Piero Sraffa - Free

24 Piero SraffaAn Italian in Cambridge 25wishing neither to take such an oath nor to dissociate himself from theline chosen by the Communist party, which was to fulfil what mightbe seen as a purely formal obligation in order to keep channels of communicationopen with the younger generations (a line that meant apainful volte-face for the famous Latinist, Concetto Marchesi, a militantcommunist who took the oath after a public declaration that he wouldnever do so).After a year spent settling in (despite his previous stays in England,his English was by no means perfect when he arrived, his French beingrather better), Sraffa taught courses in Cambridge on the theory of valueand on the German and Italian financial systems. 4 His lessons causedsomething of a stir: Sraffa discussed the theories of the classical economists,Ricardo in particular, and the theories of general economic equilibriumexpounded by Walras and Pareto – little of which was knownin England – as well as advancing his own criticisms of the Cambridge(Marshall–Pigou) tradition, concerning in particular the theory of thefirm. However, Sraffa found himself growing increasingly shy aboutspeaking in public, and thus about giving lectures, too. As a result,thanks to Keynes, he was then appointed librarian of the MarshallLibrary, the library of the economics faculty (since 4 May 1931), andassistant director of research (1935). 5In the cloistered calm of Cambridge Sraffa developed his researchalong three lines connected in one great design: the work on the criticaledition of Ricardo’s writings, entrusted to him in 1930 by the RoyalEconomic Society on the initiative of Keynes; research in the field ofthe theory of value, which was to culminate after 30 years’ labour inProduction of Commodities by Means of Commodities (in the Preface Sraffarecalls showing Keynes an outline of the central propositions as early(Continued)‘Stringher’ grants for postgraduate studies abroad, reserved to young Italianeconomists. In these and many other ways (as in his connections with the leadersof the Italian Communist Party, especially relating to publication of Gramsci’swritings: cf. e.g. Vacca 2000), Sraffa maintained very strong connections withItaly, which he regularly visited up to 1973.4The notes for these lectures are preserved in the Sraffa Papers: D2/4 for thelectures on Advanced theory of value, and D2/5 for the lectures on Continentalbanking. On the content of these latter ones, which were focused on a comparisonbetween the English (specialised banking) system and the German one, cf.Panico (1998: 170–3). In the Sraffa Papers (D2/8) there are also the notes forshort courses on Industry given during the war (1941–3); in these, as Marcuzzo(2004: 131) remarks, Sraffa discusses how control over the biggest firms hadmoved from the capitalist entrepreneurs to the financiers.5On Sraffa’s activities in Cambridge, cf. Marcuzzo (2004).as 1928); and a collateral interest in the development of Keynesiantheory, in particular during the early 1930s. It was, moreover, atCambridge that Sraffa made acquaintance with the Austrian philosopherLudwig Wittgenstein (1885–1951), who became a friend and onwhom Sraffa exerted a significant influence.In the following sections we shall be considering, in order, Sraffa’srelation with Wittgenstein and with Keynes, his critique of Hayek, hisinterpretation of Ricardo and the classics. In the next chapter we shallconsider his 1960 magnum opus.2.2 WittgensteinSraffa met Wittgenstein in 1929. The Austrian philosopher had justarrived in Cambridge, invited there by Bertrand Russell who had hadWittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921) published in Englisha few years before. The book constituted a fundamental contributionto the development of modern philosophy, and is considered by manythe culmination of logical neo-positivism. Wittgenstein had ponderedand drafted it during the First World War, first on the Russian front,then on the Italian front, and finally during his period of imprisonmentin Italy at the end of the war (up to August 1919). Wittgensteinhimself conceived it as the terminus of philosophical research; havingcompleted it, he was convinced that he had no further work to doin the philosophical field. A difficult, withdrawn character, he thusretreated to teach in a small Austrian village primary school and workas a monastery gardener. His contact with the philosophical research ofthis period was indeed scant: a few letters and the occasional meetingswith Bertrand Russell or the young Frank Ramsey, another philosopherand mathematician at Cambridge, who was also a friend of Sraffa’s andwho died in 1930 at the early age of 26, but above all with the so-calledCircle of Vienna, whose moving spirit was Moritz Schlick.It may well have been the Vienna Circle discussions – and in particulara celebrated lecture Brouwer gave on the foundations of mathematics –that finally persuaded Wittgenstein that after all some work remainedto be done also in the philosophical field. So it was that Wittgensteinarrived in Cambridge early in 1929, to become fellow of Trinity Collegeafter a few months and to remain there – with a few odd breaks – untilhis death in April 1951.During the periods in which they were both in Cambridge,Wittgenstein and Sraffa would in general spend one afternoon aweek together, discussion ranging far and wide rather than specifically