Editing Gus Hall (section)

==Background and early political activism==
[[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.]]
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 the [[Finland]], [[Lapua]] region, 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" />