Editing Gus Hall (section)

=="Little Steel" strike and war service==
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>

Hall volunteered for the [[United States Navy]] when [[World War II]] broke out, serving as a [[Machinist's mate|machinist]] 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" />