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.