People of the Revolution and the USSR

Gus Hall

Gus Hall
Communist Party USA (CPUSA) Communism United States Finnish 1910–2000 ○ Diabetes complications

Finnish-American labor militant and CPUSA General Secretary for 41 years, Moscow loyalist, four-time presidential candidate

'Socialism in America will come through the ballot box' — Hall to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1996.

A Finnish immigrant's son forged in the steel strikes, Hall led the CPUSA for 41 years as an orthodox Marxist-Leninist. Trained at Moscow's International Lenin School and imprisoned under the Smith Act, he seized party leadership in 1959, hewed unflinchingly to the Soviet line through every crisis, and ran for president four times, becoming the face of American communism during the Cold War.

Career timeline
  • 1927Joined CPUSA; Young Communist League organizer
  • 1931–1933Studied at International Lenin School, Moscow
  • 1935–1937SWOC founding organizer; led 'Little Steel' strike
  • 1939CPUSA leader, Cleveland
  • 1942–1946US Navy machinist's mate, Guam
  • 1948–1957Smith Act indictment; imprisoned 5+ years, Leavenworth
  • 1959–2000General Secretary / Chairman, CPUSA
  • 1972–1984CPUSA presidential candidate (4 elections)