Victor Perlo

Victor Perlo (May 15, 1912 – December 1, 1999) was an American Marxist economist, government functionary, and a longtime member of the governing National Committee of the Communist Party USA.

Early life

Victor Perlo was born May 15, 1912, in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, N.Y. Perlo was the son of ethnic Jewish parents who had both emigrated in their youth to America from the Russian Empire. His father, Samuel Perlo, was a lawyer and his mother, Rachel Perlo, was a teacher.

Late in 1932 or early in 1933, while still a student at Columbia, Perlo joined the Communist Party USA, an organization with which he was affiliated throughout his life.

Perlo had varied interests, which included tennis, mountain climbing, and chess. He was also a talented pianist.

Governmental career After his graduation from Columbia in 1933, Perlo went to work as a statistical analyst and assistant to a division chief at the National Recovery Administration (NRA), remaining at that post until June 1935. Perlo then moved to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board where he was an analyst for the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, establishing statistical analyses for properties mortgaged to the corporation and projecting long-term financial accounts. Perlo worked in that capacity until October 1937. In September 1944 he was made a special assistant to the director of the Bureau of Programs and Statistics of the WPB. There he was an alternate member of the Committee for Reciprocity Information, which took care of technical work relating to trade agreements under the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act and doing preparatory work for the International Trade Organization.

Alleged espionage career A dedicated Communist, Victor Perlo allegedly headed the Perlo group of Soviet espionage agents in the United States. Before World War II, Perlo had been a member of the Ware spy ring. Following the publication of his book Economics of Racism, Victor Perlo received the Myers Center award for his exceptional work on intolerance in North America.

In 1968, he signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. He was the Communist Party candidate for New York State Comptroller in the 1978 elections, coming in a distant fourth place with 0.39% of the vote.

Death and legacy He died on December 1, 1999, at his home in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. He was 87 years old at the time of his death.

Victor Perlo's papers are housed in the special collections department of Lewis J. Ort Library at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland.

Works

Books and pamphlets Note: Many of Perlo's works were translated into other languages, such as German, Russian, Polish, Czech, Japanese, Spanish, etc.

Our Foreign Policy Costs One Million Jobs. Chicago: National Labor Conference for Peace, n.d. [c. 1949]. American Imperialism. New York: International Publishers, 1951. Trends in the Economic Status of the Negro People. New York: Science and Society, n.d. . Israel and Dollar Diplomacy. New York: New Outlook Publishers, 1953. The Negro in Southern Agriculture. New York: International Publishers, 1953. The Income 'Revolution.' New York: International Publishers, 1954. The Empire of High Finance. New York: International Publishers, 1957. USA and USSR: The Economic Race. New York: International Publishers, 1960. Dollars and Sense of Disarmament: Carl Marzani. Victor Perlo. With Carl Marzani. New York: Marzani and Munsell, 1960. How the Soviet Economy Works: An Interview with A. I. Mikoyan, First Deputy Prime Minister of the U.S.S.R. With Anastas Mikoyan. New York: International Publishers, 1961. Militarism and Industry: Arms Profiteering in the Missile Age. New York: International Publishers, 1963. Bitter End in Southeast Asia. With Kumar Goshal. New York: Marzani and Munsell, 1964. Marines in Santo Domingo! New York: New Outlook Publishers, 1965. The Vietnam Profiteers. New York: New Outlook Publishers, 1966. American Labor Today: How Has It Changed? Is It a Revolutionary Class? Are Marx's Views Still Valid? New York: New Outlook Publishers, 1968. The Dollar Crisis: What It Means to You. New York: New Outlook Publishers, 1969. Robbing the Poor to Fatten the Rich: Inflation, Wages, Prices and Profits. With Barry Cohen. New York: New Outlook Publishers, 1972. The Unstable Economy: Booms and Recessions in the United States Since 1945. New York: International Publishers, 1973. High Prices and High Profits: How They Affect Your Wages and Living Costs. New York: New Outlook Publishers, 1973. End Fascist Terror and US Imperialism in Chile! New York: New Outlook Publishers, 1974. The Economics of Oil Production. New York, American Institute for Marxist Studies, 1974. Economics of Racism USA: Roots of Black Inequality. New York: International Publishers, 1975. Dynamic Stability: The Soviet Economy Today. With Ellen Perlo. New York: International Publishers, 1980. History's Biggest Rip-Off: The Arms Budget Threat to Your Livelihood and Life. New York: New Outlook Publishers, 1980. Super Profits and Crises: Modern US Capitalism. New York: International Publishers, 1988. Belt-Tightening Time: But for Whom? New York: New Outlook Publishers, 1989. Economics of Racism II: The Roots of Inequality, USA. New York: International Publishers, 1996. People vs. Profits: Columns of Victor Perlo: Volume 1, The Home Front, 1961-1999. Edited by Ellen Perlo. New York: International Publishers, 2003. People vs. Profits: Columns of Victor Perlo: Volume 2, The USA and the World. Edited by Ellen Perlo. New York: International Publishers, 2006.

Articles

"On the Distribution of Student's Ratio for Samples of Three Drawn from a Rectangular Distribution," Biometrika, vol. 25, no. 1/2 (May 1933), pp. 203–204. "The Investment-Factor Method of Forecasting Business Activity," With Richard V. Gilbert. Econometrica, Journal of the Econometric Society, vol. 10, no. 3/4 (July–October 1942), pp. 311–316. "New York as the Financial Center," Science & Society, vol. 19, no. 4 (Fall 1955), pp. 289–302. "'People's Capitalism' and Stock-Ownership," American Economic Review, vol. 48, no. 3 (June 1958), pp. 333–347. "The Revised Index of Industrial Production," American Economic Review, vol. 52, no. 3 (June 1962), pp. 496–512. "Notes on Marxian Economics in the United States: Comment," American Economic Review, vol. 56, no. 1/2 (March 1966), pp. 187–188. "Criminalization of African Americans," Political Affairs [New York], vol. 75, no. 2, (February 1996), pg. 18.

Congressional testimony Hearings Regarding Communist Espionage in the United States Government (Alger Hiss Case), Part 1. Committee on Un-American Activities, US House of Representatives. Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1948; pp. 677–686; 693–701. —Testimony of August 9, 1948. Hearings, Interlocking Subversion in Government Departments — Part 7. Judiciary Committee Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, US Senate. Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1950; pp. 383–459. —Testimony of May 12, 1953.