Gus Hall facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gus Hall
Hall in 1976
General Secretary of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA
In office December 14, 1959 – May 2000
Vice President	Jarvis Tyner Angela Davis
Preceded by	Eugene Dennis
Succeeded by	Sam Webb
Personal details
Born	Arvo Kustaa Halberg (1910-10-08)October 8, 1910 Cherry Township, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	October 13, 2000(2000-10-13) (aged 90) New York City, U.S.
Political party	Communist Party USA
Spouse	Elizabeth Mary Turner ​ (m. 1935)​
Children	2
Education	International Lenin School
Occupation	Lumberjack, miner, steel worker, trade unionist, political writer
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1942–1946
Rank	Machinist's mate
Battles/wars	World War II

Gus Hall (born Arvo Kustaa Halberg; October 8, 1910 – October 13, 2000) was an important American political leader. He was the head of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) for over 40 years. He also ran for president of the United States four times. Hall was the Communist Party's choice for president in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984.

As a leader for workers, Hall was involved in the "Little Steel" Strike of 1937. This strike tried to get workers in smaller steel companies to join a union. During a time called the Second Red Scare, Hall was put in prison for eight years. After he was released, he led the CPUSA and often supported strong Marxist–Leninist ideas.

Early Life and Political Start

A fight between striking workers and police in Minneapolis, June 1934.

Gus Hall was born Arvo Kustaa Halberg in 1910. His family lived in Cherry Township, Minnesota, a country area. His parents, Matt and Susan Halberg, were immigrants from Finland. They were very active in politics. They were part of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and were early members of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) when it started in 1919.

Hall grew up in a home where politics was important. He said his family faced tough times after his father was not allowed to work in the mines. This happened because his father joined an IWW strike.

When he was 15, Hall left school to help his family, who had ten children. He worked in lumber camps, mines, and on railroads. In 1927, his father helped him join the CPUSA. Hall then became a leader for the Young Communist League (YCL) in the Midwest. In 1931, he went to the Soviet Union to study for two years at the International Lenin School in Moscow.

Moving to Minneapolis

After his studies, Hall moved to Minneapolis to continue his work with the YCL. He helped organize marches for people who were hungry and protests for farmers. He also helped with many strikes during the Great Depression. In 1934, Hall was put in jail for six months. This was for his part in the Minneapolis Teamster's Strike. This strike was led by Trotskyist Farrell Dobbs.

After his time in jail, Hall found it hard to get work using his real name. This is because he was "blacklisted," meaning employers would not hire him. So, he changed his name to Gus Hall. This name came from Kustaa (Gustav) Halberg. A court officially approved the name change in 1935.

Work in Ohio

In late 1934, Hall went to Ohio. He started working at a steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio. From 1935 to 1936, he was involved with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). He also helped start the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC). Hall said he and others convinced John L. Lewis, a founder of the CIO, that steel workers could form a union.

Family Life

In Youngstown, Hall met Elizabeth Mary Turner (1909–2003). She was from a Hungarian family. They got married in 1935. Elizabeth was also a strong leader. She was one of the first women steelworkers and a secretary for SWOC. They had two children, Barbara (born 1938) and Arvo (born 1947).

The "Little Steel" Strike and War Service

Hall was a leader in the 1937 ""Little Steel" strike." This strike was against companies like Republic Steel and Bethlehem Steel. The strike was not successful. It also saw workers die at plants in Chicago and Youngstown. Hall was arrested for supposedly carrying materials to make bombs. He admitted to a minor offense and paid a fine. The SWOC later became the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in 1942.

After the 1937 strike, Hall focused more on the Communist Party. He became the CPUSA leader in Youngstown in 1937. His role in the party grew fast. In 1939, he became the CPUSA leader for Cleveland. Hall ran for local councilman and for governor of Ohio as a CPUSA candidate, but he did not get many votes.

Hall joined the United States Navy when World War II started. He worked as a machinist in Guam. At the start of the war in Europe, the CPUSA did not want the U.S. to get involved. This was because the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany had a treaty. But when Hitler attacked the USSR in June 1941, the CPUSA began to support the war effort. While in the Navy, Hall was chosen for the National Committee of the CPUSA. He left the Navy in 1946.

Hall was seen as loyal to Moscow. His standing in the party grew after the war. In 1946, he was chosen for the party's national executive board. This was under the new general secretary, Eugene Dennis.

Facing Charges and Becoming CPUSA Leader

Hall's mug shot, taken during his prison sentence in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1954.

After World War II, Gus Hall became a major American communist leader. U.S. officials started to watch him closely. On July 22, 1948, Hall and 11 other Communist Party leaders were charged under the Alien Registration Act. This act was also called the Smith Act. They were accused of trying to teach people to overthrow the U.S. government. Hall was found guilty because he supported Marxist ideas. His first prison sentence was for five years.

Hall was released on bail. He then became a secretary for the CPUSA. When the Supreme Court said the Smith Act was legal in 1951, Hall and three others did not show up for court. They went into hiding. Hall tried to escape to Moscow but was caught in Mexico City in October 1951. He was sentenced to three more years and spent over five and a half years in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. In prison, he shared party papers and lifted weights. The Supreme Court of the United States later said some parts of the Smith Act were against the Constitution.

In the early 1960s, Hall faced more charges under the McCarran Act. But the Supreme Court found parts of this act unconstitutional. So, the government dropped the charges. This act made "Communist action" groups register with the government. It also stopped party members from getting U.S. passports or government jobs. Because of this act, Hall's driver's license was taken away in New York.

After being released from prison, Hall continued his work. He traveled around the U.S. to gain support to replace Dennis as general secretary. In 1959, Hall was elected CPUSA general secretary. He later received the Order of Lenin, a high award from the Soviet Union.

Leading the CPUSA

The Cold War era, especially the time of McCarthyism, hurt the Communist Party USA a lot. Many American members had to speak to government committees. Also, after the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, many members left the party. They were also upset by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's criticism of Stalinism. In the U.S., new groups like the New Left and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 caused more problems for the CPUSA.

Hall and other party leaders tried to rebuild the party. He worked to make the Communist Party legal again. He spoke to thousands of people in Oregon, Washington, and California. Hall wanted to make the American Communist movement more democratic. He talked about a "broad people's political movement." He tried to join his party with student groups, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and groups working for civil rights. He hoped to attract young activists from the "baby boomer" generation to the CPUSA. However, Hall was not able to form a lasting alliance with the New Left.

Hall was known for strongly supporting the Soviet Union's actions and interests. From 1959 on, Hall spent time in Moscow every year. He was one of the most well-known American politicians in the USSR. High-level Soviet politicians like Leonid Brezhnev met with him.

Hall often spoke at colleges and on TV shows. He argued for socialism in the United States. He said that socialism in the U.S. should be based on American democracy and the United States Bill of Rights. He believed Americans would not accept socialism without a Bill of Rights. He often said he trusted the democratic traditions of the American people. He wrote many articles and pamphlets about current events. Many of these were published in the magazine Political Affairs.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Hall often appeared on Soviet television. He always supported the Soviet government's views. Hall led the CPUSA according to the Soviet Union's party line. He rejected any efforts to make communism more open, like Eurocommunism. He also did not agree with new revolutionary groups that criticized the Soviet idea of "Peaceful coexistence" and wanted a world revolution. After the split between China and the Soviet Union, Maoism was also criticized. All Maoist supporters were removed from the CPUSA in the early 1960s.

Hall defended the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. He also supported the idea of "Socialism in One Country." In the early 1980s, Hall and the CPUSA criticized the Solidarity movement in Poland. In 1992, a Moscow newspaper claimed the CPUSA had received over $40 million from the Soviet Union. This went against Hall's claims that his party was financially independent.

Presidential Campaigns and Later Years

1976 campaign poster

In the 1964 United States presidential election, Hall's party supported Lyndon B. Johnson. They said this was to stop the conservative Barry Goldwater from winning. During the 1972 presidential election, the CPUSA stopped supporting the Democratic Party. They nominated Hall as their own candidate. Hall ran for president four times: in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984. For the last two times, Angela Davis was his running mate.

Of the four elections, Hall received the most votes in 1976. This was partly because of the Watergate scandal. Many people voted for smaller parties to protest. Hall finished eighth among the presidential candidates. Running national campaigns was very expensive and difficult. So, the CPUSA decided to stop running for president. However, they continued to run candidates in local elections.

The 1980s were a hard time for Hall and the CPUSA. In 1980, it was revealed that Morris Childs, a trusted friend and deputy head of the CPUSA, had been an FBI informant for a long time. Even though Childs was given protection and an award, Hall kept saying Childs was not a spy. Also, Henry Winston, Hall's African-American deputy, died in 1986. Some Black party members wondered why the party leaders were all white.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the party faced another big challenge. Hall warned of problems in Russia, comparing it to North Korea. Hall led a group in the party that was against the reforms of Glasnost and Perestroika. He accused Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin of "destroying" socialism. Hall supported Vietnam and Cuba. But he criticized the People's Republic of China for not opposing the West. In late 1991, members who wanted reform started a new group. They were critical of Hall's leadership. When they could not change the party, they left. Hall then removed them from the party. This included leaders like Angela Davis and Charlene Mitchell.

In his last years, Hall lived in Yonkers, New York, with his wife, Elizabeth. Besides politics, Hall enjoyed collecting art, gardening, and painting. In 2000, shortly before he died, Hall stepped down as party chairman. Sam Webb took his place, and Hall became honorary chairman.

Gus Hall died on October 13, 2000, in Manhattan. He was buried in the Forest Home Cemetery near Chicago.

Criticism and Views on Hall

When the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party (SWP) leaders were charged under the Smith Act in 1941, some Communist Party members supported the government's actions. Later, Hall said it was a mistake for the party not to fight against the imprisonment of SWP members. The Trotskyist movement had very negative views of Hall. When he died, the World Socialist Web Site criticized him for what they saw as his poor leadership and loyalty to the Soviet Union.

Sometimes, Soviet officials also criticized Hall. They said he was not a good leader for the CPUSA. Young American communists were told to stay away from the CPUSA. This was because the party was watched closely by the FBI. These officials believed the party could not succeed under such conditions.

Many conservatives saw Hall as a danger to the United States. J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, called him "a powerful, deceitful, dangerous foe of Americanism."

Works by Gus Hall

• Peace can be won!, report to the 15th Convention, Communist Party, U.S.A., New York: New Century Publishers, 1951.
• Our sights to the future: keynote report and concluding remarks at the 17th National Convention of the Communist Party, U.S.A., New York: New Century Publishers, 1960.
• Main Street to Wall Street: End the Cold War!, New York: New Century Publishers, 1962.
• Which way U.S.A. 1964? The communist view., New York: New Century Publishers, 1964.
• On course: the revolutionary process; report to the 19th National Convention of the Communist Party, U.S.A. by its general secretary, New York: New Outlook Publishers and Distributors, 1969.
• Ecology: Can We Survive Under Capitalism?, International Publishers, New York 1972.
• Imperialism today; an evaluation of major issues and events of our time, New York, International Publishers, 1972 ISBN: 0-7178-0303-1
• The energy rip-off: cause & cure, International Publishers, New York 1974, ISBN: 0-7178-0421-6.
• The crisis of U.S. capitalism and the fight-back: report to the 21st convention of the Communist Party, U.S.A., New York: International Publishers, 1975.
• Labor up-front in the people's fight against the crisis: report to the 22nd convention of the Communist Party, USA, New York: International Publishers, 1979.
• Basics: For Peace, Democracy, and Social Progress, International Publishers, New York. 1980.
• For peace, jobs, equality: prevent "The Day after", defeat Reaganism: report to the 23rd Convention of the Communist Party, U.S.A., New York: New Outlook Publishers and Distributors, 1983. ISBN: 0-87898-156-X
• Karl Marx: beacon for our times, International Publishers, New York 1983, ISBN: 0-7178-0607-3.
• Fighting racism: selected writings, International Publishers, New York 1985, ISBN: 0-7178-0634-0.
• Working class USA: the power and the movement, International Publishers, New York 1987, ISBN: 0-7178-0660-X.

Images for kids

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  Gus Hall's signature

See also

In Spanish: Gus Hall para niños