It is true that nationality is born of a common historic tradition, of achievement and suffering mutually shared; it is true, also, that language and race, and even a common political allegiance, have played their part in its formation.
Laski acknowledges the complex historical and cultural factors that contribute to the formation of nationality.
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We grant it in religion to deny it in politics; we grant it in politics, to deny it in economic matters.
The intolerance may be Catholic, when it insists that a unity of outlook is essential for the preservation of society; or it may be Protestant when, as with Calvin and the Socinians, it holds that the blasphemous nature of the belief…
Each age finds that the incidence of freedom is significant at some special point, and there, once more, the lesson of freedom has to be learned.
He is able, accordingly, to indulge in the twofold luxury not only of preserving his own authority, but also of assisting the persons attacked to enter, if they so choose, the way of truth.
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