Monthly Archives: April 2020

Sanchini to Sarvas

April 22, 2020Red Scare Deporteesanarchist, Italian, Russian, SP, Spanish, URWadmin

Giobbe Sanchini

Born: 1887, Sant’Angelo in Lizzola, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Mason
Migration: Immigrated to US 1911
Affiliation: Anarchist

Became an anarchist in his youth and migrated to Switzerland in 1902, returning to Italy in 1906.

In 1911 he emigrated to New Britain, Connecticut, where he joined the circle around Galleani and distributed the paper Cronaca Sovversiva. In 1913 he married fellow anarchist Irma Cassolino. First arrested on September 8, 1917, after organizing a defense fund for Galleani; although that warrant was canceled, he was rearrested May 16, 1918. When asked why he should not be deported, he responded: “My reasons are as follows: That every person has the right to live wherever he desires without being molested in a state that is called [a] democracy and, when a state ceases to be democratic it then embodies the term ‘tyranny’ and in that case we no longer enjoy liberty.” Deported June 24, 1919, together with his pregnant wife and their American-born children.

Upon return to Italy he was immediately imprisoned for evading military service, though the charges were dropped in 1922. He joined an anarchist group in Pesaro and published the anarchist newspaper La Frusta there and later in Fano, from 1919 to 1922. After Irma died in childbirth in 1925, he sent their children back to the United States in 1926 but was never able to reunite with them. He remained under police surveillance until 1942. During the 1930s he reportedly worked as a pasta-factory supervisor, bricklayer, and public-works supervisor, and he remarried in 1933. Fascist authorities reported no subversive activity on his part and even claimed he showed “a favorable attitude towards the regime,” though other reports and family testimony stated that he always remained committed to anarchism. After the fall of Fascism he attempted to revive La Frusta in 1946 and he stayed in contact with Italian anarchists in America until his death in Pesaro in December 1951.

Sources: INS file 54235/52; CPC busta 4562; Maurizio Antonioli et al., Dizionario biografico degli anarchici italiani; Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; Richard Lenzi, Facing Toward the Dawn: The Italian Anarchists of New London; La Frusta; Edoardo Puglielli, Il movimento anarchico abruzzese 1907–1957; Il Fondo L’Adunata Collection, Boston Public Library; Ugo Fedeli Papers, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam.

Irma Sanchini (née Cassolino)

https://www.estelnegre.org/documents/sanchini/sanchini.html

Born: 1895, Tonco, Piedmont, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Housewife
Migration: Immigrated to US 1907
Affiliation: Anarchist

Migrated to the United States with her father and settled in New Britain, Connecticut, where she became associated with Luigi Galleani’s anarchist circle and distributed Cronaca Sovversiva. Married Giobbe Sanchini in 1913. Arrested September 8, 1917 for helping to organize a defense fund for Galleani, she was released when the warrant was canceled but rearrested May 16, 1918. Some newspapers dubbed her the “Queen of the Anarchists,” and the district attorney hyperbolically claimed she “accomplished untold mischief in the period that she has resided in Connecticut. She is highly intelligent, very resourceful, and is considered to be much more dangerous than her husband.” Asked by an immigration agent what she thought an anarchist was, she replied, “a good man.” Deported June 24, 1919 with her husband and children.

Reportedly suffering from tuberculosis at the time of her deportation, she died in childbirth in 1925.

Sources: INS file 54235/52; Boston Globe, June 20, 1919; Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; Richard Lenzi, Facing Toward the Dawn: The Italian Anarchists of New London.

Ivan Sanko (a.k.a. Iwan; Evan; Sinko; Sankio)

Born: 1896, Minsk region, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

In January 1918 he joined the Youngstown, Ohio branch of the Union of Russian Workers, soon becoming its secretary. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he explained to authorities, “I read a great many Anarchistic books which put me in the notion of joining this Union,” and he did “not care for the Bolsheviks.” He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/184.

Plácido Santamaría

Born: 1890, Burgos, Spain
Nationality: Spanish
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Gunsmith; laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1916
Affiliation: Anarchist

A foundling raised in an orphanage, he helped found Los Desamparados, a youth anarchist group in Eibar, Spain, in 1912. Emigrating to Scotland and Wales in 1914.

After immigrating to the U.S. 1916 he joined the anarchist Los Corsarios Group in New York. In February 1919 he was among fourteen members arrested by the United States Secret Service on baseless allegations of plotting to assassinate Woodrow Wilson. Although all charges were dropped, he was one of several members held for deportation as anarchists and he was deported to England (his port of departure to the U.S.) on July 5, 1919.

In 1931 he donated money to the Mexican anarchist paper ¡Paso! published by Librado Rivera.

Sources: INS file 54616/79; Tierra y Libertad (Barcelona), December 11, 1912; ¡Paso! (Mexico City), July 1, 1931.

Turibbio Santarelli (a.k.a. Giuseppe or Joseph Santarelli; Joseph Galligari)

Born: 1899, Fano, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Mechanic; laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1911
Affiliation: Socialist Party of America

Immigrated to the United States with his parents and joined the Socialist Party of America in Buffalo in 1916. That same year, after coworkers insulted him with anti-socialist and ethnic slurs, he allegedly replied that President Wilson “should be shot,” or “Somebody ought to kill him.” Arrested at age sixteen and interrogated by the Secret Service, he was released on bail. Rearrested in 1919 under new immigration laws for “advocating or teaching the assassination of public officials.” Confidential informants also accused him—implausibly and inconsistently—of being secretary of an anarchist group called the Roma Club, praising the Kaiser, plotting sabotage with a German agent, making or receiving a bomb, and having ties to the Black Hand. Deported to Italy December 14, 1919.

He migrated to Canada in 1920 and for years petitioned unsuccessfully to return to the United States. In 1926 he married Constance Yuraities in York, Ontario. In the 1930s, after his parents died, he subscribed to the American anarchist newspaper L’Adunata dei Refrattari.

Sources: INS file 54235/91; CPC busta 4582; L’Adunata dei Refrattari (New York).

Alex Sarchkoff (a.k.a. Savcakoff)

Born: 1886, Mogliev, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Machinist
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Lived in Detroit with his wife Catherine. In November 1919 he joined Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party. Arrested in January 1920 during the second round of Palmer Raids, he “voluntarily departed” for Russia via Canada on October 30, 1920.

Sources: INS file 54859/671.

Ivan Sarvas (a.k.a. John)

Born: Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration:
Affiliation:

Deported to Russia as a radical on November 17, 1920. No further information has been found.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G.

Sastre y García to Scali

April 23, 2020Red Scare Deporteesanarchist, CP, Hungarian, Italian, IWW, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, URWadmin

Manuel Sastre y García

Born: c. 1881, Pozaldez, Spain
Nationality: Spanish
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer; union organizer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1910.
Affiliation: IWW

Emigrated first to the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone in 1908 and then to the United States in 1910. After joining the Industrial Workers of the World in California in 1911, he organized Spanish-speaking workers across Southern California and led a major citrus workers’ strike in Covina from January to February 1919. Arrested and sentenced to thirty days in jail for assault during the strike. Arrested again in February 1919 for allegedly violating the Espionage Act, he was never brought to trial but was deported later that year.

In 1932 he was living in Málaga and subscribing to the anarchist magazine Estudios published in Valencia.

Sources: FBI file OG 8000-96994; Nelson Van Valen, “The Bolsheviki and the Orange Growers,” Pacific Historical Review 22, no. 1 (1953); David M. Struthers, The World in a City: Multiethnic Radicalism in Early Twentieth-Century Los Angeles; Estudios: Generación Consciente, October 1932.

Prokofen Savach (a.k.a. Peter Sawich, Savitch)

Born: 1889, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1914; then to US 1918
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

His wife remained in Russia while he emigrated to Canada in 1914, where he joined the Union of Russian Workers, and then entered the United States in 1918, later residing in Seattle. Questioned about his citizenship, he replied “I don’t see any reason why I should change my nationality. Being an American citizen, I would have to work just as hard as if I was a Russian.” He was deported to Russia on January 22, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54860/412.

Sergei Savchuk (or Savshuk)

Born: 1894, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Longshoreman
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore in 1918. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the transport Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/583; FBI file OG 376569.

Mieczyslaw Savitsky (a.k.a. Michael; Savitzky; Sawicki)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-21.png — Savitsky’s URW membership card. National Archives

Born: 1887, Lesnoy, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Polish
Occupation: Machinist
Migration: Immigrated to US 1911
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Likely involved in anarchist activity in Russia before emigrating.

In the United States he worked for Gould & Eberhardt in Irvington, New Jersey. He served on the organizing committee of the Newark branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he participated in a hunger strike at Ellis Island protesting a wire screen separating detainees from visitors and was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

In Petrograd he was arrested in June 1923 during Soviet raids on anarchists, imprisoned for seven weeks, and joined fourteen others in a hunger strike before being sentenced to two years’ internal exile in Pyatigorsk.

Sources: INS file 54709/348; FBI file OG 378917; Behind the Bars (New York), January 1924; International Committee for Political Prisoners, Letters from Russian Prisons; G.P. Maximoff, The Guillotine at Work: Twenty Years of Terror in Russia (Data and Documents).

Petr Stepanovich Savko (a.k.a. Sawka)

Born: c. 1893, Zagorie region, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: .
Occupation: Machinist
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Became a member and secretary of the Russian Branch of the Communist Party in Waterbury, Connecticut. Deported to Russia on January 22, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54861/328.

Andrey Savruk (a.k.a. Andrew Sawruk)

Born: 1892, Austria-Hungary (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Hungarian
Ethnicity: Ukrainian
Occupation: Typesetter
Migration: Immigrated to US 1910
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Around 1917 he joined the Socialist Party of America and in 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America while living in Detroit. Deported to Hungary on May 8, 1920.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G; FBI file OG 385566.

Timofey Saychenko

Born: Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration:
Affiliation:

Deported to Russia as a radical on December 12, 1920. No further information has been located.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G.

Giuseppe Scali

Born: 1874, Pisa, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1906
Affiliation: Anarchist

By 1900 he was already active in distributing anarchist publications. After briefly relocating to Corsica in 1901, he settled in Carrara, Italy, where he became the first editor of the anarchist newspaper Combattiamo! (1902–1904). In 1903 he moved to Lucerne to avoid arrest for defamation charges, and in 1906 emigrated to the United States.

By 1907 he was living in San Francisco, collaborating on the individualist anarchist paper Nihil and joining the Gruppo Iconoclasti, later reorganized as the Gruppo Anarchico Volontà aligned with Luigi Galleani. Arrested in October 1916 with other Italian radicals for disturbing the peace, he received a ninety-day sentence. Arrested again in May 1918 during raids targeting Galleani’s associates, he was released on bail. Asked whether he had ever advocated anarchy, he replied, “Yes, whenever I had a chance.” Detained again after posting bail for fellow anarchist Michele Centrone, after a month he wrote to conservative Congressman Albert Johnson requesting that his deportation be expedited. Deported to Italy June 19, 1920.

Back in Italy he remained under government surveillance until 1929 and was reportedly still an anarchist, though no longer politically active.

Sources: INS file 54379/313; CPC busta 4652; Cronaca Sovversica; Maurizio Antonioli et al., Dizionario biografico degli anarchici italiani.

Scarlett to Schnabel

April 25, 2020Red Scare Deporteesanarchist, CP, German, Italian, IWW, Jewish, Russian, Scottishadmin

Sam Scarlett (Samuel)

Born: 1883, Kilmarnock, Scotland
Nationality: British
Ethnicity: Scottish
Occupation: Machinist; union organizer
Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1903; then to US 1904
Affiliation: IWW

Originally a member of the International Association of Machinists, he was radicalized and joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1911, becoming a prominent speaker and organizer reportedly arrested about 160 times. Among these arrests was his detention during the 1916 strike on the Mesabi Iron Range on murder charges that were later dropped. A defendant in the federal IWW trial of 1917–1918, he was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment and a $20,000 fine. His sentence was commuted in 1923 on condition of deportation, and he was deported to England in April of that year.

That August he emigrated to Canada and resumed organizing for the IWW in the Vancouver area, especially among miners. Canadian authorities attempted to deport him in 1924 using evidence supplied by US immigration officials, but the case was dropped. In 1931 he joined the Communist Party of Canada. He became an organizer for the party’s Mine Workers’ Union of Canada and was arrested in connection with the violent Estevan strike of October 1931, receiving a one-year sentence that damaged his health. Around 1938 he became chairman of the party in Toronto and of its newspaper The Clarion. When the party was outlawed in 1940, Scarlett lived underground and clandestinely entered the United States, where he remained illegally until his death in 1941.

Sources: INS file 54616/49; Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University; Daily Worker, October 2, 1931; Donald H. Avery, “British-Born ‘Radicals’ in North America, 1900-1941: The Case of Sam Scarlett,” Canadian Ethnic Studies/Etudes Ethniques Au Canada 10, no. 2 (1978); Barbara Ann Roberts, Whence They Came: Deportation from Canada, 1900-1935.

Alexander Schatz (or Shatz; a.k.a. Harry)

Born: 1884, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality:
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Printer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1909
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Around 1917 he joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in New York. A member of the editorial board of Khleb i Volia and brother of fellow URW member Boris Schatz, he was arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. During questioning he declared, “I consider myself a citizen and a laborer wherever I work and wherever I live.” He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919, leaving behind his wife and stepchild in the U.S.

Sources: INS file 54709/128.

Boris Schatz (or Shatz)

Born: 1894, Russia (probably in present-day Ukraine)
Nationality:
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Photographer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1911
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

In 1917 he joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in New York City. He served on the editorial board of the organization’s newspaper Khleb i Volia and was the brother of fellow member and deportee Alexander Schatz. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, the stress of his detention reportedly caused his wife Elsie to miscarry. He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919, while Elsie remained in New York.

Sources: INS file 54709/278; FBI file OG 378924; Constantine M. Panunzio, The Deportation Cases of 1919-1920.

John Carl Schedel

Born: 1885, Munich, Germany
Nationality: German
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Piano polisher
Migration: Immigrated to US 1903
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

In August 1914 he reportedly registered with the German consulate in Cincinnati to join the German Army, yet he simultaneously became active in American radical politics, serving as county secretary of the Socialist Party of America in Fort Wayne, Indiana and later joining the Communist Party of America. Described as “a very radical socialist ” who “and “during the war caused considerable trouble at the Packard Piano Company where he his employed,” he was arrested in 1920 for declaring he would rather live in Russia “where all is freedom” than in the United States. Deported May 22, 1920, leaving behind a pregnant wife and four American-born children; shortly afterward their newborn died and his wife was temporarily declared insane.

In Germany he reportedly joined the merchant marine and then traveled to Russia, where he claimed to have joined the Red Army and worked as an interpreter near Soviet leaders. After about a year he returned to Germany disillusioned with Soviet rule. In May 1921 he stowed away from Rotterdam to New York but was ordered deported again; disembarking in England, he was jailed for a month and undertook a hunger strike. After several failed attempts he reentered the United States in 1924 via Mexico. Arrested in Chicago for unlawful entry, he was defended by the American Civil Liberties Union and pursued multiple appeals until his deportation warrant was dropped. He died in Chicago in November 1968.

Sources: FBI file OG 341493; Fort Wayne Sentinel, September 1, 1920; Garrett Clipper (Garrett, IN), July 4, 1921; American Civil Liberties Union, Annual Report, 1924; Indianapolis Star, January 21, 1925; Chicago Tribune, November 7, 1968.

Nathan Schechter (or Shechter; Shacter)

Born: 1884, Minsk region, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Jewish
Occupation:
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

His wife remained in Russia when he emigrated to the United States in 1913. In September 1919 he joined Russian Branch No. 5 of the Communist Party of America in New York. Arrested in December 1919 for “criminal anarchy” and released on bail, he was arrested again during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920. He told an immigration inspector “I consider the entire capitalist system to be rotten, and it ought to be abolished,” and protested being deported as a criminal, insisting he could pay his own passage if forced to leave. After four months’ detention on Ellis Island he became a leader of protests among detained radicals and was placed in a separate cell, prompting others to threaten a hunger strike. He was deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54811/424.

Raffaele Schiavina (a.k.a. Max Sartin; Melchior Steele; Bruno)

Raffaele Schiavina, 1920s. Archives Nationales, France.

Born: 1895, San Carlo, Ferrara, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Bookkeeper
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Anarchist

Attended an Italian business school until age nineteen and initially a socialist.

Emigrated to the United States in 1913 and became an anarchist the following year. In 1916 he became bookkeeper for Luigi Galleani’s newspaper Cronaca Sovversiva in Lynn, becoming a close associate and contributor. Arrested in 1916 for inciting to riot but acquitted, he was arrested again in 1918 for refusing draft registration and sentenced to one year in the Middlesex County House of Correction. Upon release in March 1919 he was detained for deportation and described by a federal judge as “one of the most dangerous men with whom he has had to deal.” Deported to Italy June 24, 1919, with Galleani and other associates.

Back in Italy he was briefly jailed for draft evasion, then settled in Turin, where he helped revive Cronaca Sovversiva (January–October 1920) until it was suppressed. Arrested in 1921 alongside several Communists and falsely accused of leading Turin’s paramilitary Arditi del Popolo sections, but all defendants were acquitted. In March 1923 he emigrated illegally to France; in Paris he published the anarchist newspapers Il Monito and La Difesa per Sacco e Vanzetti.

He returned clandestinely to the United States in 1928 under various pseudonyms and edited the anarchist paper L’Adunata dei Refrattari in New York and New Jersey from 1928 until 1971. He died in Salt Lake City in 1987.

Sources: INS file 54391/81; CPC busta 4690; Max Sartin, “Breve autobiografia,” Bollettino Archivio G. Pinelli, no. 13 (August 1999); Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background; Maurizio Antonioli et al., Dizionario biografico degli anarchici italiani.

Andrew Schkurski (or Schkursky; Shkursky)

Born: 1896, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Crane operator
Migration: Immigrated to US 1914
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Became a member of the Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party in Milwaukee, serving as its delegate to the party’s City Central Committee. Deported to Russia February 26, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54809/196.

Adolph Schnabel

Born: 1882, Kharkiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: German
Occupation: Machinist; sailor
Migration: Immigrated to US 1907
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

The child of German immigrants to Russia, he participated in socialist organizations in Ukraine during the Russian Revolution of 1905–1907 before emigrating to the United States in 1907.

Married Helena Ring in Philadelphia in 1913 and cofounded the Union of Russian Workers the following year, editing several of its newspapers and serving as national secretary prior to Peter Bianki. Arrested in Chicago in June 1917 for allegedly circulating anti-draft literature, the charge was dismissed for lack of evidence. He was later arrested in Duquesne, Pennsylvania for holding a street meeting without a permit. After recovering from influenza in 1919 he was arrested again in New York for deportation; released on bail, he reportedly traveled through New York and New Jersey organizing anarchist clubs. Returned to detention on Ellis Island, he participated in a hunger strike protesting conditions and was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

His wife petitioned to be deported as well, though whether she was is unclear. In Russia Schnabel was active in anarchist organizations in Ukraine before leaving the movement; in 1931 he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Arrested in Moscow during the purges in 1937 as an alleged German spy, he was shot in a mass execution.

Sources: INS file 54616/29; Freedom (New York), October–November, 1919; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; https://anarhia.club/forum/viewtopic.php?p=363546; https://ru.openlist.wiki/%D0%A8%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C_%D0%90%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%84_%D0%98%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87_(1882)

Schwartzwalder to Sergi

April 28, 2020Red Scare Deporteesanarchist, CP, German, Italian, IWW, Russian, URWadmin

George Schwartzwalder

Born: 1882, Baden, Germany
Nationality: German
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer; sailor
Migration: Immigrated to US 1910
Affiliation: IWW

George Schwartzwalder migrated repeatedly across Europe in his youth, living in Austria, Russia, and Italy before returning to Germany, where he served three years in the army and later worked as a sailor between Germany and Argentina.

Immigrated to the United States in 1910 and lived as a migrant laborer. Although sympathetic to the Industrial Workers of the World since 1915, he formally joined the organization only in December 1918 in Kansas City. He was also a personal friend of Joe Hill. Classified as an “enemy alien” during World War I, he was arrested in Bartlesville in February 1919 and interrogated for five hours before being released, then arrested again the following month in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he lost thirty to forty pounds in unsanitary jail conditions. He told officials he hated the Kaiser because “he represented the capitalist class in Germany” and declared “he would not fight for any country, that he felt no patriotism for any country.” Deported to Germany January 7, 1920.

Sources: INS file 54616/107; FBI files OG 211405 and 346328.

Stepan Schwetz (a.k.a. Stephen; Shvets; Shoetz)

Schwetz’s Communist Party membership card. National Archives.

Born: c. 1885, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: .
Occupation: Tailor
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Jumped ship in the United States in 1913 from the steamship Czar. Settling in Baltimore, he married and joined the Russian Branch of the Socialist Party before transferring into the Communist Party of America. Deported to Russia February 1, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54810/337.

George Sechke (or Sechko)

Born: Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration:
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

A member of the Communist Party of America in New York City. He was deported to Russia December 23, 1920. No further information has been located.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G; Minneapolis Star, December 27, 1920.

Vasily Sedov (a.k.a. Vasil Sedoff)

Born: 1885, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: .
Occupation:
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Already a radical in Russia before emigrating.

His wife and child remained in Russia when he emigrated. He became a member of the Union of Russian Workers in Seattle. Deported to Russia January 22, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54860/408; FBI file OG 386687.

Mike Seegan (a.k.a. Semon; Michael Seegunoff)

Born: 1889, Orlovo, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Carpenter; machinist; upholsterer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York City in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/113.

Feodor Semenchuk (a.k.a. Frank)

Born: 1895, Grodno Governorate, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: .
Occupation: Factory worker
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Became secretary of Russian Branch No. 6 of the Communist Party in Argo. Arrested in Chicago in January 1920, he was deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54860/596; FBI file OG 375725.

Andy Sereck (a.k.a. Andrew; Sirik; Savick)

Born: 1885, Vilna Governorate, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Metalworker
Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1916
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers (alleged)

Emigrated first to Canada in 1913 and then to the United States in 1916, leaving a wife and child in Russia. Authorities claimed he admitted joining the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown in August 1919, though he later denied this. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the basis of his stated belief in “sabotage” abroad on the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/185.

Alexander Serevetnik

Born: 1892, “Village of Rodzehov,” Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/411.

Ivan Sergeyenko (a.k.a. John)

Born: 1888, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

His wife remained in Russia when he emigrated. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Donora, Pennsylvania. Allegedly betrayed by former URW member Stefan Zhuk, after Zhuk was arrested in Donora for stealing chickens. (Neither his INS file nor his FBI file confirm this, although he was identified by an undercover Bureau of Investigation agent, Michael Yankovitch.) Found in possession of URW literature when arrested, he was allegedly “beaten half to death” by police. Convicted under Pennsylvania’s sedition law, he was then deported to Russia February 26, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54885/31; FBI file OG 389087; Volna (New York), May 1921 (with thanks to Malcolm Archibald).

Evdokin Sergeychik

Born: 1896, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Became a member, and later branch secretary, of the Socialist Party in Pittsburgh before transferring into the Communist Party of America. He was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54861/301.

Salvatore Sergi

Born: 1890, Melito di Porto Salvo, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Tailor; barber
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Anarchist

Became an anarchist after immigrating to the U.S. in 1912, subscribing to Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva. He opened his own barbershop in Trenton and was arrested in May 1918. Describing himself as a “philosophical anarchist,” he insisted he opposed violence and believed in “educating the people through teaching and preaching and by schools by not by violence.” Deported to Italy June 14, 1919.

Italian authorities recorded no political activity by him through 1936. In 1937 he was jailed for alleged involvement in the murder of a man named Vincenzo Mallamo. In 1968 he donated funds to the anarchist magazine Volontà.

Sources: INS file 54379/326; CPC busta 4759; https://books.google.com/books?id=twZbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22salvatore+Sergi%22+%2B+anarchico&dq=%22salvatore+Sergi%22+%2B+anarchico&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQ98D27YHbAhVG-6wKHQJ-AVEQ6AEIKTAA.

Sernaker to Shakman

April 30, 2020Red Scare Deporteesanarchist, CP, Jewish, Russian, UCP, URWadmin

Bernard Lazarevich Sernaker (Бернард Лазаревич Сернакер; aka Adolph/Adolff Benet Sernaker)

Born 1884, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland). Jewish. Machinist. Raised in Orthodox family. Early 1900s joined the Polish Socialist Party (Polska Partia Socjalistyczna) and supported Polish independence; 1905 arrested in Warsaw for protesting the Russo-Japanese War and imprisoned for two months. Migrated to Argentina working as a ship’s fireman; studied engineering there. Spoke Polish, Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, Spanish, German, and English, as well as some Italian and Chinese. Circa 1907-8 migrated to England; active in anarchist circles in London and Leeds, where me met an unofficially married Jenny/Jennie Cohen, a participant in the 1905 Russian Revolution. 1909 daughter Germain (“Germinal”) born in London; that same year Bernard migrated to US, followed by Jenny and Germaine. Became estranged from Jenny; lived with daughters at the anarchist Stelton colony near New York City; active in anarchist movement in New York. Deeply influenced by Tolstoy and became a pacifist advocate of “nonresistance” as well as a vegetarian. Daughter Harmony born 1912. 1917 joined the Yiddish-speaking anarchist Der Shturem Group as well as the Conscientious Objectors League. Questioned by federal agents November 1918 after making a speech in which he allegedly hailed “a world-wide revolution that will knock in the gates of Ellis Island.” Moved to San Francisco, where arrested pending deportation; while out on bail, an active member of the “San Francisco Soviet of Russian Workers.” Removed to Ellis Island, where he became a leader of protests of detained radicals and was placed in a separate cell after allegedly “endeavoring to incite the other men to violence,” leading other detainees to threaten a hunger strike. Appealed to conservative congressman Albert Johnson, “Would you be so kind as to order my immediate deportation, and get rid of another RED, which I certainly acknowledge to be.” “Voluntarily departed” as a ship’s fireman September 16, 1920. Wife and children remained in US.

In Russia, worked as an engineer at the Moscow Tool Plant (Московского инструментального завода) and an automobile factory; remarried to Sophia Finkelstein and had two more daughters. Not active politically, but known among his coworkers to be an anarchist and privately remained one. 1949, at age 65, sent to the prison camp in Abez for six year for having “subversive” foreign connections. Upon his release in 1956 he reestablished contact with his adult American-born daughters. In Moscow he and his family were treated as pariahs until his death in 1971.

INS file 54517/81; FBI file OG 325661

See also: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Papers, University of Wisconsin, Madison; interviews with Ralph Coppola and Janet Goldner; personal collection of Janet Goldner; https://bessmertnybarak.ru/books/person/1807049/

Kondrate Serovatka (Кондратэ Сероватка; Conrad)

Born 1895, Grodno area, Russia (present-day Belarus). Lumber worker. Migrated to US 1913. 1918 joined the Russian Branch of the Socialist Party of America in Rockford, Illinois; 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America. Arrested in Chicago during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Released on bail; joined the breakaway United Communist Party; arrested again August 1920 while posting UCP fliers calling for a general strike against US aid to Poland in the Polish-Soviet War. “Voluntarily departed,” October 16, 1920.

INS file 54859/506; FBI files BS 202600-151-1 and OG 386686

Stanislav Servatka (Станислав Серватка; Stanislaus; Stanley; Serwatka)

Born 1888, Russia. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and five children in Russia. Joined the Communist Party of America branch in Passaic, New Jersey. Deported December 23, 1920.

INS file 54810/701; FBI file OG 380377

Vladimir Sestrensky (Владимир Сестренский)

Deported to Russia October 16, 1920. No further information found.

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

Nicholai Sevany (Николай Севаны; Nicoli; Savin; Sevin)

Born 1892, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1914. Laborer. Financial secretary of the Seattle branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Deported January 22, 1921.

INS file 54860/474; FBI file OG 386685

Afanasy Severny (Афанасий Северный; Alfamasy; aka Frank Sergin)

Born 1895, Uman, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1913; from there migrated to US 1918. 1919 secretary of the Philadelphia branch of the Union of Russian Workers. February 1920 arrested in Chester, Pennsylvania “for endeavoring to make a speech advocating the overthrow of this government and all capitalism.” Deported February 26, 1921

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. Transported to the Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland); illegally crossed into Poland, where arrested June 2, 1921, and deported to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. He “expressed his indignation” at the conditions in his hometown and was arrested by the Cheka August 24, 1921, and not released until January 6, 1922. Migrated to the Netherlands; from there stowed away on a ship to Canada but discovered and detained for deportation. While out on bail, illegally crossed the border into Detroit, where arrested. Quoted from jail as saying, “If the anarchists, communists and bolshevists in the United States would spend just one week in Russia they would be cured.” 1928 he was living in Ontario, Canada, where he worked as a papermaker and married Annie Areshenkoff. Died June 11, 1960, in Vancouver.

FBI file OG 383729

See also: Free Society (New York), October-November 1921; Detroit Free Press, September 27, 1923; Billings Gazette (Billings MO), October 14 1923; Ancestry.com

Edward Shainfine (Эдвард Шейнфайн)

Born 1896, Russia. Jewish. Salesman. Migrated to US 1913. August 1919 joined the Socialist Party of America in Philadelphia; November 1919 transferred into the First Russian Branch of the Communist Party of America; became branch secretary December 1919. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.

INS file 54809/897; FBI file OG 8000-362520

Witte Moses Shakman

Born Odesa, Russia (present-day Ukraine), 1882. Jewish. Migrated to US 1915. Tailor. Former member of the Russian Federation of the Socialist Party in Chicago. Member of the Communist Party of America and then the United Communist Party. Also a member of the IWW and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. Arrested Chicago. Wife (Rachael) and seven-year-old daughter Lucy (born in Paris) in Chicago. Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54885/47