Gus Hall
1910 - 2000
Gus Hall, né Arvo Kustaa Halberg was an an American Communist politician, a founder of the United Steelworkers of America union. He headed the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) over four decades, and was its candidate for President of the United States on multiple occasions.
Hall enlisted in the US Army during World War II and served as a an Army machinist on the island of Guam. He was honorably discharged on 6 March 1946, and upon his return to the United States he was named to a post on the national leadership council of the CPUSA.
As a leader of the CPUSA, Hall had to contend with the anti-communist policies of the United States government, and on more than one occasion had to go into hiding. In 1948 he was indicted under the "Smith Act" and eventually served over five and a half years in prison.
In 1959 Gus Hall was named General Secretary of the CPUSA, a post he would hold until his death in October 2000, and from which he maintained Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy, as defined from Moscow, and loyally defended the policies and political line of the Soviet Union.
_________________
WORKS:
1969: Speech at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties, Moscow
1970: Crisis of Petty-Bourgeois Radicalism
1972: Ecology: Can We Survive Under Capitalism?