Monthly Archives: April 2020

Sanchini to Sarvas

Red Scare Deportees, , , , ,

Giobbe Sanchini

Born 1887, Sant’Angelo in Lizzola, Italy. Mason. Became an anarchist at a young age. 1902 migrated to Switzerland; returned to Italy 1906. Migrated to US 1911. Settled in New Britain, Connecticut. Became close associate of Luigi Galleani and distributor of Cronaca Sovversiva. 1913 married fellow anarchist Irma Cassolino. Arrested September 8, 1917, after starting defense fund for Galleani; warrant canceled; arrested again May 16, 1918. When asked why he should not be deported, he replied: “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, with pregnant wife and American-born son and daughter. In Italy, immediately imprisoned for evading military service; 1922 charges dropped. Joined “Novatore” anarchist group in Pesaro; published anarchist newspaper La Frusta in Pesaro and then Fano from 1919 to 1922. 1925 Irma died in childbirth. 1926 Giobbe sent American-born children, Inga and Emo, to live with Irma’s father in the US, but was unable to ever rejoin them. Giobbe kept under surveillance until 1942. 1930s supervised a pasta factory, then worked as a bricklayer and then a public works supervisor; 1933 remarried. No radical activity noted by Fascist authorities, who claimed that he had “a favorable attitude towards the regime.” However, according to other government reports as well as his family members, Sanchini “always believed in anarchism,” and after the fall of Fascism he tried to revive La Frusta in 1946. He also remained in contact with Italian anarchists in the US up until his death. Died in Pesaro, December 1951.

INS file 54235/52; CPC busta 4562

See also: 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; 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)

Born 1895, Tonco, Piedmont, Italy. Housewife. Migrated to US 1907 with father. Settled in New Britain, Connecticut. Became close associate of Luigi Galleani and distributor of Cronaca Sovversiva. 1913 married fellow anarchist Giobbe Sanchini. Arrested September 8, 1917, after starting defense fund for Galleani; warrant canceled; arrested again May 16, 1918. Dubbed “Queen of the Anarchist” by some newspapers; the District Attorney hyperbolically claimed that 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.” When asked by immigration agent, “What’s your idea of an anarchist?” she replied, “Well, my idea; a good man.” Deported June 24, 1919, with Giobbe and American-born son and daughter. Died 1925 in childbirth.

INS file 54235/52

See also: 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 (Иван Санько; Iwan; Evan; Sinko; Sankio)

Born 1896, Minsk region, Russia (present-day Belarus?). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Youngstown, Ohio in January 1918; became its secretary. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Explained, “I read a great many Anarchistic books which put me in the notion of joining this Union,” and that he did “not care fro the Bolsheviks.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/184

Plácido Santamaría (Placidio; Santa Maria)

Members of Spanish-speaking Los Corsarios Group, including Placido, 1919

Born 1890, Burgos, Spain. Gunsmith; laborer. “Foundling” who was raised in an orphanage; 1912 cofounded Los Desamparados, “a group of young anarchists, lovers and enthusiasts of the emancipatory ideal” in Eibar. 1914 migrated to Scotland and Wales; from there migrated to US 1916. 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 Santamaria, held for deportation as anarchists. Deported to England (the country from which he had sailed to US) July 5, 1919. Subsequent activities unknown, but in 1931 he donated money to Librado Rivera’s Mexican anarchist paper ¡Paso!

INS file 54616/79

See also: Tierra y Libertad (Barcelona), December 11, 1912; ¡Paso! (Mexico City), July 1, 1931

Turibbio Santarelli (Tribio; aka Giuseppe or Joseph Santarelli; Joseph Galligari)

Born 1899, Fano, Italy. Mechanic; laborer. Migrated to US 1911 with parents. 1916 joined the Socialist Party of America in Buffalo. That same year two American coworkers began insulting him in the washroom, saying,“To hell with the Socialists,” and calling him a “guinea” and “wop.” They then mentioned President Wilson, and Santarelli allegedly replied that Wilson “should be shot,” or “Somebody ought to kill him.” Arrested (only sixteen years old at the time) and interrogated by the Secret Service, but released on bail. Admitted to saying “I would rather serve four years in jail than two days in the army.” Subsequently (and implausibly) accused by confidential informants for the authorities of simultaneously 1) being secretary of an anarchist group called the Roma Club (which appears to have been simply an ethnic leisure association), 2) declaring himself to be “a Kaiser man” and stating “the Kaiser was the best man in the world,” 3) being offered money by a German agent to either kill government officials or blow up a bridge, 4) either being given or making a bomb for such a purpose, and 5) also being connected to the “Black Hand.” Rearrested 1919 for “advocating or teaching the assassination of public officials”; deported December 14, 1919. 1920 migrated to Canada; for several years he and his parents in the US petitioned the US government to allow his return, but denied. His mother died in New York in 1925; in 1926 he married Constance Yuraities in York, Ontario. In the 1930s subscribed to the US anarchist newspaper L’Adunata dei Refrattari.

INS file 54235/91; CPC busta 4582

Alex Sarchkoff (Savcakoff)

Born 1886, Mogliev, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1912. Machinist. Lived with wife Catherine in Detroit. Joined Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party in November 1919. Arrested January 1920. “Voluntarily departed” to Russia via Canada, October 30, 1920.

INS file 54859/671

Ivan Sarvas (Иван Сарвас; John)

Deported to Russia November 17, 1920. No further information found.

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

Sastre to Scali

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , , , ,

Manuel Sastre (Sustre; aka Manuel Sastre Garcia)

Born Pozaldez, Spain. Laborer; union organizer. Migrated to Panama Canal Zone 1908; migrated to US 1910. Joined the IWW in California 1911; organized Spanish-speaking workers in Southern California; led major citrus workers’ strike in Covina, January-February 1919; arrested and sentenced to 30 days in jail for assault. Arrested February 1919 for violating Espionage Act, but never brought to trial; deported later that year. 1932 living in in Málaga and subscribing to the anarchist magazine Estudios (Valencia). No further information found.

FBI file OG 8000-96994

See also: 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

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

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

Sergei Savchuk (Сергей Савчук; Savshuk)

Born 1894, Russia. Longshoreman. Migrated to US 1912. Joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore in 1918. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/583; FBI file OG 376569

Mieczyslaw Savitsky (Мечислав Савицкий; Michael; Mike; Savitzki; Savitzky; Savitskey; Sevitsky; Sawicki)

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

Born 1887, Lesnoy, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Polish. Machinist. Likely involved in anarchist movement in Russia before emigrating. Migrated to US 1911. Employed by Gould & Eberhardt in Irvington, New Jersey. A member of the organizing committee of the Newark branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Participated in hunger strike on Ellis Island to protest installation of wire screen separating detainees from visitors. Deported on the Buford. In Petrograd, arrested June 1923 in raids on anarchists; imprisoned for seven weeks and participated with 14 other anarchists (including several other deportees) in a hunger strike; sentenced to two years internal exile in Pyatigorsk.

INS file 54709/348; FBI file OG 378917

See also: 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 (Петр Степанович Савко; Peter; Sawka)

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

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

Andrey Savruk (Андрей Саврук; Andrew Sawruk)

Born 1892, Austria-Hungary (somewhere in present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Typesetter. Migrated to US 1910. Joined the Socialist Party of America circa 1917; transferred into the Communist Party of America in Detroit in 1919. Deported to Hungary, May 8, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G; FBI file OG 385566

Timofey Saychenko (Тимофей Сайченко)

Deported to Russia, December 12, 1920. No further information found.

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

Giuseppe Scali

Born 1874, Pisa, Italy. Laborer. By 1900 receiving and distributing anarchist publications; 1901 briefly migrated to Corsica, France; then settled in Carrara, Italy, where was the first editor of the anarchist newspaper Combattiamo! (1902-1904). 1903 migrated to Lucerne, Switzerland to avoid arrest for “defamation.” 1906 migrated to US, where resided until 1920, although he appears to have visited Italy repeatedly in these years. 1907 moved to San Francisco, where he collaborated on the individualist anarchist newspaper Nihil (1908-9) and joined the Gruppo Iconoclasti, which later became the anti-organizational Gruppo Anarchico Volontà and was closely aligned with Luigi Galleani and his newspaper Cronaca Sovversiva, which Scali distributed. October 1916 arrested with several other Italian radicals for “disturbing the peace” and sentenced to 90 days in jail. Arrested May 1918 in connection with raids targeting Cronaca Sovversiva; released on bail. When asked, “Have you ever advocated Anarchy, Mr. Scali?” he replied, “Yes, whenever I had a chance.” Detained again when he posted bail for fellow anarchist Michele Centrone; after a month wrote to anti-radical congressman Albert Johnson to expedite his deportation; deported June 19, 1920. In Italy under government surveillance until 1929; reportedly still an anarchist but not active politically.

INS file 54379/313; CPC busta 4652

See also: Cronaca Sovversica (1903-1920), passim; Maurizio Antonioli et al., Dizionario biografico degli anarchici italiani

Scarlett to Schnabel

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , , ,

Sam Scarlett (Samuel)

Born 1883, Kilmarnock, Scotland. Machinist; union organizer. Migrated Canada 1903; from there migrated to US 1904. A member of the International Association of Machinists before being radicalized and joining the IWW in 1911. Became prominent IWW speaker and organizer; reportedly arrested around 160 times for his activism, including his arrest with other IWW organizers during 1916 Mesabi Iron Range strike on specious charges of murder, but charges dropped. Defendant in federal IWW trial 1917-18; sentenced to 20 years and $20,000 fine. 1923 sentence commuted on condition of deportation; deported April 1923. August 1923 migrated to Canada, where he resumed organizing for the IWW in the Vancouver area, especially among miners. 1924 the Canadian government attempted to deport him, with the aid of evidence supplied by the US Bureau of Immigration, but eventually dropped the case. 1931 he joined the Communist Party of Canada, claiming that the “IWW underestimated the role of the proletarian dictatorship, and maintained our anarcho-syndicalist opposition to all forms of government, capitalist or proletarian…The political line of the Communist Party is correct.” Became an organizer for the CPC’s Mine Workers’ Union of Canada; arrested October 1931 in connection with violent Estevan Strike and sentenced to a year in prison, during which his health suffered. Circa 1938 became chairman of the CPC in Toronto, and of its newspaper The Clarion. When the CPC was outlawed in 1940, Scarlett lived underground to avoid arrest and clandestinely crossed border into the US, where he lived illegally until his death in 1941.

INS file 54616/49

See also: 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

Boris Schatz (Борис Шац or Шатц; Shatz)

Born 1894, Russia (probably in present-day Ukraine). Photographer. Migrated to US 1911. 1917 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in New York. Brother of fellow URW member and deportee Alexander Schatz; on the editorial board of URW newspaper Khleb i Volia. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. His wife, Elsie, miscarried after his arrest. Deported on the Buford. Elsie left behind in New York. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/278; FBI file OG 378924

See also: Constantine M. Panunzio, The Deportation Cases of 1919-1920

Harry Schatz (Гарри Шац or Шатц; Alexander; Alex; Shatz)

Born 1884, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Printer. Migrated to US 1909. Circa 1917 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in New York. Brother of fellow URW member and deportee Boris Schatz; member of the editorial board of URW newspaper Khleb i Volia. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Told authorities, “I consider myself a citizen and a laborer wherever I work and wherever I live.” Deported on the Buford. Wife and step-child left in New York. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/128

John Carl Schedel (Schadel)

Source: Fort Wayne Sentinel, January 5, 1920

Born 1885, Munich, Germany. Piano polisher. Migrated to US 1903. August 1914 reportedly registered with German consulate in Cincinnati to join the German Army. However, he also joined the Socialist Party of America in Fort Wayne, Indiana, becoming its country secretary; and circa 1919 joined Communist Party of America. He was “known to be a very radical socialist and during the war caused considerable trouble at the Packard Piano Company where he his employed” Arrested 1920 for stating, “I would rather live in Russia, where all is freedom, than in the United States.” Deported May 22, 1920. Pregnant wife and four US-born children left behind in the US. Shortly after, their newborn child died and his wife was temporarily declared “insane.” In Germany, he reportedly joined the German merchant marine and then made his way to Russia here he “joined the Red Army of Russia and is basking in the inner circles of the soviet government as interpreter.” After “about a year” in Russia he made his way to Germany and “expressed his disgust with the Soviet form of government.” May 1921 he stowed away on ship from Rotterdam to New York; upon arrival ordered deported; disembarked in England, where he was arrested and sentenced to a month in prison, where he engaged in a hunger strike. Attempted to return to the US multiple times; finally did so 1924 via Mexico. Arrested 1924 in Chicago for unlawful entry; defended by the American Civil Liberties Union and undertook a number of legal appeals. Eventually his deportation warrant was dropped. Died November 1968 in Chicago.

FBI file OG 341493

See also: 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 (Shechter; Shacter)

Born 1884, Minsk region, Russia (present-day Belarus). Jewish. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Russia. September 1919 joined Russian Branch No. 5 of the Communist Party of America in New York. December 1919 arrested fo r”criminal anarchy”; released on bail. Arrested again during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Told immigration inspector, “I consider the entire capitalist system to be rotten, and it ought to be abolished.” Also stated, “I wish to say that I protest against being deported as a criminal. I do not wish to obtain free passage. If I should have to go to Russia I should like to go as a free man on my own expense. I am an honest workingman, and I can earn enough money to pay my expense.” After four months of detention on Ellis Island he became a leader of protests of detained radicals and was placed in a separate cell, leading other detainees to threaten a hunger strike. Deported February 1, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54811/424

Raffaele Schiavina (aka Max Sartin; Melchior Steele; Bruno)

Born 1895, San Carlo, Ferrara, Italy. Bookkeeper. Attended school in Italy until age 19; became a socialist in Italy. Migrated to US 1913. 1914 became anarchist; 1916 became bookkeeper for Luigi Galleani’s paper Cronaca Sovversiva in Lynn, Massachusetts; close friend of Galleani and contributor to Cronaca Sovversiva. 1916 arrested for inciting to riot but acquitted. 1918 arrested for refusing to register for the draft; sentenced to one year in Middlesex County House of Correction. Detained for deportation upon his release in March 1919. He was “regarded by Judge Morton of the local U. S. District Court as being one of the most dangerous men with whom he has had to deal.” Deported June 24, 1919, along with Galleani and other close associates. Arrested in Italy in 1919 for draft evasion, but soon released. Lived in Turin where collaborated with Galleani on reviving Cronaca Sovversiva (January-October 1920), thousands of copies of which were sent to the US, until it was suppressed by the Italian government. Schiavina was also involved in an anarchist paramilitary antifascist group that coordinated with, but was separate from, the organization Arditi dle Popolo. 1921 arrested and tried alongside seven Communists accused of leading Turin’s Arditi sections; all acquitted by a sympathetic jury. March 1923 illegally migrated to France. In Paris produced the anarchist newspaper Il Monito (1925-1928) and another dedicated to publicizing the Sacco-Vanzetti case, La Difesa per Sacco e Vanzett (1923). 1928 illegally returned to US; used the pseudonyms “Max Sartin,” “Melchior Steele,” and “Bruno,” among others. In New York and New Jersey, edited the anarchist newspaper L’Adunata dei Refrattari from 1928 until 1971. Died 1987 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

INS file 54391/81; CPC busta 4690

See also: Max Sartin, “Breve autobiografia,” Bollettino Archivio G. Pinelli, no. 13 (August 1999); Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background; Maurizion Antonioli et al., Dizionario biografico degli anarchici italiani; Roberto Gremmo, “La ‘Cronaca Sovversiva’ di Galleani, le ‘bande armate’ di Raffaele Schiavina e la bomba del giovane anarchico Musso,” Storia Ribelle, no. 18 (2005)

Andrew Schkurski (Андрей Шкураки; N. Schkurski/Schkursky; Shkursky)

Born 1896, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1914. Crane operator. Member of Milwaukee’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party, and delegate of Russian Branch No. 1 to the City Central Committee of party. Deported February 26, 1921.

INS file 54809/196

Adolph Ivanovich Schnabel (Адольф Иванович Шнабель; Adolf; Schnabel-Delass; Sznabel; Schnabel)

Born 1882, Kharkov, Russia (present-day Ukraine), to German parents. Machinist; sailor. During the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, involved in socialist organizations in Ukraine. Migrated to US 1907. 1913 married Helena Ring in Philadelphia. Joined the Union of Russian Workers at least as early as 1913. Edited multiple URW newspapers; national secretary of the URW before Peter Bianki. Arrested Chicago June 1917 for “circulating literature opposing the draft,” dismissed for lack of evidence. Arrested in Duquesne, Pennsylvania for holding a street meeting without a permit. Caught and recovered from influenza in 1919. Arrested February 1919 in New York for deportation. Released on bail and reported to be “wandering around over the states of New York and New Jersey organizing anarchistic clubs.” Back on s Island, took part in hunger strike to protest conditions. Deported on the Buford. Wife, Helena (Helen), petitioned to be deported to Russia as well as an anarchist; unclear if she was. In Russia, Adolph was active in anarchist organizations in Ukraine, then left the anarchist movement; 1931 joined the Communist Party. 1937 arrested in Moscow as an alleged German spy and shot in mass execution.

INS file 54616/29

See also: 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

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , ,

George Schwartzwalder (Schwartz; Schwartzwaldez; Schwartzwalden)

Born 1882, Baden, Germany. Laborer. Circa 1897 migrated to Austria, then Russia and Italy; returned to Germany and served three years in the German Army; became sailor between Germany and Argentina. Migrated to US 1910. Migrant worker. Joined IWW December 1918 in Kansas City, Missouri, but a sympathizer since 1915. Personal friend of IWW songwriter Joe Hill. 1918 registered as an “enemy alien.” Arrested February, 1919 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and interrogated by Bureau of Investigation agent for five hours, then released; March 1919 in Muskogee, Oklahoma; lost 30-40 pounds in unsanitary conditions of the Muskogee City Prison. “He stated he hated the Kaiser for the reason that he represented the capitalist class in Germany and that he would not fight for the Kaiser, that he would not fight for any country, that he felt no patriotism for any country.” Deported January 7, 1920.

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

Stepan Schwetz (Stephen; Shwetz; Shoetz)

Schwetz’s Communist Party membership card

Born c.1885, Russia. Migrated to US 1912 (deserted from the SS Czar). Tailor. Joined the Russian Branch of the Socialist Party in Baltimore, then transferred into the Communist Party. Wife in Baltimore. Deported to Russia February 1, 1921.

INS file 54810/337

George Sechke (Георгий Сечке; Sechko)

Member of the Communist Party of America in New York. Deported to Russia, December 23, 1920.

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

See also: Minneapolis Star, December 27, 1920

Vasily Sedov (Василий Седов; Vasil Sedoff)

Born 1885, Russia. Already a radical in Russia. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and child in Russia. Member of the Union of Russian Workers in Seattle, Washington. Deported to Russia January 22, 1921.

INS file 54860/408; FBI file OG 386687

Mike Seegan (Semon; Michael Seegunoff)

Born Orlovo, Russia, 1889. Carpenter; machinist; upholsterer. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/113

Mike Ivanovich Selovieve

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

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

Feodor Semenchuk (Frank)

Born 1895, Russia. Migrated to US 1913. Factory worker. Secretary of Russian Branch No. 6 of the Communist Party in Argo, Illinois. Arrested Chicago, January 1920. Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54860/596; FBI file OG 375725

Andy Sereck (Andrew; Sirik; Savick)

Born 1885, Vilna Governorate, Russia. Metelworker. Migrated to Canada 1913; from there migrated to US 1916. Wife and child in Russia. Allegedly admitted to joining the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio in August 1919, but later denied this. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the basis of his admitted belief in “sabotage.” Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/185

Alexander Serevetnik (Александр Сереветник)

Born 1892, “Village of Rodzehov,” Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Member of the Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/411

Ivan Sergeyenko (Иван Сергеенко; John)

Born 1888, Russia. Migrated to US 1913. Laborer. Member of the Union of Russian Workers branch in Donora, Pennsylvania. Wife in Russia. 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.) Arrested in possession of URW literature and reportedly “beaten half to death” by police. Tried and convicted under Pennsylvania sedition law. Deported February 26, 1921.

INS file 54885/31; FBI file OG 389087

See also: Volna (New York), May 1921 (with thanks to Malcolm Archibald)

Evdokin Sergeyshik (Евдокин Сергейшик; Efdokin; Sargeychik)

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

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

Salvatore Sergi

Born 1890, Melito di Porto Salvo, Italy. Tailor; barber. Migrated to US 1912. Anarchist; subscriber to Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva. Opened his own barbershop in Trenton, New Jersey. Arrested May, 1918. Described himself as a “philosophical anarchist” and insisted “I do not think I am a dangerous man. I do not believe in violation. I believe in educating the people by teaching, preaching and by schools but not by violence…I have a natural instinct against violence.” Deported June 14, 1919.

Italian government noted no political activity up through 1936. In 1937 he was jailed for alleged involvement in the murder of one Vincenzo Mallamo. In 1968 he contributed funds to the anarchist magazine Volontà.

INS file 54379/326; CPC busta 4759

See also: 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

Red Scare Deportees, , , , ,

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