In his 1984 book The Rise and Decline of Western Liberalism, my friend Anthony Arblaster, who has died aged 84, sought to bring out some of the “darker and harsher aspects of liberalism”, and added that “the best of liberalism is too good to be left to the liberals” while suggesting that socialism is the surest way to change society for the better.
He lived by that commitment as a journalist on the leftwing Tribune newspaper in the 1960s, and then moved into university life as a lecturer, first in Manchester and then for 34 years in Sheffield.
Anthony was born in Bristol, to Richard, who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Ivy (nee Mockford), a housewife. He was educated at Christ’s Hospital school in Horsham, West Sussex, and did his national service as a private in the army before studying modern history at Balliol College, Oxford (1958-1961), which is where he and I met. I found his political, literary and musical passions incandescently inspirational.
Eager to pursue political theory, he did three years of postgraduate studies in philosophy at University College London (1961-64), during which time he wrote part-time for Tribune and stood unsuccessfully for Labour at the 1964 general election in the ultra-safe Tory constituency of Rye in Sussex.
From 1964 to 1968 he wrote full-time for Tribune, before going to the University of Manchester, where he worked for two years as a philosophy lecturer. Moving to Sheffield University in 1970, he lectured in politics there until his retirement in 2004, rising to be a senior lecturer in 1986 and a reader of politics in 1990.
While at Sheffield Anthony wrote his book on liberalism and, in 1987, his book Democracy, a staple of reading lists for politics students that has been translated into several languages.
Over the years he wrote and edited many other publications; in 1971 we co-edited an anthology of visions of a better world in The Good Society (1971), and in 1974 he wrote the book Academic Freedom, which reflected his campaigning against attempts to stifle dissent within academia. In addition he wrote a number of pamphlets, including one excoriating the Labour leadership for its support for the Falklands war.
He was also one of the group of British socialists (including Ralph Miliband and Raymond Williams) who founded the Socialist Society in 1981. Active in local Sheffield politics, he wrote for the Sheffield Free Press and campaigned against racism. For a number of years he volunteered every week at a food bank.
Anthony’s love of opera found voice in his ambitious book Viva la Libertà!: Politics in Opera, which ranges widely across operas since Mozart, exploring their engagement with “the great issues of politics”.
He was a gentle, decent man; a joy to be with, and politically non-sectarian. He is survived by his wife, Lynda Snowden, a teacher whom he married in 1982, their two sons, Alex and Jeremy, and three grandchildren.
