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Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Exam questions for Social Reform, Socialism, Communism. Carver, 1905-1906

Courses on utopias, schemes of social reform, shades of socialism and communism were offered by the Harvard economics department from its early years through the twentieth  century. Thomas Nixon Carver taught such a course for several decades as an exercise of know-thy-enemies. His autobiographical Recollections of an Unplanned Life (1949) makes it clear that there was not a collectivist bone in his body. 

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Previously posted

Pre-Carver:
Carver’s courses
Post-Carver:

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Methods of Social Reform,
Socialism, Communism…
Economics 14b
1905-06 

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Course Enrollment
1905-06

Economics 14b 2hf. Professor Carver. — Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

Total 29: 10 Graduates, 6 Seniors, 8 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 4 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1905-1906, p. 73.

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ECONOMICS 14b
Year-end Examination, 1905-06

  1. Describe one Eutopian scheme, covering the following points:
    (a) supposed location, (b) time, (c) form of government, (d) organization of industry, (e) system of exchange, (f) family life, (g) distribution of the products of industry.
  2. What periods in American history have been most prolific in non-religious communistic experiments? Describe a characteristic experiment of each period.
  3. Do communistic experiments, so far as you have studied them, throw any light upon the question of the probable success or failure of communism or socialism on a national scale? Explain.
  4. Characterize the social philosophy of one writer who is not an economist, covering the following points: (a) Is his philosophy religious or non-religious? (b) Does the writer discriminate between the obligation of the individual and that of the state? (c) Is his philosophy constructive or merely critical? (d) Has he a clearly defined principle of justice? If so, what is it?
  5. Is there a clearly defined principle of justice embodied in the competitive system? Explain.
  6. How does Marx account for the interest of capital?
  7. Does every government enterprise necessarily narrow the field for private enterprise and diminish the amount of competition? Explain.
  8. Would socialism entirely eliminate competition? If so, under what conditions?
  9. What is meant by the proposition that a single tax on land values is paid for all times by the one who owns the land at the time the tax is first imposed?
  10. Is an inheritance tax a socialistic measure? Explain.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 8, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1906-07;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1906), p. 40.

Image Source: “The trouble, my friends, with socialism is that it would destroy initiative” by Udo J. Keppler. Centerfold in Puck, v. 66, no. 1715 (January 12, 1910). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Illustration shows a large gorilla-like monster with human head, clutching clusters of buildings labeled “Public Utilities, Competition, [and] Small Business” with his right arm and left leg, as he crushes a building labeled “Untainted Success, Initiative, Individualism, Independence, [and] Ambition” with his left hand, causing some citizens to flee while others plead for mercy. He casts a shadow over the U.S. Capitol, tilting in the background.