William Emmanuel Rappard (b. April 22, 1883; d. April 29, 1958) was the co-founder and director of the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. At the 1947 inaugural meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society, Rappard gave the opening address.
You can see below from the excerpt from the 2000 article by Richard M. Ebeling about Rappard that he taught at Harvard during the 1911/12 and 1912/13 academic years. Besides a course “Economic Resources and Commercial Policy of the Chief European States” for students of business, William Rappard also taught courses on the European labor movement and the history of socialism in the economics department. Rappard left Harvard to accept a professorship at the University of Geneva following the death of d’Eugène de Girard.
This post provides course enrollments, descriptions and the final exams for these last two courses. From the examination questions it is clear that one important text for the courses was the published University of Chicago economics doctoral dissertation of Oscar D. Skelton, Socialism: A Critical Analysis (1911). [bibliography posted here at Economics in the Rear-view Mirror].
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Brief Pre-war Biography
“…William Emmanuel Rappard was born in New York City on April 22, 1883, of Swiss parents, his father working in the United States as a representative of various Swiss industries. William Rappard did his graduate studies in economics at Harvard University from 1906 to 1908. During the academic year 1908-1909 he did additional study at the University of Vienna in Austria-Hungary, attending the seminars of Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk and Eugen Philippovich von Philippsberg, two of the leading figures of the Austrian school of economics before the First World War. And from 1911 to 1913, he was an adjunct professor [sic. Rappard’s first year was at the rank of instructor and his second year at the rank of assistant professor] of political economy at Harvard.
“In 1913 he was appointed professor of economic history and public finance at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He also served as rector of the University of Geneva during 1926-1928 and 1936-1938. From 1917 to 1919, Rappard was a member of various Swiss diplomatic missions to Washington, D. C., London, and Paris, including service with the Swiss delegation to the peace conference in France that ended the First World War. He made a strong impression on President Woodrow Wilson and was highly influential in persuading him to choose Geneva as headquarters of the League of Nations beginning in 1920.
“From 1920 to 1925 he was the director of the Mandates Division of the League for overseeing the administration of colonial territories lost by the Central Powers at the end of the war, and was a member of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League from 1925 to 1939. From 1928 to 1939 he also served as a member of the Swiss delegation to the annual meetings of the League’s General Assembly….”
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The [above] brief summary of Rappard’s professional life draws from Albert Picot, Portrait de William Rappard(Paris: Editions de la Baconnière, 1963) and Victor Monnier, William E. Rappard: Défenseur des Libertés, Serviteur de Son Pays et de la Communauté Internationale (Geneva: Edition Slatkine, 1995).
Source: Richard M. Ebeling. “William E. Rappard: An International Man in an Age of Nationalism,” article posted at the Foundation for Economic Education Website (January 1, 2000).
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Course Enrollment
Fall term 1911
[Economics] 29 1hf. Dr. 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, 1911-12, p. 63.
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THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN EUROPE
Economics 6b.
Course Enrollment
Spring term 1913
Economics 6b 2hf. The Labor Movement in Europe. Asst. Professor Rappard.
Total 30: 5 Graduates, 12 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 3 Other.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 57.
Course Description
Economics 6b. The Labor Movement in Europe
After an introductory sketch of the Industrial Revolution and of its social consequences, a summary review will be made of the thought of the leading social reformers and Utopian socialists before 1848. The attitude of the chief European states towards the new problems of industrial life and the beginnings of factory legislation will be briefly examined. The Communist Manifesto will then be made the basis for a study of the aims and policies of the national and international socialist movement. The positive political and institutional achievements of the social movement of the nineteenth century will be summed up in conclusion.
Final Exam 1912-13
ECONOMICS 6b
Arrange answers in order of questions. Students who wrote theses will omit the first three questions.
- Enumerate five of the effects which Engels says the Industrial Revolution had on the manufacturing population of England. What were Engel’s chief sources of information?
- How does Sombart distinguish between (a) Rational Socialism (Utopian Socialism and Anarchism) and (b) Historical Socialism?
- What effect, according to Marx, does machinery have
- Upon real wages?
- Upon nominal wages?
- Upon “relative surplus-value”?
- Upon “absolute surplus-value”?
- Why is it customary to mention the English enclosure movement in dealing with the history of labor in Europe in the 19th century?
- What were the historical relations between the doctrines of Godwin, Malthus and Darwin?
- What was Chartism? Saint-Simonism? Which was more radical? More socialistic? Give reasons.
- Write a biography of Marx (300 to 500 words).
- Compare the views of Marx and Vaudervelde on “Capitalist Concentration.”
- Give chapter headings of a thesis on “The Socialist Movement in Germany, 1860-1890” in six or more chapters.
- Distinguish between (a) Socialism (b) Anarchism (c) Syndicalism.
- “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs … To every laborer the entire product of his labor … At first sight, these two formulas are absolutely contradictory. We believe, however, that it is possible and necessary to reconcile them and to complete each by the other.” — Vaudewelde.
How does the author do this? What practical suggestions does he make for arranging distribution in the socialist state? - What difficulties does Skelton think a socialist state would encounter
- In administering the government?
- In determining what commodities should be produced?
- In distributing wealth?
Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College. June, 1913. Cambridge, MA., pp. 45-46.
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THE HISTORY OF MODERN SOCIALISM
Course Enrollment
Spring term, 1913
Economics 16. The History of Modern Socialism. Asst. Professor Rappard.
Total 4: 4 Graduates.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1912-13, p. 58.
Course Description
Economics 16. The History of Modern Socialism
This course will be divided into three parts. First, the works of Marx and Engels will be minutely analyzed and discussed. Then their sources will be studied with a view to ascertaining the historical origin of the different elements of scientific socialism. Finally the various recent interpretations, restatements, and criticisms of the Marxian doctrine will be examined.
The course will be conducted by means of reports and informal discussions. It will involve reading in German and French as well as in English.
Mid-year Exam 1912-13
ECONOMICS 16
January or February, 1913
- (a) When and where was Marx born? Where did he spend his childhood? Where did he receive his secondary school training?
(b) What do you know of his ancestry? of his immediate family surroundings? of his relations to the Westphalens?
(c) What were his first strong intellectual interests? Where and how were they aroused and stimulated?
Discuss briefly the influence of these various factors on his later social philosophy. - Give a chronological bibliography of Marx’s and Engels’s works down to 1870.
Answer any 4 of the following 6 questions.
- Is there any part of the Communist Manifesto which may with certainty be exclusively attributed to Marx? to Engels? State your reasons.
- When and how was Marx’s attention first called to economic matters? How do we know it?
- In which of Marx’s works would you look for the following passages?
(a) “If the value of a commodity is determined by the quantity of labor required to produce it, it naturally follows that the value of labor, or wages, must be equally determined by the quantity of labor which is necessary to produce the wages.”
(b) “In order to take place, revolutions must have a passive element a material basis. Theory is never realized in a people, except in sofar as it is the realization of the wants of the people.
State your reasons. - Where, in Marx’s works, do we find the first clear statement of the class struggle theory? Do you recall any case or cases in which he attempted to apply it to the actual interpretation of history? Did these attempts in any particular modify the doctrine as he first expounded it?
- How does Marx explain:—
(a) the value: of unimproved land? of diamonds? of commodities produced by highly skilled labor?
(b) the relation between higher prices and more abundant money, consequent upon the increased production of gold in the sixteenth century? - To which work or works of Marx would you refer a student who, having a week at his disposal for the task, wished to become acquainted with his fundamental doctrines? State your reasons.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Mid-year examinations, 1852-1943. Box 9, Bound volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years. 1912-13.
Final Exam 1912-13
ECONOMICS 16
June, 1913
- Fill out the blanks in the following table according to the Marxian phraseology and theory.
| Con- stant capital |
Vari- able capital |
Rate of surplus value | Capital con-sumed | Indi-vidual rate of profit | Value of commo-dities pro-duced | Cost price of commodities produced | Average rate of profit | Price of com-modities | Deviation of price from value |
| 90 | 10 | 50% | 20 | ||||||
| 80 | 20 | 50% | 10 | ||||||
| 70 | 30 | 50% | — |
- “The theory of value which Marx presents is a variation of the familiar labor-value doctrine.” Discuss.
- State the Marxian theory of rent.
- What is meant by the Bernstein-Kautsky controversy? State three of the principal points involved, with the arguments advanced on both sides.
- What, according to Skelton, are the distinctive features of Utopianism? How does Skelton classify the Utopian doctrines?
- What, according to Skelton, are the two “quite distinct interpretations” of which the Marxian materialist conception of history is susceptible?
- “In spite of himself, Marx was the last of the classical economists.” How does Skelton justify this assertion?
- “Had the third volume of ‘Capital’ appeared at the same time as the first, little would have been heard about ‘exploitation’ from socialist platforms.” Why not, according to Skelton?
Source: Harvard University Examinations. Papers set for final examinations in history, history of science, government, economics, philosophy, social ethics, education, fine arts, music in Harvard College. June, 1913. Cambridge, MA., pp. 54-5.
Image Source: William Emmanuel Rappard in the Harvard Class Album, 1912.