Harry Magdoff

Independent activity Academic Marxism 1913.8.21.–2006.1.1. ○ Natural causes

American Marxist economist, author of The Age of Imperialism (1969) and co-editor of Monthly Review

Raised in the Bronx by Russian-Jewish immigrants, Magdoff turned to socialism after reading Marx's A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy at fifteen. After studying economics at New York University he measured industrial productivity for the Works Progress Administration, worked on the War Production Board during the Second World War and left the Commerce Department at the end of 1946. In 1948 he advised the Progressive Party candidate Henry Wallace. His The Age of Imperialism appeared in 1969, the year he joined the editorial staff of Monthly Review, where with Paul Sweezy he wrote five books, among them Stagnation and the Financial Explosion (1987). He was accused of involvement in Soviet espionage networks during the Cold War but was never indicted, and the allegation is disputed.

Also known as: Harry S. Magdoff