Anticipating BerkShares: Remembering Bob Swann
Dear Friend,
January 13th is the fifth anniversary of Robert Swann's death. Bob was the
President of the E. F. Schumacher Society from its founding in 1980 until
his passing. His enthusiasm and skills shaped the organization.
The following essay was written in early 2003 in tribute to Bob. It
wonderfully anticipates the BerkShares local currency program. We resend
the essay now, to honor Bob and to thank him.
Best wishes,
Susan Witt, Executive Director
E. F. Schumacher Society
140 Jug End Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230
www.smallisbeautiful.org
* * * * * * * *
Stirred by Necessity and Promise
by Susan Witt
Bob Swann always had a project. I first met him at a dinner and song party
in New Hampshire in 1967. At the time he and the economist Ralph Borsodi
were raising money through their newly formed International Independence
Institute (III) to create a low-interest loan fund for farmers in India.
Vinoba Bhave’s land reform movement (known as Gramdan) had helped secure
land for the farmers, but they had no tools to work the land, and the 100%
interest rate offered by local loan sharks was too high a price for the
farmers to pay. So the migration from villages to cities continued.
Bob and Borsodi met with small groups in church basements, sometimes driving
for hours to present their proposal. I was twenty-one and deeply engaged by
my studies of philosophy and literature. These economic theories held
little interest for me, but one thing impressed me in their plan: the funds
would not be lent to isolated farmers in scattered villages but rather to
the farmers of a whole village. Working with Vinoba and his associates, the
III would seek villages with strongly established social systems (Borsodi
was especially interested in family planning) and a vibrant cultural life
characterized by good schools, fine craftsmanship, song, and celebration.
When the cultural and social elements of village life are in tact, then
economic ventures have sound ground to flourish and take root: it takes a
village to support a farmer. Small loans placed in such circumstances are
homeopathic in their influence, fostering established businesses that have a
high probability of repaying debt.
In 1977 I again heard Bob speak, this time via radio from the Cambridge
Forum. He was garnering support for Fritz Schumacher’s project to bring
intermediate technology to the villages of India. Bob told the story of a
large brick factory built in India with foreign capital, intended as a model
development project. When the factory was finished, it was discovered that
there were no roads leading to or from the factory suitable for transporting
the large quantity of bricks capable of being manufactured there. The
factory stood empty, a monument to inappropriate planning.
In place of the factory Schumacher was encouraging the use of a small-scale
brick-making technology that could be employed on site in each village as
demand for bricks dictated, eliminating the need for long-distance
transportation. As a designer and builder of affordable housing, Bob was
excited by the possibilities of such a locally-based, user-friendly
technology.
The details of the technology failed to interest me, but the consistency of
this man who persisted in his advocacy for a just economy did stir me. My
grandfather had recently died leaving me with a $10,000 inheritance, twice
what I earned per year as a literature teacher in a small Waldorf School. I
decided to spend the next two years writing about those working to change
the economic system to incorporate social and ecological principles. I
believed that the economic world had the strongest hold on the American
psyche and would contain the key to the renewal or degrading of the American
character and I wanted to record the effort to bring about positive
transformation.
III had been folded into the Institute for Community Economics. I joined as
a volunteer in September of 1977, the same month that both Schumacher and
Ralph Borsodi died. Bob soon took on a new project, the establishment of
the Community Investment Fund, the first social investment fund with
positive criteria. The organization served the project, rather than the
project the organization. We took risk, dared to venture on untrodden
ground, made mistakes, and started a movement.
In 1980 Bob and I were asked to lead and administer the newly formed E. F.
Schumacher Society. Under Bob’s influence the organization has been project
driven—breaking new ground in community credit systems, self-financing
techniques for small businesses, community support of farming, citizen based
initiatives for creating affordable housing. These projects engaged his
energy, passion, and intellect. But they needed a institutional home base
if they were to be replicated. The Schumacher Society grew around them to
embrace them through the irreplaceable library of resource material, the
stunning lecture program so beautifully edited by Hildegarde Hannum, and a
solid reputation as an advocate and initiator on behalf of small communities
and local economies.
In October of 2002 when we learned that Bob’s cancer had metastasized to his
lungs and that there were no known conventional treatments, the board of
directors asked me to help Bob prepare a final letter to members. We
imagined that he would reflect on the accomplishments of the Schumacher
Society over the preceding twenty-two years, touch on a few important
milestones, thank members for their support, and share his wishes for the
organization’s future. I asked Bob to prepare the letter in his mind and
then dictate it to me at his own pace over the next week. We would then
edit it together to meet his satisfaction.
Bob was ready the next day. “The most important thing for the future,” he
said, “will be to train several local communities in the making of
productive loans so that these communities can act as models for others.”
I laughed to myself, surprised that I had not anticipated his response,
which was, after all, thoroughly consistent. He still had a project in
mind—a local currency. Thinking strategically about the next steps
necessary for a local community to issue its own currency, Bob realized that
the principles and processes of making productive loans would need to be
broadly understood within the community. For a currency to hold its value
and become a trusted medium of local exchange, it is important that those
trading with the currency find a sufficient supply of needed items for
purchase (food, clothing, shelter, energy). The soundest way to ensure that
supply is to place the currency in circulation through the making of
productive loans. A productive loan is one that generates more value in
goods than the value of the loan itself, as illustrated by a loan to a baker
for a new oven to increase the number of loaves baked in a day.
New money is created at the point of making a productive loan. This
principle is at the heart of a community learning to take charge of its own
economic destiny. Bob understood this and was asking us to reach high and
place the next block in the ongoing work to build sustainable local
economies.
If asked directly about the organization, he would have expressed pride at
the accomplishments of the E. F. Schumacher Society; he would have given
thanks for the support of its members; he would have voiced pleasure at the
beauty of the library; he would have acknowledged his awe before the range
and quality of thought of the printed lectures; his eyes would have filled
with tears as he recalled the late evenings stuffing envelopes, the earnest
discussions, and the shared meals with young staff members and interns, now
with families and projects of their own; and he would have had pick-up-truck
loads of good wishes for us all as we continue to work together to fashion
economies and communities of permanence. But it would not occur to him to
say all this to you. He assumes you understand his appreciation of you.
After all you joined freely in this work, stirred by its necessity and
promise. So let’s get on with it, applying our collective skills to the
next project. Isn’t that what we are here together to do?
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