PERLMAN, SELIG

PERLMAN, SELIG (1888–1959), U.S. labor economist. Born in Bialystok, Poland, Perlman immigrated to the United States in 1908. After a brief period in New York, he became interested in the work of the bund . While studying at the University of Wisconsin, he investigated the Lawrence strike for the United States Commission on Industrial Relations (1914–15). From 1918 he taught economics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Perlman's main field was the social development of the American, British, and Russian labor movements. He modified his early Marxist socialism as being too theoretical in its approach to social and economic problems and turned his attention to the labor movement and trade unionism. These he regarded as indispensable to a stable industrial society because of their tendency to strengthen labor's bargaining position and their regard for private property. Perlman was active in secular Jewish affairs, especially in the American Jewish Labor Movement. He developed a special relationship with the garment industry unions. In his later years, he showed interest in Zionism and the State of Israel. His best-known book is A Theory of the Labor Movement (1928). He was a contributor to the History of Labor in the United States (1918–52). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Witte, in: Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 13 (1960), 335ff. (Mark Perlman)