There are some list members who recently deplored the selective way of quoting in some posts. I agree with that complaint. My case in point is the repeated recent references to Reder (2000), stressing that with regard to anti-semitism ``Keynes's lifetime profile was the worst'' of the economists listed there. There is literature of considerable weight which suggests otherwise.
The _Tablet - A new read on Jewish life_ recently wrote:
Source:
http://www.tabletmag.com/tag/john-maynard-keynes "
A number of critics have speculated on Keynes’
dislike of Jews. In his article “The Anti-Semitism of Some Eminent
Economists,” Melvin Reder argues that anti-Semitism is “a class-oriented
attitude toward personal relationships in general.” In “Was Keynes
Anti-Semitic?” Anand Chandavarkar posits that Keynes’ anti-Semitism was
“a peripheral fringe of an inherently compassionate personality.”
In a
response to Chandavarkar’s article, Isaiah Berlin called Keynes’
anti-Semitism, “a kind of club anti-Semitism, but it is not a deep,
acute hostility to Jews...''
I think that is a bit more balanced. When it comes to assessing Keynes's _liftime profile_ concerning the Reder catch-word "personal relationships in general", I think a balanced assessment should mention in more favorable tone than Reder's:
-Richard Kahn. Although Keynes had a number of tasteless comments on him in private letters meant to amuse his wife Lydia, in fact and in public Keynes was full of praise, support, and acknowledgement for Kahn
-Piero Sraffa, who claimed persecution by Mussolini. Keynes secured employment for him at King's college (Kurz, H.; Pasinetti, L. & Salvadori, N. : Piero Sraffa Man & Scholar : Exploring his unpublished papers Taylor & Francis, 2013)
An evaluation of Keynes' _liftime profile_ of personal relations to colleagues with Jewish background should also consider Donald Moggridge's passage (_Maynard Keynes_ , Routledge, 1992, p.636)
"Among those interned [1940, in the UK, GMA] were a number of economists, notably
Piero Sraffa,
Erwin Rothbarth,
Hans Singer and
Edward Rosenbaum,
on whose behalf Keynes intervened with all possible authorities from the Home Secretary downwards to obtain their release for normal teaching and research duties. In the end he was successful, but he worried about the ‘thousands of more obscure people who cannot be dealt with in this way’ and regarded the whole affair as ‘the most disgraceful and humiliating thing which has happened for a long time’"
This passage merits juxtaposition with Reder's comment in connection with Keynes (p.840):
"Despite rare exceptions, strong attachment of superior-status
persons to particular individuals of inferior status normally does not imply desire to extend "most favored individual treatment" to others of that
status."
The question of status is a debatable one. But I think that Keynes was indeed a "rare exception" in 1940 with his personal friendships and great compassion for the suffering of ‘thousands of more obscure people' of Jewish origin.
Michael Ambrosi