Harvard. Methods of Social Reform. Enrollment, description, linked reading list, final exam. Carver, 1904-1905

Economics professor Thomas Nixon Carver was the second in a long line of Harvard professors who exposed their students to the doctrines of anarchism, socialism, and communism (among other -isms). Carver came to bury the well-intentioned but ill-conceived doctrines, not to praise them. 

Strange Political Bedfellow: An earlier post provides Thomas Nixon Carver’s link to the U.S. publicist of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 1921.

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Material from earlier years:

Exams and enrollment figures for economics of socialism and communism taught by Edward Cummings (1893-1900),
Socialism and Communism (with Bushée), 1901-92,
Methods of Social Reform, (Carver), 1902-03.

Material from later years:

Short Bibliography of Socialism for “Serious-minded students” by Carver (1910),
Thomas Nixon Carver (1920),
Edward S. Mason (1929),
Paul Sweezy (1940),
Wassily Leontief  (1942-43),
Joseph Schumpeter (1943-44),
Overton Hume Taylor (1955).

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Course Enrollment
1904-05

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

Total 79: 10 Graduates, 25 Seniors, 26 Juniors, 13 Sophomores, 5 Others.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1904-1905, p. 75.

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Course Description
1904-05

14b ²hf. Methods of Social Reform. Socialism, Communism, the Single Tax. Half-course (second half-year). Tu., Th., at 1.30. Professor Carver.

Open only to students who have had Course 14a.
The purpose of this course is to make a careful study of those plans of social amelioration which involve either a reorganization of society, or a considerable extension of the functions of the state. The course begins with an historical study of early communistic theories and experiments. This is followed by a critical examination of the theories of the leading socialistic writers, with a view to getting a clear understanding of the reasoning which lies back of socialistic movements, and of the economic conditions which tend to make this reasoning acceptable. A similar study will be made of Anarchism and Nihilism, of the Single Tax Movement, of State Socialism and the public ownership of monopolistic enterprises, and of Christian Socialism, so called.
Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths, Ely’s French and German Socialism, Marx’s Capital, Marx and Engels’s The Communist Manifesto, and George’s Progress and Poverty will be read, besides other special references.
The course will be conducted by means of lectures, reports, and class-room discussions.

Source: Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Division of History and Political Science Comprising the Departments of History and Government and Economics, 1904-05 (May 16, 1904), p. 46.

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[Library stamp: Mar 7, 1905]

Economics 14

Topics and References
Starred references are prescribed

[Note: Identical to reading list of 1902-03]

COMMUNISM

A
Utopias

1.	Plato’s Republic
2.	*Sir Thomas More.   Utopia.
3.	*Francis Bacon.   New Atlantis.
4.	*Tommaso Campanella.   The City of the Sun. (Numbers 2, 3, and 4 may be found in convenient form in Morley’s Ideal Commonwealths.)
5.	Etienne Cabet.   Voyage en Icarie.
6.	Wm. Morris.   News from Nowhere.
7.	Edward Bellamy.   Looking Backward.

 

B
Communistic Experiments

1.	*Charles Nordhoff.   The Communistic Societies of the United States.
2.	Karl Kautsky.   Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.
3.	W. A. Hinds.   American Communities.
4.	J.H. Noyes.   History of American Socialisms.
5.	J. T. Codman.   Brook Farm Memoirs.
6.	Albert Shaw.   Icaria.
7.	G.B. Landis.   The Separatists of Zoar.
8.	E.O. Randall.   History of the Zoar Society.

 

SOCIALISM

A
Historical

1.	*R. T. Ely. French and German Socialism.
2.	Bertrand Russell. German Social Democracy.
3.	John Rae. Contemporary Socialism.
4.	Thomas Kirkup. A History of Socialism.
5.	W. D. P. Bliss. A Handbook of Socialism.
6.	Wm. Graham. Socialism, New and Old.
7.	[Jessica Blanche] Peixotto. The French Revolution and Modern French Socialism.

 

B
Expository and Critical

1.	*Albert Schaeffle. The Quintessence of Socialism.
2.	Albert Schaeffle. The Impossibility of Social Democracy.
3.	*Karl Marx. Capital.
4.	*Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels. The Manifesto of the Communist Party.
5.	Frederick Engels. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.
6.	E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist Philosophy of Rodbertus.
7.	E. C. K. Gonner. The Socialist State.
8.	Bernard Shaw and others. The Fabian Essays in Socialism.
9.	The Fabian Tracts.
10.	R. T. Ely. Socialism: An Examination of its Nature, Strength, and Weakness.
11.	Edward Bernstein. Ferdinand Lassalle.
12.	Henry M. Hyndman. The Economics of Socialism.
13.	Sydney and Beatrice Webb. Problems of Modern Industry.
14.	Gustave Simonson. A Plain Examination of Socialism.
15.	Sombart. Socialism and the Social Movement in the Nineteenth Century.
16.	Vandervelde. Collectivism [and Industrial Evolution].

 

ANARCHISM

1.	*Leo Tolstoi. The Slavery of Our Times.
2.	William Godwin. Political Justice.
3.	Kropotkin. The Scientific Basis of Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 21: 238.
4.	Kropotkin. The Coming Anarchy. Nineteenth Century, 22:149.
5.	Elisée Reclus. Anarchy. Contemporary Review, 45: 627. [May 1884]

 

RELIGIOUS AND ALTRUISTIC SOCIALISM

1.	Lamennais. Les Paroles d’un Croyant.
2.	Charles Kingsley. Alton Locke.
3.	*Kaufman. Lamennais and Kingsley. Contemporary Review, April, 1882.
4.	Washington Gladden. Tools and the Man.
5.	Josiah Strong. Our Country.
6.	Josiah Strong. The New Era.
7.	William Morris, Poet, Artist, Socialist. Edited by Francis Watts Lee. A collection of the socialistic writings of William Morris.
8.	Ruskin. The Communism of John Ruskin. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Unto this Last, The Crown of Wild Olive, and Fors Clavigera.
9.	Carlyle. The Socialism and Unsocialism of Thomas Carlyle. Edited by W. D. P. Bliss. Selected chapters from Carlyle’s various works. [Volume 1; Volume 2]

 

AGRARIAN SOCIALISM

1.	*Henry George. Progress and Poverty.
2.	Henry George. Our Land and Land Policy.
3.	Alfred Russell Wallace. Land Nationalization.

 

STATE SOCIALISM

An indefinite term, usually made to include all movements for the extension of government control and ownership, especially over means of communication and transportation, also street lighting, etc.

1.	R. T. Ely. Problems of To-day. Chs. 17-23.
2.	J. A. Hobson. The Social Problem.

 

WORKS DISCUSSING THE SPHERE OF THE STATE IN SOCIAL REFORM

1.	Henry C. Adams. The Relation of the State to Industrial Action.
2.	*D. G. Ritchie. Principles of State Interference.
3.	D. G. Ritchie. Darwinism and Politics.
4.	*Herbert Spencer. The Coming Slavery.
5.	W. W. Willoughby. Social Justice.

Source:  Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in economics, 1895-2003. Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1904-1905”.

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ECONOMICS 14b
Year-end Examination, 1904-05

1. So far as you have studied them, were the failures of communistic experiments due to the fact that they were carried out on too small a scale, to unfavorable outside conditions, or to inherent weaknesses in their internal organization? Give at least three illustrations.
2. Give an outline of one Utopian scheme or ideal commonwealth which you have studied, and point out its strong and its weak features.
3. Give an account of the origin of the German Social Democratic Party.
4. Is there any essential difference between the income of the capitalist and that of the landlord? Explain your answer.
5. Discuss the question, Is labor the sole creator of wealth?
6. Discuss the question, Is there any relation between the inequality in the distribution of talent and the inequality in the distribution of wealth under the competitive system.

Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Examination Papers 1873-1915. Box 7, Bound volume: Examination Papers, 1904-05;  Papers Set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics,…,Music in Harvard College (June, 1905), p. 33.

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.