Zenov Bogush (a.k.a. Xenov/Zenow/Zinow Bogen)

Born: 1893, Korets, Russia (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Ukrainian
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New Haven in early 1919. Arrested in Hartford, Connecticut, during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. Deported on the Buford under the name Zenov (or Xenov) Bogen on December 21, 1919.

After returning to Ukraine, joined the Nabat Anarchist Federation and observed the partisan army of Nestor Makhno. Arrested in Kharkov around November 1920 and executed by the Cheka around March 1921 (dates differ slightly among sources).

Sources: INS file 54709/207; Senya Fleshin Papers, International Institute for Social History; http://socialist.memo.ru/lists/bio/l3.htm#n814; Voline, The Unknown Revolution, 1917-1921; G. P. Maximoff, The Guillotine at Work: Twenty Years of Terror in Russia (Data and Documents).

Nikolai Bolsun (or Bolson/Bolsum)

Born: Year unknown, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Member of the Communist Party of America in Plainfield, New Jersey. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920. Deported to Russia on December 23, 1920.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G; The Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey), December 23, 1920.

Vasily Bondarenko (or Wasiliy Bondarenko; a.k.a. William Bender/Bander)

Born: 1897, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Ukrainian
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Active member of the Union of Russian Workers in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he also lectured for the URW nationally. Arrested repeatedly: in Bridgeport (November 9, 1919), Hartford (November 28, 1919), and New York (January 1920). Deported to Russia January 22, 1921.

Later reported to have been killed executed under Stalin.

Sources: INS file 54709/404; FBI file OG 382161; Lazar Lipotkin, The Russian Anarchist Movement in North America; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America

Samuel Bondarenko (or Bondarewko)

Born: c. 1878, Kyiv region, Russia (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Ukrainian
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Labor Party

Member of the Russian Branch of the Socialist Party of America in Philadelphia, later joining the Communist Labor Party and serving as secretary of the branch. Arrested December 29, 1919. Deported to Russia on February 1, 1921 as an alleged member of the Communist Party of America. (Membership in the CPA rendered immigrants deportable, whereas after 1920 membership in the CLP did not.)

Sources: INS file 54809/871; FBI file OG 267034.

Peter Bonko

Born: Year unknown, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown
Affiliation: Communist Party of America?

Arrested in Brooklyn during second Palmer Raids in January 1920. Likely a member of the Communist Party of America. Deported to Russia on December 23, 1920.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G; FBI file BS 202600-33; The Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey), December 23, 1920.

Vasily Bootryn

Born: 1888, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation: Moldmaker
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Had a wife and children in Russia. JoJoined the Socialist Party in Detroit in April 1919 and later transferred to Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, in January 1920; held at Fort Wayne. “Voluntarily departed” on October 16, 1920.

Sources: INS file 54859/998; FBI file OG 387334.

Vladimir Borisyuk (or Borisiuk/Borisink; a.k.a. Walter Borisuk)

Born: 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1914
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Member of the Socialist Party of America who then paid one month’s dues to the Communist Party of America. Authorities also suspected he belonged to the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested in Hartford, Connecticut, in November 1919 during the first Palmer Raids. Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/151.

Borkhak

Born: Year unknown
Nationality:
Ethnicity: Polish
Occupation:
Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown
Affiliation: IWW

A Polish member of the Industrial Workers of the World, deported on February 20, 1921.

Source: Golos Truzhenika, March 5, 1921.

Ivan Borovsky (or John Borowsky)

Born: Year unknown, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Barber; railroad worker
Migration: Immigrated to US 1908
Affiliation: IWW; Union of Russian Workers?

Member of the Russian branch of the Industrial Workers of the World in Chicago; also suspected of membership in the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. Deported on March 18, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54709/267; FBI file OG 380320.

Boris Borsuk (a.k.a. Boris Boroes/Borores)

Born: Born 1896, Brest, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation: Barber; shop owner
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Helped organize the Union of Russian Workers branch in Youngstown, Ohio, and distributed URW literature. Arrested in August 1919 and deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919. His brother Dimitri was also arrested as a suspected anarchist but not deported.

Sources: INS file 54709/500; FBI file OG 380628.

Max Brazeliya (or Brazelia)

Born: Born 1892, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Jewish
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 (via Canada)
Affiliation: Unaffiliated socialist

An unaffiliated socialist and reader of the Yiddish socialist Forverts. Arrested in St. Louis in March 1919 after being reported by his employer at the Nelson Pants Manufacturing Company for “spreading Bolshevik propaganda.” His employer, not wanting to see him deported, later defended him as harmless and “a good workingman.” Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54616/25; FBI file OG 352388; Kenyon Zimmer, “The Voyage of the Buford: Political Deportations and the Making and Unmaking of America’s First Red Scare,” in Deportation in the Americas: Histories of Exclusion and Resistance, ed. Kenyon Zimmer and Cristina Salinas.

Josef Brencich

Born: Born 1887, Fiume, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia)
Nationality: Austrian
Ethnicity: Croatian
Occupation: Sailor; painter
Migration: Immigrated to US 1911
Affiliation: Anarchist; IWW

An Italian speaker of Slavic background. Arrested in Philadelphia in 1921 along with Erasmo Abate and other members of the IWW-affiliated Union of Italian Workers. Ordered deported to Hungary, then allowed “voluntary departure” on January 8, 1923 because Fiume had become an independent state.

Met up with Erasmo Abate in Italy and France later in the 1920s.

Sources: INS file 55009/82; Hugo Rolland [Erasmo Abate] interviewed by Robert D’Attilio, Paul Avrich Collection, Library of Congress.

Stefen Brezovic (or Vrezovic)

Born: Born 1886, Austro-Hungary
Nationality: Austrian
Ethnicity: Yugoslavian
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Joined the Socialist Party of America in 1916; in September 1919 he transferred into South Slavic Branch No. 17 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 1920, in Detroit. Deported to to Yugoslavia on May 8, 1920.

Sources: FBI file OG 387297.