Talk:Maurice Dobb

Untitled

This article needs work. There is nothing on his contributions to Marxist theory as such. His work on evonomic history is ignored too, including his role in the debate with Paul Sweezy over the transition from feudalism to capitalism.JimFarm 15:41, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

hey Jim. You are quite right. I did the bulk of the article but I mainly did it when I was immersed in arguments against the right about economic calculation. It is far from comprehensive. I would entreat anyone qualified to add or modify material as they see fit. He was a very interesting figure. cheers BernardL 23:43, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

In that case Bernard, you might wish to add a section to the article on the Socialist Calculation Debate to detail Dobb's arguments on that controversy. JimFarm 12:29, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

He is most famous as the recruiter of Kim Philby and that should be top of the article. David J James

To my knowledge it's still a matter of controversy as to whether Dobb knowlingly recruited Philby to become a Soviet spy. Dobb was Philby's tutor at Cambridge and he had a strong impact on the development of Philby's political thinking. We also know that Philby sought out Dobb's advice concerning how he could best help the Communist movement and that Dobb referred Philby to a Communist-front organization which in turn referred Philby to the Comintern from which Philby would be recruited as a Soviet spy. As to whether Dobb knew that this would the outcome, that still remains a controversial issue. Dobb's family has strongly denied this, while others have maintained that Dobb functioned as a kind of talent scout for the Soviets. I would agree that the Maurice Dobb article ought to mention this issue and controversy. JimFarm 16:12, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

If you are going to repeat the accusation that Dobb recruited Philby then I suggest you give the evidence of this claim, for without such a citation it is mere slander and something which should not be included in any respectable biographical piece. I have read all the "claims" which assert this even the accusation, now proven false, that he was a Soviet agent - which is absurd if anyone knows anything of this life and his role within the party. And please, you must do better than cite journalistic pieces such as those produced by Knightley to justify what amounts to the character assassination of a man who can no longer speak for himself. Much evidence, which could settle this issue, remains to be published, and until it is repeating accusations that have dubious foundation only denigrates wikipedia. ----A.P.A 13 Dec 2006

'He is most famous as the recruiter of Kim Philby ' That's on the Kim Philby wiki page. Whether true or not that's the most famous thing about him. If you want to argue about it go there. David J James

Still needs a lot of work

In my humble opinion Maurice Dobb does not get the treatment he deserves. The focus of this article is on some of the points he made in his Political Economy and Capitalism: Some essays in economic tradition (1937), but this source is nowhere indicated (and I seriously wonder if the 1937 Dobb would have subscribed to most of the interpretations). As I saw above some people want to fight the socialist calculation debate all over again, but I think this is hardly the place. Absent are: 1. His important contributions to the history of economic thought, including his work with Sraffa on the Ricardo complete edition, and on economic history. 2. His writings on the Soviet Union. 3. His contributions to "Sraffian" economics. I will try to provide the material for these, beginning with his history of thought contributions. This still leaves the general weakness of the existing text. I suggest that the original authors look at it critically, move general issues on socialist planning and the socialist calculation debate to separate topics, and take out everyting that cannot be directly attributed to Dobb. And of course I agree with all those who do not wish to see unfounded spy stories here. By the way, I have found the redirect page Dobb pointed to Lou Dobbs. That was a bit (?) odd, so it now redirects to the real Dobb. All the best, Robertsch55 08:32, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

instead of adding more material, why not add proper source to already existing material. Currently, this article is unverifiable. Vapour —Preceding comment was added at 10:38, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Taxonomy and Semantics

Is there a reason why Dobb is labelled so clearly and early on in this article as a Marxist? To my knowledge, he wrote extensive critiques of socialist models as well as neoclassical ones, and his respect for Marx's insights could perhaps make him a Marxian, but almost certainly not a Marxist. 213.123.224.244 (talk) 18:28, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Copied

Is this text copied from Janus (Cambridge Archive) or is it the other way around? --13Peewit (talk) 23:20, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Dobb-Sweezy Debate

The article neither mentions or references the "Dobb-Sweezy" debate on the transition from feudalism to capitalism. For many, this was their introduction to Dobb, rather than via the economics. This is relevant to a Dobb biography, if not directly his economics.

Dobb was certainly part of what can be loosely called the Marxian-inspired socialist movement of the early-mid 20th century, but his economics were just as certainly Sraffian, rather than orthodox Marxian, judging from "Theories of Value and Distribution since Adam Smith" (1973), written near the end of his life. MatthewRusso (talk) 17:13, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

Second wife and book reference

Barbara M Dobb was a member of the London County Council - and there should be a reference to the biography mentioned on [1] (using this for convenience rather than as a reference per se). Jackiespeel (talk) 15:59, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Director of Studies

The article said that Dobb was removed as "the" Director of Studies in his college.

I don't think is right. I went to Cambridge a few decades ago and the system - which I guess hasn't changed all that much - was as follows ...

Lectures are organised by the university faculty for your subject and are not compulsory. The main teaching is in what are called supervisions (Cambridge term for tutorials - you turn up in a small group and discuss the essay you've just written, either after reading it aloud (years ago) or submitted to the supervisor a few days earlier (nowadays)). These are organised by your Director of Studies and you'll get into serious trouble if you don't turn up. You'll probably have a different supervisor for each paper you are taking that year, and as you progress through your degree you may go to supervisors from other colleges for some optional papers. Some supervisors, especially for 1st year undergrads, may be PhD students rather than Fellows. Your Director of Studies collates your supervision reports at the end of each term and gives appropriate feedback. I had a different Director of Studies each year, although he or she was responsible for all the undergrads in that college doing that subject in that year group. (A student also has a Tutor, responsible for his personal welfare - mine was an eminent published historian, even though I wasn't actually studying history).

I suspect that this is what was meant, rather than that Dobb was head of all academic teaching for all subjects in the college (if such a position even exists).

Given that the article referred to the London County Council a few sentences previously as "London's County Council", I suspect this was added (in good faith, no doubt) by somebody unfamiliar with the subject matter.Paulturtle (talk) 03:37, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

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Mouric dobb - the economic is a micro scope picture of a economic

Mouric dobb - the economic is a micro scope picture of a economic 111.125.221.105 (talk) 15:12, 18 June 2023 (UTC)