Biographical information for this socialism course’s instructor, William Emmanuel Rappard, and the final exam for his course on the labor movement in Europe (1912-13) have been posted earlier. Worth noting is that Karl Marx is explicitly mentioned in over half of the questions on the final examination. So Marxian socialism moves from one of many to leader of the pack.
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Course Description
1911-12
[Economics] 29 1hf. Socialism and the Social Movement in Europe. Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 10. Dr. [William Emmanuel] Rappard.
A careful examination is made of the theories of the chief social reformers and of the leading socialists, both “Utopian” and “scientific.” There follows a study of those revolutionary outbursts of the nineteenth century which were primarily economic in their origin and social in their aims. The course concludes with a summary of the positive political and institutional achievements of the social movement of the nineteenth century.
Source: Division of History, Government, and Economics: 1911-12 (1st ed.). Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. VIII, No. 23 (June 15, 1911). p. 59.
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Course Enrollment
1911-12
Economics 29 1hf. Dr. [William Emmanuel] Rappard.— Socialism and the Social Movement in Europe.
Total 41: 3 Graduates, 15 Seniors, 20 Juniors, 3 Sophomores.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1911-1912, p. 63.
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ECONOMICS 29
Mid-year Final Exam
1911-12
- State briefly the socialist elements contained in the doctrines of any two pre-revolutionary French authors.
- State briefly the historical and logical relations existing between the Industrial Revolution and modern socialism.
- Give a very brief outline of the lives and works of any three of the following men: Godwin, Owen, Sismondi, Saint Simon, Fourier, Cabet, Louis Blanc, Weitling, Proudhon.
- Can Chartism be called a socialist movement? Why or why not?
- Compare Thompson’s and Marx’s theories of value with special reference to non-improved land.
- Discuss briefly the theory of wages involved in the Communist Manifesto.
- State and discuss briefly the “apparent contradiction” between the first and the third volume of Marx’s Capital.
- Fill out the blanks in the following table, according to the Marxian phraseology and theory.
| Constant capital | Variable capital | Rate of surplus value | Capital consumed | Individual rate of profit | Value of commodities produced | Cost price of commodities produced | Average rate of profit | Price of commodities | Deviation of price from value |
| 80 | 20 | 75% | 20 | _______ | _______ | _______ | _______ | _______ | _______ |
| 70 | 30 | 75% | 10 | _______ | _______ | _______ | _______ | _______ | _______ |
- Discuss the nature of Marx’s originality.
- What have the socialists of the present day, as you know them, retained of the Marxian teachings?
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University — Examination papers, 1873-1915. Box 6. Bound volume, Examination Papers, 1912. Harvard University Examinations. Papers Set For Examinations in History, History of Science, Government, Economics […], pp. 65-66.