Background

Ethnicity: Perlo was a son of ethnic Jewish parents, who had both emigrated in their youth to America from the Russian Empire.

Victor Perlo was born on May 15, 1912, in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, New York, United States. He was a son of Samuel Perlo, a lawyer, and Rachel Perlo, a teacher.

Education

In 1931, Victor received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College. Two years later, in 1933, he attained a Master of Arts degree in Mathematics from Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Career

In 1933, Victor was appointed a statistical analyst and assistant to division chief at the National Recovery Administration (NRA), the positions he held till June 1935. Then, Perlo found work as an analyst for the Home Owners' Loan Corporation at the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. While there, he established statistical analyses for properties, mortgaged to the corporation, and projected long term financial accounts. Victor remained in the position till October 1937.

It was in October 1937, that Perlo stopped working for the governmental bodies and began serving at the Brookings Institution, holding the post of a researcher there for more than two years. Then, in November 1939, Victor moved to the United States Department of Commerce, where he served as a senior economic analyst in the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.

In November 1940, Victor was appointed head of the Economic Statistics Division at the Office of Price Administration (OPA). During his tenure at the organization, he immersed himself in the study of inflationary pressures in the American economy, particularly with the beginning of World War II. Perlo remained in that capacity until leaving to become head of the aviation section of the Bureau of Programs and Statistics at the War Production Board (WPB). It was in September 1944, that he was appointed a special assistant to the director of the Bureau of Programs and Statistics of the WPB. It's also worth mentioning, that, while at WPB, Victor was involved in the analysis of the various economic problems of aircraft production.

In addition, while serving to the federal bureaucracy, Victor submitted articles on economic matters under a variety of pseudonyms to the Communist Party's press. Also, he secretly helped I. F. Stone to gather materials for various journalistic exposés.

Approximately in December 1945, Perlo moved to the Monetary Research Department of the United States Department of the Treasury. While there, he served as an alternate member of the Committee for Reciprocity Information. It was in 1947, that Perlo left government service, when he was suspected of being the Soviet Union spy. However, Perlo denied these allegations.

As for his espionage career, Victor reportedly headed the Perlo group of Soviet spying agents in the United States. Also, it's known, that he was a member of the Ware spy ring.

In 1948, Victor was appointed an economist at the United States Progressive Party of 1948, assisting the Presidential campaign of former United States Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President Henry Wallace.

From the 1960's until his death, Perlo, who had a master's degree in Mathematics from Columbia University, served as chief economist of the Communist Party in the United States. He was also a board member of the Party.

In his later years, Perlo developed a business as an economic consultant and university lecturer, teaching at different educational establishments, including the New School in New York City, the College of New Rochelle and Harvard University, among others. Also, for many years, Victor wrote a weekly column in "People's Weekly World" newspaper.

Perlo authored many books and articles, covering socialist and capitalist economies. His works include "Our Foreign Policy Costs One Million Jobs" (1949), "American Imperialism" (1951), "Trends in the Economic Status of the Negro People" (1952), "Israel and Dollar Diplomacy" (1953), "Economics of Racism U.S.A.: Roots of Black Inequality" (1975) and others.

Achievements

• Victor Perlo was a notable Marxist economist and a prominent member of the Communist Party of the United States of America, whose career was damaged by accusations during the Red Scare of the late 1940's and early 1950's, that he spied for the Soviet Union in Washington during World War II. He was known for his analysis of the political economy of American capitalism, comparative economic systems and what he called the economics of racism in the United States.
  
  Perlo authored many articles and books, covering socialist and capitalist economies. His books include "Our Foreign Policy Costs One Million Jobs" (1949), "American Imperialism" (1951), "Trends in the Economic Status of the Negro People" (1952), "Israel and Dollar Diplomacy" (1953), "Economics of Racism U.S.A.: Roots of Black Inequality" (1975) and others.
  
  Victor Perlo's papers are kept in the special collections department of Lewis J. Ort Library at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland.
  
  In addition, Perlo was the recipient of the Myers Center Award.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Economics of Racism II: The Roots of Inequality, USA

    (This work examines the ideological weapons of the racist ...)

    1996
  • Economics of Racism U.S.A.: Roots of Black Inequality

    (A penetrating Marxist study of racism in the realm of eco...)

    1975
  • Militarism and Industry: Arms Profiteering in the Missile Age

    (The noted Marxian economist explores the relationship bet...)

    1963
  • The Income 'Revolution'

    (This work represents socialist ideas on income distributi...)

    1954
  • Our Foreign Policy Costs One Million Jobs 1949
  • American Imperialism 1951
  • Trends in the Economic Status of the Negro People 1952
  • Israel and Dollar Diplomacy 1953
  • The Negro in Southern Agriculture 1953
  • The Empire of High Finance 1957
  • USA and USSR: The Economic Race 1960
  • Dollars and Sense of Disarmament 1960
  • How the Soviet Economy Works: An Interview with A. I. Mikoyan, First Deputy Prime Minister of the U.S.S.R. 1961
  • Bitter End in Southeast Asia 1964
  • Marines in Santo Domingo! 1965
  • The Vietnam Profiteers 1966
  • Robbing the Poor to Fatten the Rich: Inflation, Wages, Prices and Profits 1972
  • The Unstable Economy: Booms and Recessions in the United States Since 1945 1973
  • End Fascist Terror and US Imperialism in Chile! 1974
  • The Economics of Oil Production 1974
  • Dynamic Stability: The Soviet Economy Today 1980
  • Superprofits and Crises: Modern U.S. Capitalism 1988

Politics

In the early 1930's, Perlo joined the Communist Party of the United States of America and remained affiliated with it throughout his life. In 1947, Perlo was accused of heading a Communist spy group, which put an end to his career in the federal government.

It was in 1968, that Victor signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.

Personality

Victor was a talented pianist.

Interests

• chess

• Sport & Clubs

  tennis, mountain climbing

Connections

Victor married his first wife, Katherine, in 1933, whom he divorced ten years later, in 1943. Then, he married his second wife, Ellen, who was his partner till the end of his life. Their marriage produced three children - a girl, named Kathy, and two boys - Stanley and Arthur.

Father:

Samuel Perlo

Mother:

Rachel Perlo

child:

Kathy Perlo

child:

Stanley Perlo

child:

Arthur Perlo

Arthur Perlo is chair of the Economics Commission of the Communist Party of the United States of America.

ex-wife:

Katherine Perlo

Wife:

Ellen Perlo

Ellen was an advocate for equality, peace, justice and socialism.