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…Regular vistors to this blog have seen that an economics course on socialist thought and movements was a regular part of the curriculum at Harvard during the first half of the twentieth century. Up to this posting I have included material from the following courses: Thomas Nixon Carver’s SINGLE TAX, SOCIALISM, ANARCHISM (1919-20), Edward Mason and Paul Sweezy’s ECONOMICS OF SOCIALISM (1938), and Paul Sweezy’s ECONOMICS OF SOCIALISM (1940).
This course became part of Joseph Schumpeter’s teaching portfolio in the 1940s. His course outline and exam for the winter semester of 1943-44 has been posted as well.
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[Course Announcement]
Economics 11b. Economics of Socialism
Half-course (spring term). Mon., Wed., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 10. Professor Schumpeter.
Source: Announcement of the Courses of Instruction Offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences During 1945-46. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. 42, No. 8 (March 31, 1945), p. 36.
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[Enrollment]
[Economics] 11b (spring term) Professor Schumpeter. –Economics of Socialism.
5 Graduates, 18 Seniors, 21 Juniors, 15 Sophomores, 1 Freshman, 8 Radcliffe, 9 Other.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and Reports of Departments for 1945-46, p. 58.
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ECONOMICS 11b
1945-46
OUTLINE AND ASSIGNMENTS
[Joseph A. Schumpeter]
I. FIRST TWO WEEKS: The Socialist Issue.
Socialist ideas and socialist parties. Socialism and the labor movement. Laborite and intellectualist socialism. The definition of socialism.
*H. W. Laidler, Social-Economic Movements, 1944, esp. Parts V and VI.
Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, article on Socialist and Labor Parties.
II. THIRD TO FIFTH WEEK: The Theory of Centralist Socialism., 1938
*O. Lange and F. M. Taylor, The Economic Theory of Socialism, 1938.
[A. P. Lerner, The Economics of Control, 1944.]
III. SIXTH TO NINTH WEEK: The Economic Interpretation of History. The Class Struggle, and the Marxist Theory of Capitalism.
*Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I, chs. I, IV, V, VI.
Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto.
*Paul M. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, 1942, chs. I-VI
(pp. 1-108).
IV. TENTH TO TWELFTH WEEK: The Socialist Theory of the State and of the Proletarian Revolution, Imperialism, National Socialism.
V.I. Lenin, State and Revolution, 1926.
[M. Dobb, Political Economy and Capitalism, ch. VII.]
Paul M. Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development, Chs. XIII-XIX.
READING PERIOD ASSIGNMENT
Read E. Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism, 1909, especially pp. 18-95, and survey again the items in the reading list marked *.
NOTE: The items in square brackets are recommended but not assigned. So is: Bienstock, Gregory, and Schwartz, Management in Russian Industry and Agriculture, 1944.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003. HUC 8522.2.1. Box 4, Folder “Economics, 1945-1946 (1 of 2)”.
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1945 – 46
Harvard University
Economics 11b
One question may be omitted. Arrange your answers in the order of the questions.
- What is Syndicalism?
- Characterize the type, aims, and importance of the group that called itself Fabians.
- “Rational allocation of factors of production presupposes the existence of prices. Prices presuppose free markets. Hence the problem of rational allocation of factors of production would be insoluble in a socialist society.” Criticize.
- Discuss the various methods by which investment could be financed (that is, the resources for the extension of the productive apparatus could be provided) in a socialist society.
- Explain and criticize what is known as the Marxist Theory of Exploitation.
- What meaning do you attach to, and what do you think of, the proposition that Socialism is “inevitable?”
Final, May 1946
Source: Harvard University Archives. Joseph Schumpeter Papers. Lecture Notes Box 2, Folder “Course notes (Jan 1950—Found in Drawer—Cambridge Study) Misc 1945-1947”.
Image Source: Harvard Album 1947.