Ralph Miliband
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Ralph Miliband (January 7, 1924 - May 21, 1994), was a notable political theorist.
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[edit] Early life and family
As Adolphe Miliband, he was born in Brussels of Polish-Jewish emigré parents. Both his parents lived in the Jewish quarter of Warsaw, before his father, Samuel Miliband, joined the invading Red Army in the Polish-Soviet War. [1] [2]
The young Miliband was forced to relocate from Belgium in 1940 as Hitler's army moved westwards through the country and he managed to catch a boat for London at Ostend. Once in England he changed his name to Ralph.
[edit] Studies in England
While a student at Acton Technical College (now Brunel University) in West London, he became an active Marxist and in 1941 was awarded a place at the London School of Economics, where he studied under Harold Laski. After three year's service in the Royal Navy during wartime, Miliband then resumed his studies at the LSE and graduated with a First in 1947. After obtaining a Leverhulme research scholarship to continue studies at the LSE, Professor Laski arranged for Miliband to teach at the Roosevelt College in Chicago. In 1949 he was offered the post of an Assistant Lectureship in Political Science back at the LSE.
[edit] New Left
Though still a Marxist theoretician, Miliband was on the critical New Left during the 1950s, alongside the likes of E.P. Thompson and John Saville, with whom he launched the New Reasoner and the New Left Review. He also set up the Socialist Register and was a friend of the American sociologist C. Wright Mills. He left the LSE in 1972 to take up the post of Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds and subsequently held several posts in Canada and the US.
[edit] Miliband's sons
After Ralph Miliband's death in 1994, his son David Miliband was elected Labour MP for South Shields in 2001. He now serves in the cabinet as Environment Secretary. Ralph's second son, Ed Miliband, was elected a Labour MP for the Doncaster North seat in 2005, now serving as Minister for the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office.
[edit] See also
[edit] Key works
- Socialism for a Sceptical Age (1994)
- Divided Societies: Class Struggle in Contemporary Capitalism (1989)
- Class Power and State Power (1983)
- Capitalist Democracy in Britain (1982)
- Marxism and Politics (1977). ISBN 0-85036-531-7.
- The State in Capitalist Society (1969)
- Parliamentary Socialism: A Study of the Politics of Labour (1961). ISBN 0-85036-135-4.
[edit] Studies
Michael Newman, Ralph Miliband and the Politics of the New Left (Merlin Press, 2002)
