Keynes and the Making of EF Schumacher
Keynes and the Making of E. F. Schumacher, 1929 - 1977 Robert Leonard* “I consider Keynes to be easily the greatest living economist”. Schumacher to Lord Astor, March 15, 19411 “The story goes that a famous German conductor was once asked: ‘Whom do you consider the greatest of all composers? ‘Unquestionably Beethoven’, he replied. ‘Would you not even consider Mozart?’. ‘Forgive me’, he said, ‘I though you were referring only to the others’. The same initial question may one day be put to an economist: ‘Who, in our lifetime, is the greatest? And the answer might come back: ‘Unquestionably Keynes’. ‘Would you not even consider Gandhi?’… ‘Forgive me, I thought you were referring only to all the others’”. Schumacher, in Hoda (1978), p.18 Introduction On Sunday, December 7, 1941, from a cottage deep in the Northamptonshire countryside, the 30- year old Fritz Schumacher wrote to fellow German alien, Kurt Naumann. He was reporting a recent encounter in London. “A man of great kindness, of downright charm; but, much more than I expected, the Cambridge don type. I had expected to find a mixture beween a man of action and a thinker; but the first impression is predominant, only that of a thinker. I do not know how far his practical influence goes today. Some tell me that it is extraordinarily great. The conversation was totally different from what I expected. I was ready to sit at his feet and listen to the Master’s words. Instead, there was an extremely lively discussion, a real battle of heavy artillery, and all this even though we were 99% in agreement from the outset.
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