Fedor Kovalevich (a.ka. Frank Kowalawich)

Born: 1896, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation: Rubber worker
Migration: Immigrated to US 1914
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Worked for B. F. Goodrich and spent nearly a year in the US Army stationed at Camps Sheridan and Jackson in Alabama. He joined the Akron branch of the Union of Russian Workers in April 1919 and told immigration agents, “By Internationalism I mean that there should not be different countries or different nations.” He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/534; FBI file OG 376750.

Iakov Kovalevich (a.k.a. John or Jacob Kowalewich)

Born: 1889, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to the US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Formerly a member of the Socialist Party of America before joining the Hartford branch of the Union of Russian Workers in September 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21 of that year. His wife remained in Russia.

Sources: INS file 54709/402.

Ilya Kovalsky (a.k.a. Louis Kowalsky; Kuznetz)

Born: Russia, year unknown
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration:
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

A member of the Union of Russian Workers arrested in Ansonia, Connecticut during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21 of that year. His immigration file is incomplete.

Sources: INS file 54709/496.

Józef Kowalski (a.k.a. Joseph or Joe; A. Gorny; Jan Gómy)

Born: 1890, Łódź, Russia (present-day Poland)
Nationality: Polish
Ethnicity: Polish
Occupation: Silk weaver; editor
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

A member of the left faction of the Polish Socialist Party in Łódź, where he distributed illegal literature and was imprisoned from 1907 to 1910 for assaulting a foreman.

In the United States he worked as a silk weaver in Paterson, New Jersey, joined the Polish Section of the Socialist Party of America, and participated in strikes in Passaic and Philadelphia. By 1919 he was secretary of the Polish Federation of the SPA, on the executive board of its newspaper Głos Robotniczy, a delegate to the founding convention of the Communist Party of America. Became a member of the CP’s central committee and secretary of its Polish Bureau. Arrested in Kansas City in September 1919 for making a “disloyal and inflammatory speech,” he was imprisoned for unlawful assembly and deported to Poland upon his release on March 17, 1921.

Made his way to Moscow, where his wife and child later joined him, and briefly served as a court investigator for Butyrka Prison and attended the Third Congress of the Comintern in July 1921 under the name “Jan Gómy.”

He illegally returned to the United States via Canada in 1922 to organize on behalf of the Comintern but was arrested in New York and sentenced to eighteen months in federal prison. After his release both Poland and Russia refused to issue passports for deportation, leaving him free on bail. He later served on the Executive Board of the Communist Party and administered the newspaper Glos Ludowy, founded in 1923, eventually settling in Detroit. During the 1930s he was a district manager for the Daily Worker, a section leader in CP District No. 7, coeditor of the monthly Trybuna (1936–1938).

He returned to Poland in 1949, joined the ruling Polish United Workers’ Party, and held various administrative posts. Died in Łódź in 1960.

Sources: INS file 54709/486 (missing); FBI file OG 8000-143411; New York Herald, August 9, 1922; Don Binkowski Papers, Walter P. Reuther Library; Jacob Spolansky, The Communist Trail in America; Don Binkowski, Poles Together: Leo Krzycki and Polish Americans in the American Labor Movement; Zygmunt Pietrzak, “Kowalski Józef (1890-1960),” Słownik biograficzny działaczy polskiego ruchu robotniczego, vol. 3.

Matthew Kozario (a.k.a. Kosario; Kozaric; Kosaric)

Born:
Nationality: Yugoslavian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration:
Affiliation: Unknown

Deported to Yugoslavia on April 14, 1920 as a radical. No further information has been located.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G.

Ivan Kozlik (a.k.a. John Cozich; Gustko)

Born: 1893, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Ukrainian
Occupation: Machinist
Migration: Immigrated to US 1908
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Joined the Elizabeth, New Jersey branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1917. Arrested in New York during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/363.

Vasil Kozlov (a.k.a. Kozlow)

Born: 1893, Gomel, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation: Miner
Migration: Immigrated to US 1911
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Worked as a hauler in the Jamison No. 9 coal mine in Farmington, West Virginia. Like many members of the Union of Russian Workers, he had farmed in Russia before emigrating, explaining: “There were many people in the village where I lived and they received letters telling that we could make more money in America, so I decided to come.” Arrested December 1, 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21 of that year.

Sources: INS file 54709/601; FBI file OG 8000-379018.

Vasily Kozlovch

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

Joined the Socialist Party before becoming a member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920 and held at Fort Wayne, he was deported to Russia on February 26, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54860/379.

Osip Kozorez (a.k.a. Joseph Koza; Joe Koza)

Born: 1881, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation:
Migration: Immigrated to US 1914
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Newark in January 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he participated in a five-day hunger strike on Ellis Island protesting installation of a wire screen separating detainees from visitors. Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919. His wife and four children remained in Russia.

Sources: INS file 54709/342; FBI file OG 379013.

Ivan Kozy (a.k.a. John Kozy)

Born: 1894, Uman, Russia (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Ukrainian
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Migrated to Canada 1914; then to US March 1919
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Crossed into the United States at Niagara Falls in March 1919 and joined the Union of Russian Workers in Philadelphia. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21 of that year.

Sources: INS file 54709/332.