Gus Hall

Gus Hall (October 8, 1910 – October 13, 2000) was a labor organizer, a founder of the United Steelworkers of America trade union, a leader of the Communist Party USA, and five-time U.S. presidential candidate. Gus Hall This work is copyrighted. ... October 8 is the 281st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (282nd in leap years). ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... October 13 is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... The United Steel Workers of America (USWA) claims over 1. ... The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist political party in the United States. ...

Background

Hall was born Arvo Gustav Halberg to Finnish parents in Cherry, a rural community on Northern Minnesota's Iron Range. Hall's parents had been involved in the Industrial Workers of the World and were founding members of the Communist Party. Cherry Township is a township located in St. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area  Ranked 12th  - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 8. ... The Iron Range and Arrowhead are overlapping regions that make up the northeastern section of Minnesota in the United States. ... The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. ...

At 15, Hall left school and went to work in the North Woods lumber camps, where he spent much time studying Marxism. At 17, he joined the Communist Party and became an organizer for the Young Communist League. In 1931, Hall travelled to the Soviet Union spending two years at the Lenin Institute in Moscow. The North Woods is a broad region of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ... Marxism refers to the philosophy and social theory based on Karl Marxs work on one hand, and to the political practice based on Marxist theory on the other hand (namely, parts of the First International during Marxs time, communist parties and later states). ... The Young Communist League was or is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world such as the Young Communist League in Britain and the Young Communist League, USA. In the Soviet Union the youth organization under control of the Communist Party of the...

The 'Little Steel' Strike

In 1934, Hall went to Ohio's Mahoning Valley. Following the call for organizing in the steel industry, Hall was among a handful hired at a steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio. He was a founding organizer of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) and a leader of the 1937 “Little Steel” strike. Victory in that strike, huge in everything but name, gave birth to the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in 1943. Philip Murray, USWA founding president, once commented that Hall's leadership of the strike in Warren and Youngstown was a model of effective grassroots organizing. 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Official language(s) None Capital Columbus Largest city Columbus Largest metro area Cleveland Area  Ranked 34th  - Total 44,825 sq mi (116,096 km²)  - Width 220 miles (355 km)  - Length 220 miles (355 km)  - % water 8. ... The Mahoning Valley encompasses the area of Northeast Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania that drains into the Mahoning River. ... Location within the state of Ohio Coordinates: Country United States State Ohio Counties Mahoning Mayor Jay Williams (I) Area    - City 34. ... Philip Murray (May 25, 1886 - November 9, 1952) was a U.S. (Scottish-born) labor leader. ...

It was also in Youngstown that Hall met Elizabeth Turner. They were married in 1935. Elizabeth Hall was a leader in her own right, among the first women steelworkers and a secretary of SWOC. 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Hall and other rank-and-file steelworkers signed up workers who wanted to join a union:-

“This had to be a secret operation,” Hall wrote in a 1972 letter to the USWA. “Any man who signed was immediately fired if it became known. As a matter of fact, I was fired. It was not until we had collected thousands of such signed cards that Lewis agreed to set up the [SWOC]. I was on the committee that presented the cards to John L. Lewis in the dugout of a baseball stadium where he was the speaker at a Miners' Day rally” in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 – June 11, 1969) was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960. ...

Thus, Lewis was convinced and one of his first decisions was to hire Hall as a full-time SWOC organizer in the Mahoning Valley where he served as an international representative throughout the organizing drive and later as chairman of the strike committee during the strike. Under Hall's leadership, 10,000 workers were recruited to the steel union in the Mahoning Valley.

Later, he resigned his union post to become an organizer for the Communist Party in Youngstown.

Hall volunteered for the U.S. Navy when World War II broke out, serving as a machinist in Guam. He was honorably discharged March 6, 1946. After his return, he was elected to the National Executive board of the American Communist Party. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

Indictment during the 'Red Scare'

On July 22, 1948 Hall and 11 other Communist Party leaders were indicted under the Smith Act on charges of “conspiracy to teach and advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government by force and violence.” Hall spent eight years in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. The U.S. Supreme Court later struck down the Smith Act as unconstitutional. July 22 is the 203rd day (204th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 162 days remaining. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act () of 1940 is a United States federal statute that made it a criminal offense for anyone to knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise or teach the duty, necessity, desirability or propriety of overthrowing the Government of the United States or of any State... The United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth is located in Kansas on 1,583 acres (6. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States...

After his release, Hall continued his activities. In 1959, he was elected CPUSA general secretary. But the McCarthy, Cold War era had taken a heavy toll on the Communist Party. Hall, along with other Party leaders who remained, sought to rebuild it. He led the struggle to reclaim the legality of the Communist Party and addressed tens of thousands in Oregon, Washington and California. For other uses, please see Cold War (disambiguation). ...

Later years

Hall became a speaker on campuses and talk shows as an advocate for socialism in the United States. Hall argued that socialism in the United States would be built on the traditions of U.S.-style democracy rooted in the United States Bill of Rights. He would often say Americans didn't accept the constitution without a Bill of Rights and they won't accept socialism without a Bill of Rights. He professed deep confidence in the democratic traditions of the American people. [[Image:Bill of preempt the potential political disaster of a second Constitutional Convention that might have undone the difficult compromises of 1787: a second convention would open the entire Constitution to reconsideration and could undermine the work he and so many others had done in establishing the structure of the...

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Hall worked to build the Communist Party among the young “baby boomer” generation of activists involved in the peace, civil rights and the new rank-and-file trade union movements. The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ...

He ran for president four times, in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984, the last two times with Angela Davis. Due to the great expense of running, the difficulty in meeting the strenuous and different election-law provisions in each state, and the difficulty in getting media coverage, it was decided that the CPUSA would suspend running national campaigns, while continuing to run candidates at the local level. 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Angela Davis in the 1970s Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an African American radical activist and philosopher who was associated with the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and 1970s. ...

In late 1980s, when liberalisation and democratisation were under way in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Hall stood by his "anti-revisionist" Marxist-Leninist stance. Concerning Stalin, he admitted that even leaders of a socialist country might err sometimes, but suggested that the Soviet historians were exaggerating Stalin’s crimes. Hall declared that he had not become a member of CP because of Stalin and would not leave because of him. In the communist or Marxist-Leninist movement, an anti-revisionist is one who favors a strict Stalinist or Maoist interpretation of Marxist-Leninist ideology. ... Vladimir Lenin in 1920 Leninism is a political and economic theory which builds upon Marxism; it is a branch of Marxism (and it has been the dominant branch of Marxism in the world since the 1920s). ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვი&#4314...

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the party faced a crisis. (According to formerly secret documents quoted by the Washington Post in early 1992, Hall received over $2 million from the Soviet government for the party's expenses in publishing the Daily Worker and for rental fees for the party headquarters.) Hall led a faction of the party that stood against Gorbachev and for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The Daily Worker was a newspaper published by the Communist Party USA, a Comintern affiliated organization in New York, beginning in 1924. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the Russian...

In later years Hall worked to preserve the party as many members left and he served as leader until his death. By that time, the party had benefited from a steady comeback, although it remains tiny.

List of books

• Working Class USA
• Fighting Racism
• Basics--For Peace, Democracy and Social Progress
• Imperialism Today
• Ecology: Can We Survive Under Capitalism?
• The Energy Rip-off: Cause and Cure
• Karl Marx: Beacon for Our Times