Monthly Archives: January 2020

Abate to Aguilera

Erasmo Abate (aka Hugo Roland)

Born 1895, Formia, Italy. Construction worker, house painter. Immigrated to US in 1912. Anarchist; in Philadelphia secretary of anarcho-syndicalist Union of Italian Workers and edited La Comune (1911-1915) and La Conquista (1920-1921). Deported 1922; wife and child remained in US. In Italy, sent by Errico Malatesta to aid antifascist movement in Ancona, where helped lead local section of the armed antifascist organization Arditi del Popolo. Arrested and fled to Paris, where member of the exiled Italian antifascist Comitato di Azione and key figure in the “Garibaldi Affair,” a plot to assassinate Mussolini and invade Italy led by Ricciotti Garibaldi, but Abate withdrew in 1925, shortly before Garibaldi was revealed to by an agent of Mussolini. In 1926 Abate illegally returned to the US under the name Hugo Roland and rejoined his family; in Chicago edited Germinal (1926), then settled in Michigan. Remained an active anarchist in the US until his death in 1977.

INS file 55009/80; CPC busta 1

See also Hugo Rolland Papers, International Institute for Social History

Jacob Abrams (Yankel Abramovsky; Jack Abrams)

Jacob Abrams, 1921

Born 1883, Uman, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Bookbinder. Immigrated to US in 1908. Anarchist; union militant; member of New York Jewish anarchist groups Shturem and Frayhayt. Wife Mary Domsky, fellow anarchist and survivor of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Arrested with other group members in 1918 for writing and distributing fliers opposing US intervention in Russian Civil War. Deported 1921 after losing landmark Supreme Court free-speech case Abrams v. United States. In Russia, opened a steam laundry (a skill he had learned in US federal prison ) and worked for anarcho-syndicalist publishing house Golos Truda, but quickly became disillusioned and left for Paris with Mary in 1925, then the couple moved to Mexico City in 1926, where they joined the Spanish anarchist exiled group Tierra y Libertad, and also befriended Leon Trotsky. 1939 cofounded Yiddish newspaper Di Shtime in Mexico City. Contracted cancer in 1945 and in 1952 allowed to temporarily enter US for medical treatment under FBI supervision. Died 1953 in Mexico.

INS file 54517/79

See also Richard Polenberg, Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech; The J. Abrams Book: The Life and Work of an Exceptional Personality, trans. Ruth Murphy, ed. Brian Moen

Mikhail Abrosimov (Михаил Абросимов; Michael Abrossemoff)

Born 1901, Petrograd, Russia. Polish. Seaman, laborer. In Russia, had been a socialist and served four years in prison for “wrecking a house of prostitution.” Immigrated to US 1916. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York. Arrested and beaten during November 1919 Palmer Raids. Deported 1919 on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/453

Veniamin Afanasevich (Вениамин Афанасьевич; Benjamin; Afansievich; aka Benjamin Ptashetchnik)

Born 1897, Vilna, Russia (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania). Carpenter. Immigrated to US 1916. Polish. Member of the Union of Russian Workers in New York, as was his brother. Arrested and beaten during November 1919 Palmer Raids. Deported 1919 on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/277

Crescencio Lopez Aguilera

Born 1889, Mexico. Miner. Immigrated to US 1907. Divorced, one daughter. Anarchist, member of Partido Liberal Mexicano. Treasurer of anarchist group “Los Errantes” (affiliated with the Partido Liberal Mexicano) in Morenci, Arizona; corresponded with Ricardo Flores Magón’s wife, María Broussé. Deported 1919. Still contributing funds to anarchist publications in Mexico as of 1929.

INS file 54709/70; FBI file OG 360538

Ahlteen to Anderson

Carl Ahlteen (Carl Althén, aka Carl Johansson)

Born 1888, Sweden. Laborer. Migrated to US 1911. IWW member, began editing Swedish IWW paper Allarm 1915. Arrested Minneapolis 1917 and defendant in federal IWW trial; in 1918 sentenced to twenty years in prison and fined $20,000. 1923 released from Leavenworth on condition of deportation. 1924 spoke at Stockholm memorial meeting for Joe Hill, whom he had known in the US. Son Carl Y. Ahlteen born that same year. Withdrew from labor activism and opened a homeopathy practice in Stockholm. In 1931, sentenced to 75 days imprisonment and 3 kroner fine for medical malpractice after a patient died under his care, and subsequently moved his family to Colombia and the Panama Canal Zone, where he continued his homeopathic practice and died in 1953. In 1957 his son, a licensed chiropractor, became a naturalized citizen of the US.

INS file 54235/62 (file missing); FBI Miscellaneous Files, file 13031

Clement Alexanderovitch

Born 1893, Vilna, Russia (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania). Laborer, steelworker; migrated to US 1914 and settled in Pittsburgh, where joined Communist Party of America in 1919 shortly after its founding. Arrested November 1919; deported 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54860/337; FBI file OG 382279

August Allman (Allmann)

Born 1870, Obereisenbach, Germany. Agricultural worker; migrated to US 1887. IWW member since at least 1917; arrested 1918 in Walla Walla, Washington. Like all IWW members arrested in Washington, charged with promoting illegal destruction of property and as “likely to become a public charge”–despite $528 in savings. Due to German nationality, interned as an “enemy alien” at Ford Douglas, Utah. Deported 1919. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/36

Lars Anderson (Andersson)

IWW stickers in Anderson’s possession

Born 1881, Sweden. Laborer, immigrated without inspection to US via Canada 1904; crossed between US and Canada several times for work. Joined IWW 1916. Arrested Spokane, WA, 1918; in possession of a number of IWW stickers (or “silent agitators”); deported November 1918. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/241

Peter Anderson (Andersson; aka Peter Martel)

Born 1885, Sweden. Laborer; immigrated to Canada 1908 and US 1910. Joined IWW 1917 in Montana; later member of Rockford, IL IWW’s Literature Committee; arrested 1918 for distributing IWW literature; deported 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/532; FBI file OG 8000-212463

Henning Anderson (Andersson)

Henning Anderson’s IWW delegate credentials

Born 1884, Sweden. Sailor, laborer; immigrated to US 1908, worked between US and Canada until 1915. Joined IWW 1912; union organizer and delegate for Lumber Workers Industrial Union. Arrested Spokane, WA 1918; deported 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/196

Andreyev to Archuk

Vasily Andreyev (Василий Андреев; Wasily Andreyeff)

Born 1897, Petrograd, Russia. Worked as seaman age 15-19, then as a traveling acrobat and actor, and migrated to US in 1915. Met Emma Goldman that same year, and frequently visited her thereafter. Toured with variety show “The Five Pandurs,” and according to his American employer, “Ever since he has been in my employ this man has been active in talking and handing pamphlets to others on the stage, trains and hotels. The nature of his talk has been on the subject of socialism and anarchism.” Also a vegetarian who “does not believe in the killing of any animal life,” and member of the White Rats Actor’ Union of America (AFL) and involved in its 1916-17 strike in New York. Arrested 1918 while on tour in Chicago after federal agents interrogated a waitress about where she had obtained copies of the Mother Earth Bulletin they saw her reading. Released on bail, then deported 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

FBI file OG 8000-133039

See also Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University

Anton Andronsyuk (Антон Андронсюк; Anton Andronsuk; Androusuk)

Born 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer; migrated to US 1911. Financial secretary of Buffalo branch of Union of Russian Workers when arrested November 1919; deported on Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/137

Roman Andryuk (Роман Андрюк; Roman Andriuk)

Born 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Sailor (fireman); first migrated to US 1913. Joined Union of Russian Workers 1918. Arrested New York during Palmer Raids of November 1919, stated support for the Soviet government; deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/272

Antoniy Aniseniya (Антоний Анисения; Anthony Anisienia)

Born 1887, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Member Hartford, CT branch of Union of Russian Workers 1919, arrested November of that year; deported on Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/391

Ivan Anotsky (Иван Аноцкий; John; Onotsky; Onotzky; Onortsyk)

Born 1893, Grodno region, Russia (present-day Belarus). Porter. Migrated to US 1915. Joined Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party of America in Detroit circa 1917; transferred into Communist Party of America 1919. Visited Pittsburgh 1919 to speak against the anarchists of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested in Detroit during the first Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported to Russia February 1, 1921. Immediately after arrival reportedly volunteered to participate in repression of the Kronstadt Mutiny; and subsequently made a commissar. Allegedly a “degenerate and an alcoholic,” and sentenced to death for embezzlement; escaped to Poland.

FBI file OG 386232

See also: Delo Truda, December 1937-February 1938 (with thanks to Malcolm Archibald)

Fedor Antonchick (Федор Антончик; Fredor/Frederick Antonchick)

Born 1891, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US via Canada 1914, “probably surreptitiously,” leaving wife and child in Petrograd. Member of the International Longshoremen’s Association, Local 895 (AFL), and probably the Communist Party of America. Arrested New York October 20, 1919, during ILA strike while handing out multilingual leaflets published by the Communist Party of America. Arrested again during Palmer Raids, November 11, 1919; while on bail arrested November 29 and charged with “criminal anarchy.” Declared, “I don’t consider myself guilty of this charge, but I have nothing against being deported if I can be deported where my wife is.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/94

Alexander Antonoff (Antonov)

Born c.1896, Grodno region, Russia (present-day Belarus). Immigrated to Canada 1913, then to US 1916. Laborer. Member of both the Union of Russian Workers and the IWW; anarchist. Arrested Pittsburgh, April 14, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

Vladimir Archuk (Владимир Арчук, Wladzimar Archiuk)

Born 1888, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Former corporal in Russian Army. Laborer; migrated to US 1914. Joined Union of Russian Workers in Hartford, CT, 1919. Arrested November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/375

Arndt to Bagatchuk

Fred Arndt

Born Germany, year unknown. Construction worker; year of migration unknown. IWW organizer and delegate for Local No. 573 of Construction Workers’ Industrial Union, Seattle. Refused to register for the draft. Arrested during raid on Seattle IWW in February 1919; charged with “criminal anarchy.” Refused to answer questions. Interned at Fort Douglas, Utah as “enemy alien”; released on condition of “voluntary repatriation” and departed June 1919.

INS file 54616/32, FBI file OG 347754

Charles Ashleigh

Born 1888 or 1889, London, England. Clerk, laborer, union organizer, journalist. Middle-class upbringing; joined Independent Labour Party age 15, then Fabian Society and Social Democratic Federation; became a secretary for the Fabian Society 1908 and active in socialist Clarion Scouts movement. 1908-9 sent by ILP to agitate among coal miners in South Wales. 1909 migrated Buenos Aires for clerk position with Central Argentine Railroad; established Socialist Club and wrote for Buenos Aires Herald. Hiked from Argentina to Chile and Peru, then 1912 sailed as crew member from Peru to Portland where jumped ship (with collusion of captain) and regularized his status by crossing into Canada and back. Immediately employed as a paid speaker for Socialist Party of America, but soon left it for IWW, for which became a paid organizer. Traveled as migrant laborer, or “hobo,” throughout US and wrote poetry on behalf of IWW; involved in Rangel-Cline and Everett defense campaigns. Openly queer, he had a romantic relationship with African American radical poet Claude McKay. Arrested 1917 and defendant at federal IWW trial; sentenced to 10 years and $30,000 fine. Joined Communist Party in prison; 1921 sentence commuted on condition of “voluntary departure” in early 1922. In London transferred to Communist Party of Great Britain and on staff of Sunday Worker and Daily Worker, as well as TASS. September 1922 traveled to India to deliver invitations to Fourth Congress of the Comintern; detained and expelled by British authorities but managed to complete his mission. November 1922 in Moscow (with McKay) where worked as translator for Fourth Comintern Congress, then asked to start an “American information section in the RILU,” which transferred to Berlin 1923. Soon arrested in Berlin and expelled. 1930 published semi-autobiographical novel about IWW, The Rambling Kid. 1931 sent to Moscow to write for The Moscow News/Moscow Daily News; 1934 denounced by roommate as homosexual and expelled from USSR. Remained member of CPGB until his death in 1974, but on the margins of local party activity.

INS file 54235/39-A

See also: Steve Kellerman, “Introduction,” Charles Ashleigh, The Rambling Kid (2004); Kevin Morgan, Gidon Cohen, and Andrew Flinn, Communists and British Society, 1920-1991 (2007); Lisa A. Kirschenbaum, International Communism and the Spanish Civil War: Solidarity and Suspicion (2015)

Joseph Aukstuolis

Cook. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. No further information found.

Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 55110/4

Aurelio Vincente Azuara (Vicente Azuara)

Born Spain, 1884. Laborer, miner, editor. Migrated to Mexico 1907, then to US 1912. Joined IWW 1913, became unofficial organizer for it. In Los Angeles, edited unofficial Spanish-language IWW paper El Rebelde (1916-17). Arrested Los Angeles September 1917; defendant at federal IWW trial; sentenced to 20 years and $10,000 fine. Sentence commuted on condition of deportation to Spain 1923. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/48

See also David Struthers, The World in a City: Multiethnic Radicalism in Early Twentieth-Century Los Angeles (2019)

Alfredo Bagaglino

Born 1868, Turin, Italy. Orphaned. Miner. Anarchist. 1904 expelled from France (reason unclear). Migrated to US 1907; miner in Spring Valley, Illinois, where lived with wife Domenica Cariglio and their adopted son. Supporter of Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva, Umanità Nova (Milan), and Alleanza Libertaria (Rome), and active in mining strikes. According to Chicago Immigration Inspector George E. Schubert, Bagaglino “is the actual leader and the most outspoken” of the Spring Valley anarchists, and “a forcible speaker and has command of the language and the high sounding phrases used by the present radical demagogues.” Deported March 1921; wife planned to sell home and join him in Italy. Maintained correspondence with Italian anarchists in US; 1926 arrested by fascist authorities and sentenced to several years “mandato al Confino” (confinement to a prison colony). Died Turin 1936.

INS file 54885/18; CPC busta 239

See also: Un trentennio di attività anarchica (1915-1945) (1953)

Simon Bagatchuk (aka Sam Bush)

Born 1888, Podolsk, Russia. Laborer; migrated to US 1913 (via Canada). April 1919 joined the Seattle branch of Union of Russian Workers. Arrested Seattle, January 17, 1919, then again November 17, 1919. Deported February 1921.

INS file 54860/453; FBI file OG 388850

Bahruk to Baldenkov

Dimitry Bahruk

Born Russia, 1897. Migrated at unknown date to Detroit. Deported to Russia January 22, 1921. No further information found.

Included on list of radical deportees in INS file 54325/36G

Frederick Baker

Born 1881 in Surrey, England. Sustained head injury in 1912 that may have affected his behavior. Drafted into British Army in 1915 but honorably discharged due to “nervous breakdown.” Immigrated to US 1916. Laborer, clerk. Arrested Chicago 1917 for stealing $80 from a neighbor and spent three months in prison. Arrested October 6, 1918 as an IWW member, which he denied (but which is confirmed in other sources). The Bureau of Immigration concluded “this alien is mentally defective,” but “no evidence indicating that the defect is mental insanity.” Deported as “likely to become a public charge,” March 1, 1919 (despite receiving a pension from the British Post Office). Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54552/33

See also: Klasen Kampf, April 1919

Andrei Balash (Андрей Балаш, Andrew Balucz)

Born Vilna region, Russia, 1886. Migrated to US 1913. Joined URW in New Haven, CT, 1919. Arrested Ansonia, CT November 1919; trove of Russian-language anarchist literature found in his room. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/320

Giovanni Baldazzi (John Baldazzi; Baldazza)

Born 1883, Imola, Italy. Printer, electrician, labor organizer. Anarchist by 1903; wrote for several anarchist newspapers; proponent of general strike; arrested multiple times in Italy for strike activity. 1906 disillusioned with labor movement and turned to individualist anarchism. 1907-1910 migrated between England, France, and Italy as a sale representative. 1912 expelled from France to Italy, where again involved in labor and strike activity. 1914 collaborated on Utopia, a pro-war, syndicalist-leaning paper edited by Benito Mussolini. Migrated to US late 1914. Joined IWW upon arrival; organizer and lecturer for IWW’s Bakers’ Union (New York), editor and contributor to IWW paper Il Proletario. Arrested Old Forge, PA July 1917 for “pernicious activities” as labor organizer and opposing conscription; defendant at IWW federal trial, sentenced to ten years and $30,000 fine. Sentence commuted on condition of deportation; deported 1922. In Rome quickly gravitated toward Fascism; worked for Fascist Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro and newspaper La Stirpe, founded by fellow Wobbly-turned-Fascist Edmondo Rossoni. 1931-1936 employed as translator for Italian National Olympic Committee. 1935, however, placed under government surveillance and reported to privately be “intimately hostile to Fascism.” Died 1940.

INS file 54235/39; CPC busta 268

See also http://www.bfscollezionidigitali.org/entita/12935-baldazzi-giovanni/

Ivan G. Baldenkov (Baldenkoff)

Born 1895, Zvenyhorodka, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Bookkeeper, salesman, journalist. Migrated to US 1912. Joined URW in Newark, 1915; joined IWW 1919; also joined Syracuse, NY branch of Communist Labor Party. Organizer for IWW and literary agent for URW. Arrested 1920; led hunger strike of nine other detained Russian radicals in Cortland County jail demanding expedited deportation. Deported February 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54861/325

Balick to Baritz

Vasiliy Balik (Василий Балик, Wasily Balick or Bilicki)

Born 1896, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer; migrated to US 1913. Employee of Remington Arms Union Metallic Cartridge Company, Bridgeport, CT. Joined of Union of Russian Workers August 1919; arrested September 1919, Hartford, CT. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/389

Ugo Balzano

Born 1882, Castel di Sangro, Aquila, Italy. Typographer; migrated to US 1903; employed by mainstream Italian-American Cleveland newspaper, La Voce del Popolo Italiano. Anarchist; member Circolo Studi Sociali di Cleveland; distributor of Cronaca Sovversiva; publisher of anarchist paper L’Appello (1916-1917). Deported 1919. Arrested immediately upon return to Italy for avoiding the draft. Died Castel di Sangro, 1926.

INS file 54616/348; CPC busta 298

See also: http://bibliotecaborghi.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Cicolani-La-presenza-anarchica.pdf

Walter Banaczyk

Banaczyk’s Communist Party membership card

Born 1901, Słupia, Russia (present-day Poland). Polish. Auto worker. Migrated to US with mother 1915 to join father already there; employee at Fischer Body. December 1919 joined Branch 37, Polish Section of the Communist Party of America. Arrested Detroit January 1920, age 18. “Voluntarily departed” to Poland October 16, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54859/569; FBI files OG 382042 and BS 202600-768-1

Peter P. Banaitis

Born 1899, Lithuania. Miner, laborer, toolmaker. Migrated to US 1911. Member International Union of Tool, Die, and Mold Makers; member Branch 37, Lithuanian Section of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 1920, Chicago. When asked if he intended to remain in US, replied “he did intend to remain here but he has no preference, and as people are thrown in jail here for their beliefs he thinks he will enjoy just as much liberty in his native country as he does here.” According to immigration inspector, “Subject appears to be a typical Bolshevik and is more or less intelligent…This individual should be deported by all means as he is manifestly and potentially a bad influence.” Deported December 9, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54811/563; FBI file OG 382041

Daniel Bardaio

Born Russia, year unknown. Member Communist Party of America. Deported February, 1921. No further information.

Included in list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G

Moses Baritz

Moses Baritz, center

Born 1883, Manchester, England. Jewish. Musician, journalist. Member Socialist Party of Great Britain; renowned (and feared) agitator and debater, able to quote Marx extemporaneously. Music critic for the Manchester Guardian. He “made more than one journey to America,” and in Canada in 1911 helped found the tiny, “impossibilist” Socialist Party of North America. Migrated to US 1915 to avoid conscription; joined Socialist Party of America, then in 1916 in Detroit cofounded the small and more radical breakaway “Socialist Party of the United States” (which later became the Socialist Educational Society, the Workers’ Socialist Party, and finally the World Socialist Party of the United States). Arrested for anti-war speeches Seattle, 1918. “Voluntary departure” September 1918 to Australia, where debated IWW members, then expelled. Went to New Zealand, from which he was the first person expelled under the Undesirable Immigrants Exclusion Act. From there went to South Africa, then returned to England 1920, where resumed SPGB membership; in 1924 also became “Britain’s first radio disc jockey.” Died 1938.

INS file 54408/12

See: http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2014/09/death-of-moses-baritz.html; https://www.solidarityforeverbook.com/book/solidarityforever.pdf; Ian Angus, Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early Years of the Communist Party of Canada (2004); Karla Doris Rab, Role-Modeling Socialist Behavior: The Life and Letters of Isaac Rab (2010)

Barkovsky to Bendik

Samuel (or Semyon) Barkovsky (Сэмюэл or Семён Барковский, Samuel or Samion Barkowsky)

S. Barkovsky’s IWW membership card

Born 1893, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Machinist. Migrated to US 1913. Member of the Socialist Party of America, the IWW, and the Ansonia, CT branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Chairman of “Luch,” a URW organization disguised as a mutual aid society, delegate to 1919 URW convention. Arrested in Ansonia June 1919 for “breach of the peace” for agitation in connection with URW-organized strike. Arrested Hartford, CT, November 1919; a trove of anarchist literature found in his home. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/405; FBI file OG 8000-364023

Stanislaw Bartesiewics (aka Stanley Barton, aka Joe Rink, aka Joe Rynkiewich)

Born 1888, Lithuania. Laborer. Killed a woman in Russia (circumstances unclear) and fled to US in 1899; extradited back to Russia that year where convicted and served three years and seven months in prison. Migrated to US again 1915. Member Lithuanian Branch of the Communist Party of America. His own wife, as well as his brother (George) and sister-in-law, all gave sworn depositions against him to the Bureau of Investigation. Arrested Detroit, January 1920. Deported 1921.

FBI file OG 382016

Ivan Baskevich (Иван Баскевич; John; Basskevich)

Born 1897, Russia. Immigrated to US 1913, laborer. Held socialist ideas in Russia but not a party member. Joined the Socialist Party within “a few days” of arrival in US, became financial secretary of Cleveland’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920. Deported to Russia February 26, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54859/943

Aleksandr Ivanovich Batura (Александр Иванович Батура)

Born Russia, year unknown. Anarchist; IWW member. Deported 1924. In Russia, “openly declared that it is only Commissars and not workers that live well here,” and sentenced to Solovetsky prison camp, then internal exile. Wrote to comrades in US circa 1927: “The main thing is that I have no work and it is so hard to get anything. I have been actually starving here, moreover, I am sick.” Received aid from anarchists abroad 1929-1931.

See: Senya Fleshin Papers, International Institute for Social History; G. P. Maximoff, The Guillotine at Work: Twenty Years of Terror in Russia (Data and Documents) (1940)

Morris Becker

Born 1885, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Migrated to US 1906. Married, wife in US. Anarchist; supporter of Alexander Berkman’s The Blast; member of No-Conscription League. One of the first two people arrested under the Selective Service Act of 1917; sentenced to a year and eight months in Atlanta federal penitentiary for interference in the draft, and repeatedly disciplined for “misconduct.” Admitted he was an anarchist and “a man without a country,” “but I am an advocate of peace and not of force.” Deported on the Buford. After a long period of unemployment secured a factory job in Petrograd, but when he complained of “the unbearably putrid air in the shop where he was working, the unnecessary filth and dirt,” he was told he was “a pampered bourgeois” who “pine[d] for the comforts of capitalist America.” 1931 wrote a coded letter to Alexander Berkman after a decade of silence.

INS file 54235/32

See also: Emma Goldman, Living My Life; Alexander Berkman Papers, IISH

Max Belesky or Belessky

Born 1888, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Jewish. Migrated to US 1913; carpenter. Wife and three children in Russia. Joined Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party in Detroit, which became a branch of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920. “Voluntary departure” to Russia October 16, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54859/752

Emelyan Belesta (Емельян Белеста, aka Michael Belesta, Andrew Belesta, Andriev Belesta)

Born Russia, 1886. Wife in Russia. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1912, then US (without inspection) 1916. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Pittsburgh around 1918; took “more or less of a prominent part in meetings of Russian radicals in the district.” Arrested 1919 in possession of “a considerable amount of extremely radical literature.” On bail, arrested again for writing and distributing handbill calling for a general strike of American workers “to enforce the lifting of the blockade against Russia.” Deported on the Buford. Died of typhus in Ufa.

INS file 54616/134

See also: INS file 54616/89; New-York Tribune, October 4, 1919

Bezil Belousov (Бэзил Белоусов, Basil Belusoff, aka Basil Bibusoff)

Born 1881, Russia. Wife and three children in Russia. Joined Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested Fairmont, West Virginia, November 1919. Claimed to have been drunk when joined URW. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/593

Demyan Belowky

Born 1882, Russia. Immigrated to US 1915; laborer. Joined Communist Party in Detroit. Deported March 18, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54850/994; FBI file OG 382092

William Bendik (Бендик, Bendick)

Flier in Bendik’s possession when arrested

Born 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Claimed to have joined Russian Branch No. 2 of Socialist Party of America, Cleveland, January 1919, but in possession of Socialist Labor Party literature when arrested June 1919. Membership in neither qualified as grounds for deportation. Instead, deportation based on the alleged fact that, after he participated in 1919 May Day demonstration broken up by police, he reportedly stated, “We only gave them a demonstration of what we will do July 4th; we will be prepared and have ammunition and everything, and we will show them what we will do.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/235; FBI file OG 372982

Beniecewich to Berg

Kazimir Benicewich (or Benicowich)

Born circa 1880, Vilna, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Tailor. Migrated to US circa 1902; opened his own tailor shop in Baltimore 1919. Joined IWW circa 1914, but left circa 1916; joined Baltimore Branch No. 1 of Union of Russian Workers in 1917; active in national URW affairs. Arrested November 1919. Deported 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/419

Tom Benich

Born 1895, Slavonia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (present-day Croatia). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Member, Socialist Labor Party; 1919 joined South Slavic Branch no. 75, Communist Party of America. Claims he joined CP “in order to get the members to come over to the Socialist Labor Party.” Arrested Youngstown, Ohio 1920. Stated, “I believe that the working men should run this country.” Deported to Yugoslavia, September 1, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54811/479; FBI file OG 384859

Philip Berezka (Beresko, Borodsky, Berezovsky)

Born 1896, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913 via Canada. Employed by Pullman Coach Company. Joined Socialist Party in Rockford, Illinois, in 1918; joined Communist Party of America, November, 1919. Arrested Chicago, January 1920, during second Palmer Raids; declared “I do not believe in organized government.” Arrested again while on bail August 1920, with Kondrate Serovatke, while posting pro-Soviet posters on telephone poles. “Voluntary departure” to Russia, October 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54808/7; FBI files OG 811, OG 386686, and BS 202600-152-1

Edward Berg

Edward Berg’s IWW credentials

Born 1880, Sweden. Laborer. Migrated to US 1905. Joined IWW 1906; paid organizer and delegate for Lumber Workers Industrial Union no. 500. Arrested Spokane, Washington, April 1918. Deported November 1918. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/240

Berger to Bernat

Frederick Harold Berger (Фредрик Харольд Бергер)

Born 1885, Russia. Laborer. Anarchist; belonged to “revolutionary groups in Russia” and participated in 1905 revolution; migrated to US 1913; joined IWW shortly thereafter. Arrested Fresno, California, September 1917 for public drunkenness; detained after IWW membership card found. Declared, “I hold allegiance to no country. The world is my country…I was a syndicalist since I was a lad of 13 or 14.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54407/17

Otto Berglind (Otto Bergleind; aka August Berdland)

Born 1880, Västmanland County, Sweden. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1908, then US 1913; joined IWW that same year. IWW members. Arrested January 1918 in Everett, Washington. Deported October 1919. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/33

Alexander Berkman (Александр Беркман; Ovsei Osipovich Berkman)

Born 1870, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania), to well-off Jewish family. Drawn to Russian populist movement as a student. Migrated to US 1888; soon after became anarchist and lifelong collaborator of Emma Goldman. Laborer; typesetter; editor. 1892 attempted to assassinate steel manager Henry Clay Frick in retaliation for deaths of workers during Homestead Strike. Sentenced to 21 years; served 14. By his release in 1906 he was one of the most well-known anarchists in the US. Became editor of Goldman’s Mother Earth, then 1915 moved to San Francisco where published The Blast. Co-founded the No-Conscription League in 1917 and arrested that June under the Espionage Act. Sentenced to two years federal prison, then deported on the Buford. In Russia, he and Goldman collected materials for a Museum of the Revolution. Broke with Bolsheviks after 1921 Kronstadt Rebellion; left Russia December 1921 with Goldman. Lived illegally in Germany, France, and elsewhere in Europe until his death. Wrote numerous leftwing critiques of the Soviet regime, including The Bolshevik Myth (1925). Cofounder and secretary of the Joint Committee for the Defense of Revolutionists Imprisoned in Russia; member of Relief Fund of the International Working Men’s Association for Anarchists and Anarcho-Syndicalists Imprisoned or Exiled in Russia. In ill health, committed suicide Nice, France, 1936.

INS file 52410/43

See also: Alexander Berkman, The Bolshevik Myth (Diary 1920–1922); Emma Goldman, Living My Life; Paul Avrich and Karen Avrich, The Anarchist Odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman; Alexander Berkman Papers, International Institute for Social History

Grigoriy Berko (Григорий Берко; Gregory Berko; Berkoff, Bezko)

Born 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1913; laborer. Member, Rockford, Illinois branch of the Communist Party. Arrested Chicago, January 1920; “voluntary departure” to Russia October 16, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54809/8; FBI file BS 202600-150-1

Charles Bernat (Бернат)

Born 1879, Russia (present-day Estonia). Lumber worker. Migrated to US 1902. Joined IWW around 1908; IWW delegate and organizer; in 1917 became Secretary of Lumber Workers Industrial Union Local No. 500, Seattle. Arrested Seattle, June 1918. Deported February 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54517/491

Bernstein to Bianki

Ethel Bernstein (Этель Бернштейн)

Born 1898, Russia. Garment worker. Migrated to US 1911. Became anarchist circa 1917; joined Jewish anarchist Frayhayt Group, along with partner, Samuel Lipman. Arrested New York 1919 for distributing copies of The Anarchist Soviet Bulletin. Admitted anarchism, but denied belonging to URW and refused to answer further questions. November 1919 led hunger strike on Ellis Island to protest conditions. Deported on the Buford. In 1920, worked for the People’s Commissariat Foreign Affairs Department. 1921 reunited with Samuel Lipman, deported from US with Jacob Abrams et al. 1930s Lipman killed in Stalin’s purges; 1940s Bernstein’s son killed in Second World War; unknown date Bernstein sentenced to ten years hard labor in Soviet prison camp.

INS file 54616/115

See also: Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America

Yakov Berov (Яков Беров, Jacob Berov, aka Jocob Byra)

Born 1891, Russia. Laborer. Wife and son in Russia. Migrated alone to US 1913. Joined Union of Russian Workers 1919; secretary of Monessen, Pennsylvania URW branch. Arrested 1919; deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/479

Isidoro Bertazzon (Bertason)

Born 1891, Treviso, Italy. Radical in Italy. Migrated to US 1907; laborer. Anarchist; member of Seattle’s Circolo di Studi Sociali, distributed Cronaca Sovversiva. Narrowly evaded arrest November 25, 1917. “Voluntary return” via Canada early 1921. 1922 immigrated to Australia, where he edited numerous anarchist and antifascist newspapers. Died 1940.

CPC busta 551

See also: Gianfranco Cresciani, “Exploitation, Emigration and Anarchism: The Case of Isidoro Alessandro Bertazzon,” Altreitalie, no. 46 (June 2013)

Fedor Biacharsky (Федор Бячарский, Frank Biacharski)

Born 1885, Kupyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to US 1914 (via Canada); wife in Russia. Joined Youngstown, Ohio branch of Union of Russian Workers 1919. Arrested November 1919 in Palmer Raids. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/208; FBI file OG 380612

Pietro Bianchi

Born 1882, Isola Fano, Italy. Mason; laborer until lost an eye; fish peddler; co-op manager. Anarchist. Migrated to US 1907. Married. Member, Circolo Studi Sociali of Milwaukee. Arrested 1917 after Italian anarchist “riot.” Deported December 1919. In Italy became a baker and remained under government surveillance until 1940, but no political activity noted after his arrival.

INS file 54235/64; CPC busta 621

See also: Dean A. Strang, Worse than the Devil: Anarchists, Clarence Darrow, and Justice in a Time of Terror

Nadia Bianki (Надя Бианки)

Wife of deportee Peter Bianki. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. No further information found.

Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 55110/4

Peter Bianki (Петр Бианки, Bianki/Bianky, Peter Bianchi)

Born 1891, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine), to Italian parents (the Bianchis). Laborer; metal worker; printer. Migrated to US 1913. Joined Union of Russian Workers after its formation in 1914 and became one of its leading figures. Elected URW Secretary January 1919, and then editor of its newspaper Khleb i Volia. Wife and son in US. Arrested New York in February 1919. Deported on the Buford. In Russia, joined the Communist Party and worked in a variety of positions for the Soviet government. In 1928 relocated to Siberia to direct a grain requisition squad; killed in an armed peasant uprising March 1930 and celebrated as a Communist martyr.

INS file 54616/115

See also: Malcolm Archibald, “Peter Bianki: The Soviet Years,” Kate Sharpley Library, http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/pnvzh1