Monthly Archives: May 2020

Tranets to Urgel

Red Scare Deportees, , , , ,

Stefan Tranets (Стефан Транец; aka Tronick)

Deported to Russia, February 2, 1921. No further information found.

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

Stepan Tretyakov (Степан Третьяков; Stephen Tretiakoff)

Born 1896, Russia. Migrated to US 1914. 1919 joined the Communist Party of America in Passaic. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported January 22, 1921.

INS file 54810/948; FBI file OG 8000-306384

Nestor Masarev Trubey (Нестор Масарев Трубей)

Born 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1912. Mechanic. Wife in Russia. Member of the Union of Russian Workers; distributed URW newspapers and volunteered as a teacher of Russian, arithmetic, and geography for a Communist-Party-run night school. Arrested in Rockford, Illinois during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920, after being reported to authorities by his suspicious landlady for remarking of the first Palmer Raids, “This is a Hell of a free country.” A large amount of correspondence and URW literature confiscated from his apartment. “Voluntary departure” to Russia via Canada, October 16, 1920.

INS file 54809/111; FBI file OG 8000-320960

Wasili Truchan (Wasilia; William)

Born 1893, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1912. Autoworker. 1918 joined the Socialist Party, then Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920. Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/977; FBI file OG 386370

Vincent George Tryzno

Born 1880, Wojstom, Russia (present-day Belarus). Polish. Tailor. Migrated to US 1899. Joined in Baltimore by his younger sisters Annie and Amelia in 1904 an 1908. 1906 submitted a Declaration of Intent to Naturalize in Baltimore. Onetime IWW member, then member of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. 1917 joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Baltimore, served as its treasurer. Wife and son (Mary and Vincent) in Baltimore. Deported February 26, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/105; FBI file OG 8000-364025

See also: Ancestry.com

Anton Trzpiot

Born 1888, Zarechye, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Laborer. Served three years in the Russian Army. Migrated to Canada 1913; from there migrated US 1915 (entered without inspection). 1917 joined the Russian Federation of the Socialist Party of America in Cleveland. Also a member of the Ukrainian Dramatic Club. May 1, 1919, participated in a May Day parade in which he was carrying “a little red flag”; became a “riot” when police dispersed the marchers. Arrested with 27 other Russian radicals identified by Cleveland police and members of the Loyal American League on baseless suspicion of involvement in June 2, 1919 bombing of Mayor Harry L. Davis’s home. Answering immigration inspectors in broken English, he admitted to being a member of the Socialist Party and the “Russian Workers of the World,” which immigration authorities “presumed,” without any supporting evidence, to be the same as the Union of Russian Workers. His first deportation warrant was canceled for insufficient evidence, but he was arrested again November 28, 1919, in possession of copies of the Socialist papers Novy Mir and The Ohio Socialist were confiscated. Although Trzpiot was almost certainly not a member of the URW, this alleged affiliation became the basis for his deportation. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/222

Ortiub Tsubrick

Born 1893, Gomel, Russia (present-day Belarus). Steelworker. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Russia. 1919 joined and was a “passive member” of the Union of Russian Workers in Monessen, Pennsylvania. Employee of the Pittsburgh Steel Company; participating in the 1919 steel strike when arrested in Greensburg, Pennsylvania during the first Palmer Raids, November 21, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/476

Foma Turka (Фома Турка; aka Tom; Tommie)

Born 1885, Białowieża, Russia (present-day Poland). Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1913; from there to US 1914. Wife and daughter in Russia. First joined the Union of Russian Workers in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1916. Rejoined the URW in Newark in 1918. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 11, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/341; FBI file OG 379689

Mike Tymoschavic

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

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

Stanley Ull

Born 1893, Lublin, Russia (present-day Poland). Polish. Joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1909. Migrated to US 1912. Laborer. Joined the Socialist Party of America, then the Communist Party. Arrested in Detroit, January 1920. Declared: “We was arrested for nothing. I was believe before that his country is a good Democracy and I was arrested for nothing. I don’t know I going to believe more or not it is a free and Democratic county.” Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/697

Peter Urgel (Pete; Urgell)

Urgel’s URW membership card

Born 1895, Obrub, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Circa 1917 briefly joined the Socialist Party of America. 1918 joined Branch No 1. of the Union of Russian Workers in Newark. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 11, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Wife, Hedwig/Gadwiga, in Newark.

INS file 54709/351

Urkevich to Vazenas

Red Scare Deportees, , , , ,

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

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

INS file 54709/212; FBI file OG 378953

Josip Vargo (Joseph; Varga; aka Jospeh Vasek)

Vargo’s Communist Party membership card

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

INS file 54861/122

Angelo Varricchio

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

INS file 54517/90; CPC busta 5327

See also: New York Call, March 28, 1919

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

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

INS file 54709/330

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

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

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

Zachary Vaseyko (Захарий Васейко; Zach Wasciki)

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

INS file 54709/398

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

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

INS file 54709/236; FBI file OG 379009

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

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

INS file 54709/99

Konstantin Vasiliuk (Константин Василюк)

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

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

Maria Vasiliuk (Мария Василюк; Mary)

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

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

Stefan Vasiluk (Стефан Василук; Stephan; Wasiluk)

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

FBI file OG 385042

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

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

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

Stanley Vazenas

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

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

Veremiuk to Volk

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , ,

Ivan Veremiuk (Иван Веремюк; Iwan; John; Vermenuk; Veramanuk; Veremink)

Born 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1911. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Maspeth, Long Island circa 1916; became branch secretary, but apparently left the organization circa 1918. Also a member of the independent Brotherhood of Metal Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 5, 1919, at his workplace in New York. Claimed he was “beaten up” and “treated barbarously.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/117

Juan Villanueva

Born 1889, Paso de Sotos (present-day Villa Hidalgo), Mexico. Train brakeman. Migrated repeatedly between Mexico and the US beginning at least as early at 1913. Wife and son in Mexico. A founding member of anarchist group “Los Errantes” (affiliated with the Partido Liberal Mexicano) in 1913 in Morenci, Arizona. Contributed funds to the PLM newspaper Regeneración. Arrested September 19, 1919, in Tucson. Told authorities: “I do not wish to be deported; I have committed no crime. I am obliged to work to support my family.” Deported December 3, 1919. Crossed back into the US at least twice (in October 1926 and June 1928) seemingly without incident. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/70

See also: Regeneración, April 5, 1913; Ancestry.com

Alexander Vinik (Александр Виник; Alex; Alec)

Born 1887, Udel, Russia. Laborer; miner. 1915 attempted to migrate to US but held at Ellis Island and returned to England due to an eye ailment; later that year migrated to Canada; from there migrated to US in 1916. Wife and child in Russia. Miner at the Bertha Coal Company mine near Morgantown, West Virginia. Joined the IWW there in 1919 and distributed IWW literature. Arrested December 1, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/584; FBI file OG 383880

Demian Vlasov (Демьян Власов; Vlasoff; Wlasof; aka John Vlasoff)

Born 1893, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Migrated to US 1912. Machinist. Member of the International Association of Machinists. Organizer and “the moving spirit” of the Newark branch of the Union of Russian Workers, which he had joined in 1915. 1919 appointed to editorial board of the URW newspaper Rabochy i Krestyanin. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 8, 1919. J. Edgar Hoover described him as “beyond a doubt one of the most hostile, arrogant and pernicious members of the Union of Russian Workers.” He was supposed to have been deported on the Buford, but was not, due to an error. Deported to Russia, January 22, 1921. No further information found.

INS file 54709/104; FBI file OG 369065

Maysey Voleshynyuk

Born 1880, Russia. Ukrainian. Miner. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and children in Russia. Member of the United Mine Workers. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Fairmont, West Virginia. Arrested December 3, 1919. Although the Immigration Inspector in Charge was “inclined to think that the case made out against the alien is somewhat weak,” he was deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/604

Georgiy Volk (Георгий Волк; George; Wolk; aka Wolf or Wolfe)

Born 1886, Grodno region, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913 (via Canada). Self-admitted anarchist and proponent of armed revolution. Began attending meetings of the Union of Russian Workers in East Youngstown in January 1918, though he claimed to never have officially joined. Fired from the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company “because he got into a fight through upholding the Bolshevik Government of Russia.” 1919 arrested in East Youngstown for stealing “shirts and other wearing apparel” from a store; sentenced to 30 days and a $50 fine for petty larceny. Police discovered “quantities of radical and anarchist literature” while searching his house. Deported February 26, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

FBI file OG 335403

Volkov to Wälläri

Red Scare Deportees, , , ,

Filip Volkov (Philip; Wolkoff; Volk)

Born 1881, Grodno Governorate, Russia (in present-day Belarus). Machinist. Served in Russian Army circa 1908. Migrated to US 1911. Wife and two children in Russia; she died in 1914. Joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore in 1917. Deportation warrant issued November 7, 1919, but he left Baltimore to avoid arrest; relocated to Cleveland, then returned to Baltimore after several months. Active in the Workers Red Cross/Workers Relief Society, a local organization composed largely of URW members to aid imprisoned comrades (but which federal agents mistakenly believed to be affiliated with the Communist Party). Arrested July 26, 1920. Deported February 1, 1921. Common-law wife and US-born daughter in Baltimore. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/304; FBI file OG 370100

Issay Volkov (Иссай Волков; George; Wolkoff)

Born 1890, Kovno, Russia (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania). Painter. In Russia had belonged to the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Migrated to US 1908. 1916 joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Waterbury, Connecticut until it dissolved in 1917; March 1919 joined the IWW local there. 1919 a member of the Union of Russian Citizens (an umbrella organization of Russian progressives). Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 21, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/171

George Voloh (Георгий Волох?)

Voloh’s URW membership card

Born 1897, Chernigov, Russia (present-day Chernihiv, Ukraine). Miner. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Fairmont, West Virginia in 1919. Arrested December 1, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/589

Peter Voloshin (Петр Волошин; Pete; Woloshim)

Born 1895, Russia. Widower. Migrated to US 1914. Machinist. 1917 joined the Socialist Party, then Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54859/695

Nikolai Volosyuk (Николай Волосук; Nicolai; Nikolaj; Volosuk; aka Mike Walker)

Born 1888, Stołpie, Russia (present-day Poland). Steelworker. Migrated to US 1914. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Elected as a URW delegate to the Soviet of Workers Deputies of South Bethlehem, composed of members of the URW and local Lithuanian and Polish socialist groups, and for which he served as the recording secretary and a member of the executive committee. Arrested March 4, 1919; released on bail. Arrested again December 12, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/696

Carl Voss (Carl Heinrich Frederick Voss)

Born 1891, Hamburg, Germany. Sailor; laborer. Migrated to US 1910 (deserted ship). Joined the IWW 1913; 1918 became organizer for the IWW’s Metal Mine Workers’ Industrial Union No. 800. Also a member of the International Seamen’s Union. Arrested Tucson, Arizona, September 8, 1918 for failing to register for the draft; January 1919 sentenced a year in the Yavapai County Jail; reported by the sherif to have “caused him more trouble than any other prisoner he as had in jail…on account of attempting to incite riots on several occasions, and attempting to effect a jail delivery.” Arrested upon his release in January 1920 and held for deportation. Deported May 22, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54860/699

See also: Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University

Niilo Wälläri (Nillo; Nullo; Nulo)

Wälläri in 1926
Wälläri in 1955

Born 1897, Lieto, Finland. Sailor; union organizer. Migrated to US 1916 (jumped ship). Joined the IWW in 1917. Attended the Finnish IWW’s Work People’s College in Duluth, Minnesota. Became prominent Finnish-speaking IWW orator and organizer. February 1919 arrested in Erie, Pennsylvania, for allegedly crossing state lines for “immoral purposes” with his seventeen-year-old common-law wife, Lyylie (Lillian) Jaaskelainen, after she was arrested for shoplifting and IWW materials were found in his possession. The couple officially married August 20, 1920 in Pittsburgh. Niilo was deported 1920 for entering the country without inspection. The Pennsylvania Board of Appeals denied his petition to have his wife’s sentence commuted so that she could travel to Finland with him. (Lillian Wallari remained in the US and became a chiropractor.) Following his deportation, Niilo traveled to Russia where he attended political education courses conducted by the outlawed and exiled Suomen Kommunistinen Puolue (Finnish Communist Party). Returned to Finland and in February 1921 became district secretary for the Suomen Sosialistinen Työväenpuolue (Finnish Socialist Workers’ Party) in Uusimaa. May 1923 became secretary of the SKP. Arrested that August and convicted of treason. While in prison wrote in opposition to the SKP’s conception of a small revolutionary vanguard, its focus on underground organizations, and its adherence to directives from exiled leaders in Russia, and in favor of mass organizations, a popular front with social democrats, national Communist autonomy from the Comintern, and neighborhood, rather than workplace, organizations. 1926 released from prison and became editor of the Communist Työväenjärjestöjen Tiedonantaja (Labor Union Informer); 1929 he cofounded the breakaway Suomen työväen vasemmistoryhmä (Left Group of Finnish Workers). In the 1930s he advocated a united front against fascism, joined the Social Democratic Party, and continued to contribute articles to the IWW’s Finnish-language newspaper Industrialisti. 1938 became head of the militant Finnish Seamen’s Union (Suomen Merimies-Unioni), the most powerful union in the country. Under his leadership the union helped run arms to the antifascists in the Spanish Civil War, aided Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, won Finnish seamen the eight-hour day in 1946, and organized a union boycott of apartheid South Africa in the 1960s. In 1946 Wälläri was allowed to visit the US for two months as a delegate to the International Maritime Conference. After the Second World War he joined the Finnish People’s Democratic League and the ruling Socialist Unity Party (Sosialistinen Yhtenäisyyspuolue), and remained the head of the Seamen’s Union until his death in 1967.

INS file 54648/26 (file missing); FBI file OG 350179

See also: Evening News (Harrisburg PA), January 21 and 22, 1920; Pittsburgh Press, April 19, 1934; Ancestry.com; Tommi Kippola, “Transnationell syndikalism i ett lokalt rum: Industrial Workers of the World och finländarna i Duluth 1915–1921” https://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/169623; Keijo Virtanen, Settlement or Return: Finnish Emigrants (1860-1930) in the International Overseas Return Migration Movement; John H. Hodgson, Communism in Finland: A History and Interpretation (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967); Tauno Saarela, “American Impact on Finnish Communism in the 1920s,” in Labouring Finns: Transnational Politics in Finland, Canada, and the United States; Jukka Paastela, Finnish Communism Under Soviet Totalitarianism: Oppositions Within the Finnish Communist Party in Soviet Russia 1918-1935; Erkki Savolainen, Niilo Wälläri: legenda jo eläessään

Walter to Whitehead

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , ,

Albert Wilhelm Walter (Walters)

Source: Fort Wayne Sentinel, January 5, 1920

Born 1889, Saxony, Germany. Knitter. Migrated to US 1912. Joined the Socialist Party of America in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and in 1916 elected secretary of the Party’s German Federation. 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America; Indiana State Secretary of the Communist Party beginning November 1919. Deported January 12, 1921. Sent his wife Martha and two US-born daughters to Germany ahead of him. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54859/123; FBI file OG 8000-383588

See also: Fort Wayne Sentinel, January 5, 1920; Garrett Clipper, December 23, 1920

Henry William Watts (Willy; H. W. Watts)

Born 1883, London, England. Journalist. Migrated to Canada 1906. Appears to have been involved in socialist politics and journalism in Canada. From there, migrated to US 1914. Immediately joined the Socialist Party of America in Everett, Washington. January 1915 began writing for the Washington Socialist; February 1915 became its business manager. Continued that role for the paper’s successor, the Northwest Worker, of which he became editor in April 1916. He wrote in support of the IWW and of “collective ownership” (by workers) rather than “state socialism” (i.e. government ownership). Arrested August 1916 for protesting police repression of IWW speakers in Everett. Arrested again April 6, 1917 for libel of local military recruiters; charges dismissed. Arrested once more October 25, 1917 as an alien “anarchist”; released on bail after seven weeks. While in jail, continued as editor of the Northwest Worker and its successor, The Co-operative News. Eventually deported solely on the dubious grounds that he had been “likely to become a public charge” at the time of his entry into the US. Deported to Canada, February 27, 1918–making him the first known deportee of the Red Scare.

Settled in Vancouver, where he joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 213, and in 1921 he became the editor of the B.C. Labour News (1921-22), the official organ of the Vancouver Trades and Labour Council (VTLC), and now opposed the syndicalist One Big Union movement, writing that the labor movement “must not be carried away by dogma” and “lose its power of resistance to organized capital by adopting visionary, idealistic schemes which only end up in the division of the workers.” 1924 editor of the VTLC’s new newspaper The Labour Statesman, which he edited until his death in 1953. He supported the VTLC’s position opposing Asian immigration and political enfranchisement, and also took a strong anti-Communist (but social-democratic) position. 1928 resigned as Local 213’s delegate to the Canadian Labour Party due to increasing Communist influence within it. Ran unsuccessfully as candidate for British Columbia’s social-democratic Independent Labour Party in 1928, 1930, and 1932. Briefly visited the US in 1928 and 1941 on union business, but was debarred from visiting in 1936 due to his former deportation. Elected business agent of the Vancouver Building Trades Council in 1947. Died February 15, 1953.

INS file 54235/57 (file missing); FBI file OG 52458

See also: https://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/NWWorker.htm; https://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/CoopNews.htm; The Co-operative News, February 21 and February 28, 1918; Ancestry.com; Ian McDonald, “Class Conflict and Political Factionalism: A History of Local 213 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 1901-1961” (MA Thesis, Simon Fraser University, 1979); The Labour Gazette, March 15, 1953

Gregory Isaakovich Weinstein (Григорий Исаакович Вайнштейн; Grigoriy Isaakovich Vaynshteyn)

Born 1880, Vilna, Russia (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania). Jewish. Statistician; editor. In Russia, “a public school teacher in a Jewish school.” Involved in socialist movement since 1900 (in both the General Jewish Labour Bund and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party); participated in 1905 revolution and befriended Leon Trotsky. December 1905 arrested at Brest-Litovsk and imprisoned, then in 1916 sentenced to four years in Siberia; escaped after ten days and went to France. 1907 migrated from there to Switzerland, where he graduated from the University of Geneva in 1912 with degrees in law and social science. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Russian Federation of the Socialist Party of America in New York; 1914 became an editor of the socialist newspaper Novy Mir; employed Trotsky as a writer January-March 1917. 1919 cofounded the Communist Labor Party and became general office manager of the (unrecognized) Russian Soviet Government Bureau. Also became an editor of the CLP’s Class Struggle and its short-lived Russian-language paper Pravda. Ordered deported; “voluntarily departed” January 22, 1921. 1922 employed by the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs (which in 1923 became the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs); served as a Soviet diplomatic representative to Canada, a diplomatic agent in Leningrad, and in 1926-28 worked at the Soviet Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey. 1930s in Moscow became head of the Second Western Department of the USSR People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs. August 1939 arrested in Stalin’s purges; executed 1940.

INS file 54810/500 (file missing) and 54810/500A (Exhibits)

See also: New York Tribune, June 22, 1919; Kenneth D. Ackerman, Trotsky in New York, 1917: A Radical on the Eve of Revolution; Todd J. Pfannestiel, Rethinking the Red Scare: The Lusk Committee and New York’s Crusade against Radicalism, 1919-1923; http://documentstalk.com/wp/weinstein-gregory-isaakovich/; http://www.knowbysight.info/VVV/03652.asp; http://theinfounderground.com/smf/index.php?topic=16678.0

Alfred Wesley (Westley)

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

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

Albert Whitehead

Born 1867, Leicester, England. Sailor. Migrated to US 1907. 1911 joined the IWW; became a charter member of Sacramento Council of the IWW. Defendant along with 45 other IWW members in federal trail in Sacramento for violating the Espionage Act; engaged with most of the other defendants in a “silent defense” by refusing to participate in the proceedings. Accused of “arson and destruction of property” in connection with fires that had occurred near Fresno. Sentenced to a year in San Francisco County Jail; caught tuberculosis while imprisoned. Deported December 24, 1919. Upon his arrival in Liverpool, he “gave all his cash to poor children,” and apparently joined the Merseyside IWW branch.

INS file 54616/36; FBI file OG 8000-237893

See also: Stephen M. Kohn, American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions under the Espionage and Sedition Acts; Socialist Review (London), February 1, 1959

Wilckens to Yanish

Red Scare Deportees, , , , ,

Kurt Gustav Wilckens (aka Chris Jensen; Gus Jansen)

Born 1886, Bramstedt, Germany. Miner. Migrated to US 1910. 1914 enlisted in the US Army; deserted after six months due to “mis-treatment.” Following several unsuccessful attempts to enter Canada, surrendered to military authorities at St. Louis and was court-martialed; sentenced to a year in military detention at Fort Leavenworth; dishonorably discharged upon his release in November 1916. Around this time he discovered the writings of Leo Tolstoy, became a pacifist and an anarchist, and joined the IWW. June 1917 participated in IWW miners’ strike in Bisbee, Arizona; was one of the 2,000 miners rounded up by vigilantes and “deported” to the New Mexico desert. August 1917 arrested as an “enemy alien” and interned at Fort Douglas, Utah. After several unsuccessful attempts, escaped with a fellow detainee December 24, 1917. Organized for the IWW in Seattle and Colorado (under the name “Chris Jensen”). November 1919 arrested in Silverton, Colorado as an IWW member who “had been making disloyal remarks against the United States Government. Deported to Germany, March 27, 1920. Circa 1921 migrated to Argentina and worked as a dispatcher at port of Buenos Aires. He roomed with Spanish anarchist Diego Abad de Santillán and wrote as correspondent for German anarchist newspapers Alarm and Der Syndikalist. Outraged at the execution of hundreds of striking workers during the Patagonia Rebellion, on January 23, 1923 he assassinated the Colonel responsible, Héctor Benigno Varela, outside of his home. On June 15, 1923, Wilckens was murdered in prison by one of Valera’s former troops; his death led to widespread strikes and protests in Argentina, and his killer was in turn murdered two years later in retaliation.

INS file 54709/612

See also: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Papers, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Diego Abad de Santillán Papers, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam; Osvaldo Bayer, Rebellion in Patagonia

Harry Wodner (Wadner; Wardner)

Born 1894, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland). Jewish. Machinist. Migrated to US 1913. Arrested during raid on the Union of Russian Workers’ People’s House in New York during the first Palmer Raids, November 15, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/461

Kronagi Workolf

Born 1896, Gomel, Russia (present-day Belarus). Steelworker. Migrated to US 1913. February 1919 he helped organize the Monessen, Pennsylvania branch of the Union of Russian Workers, of which he became secretary. Arrested March 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/133; FBI file OG 224794

Maxim Worobey

Born 1895, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Machinist. Migrated to US 1914. 1919 joined Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested November 28, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/369

Ignac Worobien (Ignace)

Born 1884, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1909. April 1919 joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested November 18, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/403; FBI file OG 380406

Pavel Yakimov (Павел Якимов; Paul; Jacimoff; Jakimov)

Born 1887, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1914. Wife and son in Russia. 1919 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Philadelphia. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/329

Mikhail Yakovlev (Михаил Яковлев; Mike; Yakovleff)

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

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

Mikhail Yanish (Михаил Яниш; Mike)

Born 1889, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Wife and child in Russia. Member of the Monessen, Pennsylvania branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested November 26, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/521; FBI file OG 378505

Yarmovics to Zamora

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , ,

Constanti Yarmovics (Constant)

“Voluntarily departed” to Austria, May 8, 1920. No further information found.

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

Mikhal Yarosevich (Михал Яросевич; Mihal)

Born 1889, Saratov Oblast, Russia. Steelworker. Migrated to US 1911. October 1919 joined the Union of Russian Workers branch Youngstown, Ohio. Was participating in the 1919 steel strike when arrested November 10, 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/177

Andrew Yarosevick (Jarosevich, Jaroschwicz)

Born 1896, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1914. Arrested in Youngstown, Ohio, November 9, 1919, at a convention of the Union of Russian Workers. Unemployed at the time, and claimed to be illiterate. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/175

Fred Yarovoy (Фредрих Яровой; Yarovoi)

Born 1895, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1915. Member of Branch No. 2 of the Union of Russian Workers in Philadelphia. Arrested November 15, 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/317

Alex Yartim (Yarstein; Jorhem)

Yarim’s Communist Party membership card

Born c.1889, Rozeta, Russia (present-day Belarus). Belarusian. Migrated to US 1909. Baker. Member and treasurer of Communist Party branch in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Arrested in Philadelphia, January 1920. Deported to Russia February 26, 1921.

INS file 54859/342

Dimitry Yasinsky (Дмитрий Ясинский; Yasensky; Yesinsky)

Yasinsky’s URW membership card

Born 1886, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1911; from there migrated to US 1914. Wife in Russia. April 1919 joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Hartford, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 15, 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/385

Ivan Yatsyshen (Иван Яцышен; John Yatzyshen)

Yatsyshen’s Communist Party membership card

Born c.1898, Nastasiv, Austria-Hungary (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Migrated to US 1913. Laborer. Employed by Standard Oil in Buffalo, New York. Joined the Socialist Party, then the Communist Party’s East Side Ukrainian Branch, for which he was secretary. Deported to Russia, February 1, 1921.

INS file 54809/566

William Yaukum (Yankum; Yankul)

Born 1893, Russia. Miner. Migrated to US 1913. 1919 joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Fairmont, West Virginia. Arrested December 2, 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/594

John Yereb

Born 1883, Köflach, Austria. Migrated to US 1896. Laborer, miner. Employed in various jobs across the US. Involved in several United Mine Workers strikes in 1900s. 1914 joined the IWW in Mohall, North Dakota; 1920 appointed general delegate for the IWW. Active in 1919 coal strikes in Illinois. Arrested March 31, 1920 in Bellville, Illinois; in possession of a large amount of IWW literature and correspondence. Deported March 28, 1921.

Pregnant wife Laura in US; gave birth to daughter June 1921. John almost immediately left Austria for Germany, from which he sailed to Tampico, Mexico, and from there joined the crew of a ship headed to Portland, Maine, where he disembarked July 30, 1922 and was detained. His case gained significant press coverage, and the deportation warrant was dropped after it was confirmed that he had in fact become a US citizen in 1900 at age seventeen by virtue of his stepfather’s naturalization. Laura died in Bellville in 1952; he died there in 1957.

INS file 54861/401; FBI file OG 383910

See also: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 17 and October 15, 1922; St. Louis Star, October 17, 1922; Nashville Journal (Nashville IL), February 7, 1957

John Zabrian

Born 1894, Minsk region, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1913, then Canada later that year; returned to US 1918. Laborer. Joined the Socialist Party, then Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Deported to Russia, March 18, 1921.

INS file 54860/377

George Zaklan

Born c. 1891, Mogorić, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia). Serbian. Migrated to US 1909. Laborer. Early 1919 joined the Socialist Party, then Detroit’s Serbian Branch No. 212 of the Communist Party. Requested deportation to Russia rather than Yugoslavia, which was granted; deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/700

J. Zamora

Deported IWW member. No further information found.

Zaremba to Zedik

Red Scare Deportees, ,

Alexander Zaremba (Александр Заремба)

Zaremba’s URW membership card

Born 1889, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Iron moulder. Migrated to US 1913. January 1919 joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Albion, Michigan. Arrested November 21, 1919, in Marshall, Michigan. Deported January 22, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/286; FBI file OG 8000-379063

Mikhail Zatyn (Михаил Затынь; Michael)

Born 1888, Grodno region, Russia (probably in present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. August 1919 joined the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore. Arrested November 26, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/485; FBI file OG 8000-389975

Fedor Zatsarinin (Федор Зацаринин; Fedoai Zatzarinin; aka Fred Lubinosenko)

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

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

Tomas Zayats (Томас Заяц; Thomas)

Born 1883, Russia. Steelworker. Migrated to US 1912. Wife and child in Russia. A member of the Union of Russian Workers branch in Monessen, Pennsylvania. Arrested November 26, 1919, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/518; FBI file OG 8000-379021

Yakov Zboromirsky (Яков Зборомирский; Jacob; Vboromirsky)

Born 1894, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Februrary 1919 joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Donoroa, Pennsylvania. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 12, 1919, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/223; FBI file OG 374976

Mikhail Zdanowich (Михаил Зданович; Mike; Zdanowich)

Born 1885, Golynka, Russia (present-day Hołynka, Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1914. Wife and two children in Russia. Arrested November 25, 1919, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Charged with being a member of the local Union of Russian Workers branch, but he denied this and claimed he was a member of the Socialist Party of America; the evidence is unclear on which is true. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/378

Stepan Zedik (Степан Зедик; Steipan)

Born 1881, Grodno region, Russia. Reamer. Served four years in Russian military. Migrated to US 1910. Radicalized circa 1911-12. Self-described “anarchist communist.” 1917 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore. Arrested February 19, 1919. Told authorities, “I understand by anarchist communism that we should not be ruled by anybody else, but we all laboring classes should rule ourselves…I am an anarchist communist believing in the Kropotkin theory.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/24

Stephan Zezula

Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54860/726