Harry Magdoff
| Henry Samuel Magdoff | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 21, 1913 Bronx, New York |
| Died | January 1, 2006 (aged 92) Burlington, Vermont |
| Education |
City College of New York New York University |
| Spouse(s) | Beatrice Greizer (1913-2002) |
| Children | Fred Magdoff |
Henry Samuel Magdoff (August 21, 1913 – January 1, 2006), was a prominent American socialist commentator. He held several administrative positions in government during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt and later became co-editor of the Marxist publication Monthly Review.
A child of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Magdoff grew up in the Bronx. In 1929, at age 15, Magdoff first started reading Karl Marx when he picked up a copy of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy in a used-book store. "It blew my mind," recalled Magdoff in 2003. "His view of history was a revelation....that got me started reading about economics. We were going into the Depression then and I wanted to figure out what it all meant." His interest in Marx led him to embrace socialism.
Magdoff studied mathematics and physics from 1930 to 1933 at the City College of New York taking engineering, math and physics courses; he was active in the Social Problems Club with many schoolmates who later joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a Comintern organization that fought in the Spanish Civil War, many also joined the US Armed Forces. Magdoff attended New York University after 1933, where he studied economics and statistics, receiving a B.Sc in Economics in 1935. He was suspended and later expelled from City College for activities related to editing Frontiers (a radical student magazine not sanctioned by the school), including participation in a mock trial of the school's President and its Director.
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