By Nikos Mottas.
The 13th of October marked the 20th anniversary since the death of American communist and long-time leader of the Communist Party, USA (CPUSA) Gus Hall.
General Secretary of the CPUSA from 1959 to 2000, Hall was one of the most brilliant figures of the U.S. communist movement, alongside William Z. Foster, Paul Robeson, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, W.E.B. Du Bois and others.
His birthname was Kustaa Halberg and was born in 1910 in Saint Louis County, Minesota. Son of Finnish immigrants, he grew up in a working class family and was involved early on in the labor movement. He left school at the age of 15 in order to support his poor ten-child family by working in mines, railroads and lumber camps.