View source for Gus Hall

{{Short description|American communist activist (1910–2000)}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2026}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name           = Gus Hall
| image          = Individuals - Hall, Gus. undated Slide 7 Colors Light Crop.png
| caption        = Hall in 1980
| image_size     =
| birth_name     = Arvo Kustaa Halberg
| birth_date     = {{Birth date|1910|10|08}}
| birth_place    = [[Cherry Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota|Cherry Township, Minnesota]], U.S.
| death_date     = {{Death date and age|2000|10|13|1910|10|08}}
| death_place    = New York City, U.S.
| office         = [[Secretary (title)#General secretary|General Secretary]] of the National Committee of the [[Communist Party USA]]
| 2blankname     = {{nowrap|Chairperson}}
| 2namedata      = {{ubl|[[Eugene Dennis]]|[[Elizabeth Gurley Flynn]]|[[Henry Winston]]}}
| term_start     = December 14, 1959
| term_end       = May 2000
| predecessor    = [[Eugene Dennis]]
| successor      = [[Sam Webb (communist)|Sam Webb]]
| party          = [[Communist Party USA]]
| occupation     = {{hlist|[[Lumberjack]]|[[miner]]|[[Steel#Industry|steel worker]]|trade unionist|political writer}}
| education      = [[International Lenin School]]
| spouse         = {{Marriage|Elizabeth Mary Turner|1935}}
| signature      = GusHallsignature.png
| children       = 2
| website        = 
| allegiance     = {{flag|United States|1946}}
| branch         = [[United States Navy]]
| service_years  = 1942–1946
| rank           = [[Machinist's Mate]]
| battles        = {{tree list}}
*[[World War II]]
**[[Battle of Guam (1944)|Battle of Guam]]
{{tree list/end}}
| awards         =  
}}

'''Gus Hall''' (born '''Arvo Kustaa Halberg'''; October 8, 1910 – October 13, 2000) was an American communist activist who served as the [[general secretary]] of the [[Communist Party USA]] (CPUSA) from 1959 to 2000. As a labor leader, he was closely associated with the "[[Little Steel strike|Little Steel]]" strike of 1937, an effort to unionize the nation's smaller, regional steel manufacturers. Hall was indicted under the [[Smith Act]] during the [[Second Red Scare]] and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. After his release, Hall led the CPUSA for over 40 years, generally taking an orthodox [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] stance and becoming a [[perennial candidate]] for [[President of the United States|president of the United States.]]

Born to Finnish immigrants in [[Cherry Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota|Cherry Township,]] Minnesota, Hall's parents were active communists and had been involved with the CPUSA and the [[Industrial Workers of the World]]. Hall's family had ten children, and to support them, Hall left school and started working [[Blue-collar worker|blue-collar]] jobs at age 15. He joined the CPUSA two years later, and by 1931, his apprenticeship in the [[Young Communist League USA|Young Communist League]] allowed him to study abroad at the [[International Lenin School]] in the [[Soviet Union]].

Hall moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota after returning from Moscow and became involved with various labor strikes there. He had been blacklisted after his participation in the [[Minneapolis general strike of 1934|Minneapolis Teamsters Strike]] of 1934, for which he spent six months in jail. It was then that he began calling himself Gus Hall, as he could no longer find work under his original name. He was a founding member of the [[Steel Workers Organizing Committee]] in the mid 1930s.

He was a leader of 1937's unsuccessful "[[Little Steel strike|Little Steel]]" strike, which led to his arrest for allegedly transporting bomb-making materials, to which he pled guilty and paid a $500 fine. Afterwards, he began climbing the ranks of the Communist Party, leading the party in [[Youngstown, Ohio|Youngstown]] and then [[Cleveland]], and he was the candidate for multiple Communist Party tickets in the state of Ohio, although he didn't garner much votes. In 1940, he spent 90 days in jail after an election scandal for which he was convicted of fraud and forgery. He served in the [[United States Navy|Navy]] from 1942 until 1946.

Indicted under the [[Smith Act]] in 1948, Hall was sentenced to 5 years in prison, and served over 5 more after getting caught trying to [[Bail|skip bail]]. He was elected general secretary of the CPUSA in 1959. The rise of the [[New Left]] in the 1960s hurt the Communist Party, and Hall tried but ultimately failed to form an alliance with New Left activists. He was consistently one of the staunchest supporters of the actions of the Soviet Union and became one of the best-known American politicians in the country. He made appearances on [[Television in the Soviet Union|Soviet television]] in the 1960s and '70s, in which he always supported the Soviet government. He also frequently spoke on American talk shows to advocate for socialism in the United States.

Hall and his party endorsed [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] for president in [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]] in opposition to conservative [[Barry Goldwater]]. Beginning in 1972, rather than endorsing another party, Hall ran as the CPUSA's presidential candidate. He would do this four consecutive times until the party ceased presidential campaigns after [[1984 United States presidential election|1984]].

Hall resigned party leadership in 2000, leaving the post to [[Sam Webb (communist)|Sam Webb]]. Hall lived with his wife in [[Yonkers, New York]] during his last years and died in [[Manhattan]] from complications relating to [[diabetes]].

==Early life and political activism==
Hall was born Arvo Kustaa Halberg in 1910 in [[Cherry Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota|Cherry Township]], St. Louis County, Minnesota, a rural community on northern [[Minnesota]]'s [[Mesabi Range|Mesabi Iron Range]]. He was [[Finnish Americans|Finnish-American]], the son of Matt (Matti) and Susan (Susanna) Halberg.<ref name="sks">{{Cite web | author=Kostiainen, Auvo |date=September 2001| title= Hall, Gus (1910–2000) |publisher=The National Biography of Finland |language=fi | url=http://artikkelihaku.kansallisbiografia.fi/artikkeli/4386/ |access-date=April 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311052024/http://artikkelihaku.kansallisbiografia.fi/artikkeli/4386/ |archive-date=March 11, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 11, 2008 |title=Biografiakeskus, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura |url=http://artikkelihaku.kansallisbiografia.fi/artikkeli/4386/ |access-date=June 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311052024/http://artikkelihaku.kansallisbiografia.fi/artikkeli/4386/ |archive-date=March 11, 2008 }}</ref> Hall's parents were [[Finns|Finnish]] immigrants from [[Lapua]] in [[South Ostrobothnia]], and were politically radical: they were involved in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and were early members of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in 1919.<ref name="AP Obit">{{Cite news | first=Karen | last=Matthews | date=October 17, 2000 | url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20001017/TT541VCI2/gus-hall-us-communist-party-head-dies-at-90 | title=Gus Hall, American Communist Party boss, dies at 90 | newspaper=The Seattle Times | agency=[[Associated Press]] | access-date=October 25, 2007 | archive-date=August 14, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814130850/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20001017&slug=TT541VCI2 | url-status=live }}</ref> The Mesabi Range was one of the most important immigration settlements for Finns, who were often active in labor militancy and political activism.<ref name="barkan">{{Cite book| first = Elliot Robert|last = Barkan| title = Making it in America: A Sourcebook on Eminent Ethnic Americans| publisher = ABC-CLIO| year = 2001| page = [https://archive.org/details/makingitinameric00bark/page/147 147]| isbn = 1-57607-098-0| url = https://archive.org/details/makingitinameric00bark/page/147}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author= Neil Betten |year= 1970 |title=The Origins of Ethnic Radicalism in Northern Minnesota|journal=International Migration Review }}</ref> Hall's [[First language|home language]] was [[Finnish language|Finnish]], and he conversed with his nine siblings in that language for the rest of his life.<ref name="sks" /> He did not know political terminology in [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and used mostly English when meeting with visiting [[Finnish People's Democratic League|Finnish Communists]].<ref name="sks" />

Hall grew up in a Communist home and was involved early on in politics.<ref name="barkan" /> According to Hall, after his father was banned from working in the mines for joining an IWW strike, the family grew up in near-[[starvation]] in a [[log cabin]] built by Halberg.<ref name="herald">{{Cite news| title=Gus Hall, U.S. communist chief, dies| work=Herald Tribune| page=8A | date=October 17, 2000}}</ref>

At 15, to support the impoverished ten-child family, Hall left school and went to work in the [[Laurentian Mixed Forest Province|North Woods]] lumber camps, mines and railroads.<ref name="sks" /> Two years later in 1927, he was recruited to the CPUSA by his father.<ref name="wsws">[http://www.wsws.org/de/2000/nov2000/hall-n21.shtml Gus Hall obituary – World Socialist Web Site]</ref> Hall became an organizer for the [[Young Communist League USA|Young Communist League]] (YCL) in the [[upper Midwest]].<ref name="barkan" /> In 1931, an apprenticeship in the YCL qualified Hall to travel to the [[Soviet Union]] to study for two years at the [[International Lenin School]] in Moscow.<ref name = "AP Obit" />

==Move to Minneapolis==
[[File:Battle strike 1934.jpg|thumb|left|Open battle between striking teamsters armed with pipes and the police in the streets of Minneapolis, June 1934.]]
After his studies, Hall moved to [[Minneapolis]] to further the YCL activities there.<ref name="barkan" /> He was involved in [[hunger marches]], demonstrations on behalf of farmers, and various strikes during the [[Great Depression]].<ref name="barkan" /> In 1934, Hall was jailed for six months for taking part in the [[Minneapolis general strike of 1934|Minneapolis Teamster's Strike]], led by [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] [[Farrell Dobbs]].<ref name="barkan" /> After serving his sentence, Hall was [[Blacklisting|blacklisted]] and was unable to find work under his original name. He changed his name to Gus Hall, derived from Kustaa (Gustav) Halberg.<ref name="ANB">[http://www.anb.org/home.html ''Gus Hall''] in the [[American National Biography]]</ref> The change was confirmed in court in 1935.<ref name="ANB" />

==Ohio activism==
{{Socialism US|politicians}}
In late 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]].<ref name="barkan" /> During 1935–1936, he was involved in the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (CIO)<ref name="sks" /> and was a founding organizer of the [[Steel Workers Organizing Committee]] (SWOC), which was set up by the CIO.<ref name="barkan" /> Hall stated that he and others persuaded [[John L. Lewis]], who was one of the founders of the CIO, that steel could be organized.<ref name="pp" />

=="Little Steel" strike and war service==
[[File:Gus Hall Mugshot 1937.png|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Hall's [[Warren, Ohio|Warren]] Police [[mugshot]], July 1, 1937.]]
Hall was a leader of the 1937 [[Little Steel strike|"Little Steel" strike]], so called because it was directed against [[Republic Steel]], [[Bethlehem Steel]] and the [[Youngstown Sheet and Tube|Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company]], as opposed to the industry giant [[U.S. Steel]]. It had previously entered into a contract with [[Steel Workers Organizing Committee|SWOC]] without a strike.<ref name="shellock">{{Cite news|first = Marie|last = Shellock|title = Defining moment in local labor history occurred 70 years ago|work = The Metro Monthly|page = 8|date = June 2007 <!-- | access-date = October 20, 2007 -->}}</ref> The strike was ultimately unsuccessful, and marred by the [[Memorial Day massacre of 1937|deaths of workers]] at Republic plants in Chicago and Youngstown.<ref name="shellock" /> Hall was arrested for allegedly transporting bomb-making materials intended for Republic's plant in [[Warren, Ohio]]. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was fined $500.<ref name ="nyt">{{Cite news |first= Sam|last= Tanenhaus|author-link=Sam Tanenhaus |title=Gus Hall, Unreconstructed American Communist of 7 Decades, Dies at 90 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108081105/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/17/us/gus-hall-unreconstructed-american-communist-of-7-decades-dies-at-90.html|archive-date=November 8, 2017|url-status=dead|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05E3D71F3FF934A25753C1A9669C8B63 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 17, 2000 |access-date=July 4, 2008}}</ref> SWOC became the [[United Steelworkers|United Steelworkers of America]] (USWA) in 1942.<ref name="shellock" /> [[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.

After the 1937 strike, Hall focused on party activities instead of union work, and became the leader of the [[Communist Party USA]] (CPUSA) in Youngstown in 1937.<ref name="sks" /> His responsibilities in the party grew rapidly, and in 1939 he became the CPUSA leader for the city of [[Cleveland]].<ref name="sks" /> Hall ran on the CPUSA ticket for Youngstown councilman and also for [[List of governors of Ohio|governor of Ohio]], but received few votes.<ref name ="nyt" /> In 1940 Hall was convicted of fraud and forgery in an election scandal and spent 90 days in jail.<ref name="time">{{Cite magazine|first = Michael|last = Riley|title = Last of The Red-Hot Believers: GUS HALL|magazine = Time|date = September 9, 1991 <!-- | access-date = April 28, 2010 -->}}</ref>

[[File:Gus Hall during World War II Alt Edit.jpg|thumb|left|Hall in uniform {{circa}} 1942–1946]]

Hall volunteered for the [[United States Navy]] when [[World War II]] broke out, serving as a [[machinist's mate]]<ref name="pp">{{Cite news|first=Roy |last=McHugh |title=Marxist Gus Hall Recalls His Red Letter Days |work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=May 5, 1978}}</ref> in [[Guam]].<ref name="sks" /> During the first years of the war in Europe, the CPUSA held an [[United States non-interventionism#Isolationism between the World Wars|isolationist]] stance, as the Soviet Union and [[Nazi Germany]] were cooperating based on the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]]. When Hitler broke the treaty by [[Operation Barbarossa|invading the USSR in June 1941]], the CPUSA began to officially support the war effort. During his naval service, Hall was elected in absence to the National Committee of the CPUSA.<ref name="barkan" /> He was honorably discharged from the Navy on March 6, 1946.<ref name = "AP Obit" />

Seen as a Moscow loyalist, Hall's reputation in the party rose after the war. In 1946 he was elected to the national executive board of the party under the new general secretary, [[Eugene Dennis]], a pro-Soviet Marxist–Leninist, who had replaced [[Earl Browder]] after the latter's expulsion from the party.<ref name="barkan" /><ref name ="nyt" />

==Indictment during the Red Scare and rise to the head of the CPUSA==
[[File:Gus Hall.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Hall's [[Federal Bureau of Prisons|FBP]] mugshot, taken during his prison sentence in [[Leavenworth, Kansas]] for "Conspiring and Teaching Overthrow of the U.S. Government by Force or Violence", 1954.]]
Now a major American communist leader in the post-war era, Hall caught the attention of United States officials. On July 22, 1948, Hall and [[Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders|11 other Communist Party leaders were indicted]] under the [[Smith Act|Alien Registration Act]], popularly called the [[Smith Act#Communist Party trials|Smith Act]], on charges of "conspiracy to teach and advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government by force and violence", although his conviction was based entirely on Hall's advocacy of Marxist thought. Hall's initial prison sentence lasted for five years.<ref name="barkan" />

Released on bail, Hall rose to the secretariat of the CPUSA.<ref name="sks" /> When the Supreme Court upheld the Smith Act (June 4, 1951), Hall and three other men [[Bail|skipped bail]] and went underground.<ref name="barkan" /> Hall's attempt to flee to Moscow failed when he was picked up in [[Mexico City]] on October 8, 1951.<ref name="sks" /><ref name="barkan" /> He was sentenced to three more years and eventually served over five and a half years in [[United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth|Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary]].<ref name = "AP Obit" /> In prison he distributed party leaflets and lifted weights. He was located in a cell adjacent to that of [[Machine Gun Kelly (gangster)|George "Machine Gun" Kelly]], a notorious gangster of the [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition]] era.<ref name ="nyt" /> The [[Supreme Court of the United States]] later reversed some convictions under the Smith Act as unconstitutional.

In the early 1960s, Hall was in danger of facing yet another indictment, this time under the Internal Security Act of 1950, known as the [[McCarran Internal Security Act|McCarran Act]], but the Supreme Court found the Act partly unconstitutional, and the government abandoned its charges.<ref name="sks" /> The act required "Communist action" organizations to register with the government, it excluded party members from applying for United States passports or holding government jobs.<ref name ="nyt" /> Because of the Act, Hall's driver's license was revoked by the State of New York.<ref name ="nyt" />

After his release, Hall continued his activities.<ref name = "AP Obit" /> He began to travel around the United States, ostensibly on vacation but gathering support to replace Dennis as the general secretary.<ref name="healey">{{Cite book|first = Dorothy Ray Healey|last = Maurice Isserman|title = California Red: a life in the American Communist Party|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year= 1993|pages=172–174|isbn=0-252-06278-7}}</ref> He accused Dennis of cowardice for not going underground as ordered in 1951 and also claimed Dennis had used funds reserved for the underground for his own purposes.<ref name ="nyt" /><ref name="healey" /> Hall's rise to the position of general secretary was generally unexpected by the American Communist circles (the post was expected to go to either [[Henry Winston]] or [[Gil Green (communist)|Gil Green]], both important figures in the YCL<ref name="healey" />), although Hall had held the office of acting general secretary briefly in the early 1950s after Dennis's arrest.<ref name="healey" /> In 1959, Hall was elected CPUSA general secretary and afterward received the [[Order of Lenin]].<ref name = "AP Obit" />

==General Secretary of the CPUSA==
[[File:Gus Hall visiting Finland in 1966.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Hall (far right) visits [[Finnish People's Democratic League|Finnish Communists]], 1966.]]
The McCarthy era had taken a heavy toll on the Communist Party USA, as many American members were called to testify to [[United States congressional committee|congressional committees]]. In addition, due to the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|Soviet invasion of Hungary]] in 1956, many members became disenchanted and left the party. They were also moved by the Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s [[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|dismissal]] of [[Stalinism]].<ref name="nyt" /> In the United States, the rise of the [[New Left]] and the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]] in 1968 created hostility between leftists and the CPUSA, marginalizing it.<ref name="barkan" />

[[File:May Day Demonstration, Union Square, New York, New York. May 1, 1972 Slide 35.png|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Hall speaks at a [[May Day]] demonstration in [[Union Square, Manhattan|Manhattan's Union Square]], May 1, 1972]]

Hall, along with other party leaders who remained, sought to rebuild the party.<ref name="AP Obit" /> He led the struggle to reclaim the legality of the Communist Party and addressed tens of thousands in [[Oregon]],<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Hans A. Linde |year=1966 |title=Campus Law: Berkeley Viewed from Eugene|journal=California Law Review }}</ref> [[Washington (state)|Washington]], and California. Envisioning a democratization of the American Communist movement, Hall spoke of a "[[Popular front|broad people's political movement]]" and tried to ally his party with radical campus groups, the [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|anti-Vietnam War movement]], organizations active in the [[civil rights movement]], and the new rank-and-file trade union movements in an effort to build the CPUSA among the young "[[Baby boomers|baby boomer]]" generation of activists.<ref name="nyt" /> Ultimately, Hall failed to forge a lasting alliance with the New Left.<ref name="nyt" />

Hall had a reputation of being one of the most convinced supporters of the actions and interests of the Soviet Union outside the [[Eastern Bloc|USSR's political sphere of influence]].<ref name="barkan" /><ref>[[David North (socialist)|David North]]: ''Das Erbe, das wir verteidigen'', p. 288 (in German)</ref> From 1959 onward, Hall spent some time in Moscow each year and was one of the most widely known American politicians in the USSR,<ref name="Независимая газета">{{cite web|url=http://www.ng.ru/world/2000-10-18/6_must_die.html|title=УМЕР ГЛАВНЫЙ МАРКСИСТ США|trans-title=The Chief Marxist of the USA Died|last1=Kosyrev|first1=Dmitry|date=October 18, 2000|website=[[Nezavisimaya Gazeta]]|language=Russian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001206111300/http://www.ng.ru/world/2000-10-18/6_must_die.html|archive-date=December 6, 2000|url-status=dead}}</ref> where he was received by high-level Soviet politicians such as [[Leonid Brezhnev]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Die Menschenrechtspolitik der USA|last=Pflüger|first=Friedbert|publisher=Oldenbourg|year=1983|isbn=3-486-51901-8|page=155}}</ref>

[[File:Gus Hall on Speaking Out show, CBS-TV, New York, New York. Photos by Bill Andrews. Oct 6, 1972 Slide 1 Crop.png|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Hall (right) on the [[CBS]] talk show ''Speaking Out'', October 6, 1972]]

Hall spoke regularly on campuses and talk shows as an advocate for socialism in the United States. He argued for socialism in the United States to 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 of the United States|Constitution]] without a Bill of Rights and wouldn't accept socialism without a Bill of Rights. He professed deep confidence in the democratic traditions of the American people. He remained a prolific writer on current events, producing a great number of articles and pamphlets, of which many were published in the magazine ''[[Political Affairs (magazine)|Political Affairs]]''.<ref name="sks" />

[[File:Gus Hall, Helen Winter and James E. Jackson Returning from Moscow, Soviet Union. Met by Jarvis Tyner, Arnold Johnson and Franklin Ieriello. Mar 7, 1976 Slide 54.png|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Hall (left), Helen Winter (center) and [[James E. Jackson]] return from the [[25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], March 7, 1976]]

During the 1960s and 1970s, Hall also made frequent appearances on [[Television in the Soviet Union|Soviet television]], always supporting the position of the [[Government of the Soviet Union|Soviet regime]].<ref name="sks" /> Hall guided the CPUSA in accordance with the party line of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] (CPSU), rejecting any liberalization efforts such as [[Eurocommunism]].<ref name="barkan" /> He also dismissed the radical new revolutionary movements that criticized the official Soviet party line of "[[Peaceful coexistence]]" and called for a [[world revolution]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=Donald F.|last=Busky |title=Communism in history and theory: Asia, Africa, and the Americas|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2002|page=167|isbn=0-275-97733-1}}</ref> After the [[Sino-Soviet split]], [[Maoism]] likewise was condemned, and all Maoist sympathizers were expelled from the CPUSA in the early 1960s.<ref name="klehr">{{Cite book|first=Harvey|last=Klehr |title=Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left Today |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=1988|pages=23–25 |isbn=0-88738-875-2}}</ref>

Hall defended the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia]] and [[Soviet–Afghan War|Afghanistan]],<ref>{{Cite news|title=Legale Minen|date=September 29, 1980|work=Der Spiegel}} (in German)</ref> and supported the Stalinist principle of "[[Socialism in One Country]]".<ref name="wsws" /> In the early 1980s, Hall and the CPUSA criticized the [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] movement in Poland.<ref name="klehr" /> In 1992, the Moscow daily ''[[Izvestia]]'' claimed that the CPUSA had received over $40 million in payments from the Soviet Union, contradicting Hall's long-standing claims of financial independence.<ref name="nyt" /> The former [[KGB]] General [[Oleg Kalugin]] declared in his memoir that the KGB had Hall and the American Communist Party "under total control" and that he was known to be siphoning off "Moscow money" to set up his own horse-breeding farm.<ref>Oleg Kalugin, ''The First Directorate'' (New York, 1994), pp.55–56.</ref> The writer and [[J. Edgar Hoover]] biographer [[Curt Gentry]] has noted that a similar story about Hall was planted in the media through the FBI's secret [[COINTELPRO]] campaign of disruption and disinformation against radical opposition groups.<ref name="Gentry 1991, 443">Gentry, Curt (1991). ''J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets''. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 443. {{ISBN|0-393-32128-2}}.</ref>

==Presidential candidate and later years==
[[File:Vote Communist - Gus Hall for President, Jarvis Tyner for Vice-President LCCN2016648826 Trim.jpg|thumb|1976 campaign poster featuring Hall and running mate [[Jarvis Tyner]].]]
In the [[1964 United States presidential election]], Hall's party supported [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], saying it was necessary to prevent the victory of the conservative [[Barry Goldwater]].<ref>[http://www.kalaschnikow.net/de/archiv.php?id=463 Obituary at Kalaschnikow.net] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081117080710/http://www.kalaschnikow.net/de/archiv.php?id=463 |date=November 17, 2008}} (in German)</ref> During the [[1972 United States presidential election|1972 presidential election]], the CPUSA withdrew its support from the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and nominated Hall as its candidate.<ref name="Newsru.com">[http://www.newsru.com/arch/world/17oct2000/holl.html Obituary at Newsru.com](in Russian)</ref> Hall ran for president four times—in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984—the last two times with [[Angela Davis]].<ref name="AP Obit" /> Of the four elections, Hall received the largest number of votes in 1976, largely because of the [[Watergate scandal]] bringing [[protest vote]]s for minor parties.  Hall ranked only in eighth place among the presidential candidates.<ref name="uselectionatlas.org">[http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1976&minper=0&f=0&off=0&elect=0 1976 Presidential General Election Results] Accessed April 27, 2010</ref> Owing 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, the CPUSA decided to suspend running national campaigns while continuing to run candidates at the local level. While ceasing presidential campaigns, the CPUSA did not renew support for the Democratic Party.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Das ist Mum, sie arbeitet für die Kommunistische Partei|author=Uwe Schmitt | date=April 29, 2004 | publisher=Welt | url=https://www.welt.de/print-welt/article310315/Das_ist_Mum_sie_arbeitet_fuer_die_Kommunistische_Partei.html}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable float-right"
|+ style="padding-bottom:1em;" | Hall's results in his presidential candidacies
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Election year
! [[Running mate]]
! Received votes (absolute)
! Received votes (%)
|-
| [[1972 United States presidential election|1972]]
| [[Jarvis Tyner]]
| 25,597
| 0.03%<ref>[http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1972&off=0&elect=0&fips=blank&f=0 1972 Presidential General Election Results] Accessed April 27, 2010</ref>
|-
| [[1976 United States presidential election|1976]]
| Jarvis Tyner
| 58,709
| 0.07%<ref name="uselectionatlas.org" />
|-
| [[1980 United States presidential election|1980]]
| [[Angela Davis]]
| 44,933
| 0.05%<ref>[http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1980&minper=0&f=0&off=0&elect=0 1980 Presidential General Election Results] Accessed April 27, 2010</ref>
|-
| [[1984 United States presidential election|1984]]
| Angela Davis
| 36,386
| 0.04%<ref>[http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1984&minper=0&f=0&off=0&elect=0 1984 Presidential General Election Results] Accessed April 27, 2010</ref>
|}
The 1980s were a politically difficult decade for Hall and the CPUSA, as one of Hall's trusted confidants and the deputy head of the CPUSA, [[Morris Childs]], was revealed in 1980 to be a longtime [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] [[informant]].<ref>{{Cite book
| first = John
| last = Barron
| title = Operation Solo: The FBI's Man in the Kremlin
| publisher=Regnery Publishing
| year= 1997
| page=4
| isbn=0-89526-429-3
}}</ref> Although Childs was taken into the [[United States Federal Witness Protection Program]] and received the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] in 1987, Hall continued to deny that Childs had been a spy.<ref name="ANB" /> Also, Henry Winston, Hall's African-American deputy, died in 1986. The black party base questioned the fact that the leadership was exclusively white.

After the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, the party faced another crisis. In a press conference that year, Hall warned of witch hunts and [[McCarthyism]] in Russia, comparing that country unfavorably with [[North Korea]].<ref name ="nyt" /> Hall led a faction of the party that stood against ''[[glasnost]]'' and ''[[perestroika]]'' and, for the hardliners of the CPSU, accused [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] and [[Boris Yeltsin]] of "demolishing" socialism.<ref>{{Cite news|title=GESTORBEN|date=October 23, 2000|work=Der Spiegel}} (in German)</ref> Hall supported [[Vietnam]] and [[Cuba]] but criticized the [[China|People's Republic of China]] for failing to oppose the West.<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.economist.com/obituary/2000/10/26/gus-hall | newspaper=The Economist | title=Gus Hall | date=October 26, 2000}}</ref> In late 1991, members wanting reform founded the [[Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism]], a group critical of the direction in which Hall was taking the party.<ref name="Zeit">{{Cite news|title=Ohne Kopf und Kapital|date=January 3, 1992|newspaper=Die Zeit|url=http://www.zeit.de/1992/02/Ohne-Kopf-und-Kapital|access-date=April 28, 2010|archive-date=June 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607070844/http://www.zeit.de/1992/02/Ohne-Kopf-und-Kapital|url-status=dead}}</ref> When they were unable to influence the leadership, they left the party and Hall purged them from the membership, including such leaders as [[Angela Davis]] and [[Charlene Mitchell]].

[[File:Gus Hall Cropped.jpg|thumb|right|Hall signs a copy of ''For Peace, Jobs, Equality'', 1984.]]

During the last years of his life, Hall lived in [[Yonkers, New York]], with his wife, Elizabeth.<ref name="pwe">{{cite web |date=October 18, 2003 |title=Elizabeth Hall dies at 94 |url=http://www.peoplesworld.org/elizabeth-hall-dies-at-94 |website=People's World}}</ref> Along with following political events, Hall engaged in hobbies that included art collecting, [[Organic horticulture|organic gardening]], and painting.<ref name="time" /> In 2000, shortly before his death, Hall resigned the post of party chairman in favor of [[Sam Webb (communist)|Sam Webb]] and was appointed honorary chairman.<ref name="DKP">{{Cite news|title=Gus Hall übergibt den Stab|author=Manfred Sohn|date=May 19, 2000|newspaper=Unsere Zeit|url=http://www.dkp-online.de/internat/amerika/usa/32200803.htm|access-date=April 28, 2010|archive-date=November 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108081101/http://www.dkp-online.de/internat/amerika/usa/32200803.htm|url-status=dead}} in German</ref>  In 1994, [[Michael Myerson]], who had left the CPUSA along with [[Herbert Aptheker]], [[Angela Davis]], Gil Green, and [[Charlene Mitchell]],<ref>{{cite web|date= 1993|title=Crisis in the CPUSA: Interview with Charlene Mitchell|url=https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/cis/omalley/OMalleyWeb/03lv02424/04lv02730/05lv03005/06lv03006/07lv03075/08lv03082.htm|publisher =University of the Western Cape|access-date =January 3, 2021}}</ref> accused Hall of living a "good bourgeois life" including "an estate in fashionable [[Hampton Bays, New York|Hampton Bays]]".<ref>{{cite news|first =Janny|last =Scott|title=Comrades Up in Arms; Ranks of American Communists Split Over Future of Their Party|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/21/nyregion/comrades-up-arms-ranks-american-communists-split-over-future-their-party.html|newspaper= New York Times|page = D27|date = May 8, 1997|access-date = January 3, 2021}}</ref>

==Criticism==
When the [[Trotskyist]] [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|Socialist Workers Party]] (SWP) and its leaders in the Midwest Teamsters were prosecuted under the Smith Act in Minnesota in 1941, some Communist Party members supported the government actions. Later, Hall admitted it was a mistake for the party to not openly fight against imprisonment of SWP members under the Smith Act.<ref>{{Cite book| first=Gerald| last=Horne| title=Black liberation/red scare| publisher=University of Delaware Press| year=1993| page=[https://archive.org/details/blackliberationr00horn/page/213 213]| isbn=0-87413-472-2| url=https://archive.org/details/blackliberationr00horn/page/213}}</ref> The Trotskyist movement held strong negative opinions against Hall; upon his death, the Trotskyist [[World Socialist Web Site]] denounced him for what they perceived as his incompetence, loyalty to the Soviet Union, and abandonment of the working class.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2000/11/hall-n06.html|title=Gus Hall (1910-2000): Stalinist operative and decades-long leader of Communist Party USA|website=World Socialist Web Site|last1=Mazelis|first1=Fred|date=November 6, 2000|access-date=March 3, 2021}}</ref>

At times, some Soviet officials criticized Hall by accusing him of poor leadership of the CPUSA.<ref name ="kalugin">{{Cite book | first=Oleg | last=Kalugin | title=The First Directorate | publisher=St. Martin's Press | year=1994 | page=[https://archive.org/details/firstdirectorate00kalu/page/56 56] | isbn=0-312-11426-5 | url=https://archive.org/details/firstdirectorate00kalu/page/56 }}</ref> Young American communists were advised to distance themselves from CPUSA, as the party was under intense FBI surveillance, and these officials believed that under such conditions the party could not be successful.<ref name ="kalugin" />

Many [[Conservatism in the United States|conservatives]] saw Hall as a threat to the United States, with [[J. Edgar Hoover]] describing him as "a powerful, deceitful, dangerous foe of [[Americanization|Americanism]]."<ref name="nyt" /> An inflammatory anti-Christian statement was falsely ascribed to Hall, earning him the hostility of some Christian groups, including [[Jerry Falwell]]'s [[Moral Majority]].<ref>{{Cite book| first=Paul F. Boller| last=John H. George| title=They never said it| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1989| page=[https://archive.org/details/theyneversaiditb00boll/page/44 44]| isbn=0-19-505541-1| url=https://archive.org/details/theyneversaiditb00boll/page/44}}</ref> In a 1977 speech, future U.S. president [[Ronald Reagan]] planned to quote this alleged 1961 statement as proof of the evils of communism: "I dream of the hour when [[Jean Meslier|the last congressman is strangled to death on the guts of the last preacher]]&nbsp;— and since the Christians seem to love to sing about the blood, why not give them a little of it? Slit the throats of their children [and] draw them over the mourner's bench and the pulpit and allow them to drown in their own blood, and then see whether they enjoy singing those hymns." The statement, which Reagan ultimately excised from his speech because he claimed he did not have the "nerve" to say it, was falsely claimed to have been said by Hall at the funeral oration of former CPUSA party chairman [[William Z. Foster]].<ref>Kiron K. Skinner, Martin Anderson, Annelise Anderson, eds., Reagan, In His Own Hand (New York, 2002), 34; David C. Wills, The First War on Terrorism: Counter-Terrorism Policy During the Reagan Administration (Lanham, MD, 2003), 22.</ref> Hall would later make positive comments about Christianity; in 1963, he called the papal [[encyclical]] [[Pacem in terris]] "the work of a great Pope".<ref name="lee">{{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=Francis Nigel |author-link=Francis Nigel Lee |title=Biblical Private Property Versus Socialistic Common Property |date=1988 |journal=Ex Nihilo Technical Journal |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=16–22 |url=https://creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j03_1/j03_1_016-022.pdf}}</ref> According to [[Francis Nigel Lee]], Hall held [[Pope John XXIII]] in high regard and hoped for dialogue between Catholics and Communists, writing in ''[[Political Affairs (magazine)|Political Affairs]]'' that "Marxists have shown their remarkable willingness to go along with Pope John's giant step forward."<ref name="lee"/> Gus Hall is also reported to have said: “Our quarrel is with capitalism, not God.”<ref name="maxey">{{Cite book |last=Maxey |first=Mark |publisher=PCUSA Religious Affairs Commission |title=Communism & Religion |date=February 15, 2019 |isbn=9780359434404 |url=https://archive.org/details/communismandreligion_201906}}</ref>

Hall was also accused of [[homophobia]], as the CPUSA followed a Stalinist doctrine of declaring homosexuality a "fascist tendency". As a result, openly gay party members such as [[Harry Hay]] were expelled from the party in the 1950s.<ref name="workers">{{Cite news |last=Feinberg |first=Leslie |url=http://www.workers.org/2005/us/lavender-red-40/ |title=Harry Hay: Painful partings |date=June 28, 2005 |work=Workers World |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930015105/http://www.workers.org/2005/us/lavender-red-40/ |archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> The Communist Party was critical of newly emerging social movements in the 1960s and 1970s, keeping its distance from the [[New Left]]. Nevertheless, some CPUSA members attempted to appeal to the youth, with [[Gil Green (communist)|Gil Green]] arguing that “the correct line should have been to try to turn this upheaval amongst young people into a permanent kind of movement while letting its dynamics work itself out with our participation.”<ref name="green">{{Cite journal |last=Rosenberg |first=Daniel |title=From Crisis to Split: The Communist Party USA, 1989–1991 |date=April 22, 2019 |journal=American Communist History |volume=18 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–55 |doi=10.1080/14743892.2019.1599627|s2cid=159619768 }}</ref> Despite the fact that the [[Mexican Communist Party|Communist party of Mexico]] and some Afro-American communists such as [[Jarvis Tyner]] and Kendra Alexander opposed homophobia, CPUSA was opposed to [[LGBTQ rights in the United States|gay rights]], with the official party programme from early 1970s condemning any behaviour “which encourages or promotes homosexual relationships as an alternative to sound, healthy, male–female relationships or distracts from the family as the basic unity of society and the fundamental component of the future we see to bring into being” and repudiating “as false any attempt to depict the so-called gay lifestyle as part of advanced and even revolutionary movements, or to promote it in the guise of a progressive ideology".<ref name="green"/> However, Hall himself was not homophobic.<ref name="marquit">{{Cite journal |last=Marquit |first=Erwin |author-link=Erwin Marquit |title=Memoirs of a Lifelong Communist |journal=Memoirs of a Lifelong Communist – 2 |date=2014 |page=148 |editor-last1=Shifman |editor-first1=Mikhail |editor-link=Mikhail Shifman |url=https://www.academia.edu/38348677 |series=Part II |archive-date=November 2, 2023 |access-date=March 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102234340/https://www.academia.edu/38348677 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to [[Erwin Marquit]], Hall sought to moderate the party's hostile stance towards gay groups, and when questioned by the [[student council]] of the [[University of Minnesota]], he stated his opposition to expelling homosexual members from the party.<ref name="marquit"/> Hall had also intervened on behalf of Bernard Koten, a party member who was arrested in [[Kiev]] in August 1963 and charged with homosexuality.<ref name="Savonen">{{Cite book |last=Savonen |first=Tuomas |publisher=The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters |title=Minnesota, Moscow, Manhattan: Gus Hall's Life and Political Line Until the Late 1960s |location=Helsinki |date=December 11, 2020 |isbn=9789516534520 |editor-last=Sundberg |editor-first=Jan |pages=277–278}}</ref> Hall reacted strongly to the news of Koten's arrest and called for the charges to be dropped "unless a more serious crime is involved".<ref name="Savonen"/> After protests from Hall and a number of progressive activists, Koten was released without trial.<ref name="Savonen"/>

==Personal life and death==
In Youngstown, Hall met Elizabeth Mary Turner (1909–2003), a woman of [[Hungarian Americans|Hungarian background]].<ref name="sks" /><ref name="pwe" /> They were married in 1935. Elizabeth was a leader in her own right, among the first women steelworkers and a secretary of SWOC.<ref name="pwe" /> They had two children, Barbara (Conway) (1938–2022) and Arvo (born 1947).<ref name="herald" /><ref name="pwe" />

Gus Hall died on October 13, 2000, at [[Lenox Hill Hospital]] in [[Manhattan]] from [[diabetes mellitus]] complications.<ref name="nyt" /><ref>[http://www.nndb.com/people/206/000135798 NNDB Gus Hall]</ref> He was buried in the [[Forest Home Cemetery (Forest Park)|Forest Home Cemetery]] near Chicago.

==Works==
* ''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}}.
<!-- * Source: ([http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?hd=1,1&Search%5FArg=Gus%20Hall&Search%5FCode=NAME%40&CNT=25&PID=_rx5bwg0dXTlwRSe5vknW4NMksS&HIST=0&SEQ=20081002111437&SID=3 Gus Hall in [[Library of Congress] Online Catalog]) -->

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons category}}
* Joseph Brandt (ed.), ''Gus Hall: Bibliography'' New York: New Century Publishers, 1981.
* Fiona Hamilton, [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article988872.ece "Gus Hall"]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, ''The Times'', October 18, 2000.
* Tuomas Savonen, ''Minnesota, Moscow, Manhattan. Gus Hall's life and political line until the late 1960s'' Helsinki: The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, 2020.

==External links==
* [https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/resources/11679 Gus Hall Papers (MS 2113) at Yale University] 
* [https://www.marxists.org/archive/hall/index.htm Gus Hall Archive] at [[marxists.org]]
* [https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/713 Gus Hall Communist Party Meeting Recordings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240221081619/https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/713 |date=February 21, 2024 }} at [https://www.newberry.org the Newberry Library]

{{S-start}}
{{S-ppo}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Eugene Dennis]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=General Secretary of the CPUSA|years=1959–2000}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Sam Webb (communist)|Sam Webb]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Communist Party USA}}
{{1972 United States presidential election}}
{{1976 United States presidential election}}
{{1980 United States presidential election}}
{{1984 United States presidential election}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Gus}}
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[[Category:Activists for African-American civil rights]]
[[Category:American anti-capitalists]]
[[Category:American expatriates in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:American people of Finnish descent]]
[[Category:American anti-racism activists]]
[[Category:American anti-poverty advocates]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Home Cemetery, Chicago]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1972 United States presidential election]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1976 United States presidential election]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1980 United States presidential election]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1984 United States presidential election]]
[[Category:COINTELPRO targets]]
[[Category:Collaborators with the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Communist Party USA politicians]]
[[Category:Deaths from diabetes in New York (state)]]
[[Category:International Lenin School alumni]]
[[Category:American trade union leaders]]
[[Category:Members of the Communist Party USA]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Minnesota]]
[[Category:Minnesota socialists]]
[[Category:People convicted under the Smith Act]]
[[Category:People from St. Louis County, Minnesota]]
[[Category:Politicians from Youngstown, Ohio]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:United States Navy sailors]]
[[Category:United Steelworkers people]]