Member of Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America in Detroit. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. “Voluntary departure” (via Canada) October 16, 1920. No further information found.
FBI file BS 202600-1378-1
Peter Melcishik
Deported to Russia January 22, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
Nikolai Melikov (Николая Меликова; Nick Melincoff; Melikoff)
Member of the Union of Russian Workers in New York. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported January 22, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
See also: National Popular Government League, To the American People: Report Upon the Illegal Practices of the United States Department of Justice
Pavel Melnikov (Павел Мельников; Paul Melnicoff; Pawel Melnik; Mcinicoff)
Born 1886, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Slovenian. Laborer. Attended gymnasium in Russia until age 18; worked as a clerk in Russia. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers circa 1918; became national URW organizer and lecturer; based in Seattle and San Francisco; taught English in URW’s school in San Francisco. Accused, based on no evidence, of involvement in various bomb and assassination plots. Arrested April 23, 1917 in Trenton, New Jersey for “uttering seditious remarks”; arrested March 1919 in San Francisco for “vagrancy.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54616/123
See also: Lazar Lipotkin, The Russian Anarchist Movement in North America
Peter Williamson Merta (Melta; Murti; aka Peter Williamson)
Finnish. Secretary and treasurer of the IWW’s Lumber Workers’ Union No. 500 in Raymond, Washington. Arrested February 1917 while posting IWW stickers; sentenced to fifteen days prison. Detained for deportation upon his release in March 1918, but released on bail. Relocated to Duluth, Minnesota, where he became an editor of the Finnish-language IWW newspaper Industrialisti. Detained again December 1918. Attorney Charles Recht successfully argued for Merta to be deported to Sweden rather than Finland (where the conservative Whites had just won a civil war against the socialist Reds). Subsequent activities unknown.
FBI file OG 8000-382409
See also: Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, Communist and Anarchist Deportation Cases; Frances H. Early, A World Without War: How U.S. Feminists and Pacifists Resisted World War I
Sam Meskov (Самуэль Месков; Serpion; Meshkov; Miskoff; Meshoff; Moshoff)
Born 1889, Saratov, Russia. Miner. Migrated to US 1912. Wife and child in Russia. Joined the IWW in March 1919; distributed IWW literature. Arrested in Van Voorhis, Pennsylvania. Commissioner-General of Immigration A. Caminetti opined that he “is apparently an ignorant harmless fellow, [but] the Bureau [of Immigration] is of the opinion that this type of man is often dangerous because of his ignorance and the fact that he can be easily imposed upon by the shrewder type of radical.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
Born 1893, Leeds, England. Laborer. Migrated to US 1906 (age 13) with family. Became a “hobo” laborer; “I had a thousand different jobs” in the US and Canada. Joined the IWW in 1916 in Salina, Kansas. Served one year in Pierce County (Washington) Jail for refusing to register for the draft–“In my estimation it was just an employers’ edict to go and fight for them.” Arrested in Tacoma, Washington, February 1919 while posting IWW stickers along waterfront. Deported June 21, 1919. Upon arrival asked if he intended “to carry on I.W.W. propaganda in England;” replied: “Yes, if conditions are no better than they were in America,” but later noted, “the real wobblies I have been deported with, seem to find no outlet for I.W.W. activities [in England].” Became admirer of socialist George Lansbury, and worked as a docker in Liverpool.
INS file 54517/88; FBI file OG 8000-382412
Nicholas Michels
Member of the Communist Labor Party. Deported to Hungary 1921. No further information found.
FBI file OG 381688
Frederik Michkov (Фредерик Мичков; Fred Mechcoff; Michcov; Mihaitch)
Deported to Russia January 22, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
Kalenik Migura (Kalymnyk)
Born 1885, Russia. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Northampton Heights (present-day Bethlehem), Pennsylvania, and became its secretary. Arrested February 1920. Deported January 22, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.
FBI file OG 381865
Anton Mikelaychuk
Deported to Russia February 1, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
Nikolai Mikhaelov (Николай Михайлов; Nicholas Mihaeloff; Mikeloff; Michaelov; aka Peter Lund; Fritiak)
Born 1893, Petrograd, Russia. Sailor; machinist. 1914 enlisted in British Army; fought in France, where injured and discharged; returned to Russia 1915 and drafted into Russian Army; deserted 1916 and migrated to England, the US, Cuba, and then, in 1917, the US again. (According to another source, however, leader of an anarchist gang that took part in “expropriations” in Petrograd in 1916 and fled to US after two members killed and he was injured in the hand.) Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Newark; 1919 also joined the IWW. Arrested March 1919; released on bail; expelled from the URW after his common-law wife, Celia Fisher, “had made overtures to the Police of Newark to furnish information.” Nevertheless, he remained “anxious to return to Russia to take part in the over-throw of Lenine [sic] and putting in effect pure anarchy.” Deported on the Buford. Wife and seven-week-old child remained in US and requested to be allowed to leave for Russia.
Born 1886, Russia. Migrated to US 1910. Joined Russian Branch No. 6 of the Communist Party of America in New York. Deported December 23, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.
Born 1886, Kremno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Russia. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Hartford, Connecticut in August 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/421
Julius Miller (Юлиус Миллер)
Laborer. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 55110/4
Samuel Miller (Sholem Melamed; Schulim)
Born 1897, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Jewish. Laborer. Migrated to US 1914. IWW; anarchist. Employee of Sears, Roebuck and Company. in Chicago. Arrested July 1917. When asked his nationality, replied: “Well, I am international. I don’t belong in any nationality. I am born of Jewish parentage in Russia.” Clarence Darrow acted as his attorney, and unsuccessfully argued that a “philosophical anarchist” and pacifist like Miller did not properly fall under anarchist exclusion laws. Deported December 23, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.
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. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/648
See also: The Deming Headlight (Deming, NM), September 26, 1919.
Anton Minarich (Tony)
Born 1891, Austria-Hungary (in 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. Deported to Yugoslavia June 19, 1920.
FBI file OG 387463
Yakov Minich (Яков Минич; Jacob; Jakow; Minicz)
Laborer. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 55110/4
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. Subsequent activities unknown.
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
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. Subsequent activities unknown.
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”). Subsequent activities unknown.
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.
Born 1886, Russia. Steelworker. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Russia. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/187
Giuseppe Montagni
Born 1890, Riva di Trento (present-day Riva di Garda), Austro-Hungarian Empire (present-day Italy). Electrician. Migrated to US 1911. Lived in Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Joined the Communist Party of America. Deported June 19, 1920. Apparently did not join Italian Communist Party. Late 1922 illegally emigrated to Hungary (reportedly hoping to reach Russia); caught in Budapest without proper papers and sent to internment camp at Zalaegerszeg for ten months, then expelled back to Italy, June 1924. Moved around Italy looking for steady work for several years, then settled in his hometown as a farmer. Maintained his radical beliefs and Italian government surveillance until 1941.
FBI file OG 204622; CPC busta 3359
Tugardo Montanari (Montenari)
Born 1886, Orciano di Pesaro, Italy. Metalworker. Migrated to US 1903. Iron molder and member of the International Molders Union. Not radical before arrival; became anarchist and distributed Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva around New England by motorcycle. 1913 arrested in Worchester, Massachusetts for “lewd and lascivious cohabitation” with his companion, fellow anarchist Lucia Mancini, and sentenced to six months. Arrested May 17, 1918, in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Deported June 24, 1919. Mancini and their daughter remained in US. 1923 Montanari emigrated to France, where continued to be active in anarchist and antifascist circles. 1977 still living in France and contributing funds to Italian anarchist publication Volontà.
INS file 54379/374; CPC busta 3366
See also: Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; Volontà, January-February 1977
Ivan Morgolenkow (aka John Novak)
Born 1891, Russia. Longshoreman. Migrated to US 1911. Union of Russian Workers Baltimore. Arrested December 3, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/622
Grigori Moroz (Григорий Мороз; Gregory; aka Mike Moroz)
Born 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. 1913 migrated to Canada; 1916 migrated to US. April 1919 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore. Worked for the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Plant; October 1919 a “special officer” of the company reported him to the Department of Justice for wearing a “suspicious black button” bearing the name of the URW newspaper Khleb i Volia. Arrested November 1919. Deported February 1, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/108
Roman Mosichuk (Роман Мосичук; Mosichok; Mosicshok; Mosithuk)
Born 1890, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Blacksmith’s helper. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Newark, New Jersey in 1915; became secretary of the URW’s school in Trenton, New Jersey, where he also distributed URW literature. Arrested in during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/220
Pavel Mozuris (Paul; Mozures)
Born 1885, Suwałki, Russia (present-day Poland). Lithuanian. Laborer. Migrated to US 1907. Joined the Communist Party of America in New York in 1919. January 20, 1920 turned himself in to the Department of Justice as a CP member, because he had been blacklisted by employers and wished to return to Russia. After more than six months of detention on Ellis Island, on the night of July 12, 1920 he escaped by leaping from a third-floor window into the water below. Later that year located and arrested in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Deported February 26, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54861/22; FBI file OG 381458
Joseph Mule
Deported to Yugoslavia, June 19, 1920. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
Camillo Muñoz (Munos)
Born 1880, Nochistlán, Mexico. Laborer. Migrated to US 1915. Member of anarchist group “Los Errantes” (affiliated with the Partido Liberal Mexicano) in Morenci, Arizona. Arrested September 19, 1919, in Tucson. Wife and three (Mexican-born) children came to Tucson from Morenci “for the purpose of accompanying” him if deported. Deported December 3, 1919. Wife in Arizona. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/70
José Maria Murias
Born 1889, Rosario de Santa Fe, Argentina. Spanish father and Italian mother. Sailor; miner. Migrated to US 1914. Joined the IWW in 1914 in San Francisco and became a delegate and organizer in Arizona. Arrested in Globe, Arizona, September, 1918. Argentina refused to issue passport, claiming he was a Spanish citizen; Spain refused, claiming he was an Argentine citizen. Allowed to “reship as a foreign seaman” to Costa Rica, July 11, 1919. 1920 it was reported that “following his deportation…this alien has made several trips to New York as a seaman, and that he expects to return to the United States some time during the coming summer.” Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54648/32
Vasily Murza (Василий Мурза; Wasily)
Steelworker. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 55110/4
Ivan Nabagez (Иван Набагез; John; Nabajix; Nabagiz)
Born 1894, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Hartford, Connecticut in August 1919. Arrested in the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/397
Alexander Nagula (Александр Нагула)
Member of Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America in Detroit. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. “Voluntary departure” to Russia via Canada, October 16, 1920. No further information found.
FBI file BS 202600-1377-1
Pasquale Nardini
Born 1882, Fano, Italy. Migrated to US 1910 with wife, Maria (née Frattesi) and five-year-old son. Member, along with Maria, of anarchist Circolo Studi Sociali of Milwaukee. Both arrested 1917 after Italian anarchist “riot.” Both convicted of “assault with the intent to kill and murder,” but had convictions overturned by the court. Immediately then detained for deportation. Pasquale deported July 15, 1920; deportation warrant against Maria cancelled June 8, 1920 (Note: some sources incorrectly conclude that Maria was deported with Pasquale, but see INS file 54235-70). Migrated to Canada 1921; Maria and their son joined him there. Maria and son returned to US 1925; Pasquale followed, illegally, likely shortly thereafter. No known record of radical activities after their return. 1941 the family was living in Harlem and running a grocery store; 1945 Maria became US citizen. Pasquale died 1951.
INS file 54235/72 (file missing)
See also: Robert Tanzilo, The Milwaukee Police Station Bomb of 1917; Dean A. Strang, Worse than the Devil: Anarchists, Clarence Darrow, and Justice in a Time of Terror
Born 1892, Volhynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine or Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Member of the Socialist Party of America in Bristol, Connecticut. Also allegedly a member of the Union of Russian Workers, but based on flimsy evidence. Arrested June, 1918 for distributing radical literature; arrested again in the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/164; FBI file OG 8000-373183
Andrei Nazaruk (Андрей Назарук; Andrew; Mazaruk; aka Prisoophick)
Born 1894, Zabawa, Russia (present-day Poland). Belarussian. Steelworker. Migrated to US 1914. Alleged member of the Union of Russian Workers, although based on flimsy evidence. Arrested in Newark, December 3, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/627
Gavril Nechiporenko (Гаврил Нечипоренко; Gabriel)
Laborer. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 55110/4
Born 1892, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland). Jewish. Hatmaker; chiropractor; pharmacist. Migrated to US 1914. Anarchist and alleged IWW organizer in Cleveland. February 1919 convicted of violating the Espionage Act for anti-war speech and sentenced to 19 years. At sentencing the judge declared: “I presume that the Russian Bolshevists would welcome you, and Lenine and Trotzky would be glad to see you back in the event that the government should deport you…in the event that the Government does not send you back to Russia I am going to protect America from your activities by sending you the Atlanta penitentiary for 19 years at hard labor.” Sentence commuted on condition of deportation; deported February 26, 1921. However, refused entry on the basis of his anarchism at Libau, along with several other deportees. Coauthored “An Open Letter to the Russian Premier Lenin” in response. Returned to US. Apparently ceased radical activities. Belatedly received an unconditional presidential pardon September 1930; 1935 applied for US citizenship and denied for “Lack of attachment to the principles of the constitution of the United States and not [being] well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same,” but upon appeal this decision was reversed.
INS file 54616/23 (file missing); INS file 121/2
See also: Pittsburgh Daily Post, February 23, 1919; Freedom (London), May 1921; Free Society (New York), October-November 1921; U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794-1995, Ancenstry.com
Pavel Nestoruk (Павел Несторук; Paul Nestoruck; aka Piole Nestium; Prole Nestruk; Nestrum)
Born 1888, Brest-Litovsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913 (via Canada). Wife and children in Russia. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/395
Ivan Nevar (Иван Невар; John Newar)
Born 1885, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Newark in September 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/338; FBI file OG 381446
Carl William Newlander (Karl Wilhelm Nylander)
Born 1893, Boo, Sweden. Laborer; bookseller. Migrated to US 1906 to evade military service. Lived in Chicago, San Francisco, and New York. Became anarchist and close friend of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman; collaborated on Mother Earth, The Blast, and the Mother Earth Bulletin; ran the Mother Earth Book Shop in New York. Arrested June 29, 1918 for draft evasion and January 1919 sentenced to 60 days under the Selective Service Act. Upon his release detained for deportation; deported April 24, 1919. In Sweden settled in Hjortkvarn, but blacklisted in 1920 after conflict with an employer. Visited Goldman and Berkman in Stockholm in early 1921, and corresponded extensively with Goldman. 1922 migrated to Canada with companion and child. Reunited with and aided Goldman after she migrated there in 1927; became secretary of Toronto’s Libertarian Group.
INS file 54517/1
See also: Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University; Freedom (New York), April-May 1919; Emma Goldman Papers, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam; Paul Avrich and Karen Avrich, Sasha and Emma: The Anarchist Odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman
Deported to Russia January 22, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
José Nicieza (Niechesa; Nierchesa; Micezer)
Members of Spanish-speaking Los Corsarios Group, including Nicieza, 1919
Born 1899, Oviedo, Spain. Laborer. Migrated to Cuba 1914; from there migrated to US 1917. Claimed to have held anarchist ideas “Since my childhood” and sympathized with anarchism in Spain, but not active in movement until emigrated. Member of Los Corsarios Group which published anarchist paper El Corsario. One of 14 members arrested in New York, February 1919, by Secret Service on baseless allegations of plotting to assassinate President Wilson. All charges dropped, but several members, including Nicieza, held for deportation as anarchists. Deported to Spain May 4, 1919. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54616/79
Frank Nikolaev (Николаев; Nikolaeff)
Born 1884, Russia (somewhere in present-day Belarus). Steelworker. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Monessen, Pennsylvania, in 1919. Arrested November 26, 1919 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/520; FBI file OG 381430
Paul Nikolajchyk (aka Paul Nicholas)
Deported to Russia February 1, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
Born 1892, Mordovo, Saratov, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1912, and from there migrated to US 1916. Attended radical meetings, purchased radical literature, and sympathized with the Bolsheviks, but never joined any radical organization. Worked as a stock-keeper at Ford Motor Company in Detroit, but “he was discharged by this latter firm for making Bolshevik and I.W.W. speeches to his fellow workmen. The Ford company delivered him over to the Department of Justice and he was later turned over to this service.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54649/62; FBI file OG 379194
David Nordloff
Nordloff’s IWW credentials
Born 1889, Gävle, Sweden. Metalworker. Migrated to US 1910 (via Canada). Joined the IWW in 1916; became delegate and organizer for the IWW’s Metal and Machinery Workers’ Industrial Union. Arrested May 1918 on raid on IWW members in Seattle. “Voluntary departure” with wife and four children, June 6, 1919.
INS file 54379/451; FBI file OG 8000-189115
Joe Notore (Ioe)
Born Italy. Laborer. Migrated to the US 1914. Member of the anarchist Circolo di Studi Sociali in Chicago’s Kensington neighborhood. Arrested May 1918. Deported December 20, 1919. Italian government attempts to locate and surveil him after his arrival failed. Subsequent activities unknown.
Deported to Czechoslovakia, May 8, 1920. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
Petr Novik (Петр Новик; Peter Novick; Nowick)
Born 1897, Grodno, Russia. Printer. Migrated to US 1914. 1918 joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/119
Yakim Novik (Яким Новик; Noik)
Born 1884, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Miner. Migrated to US 1914. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Fairmont, West Virginia. Arrested December 2, 1919. According to immigration inspector, he “belongs to the most ignorant peasant type of White Russia…He has not sufficient intelligence, in my judgement, to become a dangerous anarchist but would probably be a blind follower if a leader of ability should arise to point the way. He is not a type of man that is now, or ever will be, of value to this country.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/607
Ivan Novikov (Иван Новиков; Novikoff)
Born 1882, Rovennki, Russia. Printer. Migrated to US 1909. Employed as a linotype operator for the socialist newspaper Novy Mir. An anarchist and prominent figure in the Union of Russian Workers in New York. (He told authorities he joined the URW in 1917, but likely joined earlier.) The apartment in the Bronx that he and his wife and children shared with several borders was a meeting place for Russian anarchists. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. According to Alexander Berkman, “In Ellis Island he spent most of his time in the hospital. He refused to accept bail as long as the others arrested with him remained in prison. He consented only when almost at the point of death and then he was dragged to the boat to be deported.” Berkman also described him as “a man of intellectual attainment and much political acumen.” Deported on the Buford. During its voyage, elected to committee of deportees charged with negotiating with the immigration inspector on board for better conditions. His wife, E. Novikov, unsuccessfully petitioned to be deported with their children in order to rejoin him. In Russia, in April 1920, he told Berkman: “I can’t afford the luxury of expressing an opinion [on the Bolshevik’s action]…I have been promised a place on a commission to be sent to Europe. It’s my only chance of joining my wife and children.” May 1920 he departed for southern Russia, and in 1922 the US Department of Justice received information that he intended to illegally return to the US. However, he did not manage to leave Russia, and in 1932 he was sentenced to a three-year sentence at the forced labor camp in Kudymkor.
INS file 54709/111; FBI file OG 379190
See also: Alexander Berkman Papers, International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam; Alexander Berkman, The Bolshevik Myth (Diary 1920-1922); G. P. Maximoff, The Guillotine at Work: Twenty Years of Terror in Russia (Data and Documents)
Alexander Noviksichi
Deported to Russia January 22, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
Peter Novokov (Петр Новоков; Pete; Novokoff)
Born 1890, Mogilev, Russia. Miner. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Monessen, Pennsylvania, in September 1918. Arrested on raid on Jamison Mine in Downs, West Virginia, during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.
INS file 54709/590; FBI file OG 8000-382461
Vikenti Nozevsky (Викенти Нозевский; Vincent Nozewski)
Deported to Russia January 22, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
Born 1896, Rakitnica, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1914. Member of the Union of Russian Workers in Newark. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/337
Julius Ohsis (Юлий Осис; Osis)
Born 1890, Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia). Latvian. Carpenter. Migrated to US 1911. 1917 married fellow radical Katie Namin in Chicago. Former member of the Socialist Party of America; 1919 became member of Communist Party of America; told authorities he was the financial secretary of the Lettish Branch in Baltimore, but historian Vernon L. Pedersen describes him as the the “Latvian branch head.” Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported February 1, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54859/541; FBI file OG 8000-385964
See also: Vernon L. Pedersen, The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-57
Kate Ohsis (Екатерина Осис; Katie; Osis; née Namin)
Born 1896, Russia (somewhere in present-day Lithuania). Latvian. Migrated to US 1915. 1917 married fellow radical Julius Ohsis in Chicago. Member of the Lettish Branch of the Communist Party of America in Baltimore. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported February 1, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54859/542; FBI file OG 8000-385963
See also: Vernon L. Pedersen, The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-57
Born 1895, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Member of the Communist Party of America. Deported to Russia, February 1921. May 21, 1923 migrated to Mexico; from there returned to the US at El Paso, where arrested and sentenced to sixty days for illegal entry. June 1924 deported again, under a passport the US government obtained from the “Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission,” an anti-Soviet self-proclaimed government in exile not recognized by the United States or Ukraine. Routed via Switzerland, we was turned away at the Russian border and returned to the US in July 21, 1924. August 23, 1924 deported once more, and returned to US again in September 1924 after being not being permitted to enter Switzerland. Finally “paroled in his own custody” (i.e. set free). No further information found.
See: Kansas State News, August 29, 1924; The American Flint, November 1924
Adolf Olehnovich (Adam; Olahucvicz; Alechnovitz)
Laborer. Anarchist. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 55110/4
Laborer. Anarchist. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921, but refused entry on the basis of his anarchism at Libau, along with several other deportees. Coauthored “An Open Letter to the Russian Premier Lenin” in response. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 55110/4
See also: Free Society (New York), October-November 1921
Nikolai Omelianchuk (Николай Омельянчук; Nicholas)
Born 1892, Tułowice, Russia (present-day Poland?). Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1913, from there to US in April 1919 (without inspection). Arrested two days later in Detroit as part of a group of Russian radicals who disrupted a talk by the visiting Socialist Revolutionary (and anti-Bolshevik) Catherine Breshkovsky and threw rotten eggs. Denied any radical affiliations; instead charged with entering the country without inspection and being “likely to become a public charge” (due to the fact that he was suffering from influenza at the time). Deported January 22, 1921.
INS file 54616/172
Wong Tai On (Ong Wu Tai; aka Lee Tai Cen)
Chinese. Student; restaurant worker. Attended Columbia University and worked as a waiter in New York’s Chinatown. 1918 joined the United Chinese Association, an anarchist-led union for Chinatown’s restaurant workers that was chartered as a general recruiting union of the IWW. Helped lead strike of Chinatown’s waiters in December 1918-January 1919. Arrested January 16, 1919 on charges unfounded charge of felonious assault that were immediately dropped; then charges with illegal possession of firearms, which was also dropped; then held for deportation on unspecified grounds (not related to radicalism). Deported to China March 1, 1919. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54490/2 (file missing); see also file 54519/2
See also: New York Call, February 9, 1919; Rebel Worker (New York), February 15 and May 15, 1919
Fred Onischuk (Онищук)
Born 1894, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Autoworker. Lived in Detroit. “Voluntarily departed” to Russia some time between December 20, 1919 and February 2, 1921. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
Born 1886, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Steelworker. Migrated to Canada 1913, and from there to the US 1915. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in July 1918 in Buffalo; served as secretary and on various committees of his branch. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/327
Aleksandr Opotsky (Александр Опоцкий; aka Aleksandr Antonov; Александр Антонов)
Born 1896, Grodno, Russia (present-day Poland). Laborer; migrated to US 1913. Joined Union of Russian Workers in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania in 1917; also a delegate for IWW General Recruiting Union; took “a very active part in the meetings of the Russian radicals” in the region. Arrested Pittsburgh April 1919. At interrogation, declared, “I believe in no government of any kind,” and instead “I favor the system of [Peter] Kropatkin [sic].” When asked if he believed in God—a question with no bearing on his case—he answered, “I do not believe in a God painted on wood, but I believe in the God that gives freedom to the people.” Deported on the Buford. Reportedly imprisoned in 17 different Soviet prisons. By 1931 he had emigrated to Argentina with aid of comrades abroad.
INS file 54616/135; FBI file OG 367935
See also: Delo Truda, December 1937-February 1938 (with thanks to Malcolm Archibald)
Markus Naumovich Oradovsky (Маркус Наумович Орадовский; Marcus)
New York Tribune, December 23, 1919
Born 1895, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Sailor; laborer. 1912 migrated Austria and Germany; circa 1913 migrated Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Peru; migrated to the US 1916 (without inspection). Could speak Russian, English, French, and Portuguese. Common-law marriage to fellow anarchist and deportee Rosa Oradovsky. 1917 worked as a spring maker and helped organize the Mechanical Spring Works Union, affiliated with the United Hebrew Trades, and helped lead a strike in Brooklyn, after which the union dissolved. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York in 1918; served as secretary and editor of URW newspaper Khleb i Volia; elected secretary of the Soviet of Workers’ Deputies of the United States and Canada (an umbrella organization of Russian immigrant radicals). Arrested July 2, 1919 in New York. Told authorities, “I consider myself a citizen of the whole world.” Deported on the Buford. 1920 joined Union of Russian Anarchist Workers Repatriated from America, formed by Hyman Perkus, which critically supported the Bolshevik dictatorship as a temporary necessity. Later that year reportedly imprisoned for his anarchist views. January 1921, Alexander Berkman reported that Oradovsky “Says they [i.e. the Bolsheviks] won’t let him work.” His name is included on lists of victims of Soviet repression, but no further details have been found.
Born 1894, Smolensk, Russia. Jewish. Migrated to US 1910 with mother and siblings. Became anarchist circa 1911; joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York either 1914 or 1918. Common-law wife of Markus Oradovsky. Following Markus’s deportation, she petitioned to be deported as well; swore out affidavit affirming that she was a member of URW, and “I am still a member of that organization and believe in its principles. I am an anarchist and believe in the abolition of all forms of law and government. I believe in the overthrow of the government of the United States by means of forcible revolution.” Deported February 2, 1921. On the voyage aboard the SS Estonia, elected to a five-person committee of deportees elected to negotiate for better accommodations on the ship. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54616/115A
See also: Boston Post, March 6, 1921; New York Times, April 2, 1921
