial students, the School’s leading role in the research and teaching of the social sciences and its location in central London, which positioned it within walking distance of myriad organisations that offered students the opportunity to network with co-nationals and peers from other colonies while actively engaging in contemporary debates. The overarching argument is that the classes and political experiences overseas students at LSE were offered promoted graduates inclined towards particular varieties of internationalism, socialism and a belief in the power of the social sciences to transform society by facilitating expert advising and planning. In doing so, LSE was both highly progressive but also less radical than previously thought, demonstrating consistency with nineteenth and early twentieth century notions of the imperial ‘civilising mission’ and reformed liberalism.