Roberts to Roy

Vasily Roberts (Wasily; Robertz; Robetz)

Roberts’ Communist Party membership card

Born c.1882, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to Canada 1915, then to US 1917. Member of the Socialist Party, then Philadelphia’s First Russian Branch of the Communist Party. Arrested January 7, 1920. Deported to Russia February 1, 1921.

INS file 54811/947; FBI file OG 382735

Jack Robey

IWW member arrested in Sand Point, Idaho, 1918; released then rearrested; deported October 28, 1919.

See: One Big Union Monthly, March 1920

Alfred Robinson

Born 1893, Chislehurst, England. Laborer. Migrated to US 1905. Worked throughout the US and Canada. Joined the IWW’s Metal and Machinery Workers’ Industrial Union No. 300 in July 1919. Arrested in Detroit during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported March 27, 1920.

INS file 54709/578; FBI file OG 8000-385119

Abraham Rodríguez (Abram Rodríguez)

Sketch by Ralph Chaplin. *Source: Labadie Collection*

Born in Mexico. Miner, labor organizer, and poet. 1911 formed PLM group in Del Valle, Texas, and reportedly served as “a colonel in the rebel army that overthrew the dictatorship in Mexico” before returning to work as a miner in Miami, Arizona, where he belonged to IWW Local 800 and was chairman of its grievance committee. Indicted in the federal IWW trial in 1917 and arrested in Valedon, New Mexico, following an armed standoff with authorities. The charges against him were dropped in exchange for his deportation to Mexico. Subsequent activities unknown.

FBI file Misc 18346

Juan Rodríguez

Deported IWW member.

Konstantin Romanchuk (Константин Романчук; Konstan; Konstanti)

Born 1895, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1915. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut, circa July 1919; became its secretary. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/396; FBI file OG 376791

Gavril Romanovich (Гавриил Романович; Gabriel)

Born 1896, Vilna Governorate, Russia (present-day Lithuania?). Laborer. Migrated to US 1915. Joined the Russian Federation of the Socialist Party of America; 1919 transferred into of the Russian Branch of the Communist Party of America; became secretary of its branch in Waterbury, Connecticut. Arrested March, 1920 during raid on branch headquarters. Deported February 1, 1921.

INS file 54709/462; FBI file OG 379909

Jesus Romo

Born in Mexico. Laborer. Year of migration to US unknown. Joined the IWW in Los Angeles February 1919 and immediately became a delegate for its General Recruiting Union, but was probably previously a member in Morenci, Arizona, where his father Cleofas and brother Guadalupe were also IWW activists. Arrested June 9, 1919, after distributing IWW literature outside of an employment agency. Stated that he “was born an anarchist.” Deported August 18, 1919.

After his deportation, continued his IWW membership and organizing in Guadalajara, Mexico.

FBI file OG 363737

Angel Roncal

Born 1896, Spain. Reportedly “spent some time in South America.” Migrated to US 1916. Member of the Niagara Falls, New York branch of the IWW. Arrested September 1918 for failing to register for the draft; IWW literature discovered in his possession. February 1919 released from jail after five months without trial; immediately detained by immigration authorities for deportation. Deported circa July 1, 1920.

See: Buffalo Commercial, February 1, 1919; Buffalo Times, February 20, 1919; Cattaraucus Republican, March 27, 1919; Buffalo Express, April 30, 1919; Illustrated Buffalo Express, June 22, 1919

Maxim Rosak (Максим Росак; Max; Roosak)

Born c.1887, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1912. Driller. Former member of the Russian Federation of the Socialist Party of America in Philadelphia; 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 7, 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.

INS file 54811/948; FBI file OG 379897

Savely Roshkov (Савелий Рошков; aka Charles Roshko)

Born 1893, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Machinist. Migrated to US 1912. Employed by Singer Manufacturing Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut; member of International Association of Machinists, Local No. 30; participated in 1919 wildcat strike. Member of the Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport. Deported January 22, 1921.

INS file 54861/143; FBI file OG 382709

Mikail Rosnak (Микаил Роснак; Michael Rosnack; Bosnack)

Born 1897, Bukovina, Austria-Hungary (present-day Romania). Ukrainian. Blacksmith’s helper. Migrated to Canada 1913; expelled as an “enemy alien” and migrated to US 1917. 1919 joined Branch No. 6 of the Union of Russian Workers in Detroit. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Testified that the detective who arrested him said he should be sent back to Russia, called him “worse than a nigger,” and gave him “a smash in the face.” Deported to Romania, March 17, 1920.

INS file 54739/469

Janet Johnstone Roy (Jeanette; Janet Johnstone MacKay)

Born 1895, Milmathort, Scotland. Supporter of the Independent Labour Party before emigration. Laborer. Migrated to US 1916 with her sister, Margaret. Worked in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where joined the Socialist Party of America and then, in July 1917, Textile Workers Industrial Union No. 1000 of the IWW. Moved to Chicago where worked for the IWW’s bindery, then October 1918 moved to Seattle, where arrested with sister in police raid on IWW two days later. Married a Scottish-born Ian V. MacKay on January 21, 1919 to attempt to claim US citizenship and avoid deportation, but deported with her sister regardless on July 23, 1919.

Migrated to British Columbia, Canada, where reunited with husband. Ian died 1941; she died in British Columbia in 1972.

INS files 54379/532 and 54379/532A

See also: Frances H. Early, A World Without War: How U.S. Feminists and Pacifists Resisted World War I; Heather Mayer, Beyond the Rebel Girl: Women and the Industrial Workers of the World in the Pacific Northwest, 1905-1924; Ancestry.com

Margaret Roy (Margaret Ray)

Born 1893, Milmathort, Scotland. Laborer. Migrated to Canada (via US) 1913; 1916 returned to Scotland to collect her sister Janet; 1916 migrated to US. Worked in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where joined the Socialist Party of America and then, in July 1917, Textile Workers Industrial Union No. 1000 of the IWW. Moved to Chicago where worked for the IWW’s bindery, then October 1918 moved to Seattle, where arrested with sister in police raid on IWW two days later. Married and US citizen named Alonzo Ray on January 21, 1919 to attempt to claim US citizenship and avoid deportation, but deported with her sister regardless on July 23, 1919.