Hyman Perkus (Хайман Перкус; Nikofor)

Born 1888, Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia). Jewish. Carpenter. Had been a social democrat in Russia. 1912 migrated to Paris; from there migrated to US 1915. Became an anarchist in the US and joined the Union of Russian Workers in Cleveland in 1916, then a member of the URW’s First Branch in New York. Member Anarchist Red Cross. Partner of fellow URW member Dora Lipkin. Became national Secretary of the URW; succeeded Peter Bianki as editor of URW paper Khleb i Volia. During examination answered: “Why did I become an anarchist? I have suffered from injustices and oppression and have seen that the people in general also suffer from injustices and oppression.” Also stated, “I think the only way is to use the same methods that the United States people used against England in 1776 when the United States people got their freedom…You know what they did.” Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. January 1921 he founded the Union of Russian Anarchist Workers Repatriated from America, which critically supported the Bolshevik dictatorship as a temporary necessity, and he accepted the concept of the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” February 1921 he spoke at Peter Kropotkin’s funeral, reading a paper that criticized Kropotkin’s support of the Allies in the First World War and which, according to Alexander Berkman, “outraged everyone at the grave.” March 1921 joined Berkman and Emma Goldman in unsuccessfully attempting to negotiate peace between the Red Army and the Kronstadt sailors. Arrested multiple times in the aftermath of the Kronstadt uprising. Later attended the Moscow Institute of Journalism. He may have eventually joined the Communist Party. Reportedly killed during Stalin’s purges.

INS file 54709/116

See also: Victor Serge, Anarchists Never Surrender: Essays, Polemics, and Correspondence on Anarchism, 1908–1938; Alexander Berkman Papers, International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam; The J. Abrams Book: The Life and Work of an Exceptional Personality, trans. Ruth Murphy, ed. Brian Moen; Rose Pesotta Papers, New York Public Library; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America

Filippo Perrone (Philip; Felipe; aka Vincenzo Lentini)

Born 1881, Agrigento (Sicily), Italy. Laborer. Migrated to US 1901. Lived in Tampa, New York, Chicago, and Milwaukee. Anarchist, closely associated with Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva. 1911 joined group of Italian anarchists who joined the forces of the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) in Tijuana, Mexico, in opening phase of the Mexican Revolution; quickly disillusioned with the the PLM and soon returned to US, where an outspoken critic of the PLM and Mexican Revolution. September 25, 1911 arrested in San Francisco after he “spoke disparagingly about the American flag, condemned law and order, denounced all forms of government and ended with a tirade against the Pope”; this sparked a successful “free speech fight” involving anarchists and IWW members, and the charges against him were dropped. Arrested circa 1922 in Seattle. Deported August 8, 1922. 1923 arrested in Ventimiglia while attempting to clandestinely emigrate. 1924 illegally emigrated to France and then US, using the name “Vincenzo Lentini.” Remained active in Italian American anarchist movement. Deported again after World War II. Died in Sicily shortly thereafter.

CPC busta 3875

See also: Michele Presutto, La rivoluzione dietro l’angolo gli anarchici italiani e la rivoluzione messicana, 1910-1914; Kenyon Zimmer, Immigrants Against the State: Yiddish and Italian Anarchism in America; Un trentennio di attività anarchica (1915-1945)

Pietro Giovanni Perruchon (Peter; aka Ursus)

Born 1885, Arnaz (Aosta), Italy. Miner. Migrated to US 1907 but returned in Italy 1910; 1911 returned to US. Wife (Maria Rosa Joly) followed in 1912; daughter Lotta (“Struggle”) born in 1914. Worked as miner in Colorado and then Arizona. Became an anarchist sometime before his return to the US. Acted as literature and correspondence distributor for Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva. 1915 published a militant anti-war article for La Questione Sociale. 1917 involved in miners’ strike in Globe and Miami, Arizona. Arrested March 26, 1918 in Globe for distributing radical and antiwar literature. Convicted of violating the Espionage Act at trail in Tucson in May 1918; jury deliberated for only one minute and thirty seconds; sentenced to two years in Leavenworth. Upon release, detained for deportation. Denied permission to visit his wife (Rosa) and daughter (Lotta) in Miami, Arizona before his deportation. Authorities noted, “it is understood that his deportation will not seriously interfere with their maintenance or welfare since the wife is operating an apparently prosperous boarding house.” Deported March 27, 1920. In Arnaz, founded Gruppo di emancipazione anarchica in 1920. April 1921 arrested on suspicion of connection to the bombing La Diana theater, but acquitted. 1923 migrated to France; returned to Italy 1924. 1925 returned to France; worked as chauffeur in Paris; his daughter Lotta joined him in France. 1937 returned to Italy to claim an inheritance; arrested and claimed to have abandoned his radicalism; freed and returned to France. Remained in correspondence with Italian anarchists in the US up until his death in France in 1967.

INS file 54379/192; CPC busta 3877

See also: Cronaca Sovversiva, passim; Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University; http://www.bfscollezionidigitali.org/entita/14402-perruchon-giovanni-pietro/; Il Fondo L’Adunata Collection, Boston Public Library; L’Adunata dei Refrattari, October 14, 1967

Paraliett Kutzman Petcoff (Kuzman; Huzman)

Born 1887, Bulgaria. Laborer. 1910 migrated to Canada. Lost the sight in one eye due to workplace accident. Migrated to US 1917. Joined the IWW’s Metal Mine Workers Industrial Union no. 800 in March 1919. Arrested June 11, 1919 in Cleveland. Claimed to be from a wealthy family in Bulgaria, but immigration authorities concluded, “While the Bureau is unable to find that any of the anarchistic charges contained in the warrant are substantiated, it is of the opinion that the alien was a person likely to become a public charge at the time of entry.” Deported January 22, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/220

Jose Petit y Fernandez (Jose Petit Fernandez; Jose Petit; aka Casimiro Petit Fernandez; Jesus Sanchez)

Born 1879, Oviedo, Spain. Cigar worker. Anarchist. Migrated to US circa 1914. Married Maria Alvarez in Tampa, January 1914. Returned alone to Spain circa 1917; again migrated to the US to rejoin his wife and three children November 19, 1918. Arrested February 1919 for having fraudulently used his deceased brother’s passport to enter the US (and avoid military service during his time in Spain). Bureau of Investigation agent opined “that this man is too ignorant to take any initiative in anarchistic and Bolsheviki propaganda or plots but he is a dangerous man to be at large to be used as a tool for those who have the initiative.” Deported to Cuba, June 22, 1919, accompanied by his family. Subsequent activities unknown, but he was still living in Cuba in 1946.

FBI file OG 335078

See also: Tampa Times, April 24 and June 20, 1919; Tampa Tribune, February 1, 1914 and February 5 and June 24, 1919 and May 21, 1946

Konstantin Petrashka (Константин Петрашка; Kontatin Petrosham; Kostativ Petroshak)

Born 1898, Stanki, Russia (present-day Poland). Millworker. Migrated to US 1914. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in New London, Connecticut, July 1919; became its secretary. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/528; FBI file OG 8000-382590

Settimio Petruccioli (Settime; Settimo; Petrucioli)

Born 1888, Bevagna, Italy. Laborer; barber. Migrated to US 1913. Anarchist. Member of the Circolo di Studi Sociali in Kensington, Illinois; supporter of Luigi Galleai’s Cronaca Sovversiva. Arrested June 1919. Deported December 20, 1919. February 1920 emigrated to Canada. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/215; CPC busta busta 3912