Jerto Jankovich

Born 1896, Bosnia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina). Migrated to US 1913. Joined Socialist Party of America in Pittsburgh, and transferred into Communist Party of America in 1919. Arrested March 1920. Deported to Yugoslavia, June 1920.

FBI file OG 387576

John Janson (Johnson; Jensen; aka Earnest/Ernest Laukivors/Laukivirs/Laukioirs)

Born 1886, Libau, Russia (present-day Latvia). Sailor; wrestler; model. Latvian. Migrated to US 1916. Joined Lettish Branch of the Socialist Party of America in Boston in March 1917 (not a deportable offense). 1918 left Boston to make his way to Russia via the West Coast. Arrested Denver for allegedly “advocating anarchy.” Arrested again in Wyoming June 1918. According to immigration authorities, “The alien is highly educated, having written considerable fiction, and is therefore, holding the views that he does, a dangerous person to have in the country.” Hoped to return to Latvia (“Lettland”) to fight for its independence. Deported on the Buford. Appears to be “the Boston deportee” (as he was the only Buford deportee from Boston) mentioned by Alexander Berkman, who Berkman described as a former sailor and former employee of a detective firm who in Russia quickly joined the Cheka.

INS file 54379/534

See also: Alexander Berkman, The Bolshevik Myth (Diary 1920-1922)

George Jerevich

Deported to Yugoslavia, September 1, 1920. No further information found.

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

Johan Johanson (John Johnson; real name Jonas Back)

Born 1874, Finland. Laborer. Migrated to US 1901. Wife and two children in Finland. Joined IWW circa 1917. Twice confined to an insane asylum in Idaho, in 1915 and 1918. Arrested September 1919 in Spokane, initially under state’s criminal syndicalism law. Deported August 14, 1920. September 1920 reported to have left for Soviet Russia. September 1921 rumored to to be en route to the US. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/81; FBI file BS 186701-200

Ragnar Johanson (Johannson)

Born 1887, Stockholm, Sweden. Painter; union organizer. Joined the syndicalist Young Socialist League circa 1900, also joined the painters union. 1910 participated in the founding congress of the syndicalist Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden, or SAC), for which he became an organizer and gifted speaker. Migrated to US 1912. Joined IWW and became one of its best-known Swedish organizers. Was aiding IWW organizer Frank Little in Butte copper strike in 1917 where Little was lynched; received identical threats against his own life. Defendant in federal IWW trial in 1917-18, where sentenced to ten years in prison and a $30,000 fine. Sentenced commuted in exchange for deportation; deported January 1, 1923. Immediately resumed activity on behalf of the SAC; became manager of the SAC’s publishing house, Federativs förlag, from 1929 to 1954. 1940 briefly imprisoned for writing a pamphlet condemning the Hitler-Stalin Pact. 1942-1954 served as treasurer of the anarcho-syndicalist International Working Men’s Association. Died 1959.

INS file 54616/58

See also: https://www.sac.se/Om-SAC/Historik/Biografier/Johanson,-Ragnar-1887-1959; Henry Bengston, On the Left in America: Memoirs of the Scandinavian-American Labor Movement

David E. Johnson

Born 1883, Sweden. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1900; migrated to US (from Canada) 1903; moved back and forth between US and Canada several times. Joined IWW 1916. Arrested March 1918, St. Maries, Idaho. Deported November 4, 1918. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/197

Oscar Johnson (aka Arthur Ludwig Holden)

Born 1893, Gottenburg, Sweden. Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Joined IWW 1916. Survivor of 1916 Everett Massacre, for which he was arrested until charges dropped in 1917. Arrested Seattle, January 17, 1918. Described by immigration officials as “quite intelligent,” and “a very undesirable acquisition to the population of the United States.” Deported November 30, 1918. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/9

Mihail Jolnerovitz (Dimtro Jolnerovich)

Born c. 1896, Vilno Governorate, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Anarchist. Migrated to US 1913. Hotel housekeeper. Member of the Anarchist-Communist Groups of the United States and Canada. Distributed underground anarchist newspaper Free Society. Arrested February 23, 1920 in Cleveland. Deported to Russia, March 18, 1921.

INS file 55009/26

Victor Jubkiavich

“Voluntary departure” to Russia, 1921. No further information found.

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

John Justkavich (aka Sam Ushkovich)

Member of the Communist Party of America in Bayonne, New Jersey. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported to Russia on December 23, 1920. No further information found.

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

See also: The Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey), December 23, 1920