Tag Archives: Communist Party

Bileski to Bogen

Harry Bileski

Deported to Austria May 1920. No further information found.

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

Mikhail Bilokumsky (Michael)

Born 1892, Andreevka, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Member, United Communist Party. Arrested January 1921 in Philadelphia during second Palmer Raids, and again April 1921 while handing out UCP May Day handbills with a friend. Ordered deported to Russia in August 1921 on basis of revolutionary content of those handbills; lost Supreme Court challenge in 1923 (United States ex rel. Bilokumsky v. Tod, 263 U.S. 149), by which time the Soviet Union no longer accepted deportees from US. Instead, a passport was obtained from a New York representative of the “Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission,” an anti-Soviet self-proclaimed government in exile not recognized by the United States or Ukraine. A Bureau of Immigration board of review ruled in January 1924 that Bilokumsky be released on bond because “the passport cannot be used…and in order to effect deportation a passport must be had from the Ukrainian Soviet representative which is not practicable at this time.” But these instructions were ignored; on May 24, 1924 he was deported via Switzerland to the Russian border, where he may have been turned away; rumored to have been left in Romania, prompting the Communist newspaper Novy Mir to protest that if Bilokumsky was left stranded in a “country that is hostile to Russia he will either be imprisoned or murdered.” He was last reported to be “stranded and starving in Vienna.” No further information of his fate was found.

INS file 55009/76

See also: Kansas State News (Topeka KS), August 29, 1924

_________ Bjorkman

IWW member deported October 28, 1919. No further information found.

Included on list of IWW prisoners and deportees in One Big Union Monthly, March 1920

Juan Blanco

Deported IWW member. No further information found.

See: La Union del Marino, February 1921

Catherine Hartog Bloom

Born 1883, Hoogwoud, The Netherlands. Housewife. Migrated to US 1913. Not radical before arrival; joined Socialist Party circa 1915 and was treasurer of her SP local in Chicago; transferred to Ninth Ward branch of Communist Party of America in October 1919. Husband Nick Bloom “in the building trades”; owned home in Chicago, which they intended to sell so he could return to The Netherlands with her. Deported June 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54861/120; FBI file OG 381560

Sergey Bobkov (Сергей Бобков, Serge Bobkoff or Babkoff)

Born 1898, Moscow, Russia. Carpenter, migrated to US 1914. Member and delegate of the Seattle branch of the Union of Russian Workers. After his brother, Feodor, died in Seattle in 1919, he became the sole supporter of Feodor’s sick wife and daughter. Arrested Seattle, December 1919. Deported January 1921.

INS file 54860/431; FBI file 388847

Sevastyan Bogdanovich (Севастьян Богданович, Sebastian aka Sam)

Born 1892, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1915. Union of Russian Workers. Arrested March 1920, Baltimore, after “nearly caused a riot” by giving pro-Bolshevik speech in front of Holy Rosary Church. Deported February 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

FBI file OG 384761

Xenov Bogen (Зенов Боген, Zenow/Zenov Bogen)

Born 1893, Korets, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Joined Union of Russian Workers early 1919. Arrested Hartford, Connecticut, during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/207

Bogush to Brezovic

______ Bogush (Богуш)

Born Russia (probably in present-day Ukraine). Member of the Union of Russian Workers. Multiple sources claim Bogush was deported on the Buford; however his name is not on the ship’s manifest (though it is possible that Bogush or the name he was deported under was a pseudonym). In Ukraine, joined anarchist Nabat Federation and observed Nestor Makhno’s partisan army. Arrested Kharkov circa November 1920 and executed by Checka circa March 1921 (Voline and Maximoff give slightly different dates).

See: Senya Fleshin Papers, International Institute for Social History; http://socialist.memo.ru/lists/bio/l3.htm#n814; Voline, The Unknown Revolution, 1917-1921; G. P. Maximoff, The Guillotine at Work: Twenty Years of Terror in Russia (Data and Documents)

Nikolai Bolsun (Bolson, Bolsum)

Member of the Communist Party of America in Plainfield, New Jersey. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported to Russia December 23, 1920. Nor 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

Vasiliy Bondarenko (Васи́лий Бондаренко, Wasiliy Bondarenko, aka William Bender/Bander)

Born 1897, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Wife and two children in US. “Very active” member of Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and lectured for the URW nationally. Arrested Bridgeport, Connecticut November 9, 1919, again in Hartford, Connecticut, November 28, 1919, and then in New York during second the Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported January 22, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown, but likely the same Bondarenko mentioned by anarchist Clara Larsen as having been “killed by Stalin.”

INS file 54709/404; FBI file OG 382161

See also Lazar Lipotkin, The Russian Anarchist Movement in North America; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America

Samuel Bondarenko (Самуил Бондаренко; Sam Bondarenko)

Born Russia (present-day Ukraine), year unknown. Member, Communist Party of America, Philadelphia. Deported to Russia February 1921. No further information found.

Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G; see also FBI file OG 267034

Peter Bonko

Arrested in Brooklyn during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Probably Communist Party of America member. Deported to Russia December 23, 1920. No further information found.

Included on lists of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G and FBI file BS 202600-33

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

Vasiliy Bootryn

Born 1888, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Molder. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and children in Russia. Joined the Socialist Party of America in Detroit, April 1919; transferred to Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America later that year. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Held at Fort Wayne. “Voluntarily departed” 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54859/998; FBI file OG 387334

Vladimir Borisyuk (Владимир Борисюк, Vladimir Borisiuk/Borisink, Walter Borisuk)

Vladimir Borisyuk’s Socialist Party membership card

Born 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1914. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November, 1919, Hartford, Connecticut. Member of the Socialist Party (not a deportable offense), but had paid one month’s dues to Communist Party, and authorities suspected he belonged to Union of Russian Workers. Also accused of making revolutionary statements. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/151

____ Borkhak

Polish IWW member deported February 20, 1921. No further information found.

See Golos Truzhenika, March 5, 1921.

Ivan Borovsky (Боровский; John; Borowsky)

Born 1878, Ventspils, Russia (present-day Latvia). Barber, railroad worker. Migrated to US 1908. Married; wife in Chicago. Member of IWW’s Russian Branch in Chicago; also suspected of belonging to URW. Arrested Chicago during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported March 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/267; FBI file OG 380320

Boris Borsuk (Борис Борсук, Boroes/Borores Borsuk)

Born 1896, Brest, Russia (present-day Belarus). Barber. Migrated to US 1912. Owned barbershop at 70 Robinson Rd., Youngstown, Ohio. Helped organize Youngstown branch of the Union of Russian Workers and distributed URW literature. Arrested Youngstown in August 1919. His brother, Dimitri, arrested after visiting him in jail and again in 1920 on suspicion of belonging to the URW, although he denied this and does not appear to have been deported. Boris meanwhile was deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/500

See also: FBI file OG 380628

Max Brazeliya (Макс Бразелия or Бразилия, Brazelia)

Born 1892, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland). Jewish; laborer. Migrated to US 1913 (via Canada). Unaffiliated socialist; subscribed to the Forverts. Arrested March 1919, St. Louis after employer at Nelson Pants Manufacturing Company reported him for “spreading Bolsheviki propaganda in the workroom.” His employer, not actually wanting to see him deported, later defended him as harmless and “a good workingman.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/25; FBI file OG 352388

See also: Kenyon Zimmer, “The Voyage of the Buford: Political Deportations and the Making and Unmaking of America’s First Red Scare,” in Deportation in the Americas: Histories of Exclusion and Resistance, edited by Kenyon Zimmer and Cristina Salinas

Josef Brencich

Born 1887, Fiume, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia). Sailor; painter. Italian-speaker, member of “the Slavish Race.” Migrated to US 1911. Anarchist, member of Philadelphia’s Union of Italian Workers. Arrested April, 1921, with Erasmo Abate and other members. Ordered deported to Hungary, but in 1921 Fiume had become an independent state, so allowed “voluntary departure” as a sailor “direct for Mediterranean ports,” January 1923. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 55009/82

Stefen Brezovic (Vrezovic; Steve)

Born 1886, Austro-Hungarian Empire (somewhere that later became part of Yugoslavia). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Joined Socialist Party of America 1916; September 1919 transferred to the South Slavic Branch No. 17 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 1920, Detroit. Deported May 1920 to Yugoslavia. Subsequent activities unknown.

FBI file OG 387297

Brodya to Buhay

Frank Brodya (Бродя, Frank Brodia, Frank Broida, aka P. Broido)

Born 1882, Russia. Blacksmith. Served five years in Russian army. Wife and three children in Russia. Migrated to US 1913; already an anarcho-syndicalist at that time. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Pittsburgh and secretary of his branch. Cooperated with Frank Belesta in campaign for a general strike of American workers “to enforce the lifting of the blockade against Russia.” Local immigration inspector described him as “intelligent and I consider him one of the most dangerous Russians in the Pittsburgh district.” His original deportation warrant erroneously listed his country of citizenship as Italy. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/89

See also: New-York Tribune, October 4, 1919

Abe Brook (Эйб Брук, Abe Bruk/Brooks/Brock/Bruke, Obe Bruk)

Image result for "Abe brooks" + buford

Born 1893, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Jewish. Migrated to US 1914. Member of the Brooklyn branch of the Union of Russian Workers (but denied this in interrogation). Married Clara Kessler, also an anarchist, circa 1918. Arrested in New York October 1919 while organizing protest of US blockade of Russia, and again during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Clara Brook led protest upon learning of the deportations; petitioned to be deported herself to join her husband. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/273

Ivan Nicholaevich Brunert (Иван Брунерт, John Brunert/Brunett)

Born 1869, Volhynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Bookkeeper; tailor. Wife and two sons in Kiev. Migrated to US 1912. Joined Branch no. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore in 1918, and served as its financial secretary. Former member of an IWW branch of Polish tailors, and member of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in 1919. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/109

Ivan Bubenko (aka John Bubenko)

Born 1884, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Wife and child in Russia. Migrated to US 1912 (via Canada) to avoid military service. Joined Socialist Party of America 1918, then transferred to Russian Branch no. 3 of Communist Party of America in Detroit. “Voluntary departure” October 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54860/22; FBI file BS 202600-712-1

Anton Budkowsky (Antoni Buoty/Buotv; Butkocky; Butkockery; Butkowski)

Born 1884, Pružany, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Wife and son in Russia. Migrated to US 1914 (via Canada, without inspection). Joined Union of Russian Workers in Detroit in 1917. Arrested July 1918 during scuffle between authorities and Russian radicals attending picnic. Told immigration inspectors “I am a sympathizer of the anarchists, but I am not an anarchist…I believe in their teachings.” “Voluntary departure” January 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54554/23

Fedor Buhay (Frank Bohai)

Born 1893, Russia. At age three family moved to Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Belarusian (“Ruthenian”). Machinist; Russian-speaker. Migrated to US circa 1910. Joined Communist Party of America in Buffalo. Deported to Austria, April 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54809/427; FBI file OG 382147