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Exam Questions Harvard Socialism

Harvard. Final exam for Methods of Social Reform. Socialism etc. Fetter, 1906-1907

As mentioned in the previous post Thomas Nixon Carver was in Europe for a sabbatical year in 1906-07,  the Harvard economics department had to fill the instructional gap left by Carver and so Frank A. Fetter was brought in from Cornell to cover two of Carver’s standard courses: one on the economic theory of income distribution and the other that surveyed methods of social reform. The artifact for today is Fetter’s final exam for the fall semester course on “Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.”

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Course Reading List
1906-07
(previously posted)

https://www.irwincollier.com/methods-of-social-reform-fetter-covers-carver-course/

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Course Enrollment
1906-07

Economics 14b 1hf. Professor Fetter (Cornell University). — Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax, etc.

Total 32: 4 Graduates, 8 Seniors, 10 Juniors, 3 Sophomore, 7 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1906-1907, p. 71.

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ECONOMICS 14b
Mid-year Examination, 1906-07

  1. Discuss the various classes into which the communistic experiments in America may be divided, and indicate the periods of their greatest success.
    Why are there fewer experiments of that kind now?
  2. Compare Christian socialism with Marxism in its philosophy of progress and in the methods it favors.
  3. In what countries is radical socialism making most headway, and what methods are followed by it?
  4. Define and criticize the surplus-value theory of Marx. Indicate its relation to the labor-value theory of Ricardo, and to Malthusianism.
  5. Discuss historical materialism, and the application made of it by Mars to the revolutionary propaganda.
  6. What is meant by the class conflict, and class consciousness? Give illustrations supporting and opposing these ideas.
  7. Discuss the personality, training, and social experiences of the founders of social-democracy.
  8. In what countries has the socialization of industry made greatest progress? What are present tendencies?
  9. What would be the effect, upon present holders, of a single tax absorbing the whole net rental of city land-sites? What would be the effect upon future purchasers of the land?
  10. In the light of the experience in other countries, what experiments in social reform do you expect to see soon tried in America?
    Give reasons.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University. Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 7, Bound Volume: Examination Papers, Mid-Years 1906-07.

Image Source: Faculty portrait of Frank A. Fetter in the 1902 Classbook, Cornell University, p. 21.