Tag Archives: Croatian

Faces of the First Red Scare

As part of the ongoing research for my book on the global history of immigrant radicals who were deported during America’s First Red Scare, I have posted brief profiles of 836 (and counting) individual deportees I have identified. This list is a work in progress, and entries are being added updated as I obtain additional information.

Who is included:

This list includes radicals and suspected radicals who were deported between 1918 (following America’s entrance into the First World War) and 1925, when the last of the foreign-born radicals arrested between 1917 and 1920 were expelled, some after serving prison sentences or being interned as “enemy aliens.” It includes both those who were deported by government order and those who were ordered deported but “voluntarily departed” at their own expense with the government’s consent (both categories were included in US government deportation statistics). It does not include those who fled the country to avoid arrest or deportation. It includes both individuals deported for belonging to legally-defined “anarchistic classes,” and others who were suspected of radicalism but deported on other grounds (most commonly for entering the country without inspection or being retroactively deemed “likely to become a public charge” at the time of their entry).

This is not a complete list. In the fiscal years (June-July) 1918-1926, the United States deported 979 aliens as “anarchists,” and an unknown number of additional radical immigrants under other statutes. The largest single group of deportees, composed of 242 alleged radicals (as well as seven unrelated deportees) departed on the USAT Buford on December 21, 1919. However, it appears that no complete list of Red Scare deportees was produced by either the Bureau of Immigration or the Bureau of Investigation. I have instead had to rely on partial lists and mentions of individual cases included in these organizations’ files, congressional testimony, radical publications, newspaper reports, and other sources.

How to use this site:

Profiles have been posted in small batches. They are organized in alphabetical order by last name, followed by alternate spellings and pseudonyms in parentheses. (The Cyrillic spellings of Russian names are generally my best guess; American sources from the era were wildly inconsistent in their spellings of such names. The same is true of the transliteration of Chinese names in the Roman alphabet.) You can also browse the Index of Names.

Birth years are often approximate, usually having been calculated from an individual’s age at the time of their examination by immigration authorities, and some may therefore be off by a year.

You can search by individuals’ nationalities (country of birth and, in some cases, ethnicity [i.e. Jewish, Lithuanian, etc.]) by using the tags above.

Occupations describe the individuals’ employment in the US, not necessarily the work they engaged in before arrival or after their deportation.

Political affiliations represented include the syndicalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the anarcho-syndicalist Union of Russian Workers of the United States and Canada (URW); the anarchist Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM); anarchists unaffiliated with larger organizations; the Communist Party of America (CP); the Communist Labor Party (CLP); the Socialist Party of America (SP); the Socialist Labor Party (SLP); and unaffiliated socialists. You can search by political affiliation by using the tags above.

You may also use the “Search” box at the top of the page to look for individual names, locations, etc.

The main sources used for compiling these profiles are case files from the Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Record Group 85, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC; the Old German Files (OG) and Bureau Section Files (BS) of the Records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Record Group 65, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD (as digitized at fold3.com); and (for Italians) the Casellario Politico Centrale (CPC), Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Rome, Italy.

A special thanks to Molly Thacker and Brooke Thompson, who photographed hundreds of INS files for me; Malcolm Archibald, who has translated a number of Russian-language sources; D.J. Alperovitz, who has provided photographs of several IWW members; and the dozens of other archivists, translators, activists, and colleagues who have helped me locate, acquire, and read material from across the globe while undertaking this research.

Finally, if you have additional information about any of the deportees, or spot an error, please contact me!

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

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

Bukhanov to Butskevich

Timofey Pavlovich Bukhanov (Тимофей Павлович Буханов, Thomas P. Bukhanov, Buchanov or Bukanoff, aka “Tommy the Kid”)

Born 1902, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine). In 1909 he and his sister joined their mother, Alexandra Nikiforovna Bukhanova, in US. Graduated high school in Manhattan in 1918; laborer. Nephew of Union of Russian Workers activist (and fellow deportee) Peter Bianki. Secretary of the Greenpoint, Brooklyn branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919, and again December 1919. Deported on the Buford; youngest deportee aboard (just seventeen years old). On voyage contracted a fever that resulted in temporary deafness. 1920 joined Union of Russian Anarchist Workers Repatriated from America, formed by Hyman Perkus, which critically supported the Bolshevik dictatorship as a temporary necessity. Arrested 1923 during a crackdown on anarchists. Married 1930s. 1937 graduated from Leningrad Industrial Institute with a degree in metallurgy. Assigned to a factory in Voronezh, where joined by mother, wife, and children. Arrested July 1938 and sentenced to five years in a forced labor camp, where he died November 1942.

INS file 54709/647; FBI file OG 382170

See also: Alexander Berkman, “The Log of the Transport Buford,” Liberator, April 1920; Victor Serge, Anarchists Never Surrender: Essays, Polemics, and Correspondence on Anarchism, 1908–1938; http://visz.nlr.ru/person/show/264430; http://visz.nlr.ru/person/book/t12/0/350

Alexander Bukhovetsky (Александра Буховецкого, Alexander Bukovetsky, aka Felix/Feliks Konosevich/Konossevich, Феликс Коносевич)

Born 1886, Ekaterinoslav, Russia (present-day Dnipro, Ukraine). etalworker. Joined Socialist-Revolutionary Party as a youth; involved in 1905 revolution. Married (wife named Frances [Frantsyska?]) with daughter. Migrated with family to Canada 1908, where son born. Family lived and moved between US and Canada repeatedly. Became anarchist in Ontario. Arrested March 1918 after giving radical speech in Timmins, Ontario, but charges dropped. 1919 migrated to US with family. Machinist at Ford Motor Company. Member of Union of Russian Workers in Detroit (in interrogation denied membership, but admitted to organizing URW branches in Jackson and Kalamazoo, Michigan, and lecturing for other branches). Arrested Detroit. During his detainment, Frances diagnosed with tuberculosis and family “Was dependent upon the charity of friends for support.” At family’s request, deported February 26, 1921 with wife and two children, William and Violet/Valentina (as immigrants who entered the US illegally from Canada and were “likely to become a public charge”). Upon arrival in Moscow with his family, arrested and imprisoned as a supporter of Nestor Makhno; released 1921. Frances, with the aid of Emma Goldman and others, obtained permission for the family to emigrate to Germany “[a]fter beating on many doors for six months”; they subsequently migrated to Canada again and settled in Windsor, and remained active in the Russia-speaking anarchist movement. Frances died 1935; Alexander (under the name “Felix Konosevich”) died 1954.

INS file 54709/467

See also: Suzanne Elizabeth Orr, “Deporting the Red Menace: Russian Immigrants, Progressive Reformers, and the First Red Scare in Chicago, 1917-1920” (PhD diss., University of Notre Dame, 2010); National Popular Government League, To the American People: Report Upon the Illegal Practices of the United States Department of Justice; Vadim Kukushkin, From Peasants to Labourers: Ukrainian and Belarusan Immigration from the Russian Empire to Canada; Emma Goldman, Living My Life; http://monde-nouveau.net/IMG/pdf/Repression_de_l_anarchisme_en_Russie_mis_en_page.pdf; Delo Truda-Probuzhdenie, January-April 1954 (with thanks to Malcolm Archibald for finding and translating this source)

Mikhail Bushanowits (Michael)

Deported to Russia, January 1921. No further information found.

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

Ivan J. Busija (aka John J. Busija)

Busija’s Communist Party membership card

Born 1888, Austria-Hungary (in present-day Croatia); Italian speaker. Migrated to US 1908. Machinist at Westinghouse. Joined East Pittsburgh’s South Slavic Branch No. 5 of the Communist Party of America in October 1919. Arrested Decembrer 27, 1919, January 1920. Deported to Yugoslavia via Greece June 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54908/279; FBI file OG 387246

Paul Bussert

Born 1885, Germany. Sailor; laborer. Migrated to US 1906. Joined IWW 1916. Arrested Walla Walla, Washington; trove of IWW literature found in his room. Deemed “above the average in intelligence”; interned as an “enemy alien” at Fort Douglas, Utah. “Voluntary departure” September 1919. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/52

William Butrimuk (aka Basil Warseleideuk, aka William Novick)

Born 1894, Russia. Autoworker. Migrated to US 1913. Member, Communist Party of America in Detroit. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. “Voluntary departure” via Canada, October 1920.

FBI file BS 202600-1379-1

Mikhail Demyanovich Butskevich (Михаил Демьянович Буцкевич, Michael Deminavich Butzkevich)

Butskevich’s URW membership card

Born 1893, Russia. Migrated to US 1913. Joined Bridgeport, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/382

Dixon to Dyachuk

Samuel H. Dixon

Born 1877, Sunderland, England. Sailor; baker. Migrated to US 1897. Joined IWW circa 1909; IWW delegate and organizer; secretary of Seattle IWW branch. Arrested “at least five or six times in connection with his I.W.W. activities.” As sailor, shipped to India, China, Japan, Singapore, Samoa, and the Philippines. Arrested Seattle, July 1918. Deported June 1919. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/503

Wincenty Dmowski (Vincenty Druowski)

Born 1885 in Russian Poland. Polish. Migrated to US 1914. Member of the Communist Party of America. Arrested Detroit, January 1920. Initially ordered deported to Poland, then allowed “voluntary departure” to Russia, October 16, 1920. No further information found.

INS file 54709/836

John W. Dobrinich

Born 1892, Austria-Hungary (in present-day Croatia). Croatian. Migrated to US 1910. Laborer. Joined the Socialist Labor Party. Arrested Missouri, 1919 or 1920. Deported to Croatia 1925.

INS file 54861/376

See also: American Labor Year Book, 1926

Peter Dolgay (Dolgag; Dowhay)

Born 1880, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Metal worker. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and three children in Russia. Member of the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio. Arrested August 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/543

Victor Dombrowski (Dombrivski; aka Douglas Dombrowski)

Dombrowski’s Socialist Party membership card

Born 1871, Telsha, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Lithuanian. Laborer. Not radical in Russia. Migrated to US 1900. Arrested in Chicago circa 1914 and served 3 years in prison for “assault with intent to kill.” Joined Socialist Party of America and IWW; left IWW 1918; then joined Communist Party of America in 1919. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920, in Chicago. Deported to Lithuania May 14, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54809/19; FBI files OG 385518 and OG 388575

Harry Dorosh (aka Mike Dorash, Mike Smith)

Deported to Russia January 1921. No further information found.

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

Konstantin Demyanovich Draco (Константин Демьянович Драко)

Born 1888, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and son in Russia. Joined New London, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers, 1919. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/373; FBI file OG 388601

Sidor Drankovich (Cedar)

Born 1880 in Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US in 1913. Autoworker. Lived in Hamtramck. 1919 joined Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party, which later that year became Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920.; held at Fort Wayne Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54589/983

Dionisy Drichetz (Dennis Drichitz)

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

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

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

Sergey Drigov (сергей дригов; Drigoff)

Financial secretary of the Seattle branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Deported February 1921. No further information found.

FBI file OG 388594

Alexandr Dubarev (Александр Дубарев, Alexander Dubareff)

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

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

Ivan Dubov (Иван Дубов, John Duboff)

Born 1885, Feodorovka, Russia. Migrated to US 1912. First joined Union of Russian Workers in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, circa 1914; then active in branches in New York and then Detroit. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Told immigration agents, “Of course, I am an anarchist…I do not acknowledge any government.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/97; FBI file OG 381656

Petr Dubovik (Петр Дубовик)

Deported to Russia January 1921. No further information found.

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

Ivan Dudinsky (John Dudinsky)

Dudinsky’s Communist Party membership card

Born 1889, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Date of migration to US unknown. Former member of the Russian branch of the Socialist Party of America, then joined the Communist Party of America. Arrested Newark, New Jersey. Detained for 101 days, while suffering from tuberculosis, and refused to answer any questions without a lawyer, which was not provided. Deported December 23, 1920. 1923 immigrated to Canada and settled in Quebec. In 1935 requested readmission to the US to visit his brother and acquaintances, but denied.

INS file 54810/346

See also: Investigation of Administration of Louis F. Post, Assistant Secretary of Labor: In the Matter of Deportation of Aliens, Hearings, Sixty-sixth Congress, Second Session; Constantine Maria Panunzio, The Deportation Cases of 1919-1920; Beverly Gage, The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror

Anton Dudka (Антон Дудка; Antonio; Tony)

Born Podolsk, Russia, 1894. Polish. Migrated to Canada 1914, then to US 1918. Blacksmith, handyman. Chairman of Buffalo’s East Side Russian Branch. Arrested January 7, 1920. Denied all allegations. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. No further information found.

INS file 54809/443

Serge Dukhane

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

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

Alex Dulchewshi

Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54860/808

Michael Dunetz (Mike)

Born 1885, Vilensky, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1912. Carpenter for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. Member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920; held at Fort Wayne. Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/988

Wladyslaw Dwanowsky (Walter Jazonski)

Born c. 1884 in Lublin, Russia (present-day Poland). Polish. Arrested in Russia for going “on a furlough without permission.” Migrated to US 1914. Bricklayer. Member of Communist Party in Hamtramck, Michigan, where arrested January 1920. Arrested previously or handing out May Day flyers. Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/610

Paul Dyachuk (aka Pavel Deonesieff)

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

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

MacDonald to Makarevich

John Alex MacDonald (J. A. MacDonald; McDonald)

IWW, J. A. MacDonald, 13133 Leavenworth, Sept 7 or 8, 1918

Editor of the IWW’s newspaper The Industrial Worker in Seattle from June 1916 to July 1918; active in defense of IWW members on trial following the Everett Massacre. Defendant at federal IWW trial 1917-1918; sentenced to ten years. His wife Kate edited the Industrial Worker, for which she had been the bookkeeper, during the trial. 1923 his sentence commuted on the condition of his deportation to Canada. In Canada, continued organizing for the IWW and writing for American IWW publications until at least 1926; led 1925 effort to organize Canadian agricultural workers, along with fellow deported IWW member Sam Scarlett. He should not be confused with the Communist Party of Canada organizer of the same name; MacDonald believed “a political revolution had occurred in Russia, but that any industrial revolution other than from feudalism to capitalism was unthinkable…[I]ndustrial communism must not come from the top but from the bottom, changing the foundations of society and consequently its superstructure, and destroying the state, of necessity an instrument of class rule.” Or, as he put it elsewhere, “a proletarian revolution is possible in a nation of smokestacks but it can not occur in a nation of haystacks” (see Industrial Pioneer, May 1925 and May 1926).

FBI file OG 8000-41990

See also: Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University; Stephen M. Kohn, American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions under the Espionage and Sedition Acts; Heather Mayer, Beyond the Rebel Girl: Women and the Industrial Workers of the World in the Pacific Northwest, 1905-1924; James Sullivan, “Reviewing the 1925 Harvest Drive,” Industrial Pioneer November 1925; J. A. McDonald [sic], “Training for Freedom,” Industrial Pioneer, March 1926; J. A. MacDonald, “The Reforging of Russia,” Industrial Pioneer, May 1925.

Samuel Mackway

Deported to Russia, January 22, 1921. No further information found.

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

Victor Macur

Born Vilna, Russia, 1887 (present-day Lithuania). Polish. Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. 1919 joined Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party of America in August 1919, which subsequently transferred into the Communist Party of America. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. “Voluntarily departed” to Poland via Canada, October 16, 1920.

INS file 54859/984; FBI file OG 387500

Nils Madsen (Nels; Madison)

Born 1886, Drammen, Norway. Laborer; union organizer. Migrated to US 1904. 1912 joined IWW; became General Organizer for the Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union No. 500 circa 1916; arrested multiple times in connection with IWW organizing. Arrested March 26, 1918, in St. Maries, Idaho under state “criminal syndicalism” law. Deported November 4, 1918. 1918-1919 lectured throughout Norway on conditions in the US and cofounded the “Norwegian-American Defense Committee” to raise money for imprisoned IWW members. By 1922, had become an organizer for the Norske Arbeiderpartiet (Norwegian Labour Party) and led its Norges Røde Speiderforbund (Norwegian Red Scout Federation, NRS), an attempt to create a radical alternative to the international Scout movement, but in the Labour Party’s 1925 split sided with the expelled pro-Communist faction connected to the publication Mot Dag and most of the NRS organizations followed him, only to collapse in 1926. 1934-1955 served as head of Norway’s Hotel Workers’ Union (Hotellpersonalets forening). Died 1965.

INS file 54379/199

See also: “Norwegian Workers Come to the Aid of the I. W. W.,” One Big Union Monthly, March 1, 1919; Terje Halvorsen, Partiets salt : AUFs historie; Sondre Ljoså, “‘Etter beste evne at alltid være en god kamerat’: Speiderarbeid i arbeiderbevegelsen på 1920-tallet,” Arbeiderhistorie (2007); https://leksikon.speidermuseet.no/wiki/Nils_Madsen

Piotr Mager (Петр Магер; Peter Magyar)

Born 1891, Russia. Metalworker. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Russia. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio circa 1915. Arrested August 1919, then again during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/498

Ivan Maiboroda (Иван Майборода; John)

Deported to Russia January 22, 1921. No further information found.

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

Vinko Majetic

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

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

George Makaranko (Makarenko)

Born Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine), 1893. Migrated to US 1914. Laborer. Wife and children in Russia. Member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920; deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/621

Lavrenti Makarevich (Лаврентий Макаревич; Lawrence Makarvitch)

Born 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). 1914 migrated to Canada; 1915 migrated from there to US. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. According to INS file, he was deported January 22, 1921; however, a Department of Justice agent reported that Makarevich attended a June 4, 1922 conference of the URW in New Haven as a delegate of that city’s Russian Progressive Organization. His wife, Sophie Babitz, was living with her parents in Connecticut “and does not desire to have anything more to do with him.” Unclear if he was deported and returned, was never deported, or was deported and the DoJ report was in error.

INS file 54709/399

Milligan to Molochko

William Milligan (aka Wilson)

Born 1874, Edinburgh, Scotland. Miner. Migrated to South Africa circa 1900; then Australia and Mexico; migrated to US circa 1901. Took out a declaration of intent to naturalize, but never did so, explaining, “I traveled all over the country and saw too much.” Joined the IWW circa 1910; also an admitted anarchist. Worked in mines and acted as IWW propagandists on both sides of US-Mexico border. Arrested in Deming, New Mexico, September 1919. Deported April 3, 1920.

INS file 54709/648

See also: The Deming Headlight (Deming, NM), September 26, 1919.

Anton Minarich (Tony)

Born 1891, near Fiume, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia). Laborer. Migrated to US 1909. Worked for Ford Motor Company Hospital in Detroit. Joined South Slavic Branch No. 17 of Communist Party of America in 1919. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920; held at Fort Wayne. Deported to Yugoslavia June 19, 1920.

INS file 54860/50; FBI file OG 387463

Yakov Minich (Яков Минич; Jacob; Jakow; Minicz; Menich)

Born c. 1888, Russia. Migrated to US 1913. Laborer. Wife and three children in Russia. Member of Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party in Rachine, Wisconsin. Arrested January 2, 1920. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54859-167

Petr Ivanovich Mironovich (Петр Иванович Миронович; Mironovich)

Mironovich’s URW membership card

Born 1900, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1915. A member of the Union of Russian Workers in New York and then Hartford, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/527

______ Mirolyubov (Миролюбов)

A member of the Union of Russian Workers in Akron, Ohio. Deported to Russia. No further information found.

See: Probuzhdenie, January 1932 (with thanks to Malcolm Archibald for translating this source)

Simeon Misnik (Симеон Мисник; Semeon; Minnik)

Member of the Communist Party of America in Chicago. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. “Voluntary departure” to Russia, October 16, 1920.

FBI file BS 202600-153-1

Joseph Miss

Deported to Hungary, March 21, 1920. No further information found.

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

Xavier Mitalski (aka Prostopluk)

Born 1885, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Migrated to US 1909. Carpenter. Worked in New York, Chicago, and Detroit. Member of the Union of Russian Workers, along with brothers Alex and Philip and cousin Mike Mitalski. Arrested November 14, 1919 in Chicago; claimed he was a URW member for only “a month and a half,” but URW literature found in his apartment. Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54709/434; FBI file OG 8000-385993

Nicholas Mlaveransky (Mlaverausky)

Born 1894, Russia. Machinist. Migrated to US 1914. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1918. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/376

Ketia Fedrovich Molkowsky (Кетя Федрович Молковский; aka L. C. Marten; Leo Martin)

Born 1884. Laborer; fisherman. Arrested Seattle, September 1919. Deported on the Buford (as a contract laborer and as “likely to become a public charge”, but radicalism was “suspected”).

INS file 54709/68 (file missing)

See also: Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, Communist and Anarchist Deportation Cases

Aggi Molochko (Агги молочко; aka Mike A. Molaka)

Born 1889, Starobin, Russia (present-day Belarus). Millworker. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Norwich, Connecticut, circa October 1919. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.

FBI file OG 380828

Orlov to Pankov

Mikhail Orlov (Михаил Орлов; Mike; Orloff)

Born 1889, Mogilev, Russia (present-day Belarus). Miner. Migrated to US 1909. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Homestead, Pennsylvania in 1915. Also a member of the United Mine Workers. “It is suspected…that alien is one of the moving spirits of the branch of the Union of Russian Workers which is thought to exist in the Bertha mines” in Morgantown, West Virginia. Received anarchist and IWW literature from Max Maisel’s anarchist bookstore in New York. Arrested December 1, 1919 (during miners’ strike). Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/608

Samuel Orlov (Самуил Орлов; Sam; Orloff)

Born 1889, Mogliev, Russia (present-day Belarus). Miner. Migrated to US 1912. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Mosessen, Pennsylvania, circa 1915. Also a member of the United Mine Workers. Arrested December 1, 1919 (during miners’ strike). Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/609; FBI file OG 8000-248688

Albert Osborn

Born 1898, Førde, Norway. Sailor; laborer. Migrated to US 1909 with step-mother to rejoin father. 1915 went to England as a sailor; returned 1916 (without inspection). Joined the IWW in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota in 1915, but during his inspection claimed “I don’t care much about them…I had to join, because it was a matter of joining them or getting beaten up in going around the country in the harvest fields…they throw you from trains going sixty miles an hour.” 1917 arrested in Everett, Washington for no registering for the draft; served 13 days in jail. Arrested May 23, 1918 in Seattle as an IWW member. Diagnosed as “insane” June 6, 1918 due to “dementia praecox” resulting from a head injury as a child.Deported September 20, 1919 (as “likely to become a public charge,” entering without inspection, and suffering from “insanity”). According to Commissioner General of Immigration A. Caminetti, “the charge against him does not arise, even remotely, from his connection with the I.W.W.”

INS file 54414/81

Anton Ostopchuk

Born c. 1886 in present-day Ukraine. Migrated to US 1912. Metalworker. Wife and two children in Russia. Member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920; Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/719

Nick Ostreiko

Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54860/739

Osip Otrozttzek (Otroschyk, O’Troschy, aka Joe Trocki)

Born 1880, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Polish. Migrated to US 1913. Laborer. Wife in Russia. Employed at Fisher Body Company. Illiterate. Member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920; held at Fort Wayne. “Voluntary departure” to Russia via Canada, January 24, 1921.

INS file 54859/989

Yakov Ozols (Яков Озолс; Jacob; Ozal; Ozols)

Born c.1887, Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia). Migrated to US 1917. Sailor, laborer. Joined the Socialist Party, then the Russian Branch of the Communist Party of America in Philadelphia. Arrested January 7, 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.

INS file 54811/944; FBI file OG 8000-276616

Peter Paich (Paick)

Born 1897, Požega, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia). Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Socialist Party of American in Detroit and 1915, and the Workers’ International Industrial Union in 1918 in Lorain, Ohio. Arrested August 1917 in Lorain for distributing socialist literature and spent four days in jail; arrested April, 1918, for distributing socialist and anti-conscription literature; then interned at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, as an “enemy alien”; detained for deportation upon his release in September 1919; Deported May 8, 1920 (on the charge of being “likely to become a public charge,” as SP and WIIU membership did not meet the legal definition of a deportable “anarchist”).

INS file 54379/474; FBI file OG 8000-203962

Alexandr Palukevich (Александр Палукевич; Alexander; Palukovich; Pavlukoich)

Communist Party of America member in Bayonne, New Jersey; deported to Russia December 23, 1920.

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

Pavel Panasuk (Павел Панасук; Paul; Panosik)

Member of the Communist Party of America in Chicago. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 2, 1920. “Voluntarily departed” to Russia October 10, 1920.

FBI file BS 202600-149-1

Joseph T. Pandack

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

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

Dimitri Panko (Дмитрий Панко; Panco)

Born 1890, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Mechanic. Migrated to US 1914. Joined Branch No. 2 of the Union of Russian Workers in Newark, for which he distributed literature. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/112

Pavel Pankov (Павел Панков; Pual Panko; Pankoff)

Born Mogliev, Russia (present-day Belarus), 1886. Migrated to US 1907. Moulder. Joined the Socialist Party 1914, then Detroit’s Russian Branch of the Communist Party in 1919. Bartender at Detroit’s House of the Masses. Arrested January 1920; deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54859/634

Pivarsky to Potenkin

Steve Pivarsky

Born 1892, Veliki Bečkerek (present-day Zrenjanin), Austria-Hungary (present-day Serbia). Serbian. Migrated to US 1912. Autoworker. Employee of the Fisher Body Corporation in Detroit. 1913 joined Branch No. 61 (later Branch No. 17) of the South Slavic Federation of the Socialist Party of America; 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported to Yugoslavia, April 14, 1920.

INS file 54860/374; FBI file OG 388055

Jacob Plajek

Deported to Poland, August 1, 1920. No further information found.

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

Mike Podalak

Deported to Austria, June 19, 1920. No further information found.

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

Mathew Podlipsky (Матвей Подлипский)

Podlipsky’s URW membership card

Born 1887, Rakitnitsa, Russia (present-day Belarus). Polish-Belarusian. Laborer. Migrated to US 1909. A member of the Union of Russian Workers branch in Newark. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/356; FBI file OG 381187

Marko Podner

Born 1892, Okrug, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia). Croatian. Laborer; miner. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Croatia-Slavonia. June 1919 joined Branch No. 62 of Communist Party of America in West Winfield, Pennsylvania; became its secretary. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported to Yugoslavia, June 19, 1920.

FBI file OG 8000-382563

Wolf Pohl (aka Pawlowicz; Pavlovich)

Pohl’s Communist Party membership card

Born c.1896, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Jewish. Migrated to US 1912. Housepainter. Joined the Socialist Party in 1913, then the Communist Party. Communist speaker and literature distributor in Buffalo. December 1920 joined the IWW as well. August 1919 arrested for distributing radical literature, but released. Arrrested again January 1920. Confined at Erie County Jail, where contracted pneumonia that required transfer to hospital for treatment. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54859/912

George Polevoy (Полевой)

Born 1883, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Miner. Migrated to US 1907. Joined the IWW circa 1914 in Moundsville, West Virginia; also a member of the United Mine Workers (UMW). Participated in a miners’ strike protesting the conviction of Tom Mooney, and another in protest of the imprisonment of Eugene V. Debs. Arrested June 1918 for disturbing the peace during a dispute with UMW leaders; sentenced to $50 fine and ten days in jail (UMW member William Bursey later testified against Polevoy as a leader “of the foreign element [in the union]…they have made all kinds of trouble.” Arrested August, 1919. Described by immigration agent as “exceptionally shrewd and astute.” Deported February 1, 1921. Wife and child in US.

INS file 54709/49

Josef Polulech (Йозеф Полулех; Joseph; aka Joseph Balluch)

Born 1892, Grodno region, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Arrested during raid on the Union of Russian Workers’ “Russian People’s House” in New York during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Denied membership in the URW (and no evidence of membership was produced); claimed he was only there to attend arithmetic and Russian classes. He had, however, been an active member of New York Methodist Episcopal Church of All Nations since 1913, and several church leaders attempted to intervene on his behalf. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/449; FBI file OG 8000-382493

See also: The Churchman, January 24 and February 21, 1920; Constantine M. Panunzio, The Deportation Cases of 1919-1920

Jacob Popich

Born 1892, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia). Laborer. Member of the South Slavic Branch of the Communist Party of America in Omaha. Arrested in St. Paul, Nebraska, January 8, 1920. Deported to Yugoslavia, July 15, 1920.

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

See also: Omaha Daily Bee, January 9, 1920

Serjy Porchunoff (Sergy; Sergey)

Born 1888, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Served in Russian Army for two years. Migrated to US 1913. Laborer. Employed by Standard Oil. Joined the Russian Branch of the Whiting, Indiana branch of the Socialist Party in 1914, then the Communist Party; secretary of both branches. Arrested Chicago, January 7, 1920; deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54809/82

Andrew Postaruk (Pestaruk?)

Deported to Russia, February 1, 1921. No further information found.

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

Efrim Potenkin (Ефрим Потемкин; Efrem; Efreem; Potemkin)

Born 1897, Gomel, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1913. Steelworker. Attended meetings of the Union of Russian Workers in Monessen, Pennsylvania, but denied being a member and no evidence of membership produced. Arrested in Greensburg, Pennsylvania during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Immigration Inspector in Charge recommended cancelation of the deportation warrant for lack of evidence, but overruled by Commissioner General A. Caminetti. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/519

See also: Kate Holladay Claghorn, The Immigrant’s Day in Court

Urkevich to Vazenas

Peter Urkevich (Петр Уркевич; Urkevitch; Yurkovics; Yurkewicz; aka John Jorkevits)

Born unknown year , Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Shirt presser. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and two children in Russia. 1919 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Philadelphia. Federal agents claimed he was treasurer of the branch; he claimed to be illiterate. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 7, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/212; FBI file OG 378953

Josip Vargo (Joseph; Varga; aka Jospeh Vasek)

Vargo’s Communist Party membership card

Born 1881, Zákány, Austria-Hungary (present-day Hungary). Grew up in Croatia; Croatian speaker. Steelworker. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and three children in Croatia. 1916 joined the South Slavic Branch of the Socialist Party of America in Youngstown, Ohio; 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America. Participated in 1919 steel strike at Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. Arrested February, 1920. Deported to Yugoslavia, September 1, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54861/122

Angelo Varricchio

Born 1893 near Naples, Italy. Migrated to US 1910. Tailor. Joined the IWW and the syndicalist Federazione Socialista Italiana in Utica, New York; secretary of FSI branch. Arrested November 11, 1918 and December 18, 1918 after a music teacher adjacent to his workplace reported him for “seditious utterances.” Deported to Italy March 27, 1919.

INS file 54517/90; CPC busta 5327

See also: New York Call, March 28, 1919

Vasiliy Vaschuk (Василий Ващук; Wasily Waschuk; aka Porify Silkuko; Proify Silnko)

Born 1892, Volhynia region, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Russia. October 1919 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Philadelphia. Arrested in the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/330

Mikhail Vaseyko (Михаил Васейко; Michael; Wassiko; Vaseiko; Mike Vsiko)

Born 1890, Volhynia region, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1913; from there migrated to US 1916. Wife and child in Russia. Member of the Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 20, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/388; FBI file OG 8000-133915

Zachary Vaseyko (Захарий Васейко; Zach Wasciki)

Born 1886, Pidhorodna, Volynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1913; from there to the US in 1916. Wife and three children in Russia. Inconclusive evidence that he was a member of the Union of Russian Workers in Hartford, Connecticut, though he did attend several of its meetings and signed up for its automobile school. Arrested in raid on Hartford URW hall November 25, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/398

Iosif Vasilenko (Иосиф Василенко; Joseph; Joe; Wassilenko)

Born 1881, Kiev Governorate, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Machinist. Migrated to US 1907; returned to Russia 1912; again migrated to US 1913. Wife and child in Russia. Twice arrested during 1919 strike at American Brass Company in Ansonia, Connecticut. Arrested again during the first Palmer Raids, November 7, 1919. Authorities claimed he belonged to the Union of Russian Workers, but he denied this and claimed he belonged only to the Socialist Party of America. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/236; FBI file OG 379009

Nikolai Vasilyev (Николай Васильев; Nicholas; Wasilieff; aka Adam Vlasoff)

Born 1883, Podolian Governorate, Russia (present-day Ukriane). Ukrainian. Sailor. Already an anarchist in Russia. Migrated to US 1912. Joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in New York; says he quit the URW because it “does not consist of anarchists, but merely of people who want education.” Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 11, 1919. Stated, “I believe that the history of government is the history of organized burglary.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/99

Konstantin Vasiliuk (Константин Василюк)

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

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

Maria Vasiliuk (Мария Василюк; Mary)

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

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

Stefan Vasiluk (Стефан Василук; Stephan; Wasiluk)

Born 1870, Russia. Migrated to US 1914. Wife and children in Russia. Member of the Communist Party of America. St. Paul, Minnesota. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 9, 1920. Deported January 22, 1921. No further information found.

FBI file OG 385042

Vasily Vasilyevich (Василий Васильевич; Wasilly; Wasilewics; Wasylewics; Wasylevicz)

Deported to Russia, October 2, 1920. No further information found.

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

Stanley Vazenas

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

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