Tag: Sweezy

Categories
Economists Gender Radcliffe Undergraduate

Radcliffe. Paul Sweezy’s blue eyes and a summary of economics courses taken by the Class of 1942.

Paul Sweezy by many accounts was a Paul Newman of academic economics. This is implicitly confirmed in the following text, written by one of his fans for the Radcliffe Class of 1942 Yearbook summarizing Harvard economics courses offered to Radcliffe women in the early years of WWII.

_______________________

Economics. Ec. A—Or is the business cycle necessary? Wages, interest, profit, rent—where that last five dollars went. If value equals distribution, why do we pay so much tuition?—Money and Banking, or How Professor Harris converts the American business man to Keynes.—Corporations. Dull? How could it be, considering its Social Significance, and Dr. Sweezy’s blue eyes.—Economic Theory—watch ring-master Chamberlin corral the whole economic system into ceteris paribus.—Ec. 18. We have to strike a defense note in these parlous times.—Did we say strike? Ec. 81, Labor Problems, led this year by Messrs. Healy and Hogan.

Source (Text and Image): Radcliffe College Yearbook, Class of 1942, p. 43.

Categories
Economists Harvard

Harvard. Marx/Engels/Lenin Readings. Emile Burns (ed.), 1935

 

 

In 1935 the British Communist, Emile Burns, published A Handbook of Marxism that included just over one thousand pages of excerpts from key works by Marx, Engels, Lenin and (yes) Stalin. Reading assignments in the Burns volume can be found in four of the course syllabi from the Harvard economics department thus far included among the transcribed artifacts in Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. In the table below I note which chapters were assigned for the four courses.

That table is followed by the Table of Contents of the Burns Handbook along with links to available versions (not always the same translation however) of some of the works from which excerpts have been included. There is still work to do in putting links to most of the Lenin pieces and all those of Stalin, but at least all the Marx-Engels chapters have links to the complete works for now.

Chapter XXI consists of excerpts from chapters from the three volumes of Capital. I find it handy to have this short-list of chapters chosen by a practicing Communist of the 1930s. The Handbook is about 50:50  Marx & Engels (ca 500 pages) vs. Lenin & Stalin.

 Cf. the 1918 “Outline for the Study of Marxism” by Karl Dannenberg.

_______________________________________

A HANDBOOK OF MARXISM

being
a collection of extracts from the writings of
Marx, Engels and the greatest of their followers

selected
so as to give the reader
the most comprehensive account of Marxism
possible within the limits of a single volume:

the passages
being chosen by Emile Burns, who has added
in each case a bibliographical note, & an
explanation of the circumstances in which the
work was written & its special significance in
the development of Marxism : as well as the
necessary glossaries and index.

LONDON
VICTOR GOLLANCZ LTC
1934

_______________________________________

Harvard Economics Courses with Assigned Readings
in A Handbook of Marxism

Chapter

 Mason and Sweezy 1938 Sweezy 1940 Taylor 1948 Taylor 1950

I.

 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

II.

III.

IV.

 ✓

V.

 ✓

VI.
VII. ✓
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.

XIII.

 ✓ ✓ ✓

XIV.

 ✓
XV.

XVI.
XVII.

XVIII.
XIX.

XX.

 ✓ ✓ ✓
XXI. ✓

XXII.

 ✓
XXIII.

XXIV.
XXV.

XXVI.
XXVII.

XXVIII.
XXIX.

✓
XXX. ✓

 

Table of Contents
Emile Burns, A Handbook of Marxism (1935)

Introduction
Chap.
I. K. Marx and F. Engels. The Communist Manifesto
II. K. Marx. Address to the Communist League (1850)
III. F. Engels. Introduction to the Class Struggles in France (1848-50)
IV. K. Marx. The Class Struggles in France (1848-50)
V. K. Marx. The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
VI. F. Engels. Germany: Revolution and Counter-Revolution
VII. K. Marx. The Civil War in France
VIII. F. Engels. Introduction to the Civil War in France
IX. K. Marx. The Crimean War [New York Tribune, 24 October 1854]
X. K. Marx. The British Rule in India [New York Tribune, June 25, 1853, p. 6];  The Future Results of British Rule in India [New York Tribune, August 8, 1853, p. 5.]
XI. K. Marx. Relations Between the Irish and English Working Classes
[5. The Question of the General Council’s Resolution on the Irish Amnesty]
XII.

F. Engels. The British Labour Movement

[A Fair Day’s Wages for a Fair Day’s Work; The French Commercial Treaty ; Social Classes—Necessary and Superfluous]
XIII.

K. Marx and F. Engels. German Ideology
XIV.

F. Engels. Ludwig Feuerbach
XV.

K. Marx. Theses on Feuerbach
XVI.

F. Engels. Herr Eugen Dühring’s Revolution in Science (Anti-Dühring)
XVII.

F. Engels. The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
XVIII.

F. Engels. The Housing Question [Parts I and II]
XIX.

K. Marx. The Poverty of Philosophy

[Chapter 2: The Metaphysics of Political Economy. Section 1: The Method]
XX.

K. Marx. A Contribution to “the Critique of Political Economy”
XXI.

K. Marx. Capital

(164 pages of excerpts from the following chapters of the Charles H. Kerr & Co., Chicago edition of the three volumes of English translation. Note the recommended order for volume I)

Vol. I, Ch. XXVI. The Secret of Primitive Accumulation;
Vol. I, Ch. XXVII. Expropriation of the Agricultural Population from the Land;
Vol. I, Ch. XXIX. Genesis of the Capitalist Farmer;
Vol. I, Ch. XXX. Reaction of the Agricultural Revolution on Industry: Creation of the Home Market for Industrial Capital;
Vol. I, Ch. XXXI. Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist;
Vol. I, Ch. XXXII. Historical Tendency of Capitalist Accumulation;
Vol. I, Ch. I. Commodities;
Vol. I, Ch. III. Money, or the Circulation of Commodities;
Vol. I, Ch. IV. The General Formula for Capital;
Vol. I, Ch. V. Contradictions in the General Formula of Capital;
Vol. I, Ch. VI. The Buying and Selling of Labour-Power;
Vol. I, Ch. VII. The Labour Process and the Process of Producing Surplus Value;
Vol. I, Ch. VIII. Constant Capital and Variable Capital;
Vol. II, Ch. XX. Simple Reproduction;
Vol. II, Ch. XXI. Accumulation and reproduction on an Enlarged Scale;
Vol. III, Ch. X. Market Prices and Market Values;
Vol. III, Ch. XIII. The Law of the Falling Tendency of the Rate of Profit: The Theory of the Law;
Vol. III Ch. XIV. Counteracting Causes;
Vol. III, Ch. XV. Unravelling the Internal Contradictions of the Law;
Vol. III, Ch. LI. Conditions of Distribution and Production;
XXII. V. I. Lenin. The Teachings of Karl Marx
XXIII. V. I. Lenin. Our Programme
XXIV. V. I. Lenin. What is to be done?
XXV. V. I. Lenin. The Revolution of 1905
XXVI. V. I. Lenin. Materialism and Empirio-Criticism
XXVII. V. I. Lenin. The Historical Fate of the Teaching of Karl Marx
XXVIII. V. I. Lenin. Socialism and War
XXIX.

V. I. Lenin. Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism

[Ch. VII. Imperialism as a Special Stage of Capitalism;
Ch. VIII. Parasitism and the Decay of Capitalism;
Ch. IX. Critique of Imperialism]

 
XXX.

V. I. Lenin. The State and Revolution

[Ch. I. Class Society and the State;
Ch. V. The Economic Basis of the Withering Away of the State]
XXXI. V. I. Lenin. Letters from Afar
XXXII. V. I. Lenin. The Tasks of the Proletariat in our Revolution
XXXIII. J. Stalin. Report on the Political Situation, August 1917
XXXIV. V. I. Lenin. On the Eve of October
XXXV. J. Stalin. The October Revolution
XXXVI. V. I. Lenin. The Proletarian Revolution and Kautsky the Renegade
XXXVII. J. Stalin. Foundations of Leninism
XXXVIII. V. I. Lenin. “Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder
XXXIX. J. Stalin. The International Situation, August 1927
XL. J. Stalin. Report at Seventeenth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1934
XLI. J. Stalin. Address to the Graduates from the Red Army Academy
XLII. The Programme of the Communist International
Appendices
Index

 

Image Source: Graham Stephenson website, Communist Biogs: Emile Burns.

 

 

 

 

Categories
Courses Exam Questions Harvard Socialism Syllabus

Harvard. Economics of Socialism. Mason and Sweezy, 1938

Between one slice of two weeks of pre-Marxian socialism and a slice of two weeks of the economics of planning, Mason and Sweezy offered their students a full portion of Marxian economics with an added dash of Leninism. This posting provides the enrollment, syllabus and final examination questions for 1938. Future Nobel prize laureate James Tobin was a student in the course and he took excellent notes! Here  a link to the Economics of Socialism that Paul Sweezy taught by himself in 1940.

__________________________

Welcome to my blog, Economics in the Rear-View Mirror. If you find this posting interesting, here is the complete list of “artifacts” from the history of economics I have assembled for you to sample or click on the search icon in the upper right to explore by name, university, or category. You can subscribe to my blog below.  There is also an opportunity to comment following each posting….

__________________________

[Course Enrollment: Economics of Socialism]

[Economics] 11b 2hf. (formerly 7d). Professor Mason and Dr. P. M. Sweezy.—Economics of Socialism.

1 Graduate; 27 Seniors; 23 Juniors; 1 Sophomore: Total 52.

Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard and Reports of Departments for 1937-38, p. 85.

__________________________

ECONOMICS 11 b
Outline and Reading
1937 – 38

Week of
Feb. 7-12
Mason		 a.  Outline of Course
b.  Utopian and Scientific Socialism
c.  Nature of Socialism as Utopia
Feb. 14-19
Mason		 a.  Saint-Simon
b.  Fourier
c.  Robert Owen
Reading:

Engels, Anti-Dühring, Part III
Strachey, Theory and Practice of Socialism, Part III
Gide and Rist, History of Economic Doctrines, Book II,
Chs. 2 & 3
Feb. 21-26
Mason		 a.  Life and Works of Marx and Engels
b.  Dialectical materialism and
c.  Historical materialism
Reading:

Riazanov, Marx and Engels
Feb. 28-Mar. 5
Mason		 a.  Theory of Classes
b.  Theory of the State
c.  The State and Revolution
Reading:    Handbook of Marxism [Burns],

Ch. I (Communist Manifesto)
Ch. IV (Class Struggles in France),
Ch. V (18th Brumaire),
Ch. VII (Civil War in France),
Ch. XX (Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy)
Mar. 7-12
Mason		 a.  Theory of Value
b.  Theory of Value
c.  General Tendencies of Capitalist Development
Mar. 14-19
Mason		 a.  Concentration and Centralization of Capital
b.  Monopoly Problem in Capitalism
c.  According to Marx and Lenin
Mar. 21-26
Mason		 a.  Marxian and Modern Views on
b.  Wages and Technological Unemployment
c.  Marxian Theory of Crises
Mar. 28-Apr. 2
Sweezy		 a.  Marxian Theory of Crises
b.  Imperialism
c.  Imperialism
Reading:

Handbook of Marxism, Ch. XXI (Capital)
Capital, Vol. I, Part VII, Ch. XXV, Sections 1, 2, 3, 4
Lenin, Imperialism

VACATION
Apr. 11-16
Mason		 a.
b.  The Socialist Movement After Marx
c.
Apr. 18-23
Mason		 a.
b.  Marxian Schools of Thought

Reading:

Sidney Hook, Towards the Understanding of Karl Marx, Part I
Further assignment to be announced.
Apr. 25-May 7
Sweezy		 Two weeks to be devoted to the following topics:
1.  Marxian and Orthodox Economics
[Handwritten note:] Rev of Ec Studies June ‘35
2.  The Allocation of Resources in Socialist Society
Reading:

Lange, Marxian Economics and Modern Economic Theory                         [Handwritten note:] Rev of Ec Studies June ‘35
Hayek, Collectivist Economic Planning, Chs. I, III, V
Pigou, Socialism versus Capitalism

Reading Period:

Sidney and Beatrice Webb, Soviet Communism, Vol. II
Chs. VIII, IX
[Handwritten additions:]
Ch 6 Lippman

Oct. 36 Rev of Ec Studies—Lange—On the Economic Theory of Socialism—Taussig memorial—Sweezy—Economist in Socialist State.

_____________________________

 

1937-38
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS 11b/2 

I

(About one hour)
Reading Period Question

  1. What features of the Russian economic system do you think could be adopted by a capitalist country? What features seem to you to be peculiarly the product of socialism and hence inapplicable under a capitalist system? 

II

Answer four questions

  1. “The most egregious error committed by the Marxist theorists is in misunderstanding and underrating the strength of the middle classes.” Discuss.

 

  1. What arguments does Mises use to support his claim that socialism is impossible? Do you agree with these arguments? State your reasons.

 

  1. Summarize the fundamentals of Lenin’s theory of imperialism. What do you regard as the particular merits or weaknesses of this theory?

 

  1. “To what extent is it true to say that the doctrine of the ‘withering away of the state’ implies anarchism as the ultimate goal of Marxian socialism?

 

  1. State and criticize the Marxian theory of value.

 

  1. Do you think that Marxists are justified in regarding crises and depressions as inevitable under capitalism? What grounds are there for believing that they might be eliminated under socialism?

 

Final. 1938

Source: Yale University Library, Manuscripts and Archives. James Tobin Papers, Box 6.

Image Source: Mason and Sweezy portraits from the Harvard Album 1939.