Gus Hall

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Gus Hall (born Arvo Kustaa Halberg; October 8, 1910, Cherry Township, Minnesota) is a Finnish-American communist politician, trade union leader, and potential presidential candidate of the 1972 American election who also leads the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) within the National Progressive Pact.

In Game Description

Many words apply to Gus Hall, and "presidential" isn't likely to be one of them. Born Arvo Kustaa Halberg in Minnesota's great Iron Range, he grew up speaking Finnish with nine other siblings, in a frigid log cabin that his immigrant father built after having been driven from work for organizing with the International Workers of the World. Hall himself left school to work in logging camps at the age of 15, to support his family, and soon after joined the Young Communist League. That work with the YCL allowed him to travel to Bukharin's USSR, and Hall spent several years studying at the International Lenin School. Throughout the 1930s, Hall stared down police and bosses at strikes across Minnesota and Ohio, among steelworkers, farmers, and teamsters.

After a stint in the Navy during the war against Japan, Hall then spent much of the 1950s being hounded by prosecutors for proposing the overthrow of the US government. He made himself known as a prominent member of the Communist Party of the USA, speaking on college campuses and debating conservatives on live TV. Despite this, Hall seemed doomed to become a marginal figure in American political life. However, the rise of the NPP's leftist faction has propelled him far beyond such margins. Now, after the unlikeliest political triumph in American history, President Hall is seeking to uplift America's marginalized, unite the working class, and create a new America, built for all instead of the few.

Gus Hall's presidency takes a radical path. His platform does not just call for raising taxes on the wealthy, but for a near-total restructuring of the United States economy to fulfill his socialist vision. As part of this vision, he seeks to clean out many of the American institutions that have so often been led by reactionaries and conservatives. Socialism will be promoted the world over, and old imperialist American ambitions will be replaced by a new, red, eagle. Labor unions - that great, old invention - will be restored to the position they once held in industry. Judges supporting egalitarianism and equity will be appointed. Above all else, Hall's presidency seeks to preserve and promote democracy — even if that means the death of the American system.

Maybe he isn't presidential. But President Gus Hall is certainly aiming to be revolutionary.

Procedure on Achieving the Hall Presidency

Like getting Francis Parker Yockey as president, the player must fail in pretty much every decision or conflict and empowering the CPUSA.

A brief summarized guide to do this is as follows:

• Veto the Civil Rights Act to get Robert F. Kennedy elected later on. You could choose to wait it out until Bloody Wednesday, but the boost is negligible.
• It's important not to do any foci that boosts the R-D popularity, or win any proxy wars like Malaya, Philippines, or Madagascar.
• As Kennedy, pass civil rights legislation under any way possible. Lose the Indonesian Civil War. Do decisions, focuses, and choices that make the Far Right-NPP despise you (like COINTELPRO focuses) while also making trade unions dislike you as well. Make sure you get assassinated before the 1968 election season.
• As Strom Thurmond, spit on Kennedy's legacy and boost the Marxist caucus. Do both the "Good Behavior They Have Not" and "The Center Shall Not Hold" focus to kill the Progressive caucus and empower the Marxist caucus.
• Have Barry Goldwater win the 1968 election. As Goldwater, fail Act!, fail both the Copperhead and Southern strategies, get caught targeting the unions with shadiness being at ten or more, implement full on Reaganomics without tariffs, and fail to pass EPA legislation and crush the Yockeyites, thus uniting the NPP behind the Marxist caucus. All of those above will destroy the R-Ds come 1972.
  • Do note, the Oil Crisis will happen sometime in the mid-1970s when Iraq goes into a civil war. You won't be able to continue any other focuses, until you finish resolving the Oil Crisis. Make sure you either time the AFL-CIO focuses well or do them after the Oil Crisis.
• Lose the Iranian Civil War.
• Getting 20% party popularity or more for the Left-NPP, allowing you to nominate Hall to be the 1972 NPP presidential candidate.
• If the above methods fail, you can use console commands to give Hall 100%+ party popularity to win the election.
• You likely won't get enough senators to pass the CRA of '73 but still able to win the election in a landslide.

Trivia

The real Gus Hall was the General Secretary of the CPUSA for over 40 years until his death in 2000.

The music for the super event of his presidency is an American socialist song, Which Side Are You On?

In OTL, Hall did run for president in 1972, the same thing the player can do if America is destabilized enough for radicals to get their left leaning way in the White Office.