Berger to Bernat

Red Scare Deportees, , , ,

Frederick Harold Berger (Фредрик Харольд Бергер)

Born 1885, Russia. Laborer. Anarchist; belonged to “revolutionary groups in Russia” and participated in 1905 revolution; migrated to US 1913; joined IWW shortly thereafter. Arrested Fresno, California, September 1917 for public drunkenness; detained after IWW membership card found. Declared, “I hold allegiance to no country. The world is my country…I was a syndicalist since I was a lad of 13 or 14.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54407/17

Otto Berglind (Otto Bergleind; aka August Berdland)

Born 1880, Västmanland County, Sweden. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1908, then US 1913; joined IWW that same year. IWW members. Arrested January 1918 in Everett, Washington. Deported October 31, 1918. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/33

Alexander Berkman (Александр Беркман; Ovsei Osipovich Berkman)

Born 1870, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania), to well-off Jewish family. Drawn to Russian populist movement as a student. Migrated to US 1888; soon after became anarchist and lifelong collaborator of Emma Goldman. Laborer; typesetter; editor. 1892 attempted to assassinate steel manager Henry Clay Frick in retaliation for deaths of workers during Homestead Strike. Sentenced to 21 years; served 14. By his release in 1906 he was one of the most well-known anarchists in the US. Became editor of Goldman’s Mother Earth, then 1915 moved to San Francisco where published The Blast. Co-founded the No-Conscription League in 1917 and arrested that June under the Espionage Act. Sentenced to two years federal prison, then deported on the Buford. In Russia, he and Goldman collected materials for a Museum of the Revolution. Broke with Bolsheviks after 1921 Kronstadt Rebellion; left Russia December 1921 with Goldman. Lived illegally in Germany, France, and elsewhere in Europe until his death. Wrote numerous leftwing critiques of the Soviet regime, including The Bolshevik Myth (1925). Cofounder and secretary of the Joint Committee for the Defense of Revolutionists Imprisoned in Russia; member of Relief Fund of the International Working Men’s Association for Anarchists and Anarcho-Syndicalists Imprisoned or Exiled in Russia. In ill health, committed suicide Nice, France, 1936.

INS file 52410/43

See also: Alexander Berkman, The Bolshevik Myth (Diary 1920–1922); Emma Goldman, Living My Life; Paul Avrich and Karen Avrich, The Anarchist Odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman; Alexander Berkman Papers, International Institute for Social History

Grigoriy Berko (Григорий Берко; Gregory Berko; Berkoff, Bezko)

Born 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1913; laborer. Member, Rockford, Illinois branch of the Communist Party. Arrested Chicago, January 1920; “voluntary departure” to Russia October 16, 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54809/8; FBI file BS 202600-150-1

Charles Bernat (Бернат)

Born 1879, Russia (present-day Estonia). Lumber worker. Migrated to US 1902. Joined IWW around 1908; IWW delegate and organizer; in 1917 became Secretary of Lumber Workers Industrial Union Local No. 500, Seattle. Arrested Seattle, June 1918. Deported February 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54517/491

Bernstein to Bianki

Red Scare Deportees, , ,

Ethel Bernstein (Этель Бернштейн)

Mid-Week Pictorial, January 1, 1920

Born 1898, Russia. Garment worker. Migrated to US 1911. Became anarchist circa 1917; joined Jewish anarchist Frayhayt Group, along with partner, Samuel Lipman. Arrested New York 1919 for distributing copies of The Anarchist Soviet Bulletin. Admitted anarchism, but denied belonging to URW and refused to answer further questions. November 1919 led hunger strike on Ellis Island to protest conditions. Deported on the Buford. In 1920, worked for the People’s Commissariat Foreign Affairs Department. 1921 reunited with Samuel Lipman, deported from US with Jacob Abrams et al. 1930s Lipman killed in Stalin’s purges; 1940s Bernstein’s son killed in Second World War; unknown date Bernstein sentenced to ten years hard labor in Soviet prison camp.

INS file 54616/115

See also: Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America

Yakov Berov (Яков Беров, Jacob Berov, aka Jocob Byra)

Born 1891, Russia. Laborer. Wife and son in Russia. Migrated alone to US 1913. Joined Union of Russian Workers 1919; secretary of Monessen, Pennsylvania URW branch. Arrested 1919; deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/479

Isidoro Bertazzon (Bertason)

Born 1891, Treviso, Italy. Radical in Italy. Migrated to US 1907; laborer. Anarchist; member of Seattle’s Circolo di Studi Sociali, distributed Cronaca Sovversiva. Narrowly evaded arrest November 25, 1917. “Voluntary return” via Canada early 1921. 1922 immigrated to Australia, where he edited numerous anarchist and antifascist newspapers. Died 1940.

CPC busta 551

See also: Gianfranco Cresciani, “Exploitation, Emigration and Anarchism: The Case of Isidoro Alessandro Bertazzon,” Altreitalie, no. 46 (June 2013)

Fedor Biacharsky (Федор Бячарский, Frank Biacharski)

Born 1885, Kupyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to US 1914 (via Canada); wife in Russia. Joined Youngstown, Ohio branch of Union of Russian Workers 1919. Arrested November 1919 in Palmer Raids. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/208; FBI file OG 380612

Pietro Bianchi

Born 1882, Isola Fano, Italy. Mason; laborer until lost an eye; fish peddler; co-op manager. Anarchist. Migrated to US 1907. Married. Member, Circolo Studi Sociali of Milwaukee. Arrested 1917 after Italian anarchist “riot.” Deported December 1919. In Italy became a baker and remained under government surveillance until 1940, but no political activity noted after his arrival.

INS file 54235/64; CPC busta 621

See also: Dean A. Strang, Worse than the Devil: Anarchists, Clarence Darrow, and Justice in a Time of Terror

Nadia Bianki (Надя Бианки)

Born Russia, 1895. To US 1913. An anarchist since 1914. Joined URW 1918. Wife of deportee Peter Bianki. Son, Peter, born in New York 1917. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 55009/15

Peter Bianki (Петр Бианки, Bianki/Bianky, Peter Bianchi)

Born 1891, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine), to Italian parents (the Bianchis). Laborer; metal worker; printer. Migrated to US 1913. Joined Union of Russian Workers after its formation in 1914 and became one of its leading figures. Elected URW Secretary January 1919, and then editor of its newspaper Khleb i Volia. Wife and son in US. Arrested New York in February 1919. Deported on the Buford. In Russia, joined the Communist Party and worked in a variety of positions for the Soviet government. In 1928 relocated to Siberia to direct a grain requisition squad; killed in an armed peasant uprising March 1930 and celebrated as a Communist martyr.

INS file 54616/115

See also: Malcolm Archibald, “Peter Bianki: The Soviet Years,” Kate Sharpley Library, http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/pnvzh1

Bileski to Bogen

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , ,

Harry Bileski

Deported to Austria May 1920. No further information found.

Included on list of radical deportees in INS file 54325/36G

Mikhail Bilokumsky (Michael)

Born 1892, Andreevka, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Member, United Communist Party. Arrested January 1921 in Philadelphia during second Palmer Raids, and again April 1921 while handing out UCP May Day handbills with a friend. Ordered deported to Russia in August 1921 on basis of revolutionary content of those handbills; lost Supreme Court challenge in 1923 (United States ex rel. Bilokumsky v. Tod, 263 U.S. 149), by which time the Soviet Union no longer accepted deportees from US. Instead, a passport was obtained from a New York representative of the “Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission,” an anti-Soviet self-proclaimed government in exile not recognized by the United States or Ukraine. A Bureau of Immigration board of review ruled in January 1924 that Bilokumsky be released on bond because “the passport cannot be used…and in order to effect deportation a passport must be had from the Ukrainian Soviet representative which is not practicable at this time.” But these instructions were ignored; on May 24, 1924 he was deported via Switzerland to the Russian border, where he may have been turned away; rumored to have been left in Romania, prompting the Communist newspaper Novy Mir to protest that if Bilokumsky was left stranded in a “country that is hostile to Russia he will either be imprisoned or murdered.” He was last reported to be “stranded and starving in Vienna.” No further information of his fate was found.

INS file 55009/76

See also: Kansas State News (Topeka KS), August 29, 1924

_________ Bjorkman

IWW member deported October 28, 1919. No further information found.

Included on list of IWW prisoners and deportees in One Big Union Monthly, March 1920

Juan Blanco

Deported IWW member. No further information found.

See: La Union del Marino, February 1921

Catherine Hartog Bloom

Born 1883, Hoogwoud, The Netherlands. Housewife. Migrated to US 1913. Not radical before arrival; joined Socialist Party circa 1915 and was treasurer of her SP local in Chicago; transferred to Ninth Ward branch of Communist Party of America in October 1919. Husband Nick Bloom “in the building trades”; owned home in Chicago, which they intended to sell so he could return to The Netherlands with her. Deported June 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54861/120; FBI file OG 381560

Sergey Bobkov (Сергей Бобков, Serge Bobkoff or Babkoff)

Born 1898, Moscow, Russia. Carpenter, migrated to US 1914. Member and delegate of the Seattle branch of the Union of Russian Workers. After his brother, Feodor, died in Seattle in 1919, he became the sole supporter of Feodor’s sick wife and daughter. Arrested Seattle, December 1919. Deported January 1921.

INS file 54860/431; FBI file 388847

Sevastyan Bogdanovich (Севастьян Богданович, Sebastian aka Sam)

Born 1892, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1915. Union of Russian Workers. Arrested March 1920, Baltimore, after “nearly caused a riot” by giving pro-Bolshevik speech in front of Holy Rosary Church. Deported February 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

FBI file OG 384761

Xenov Bogen (Зенов Боген, Zenow/Zenov Bogen)

Born 1893, Korets, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Joined Union of Russian Workers early 1919. Arrested Hartford, Connecticut, during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/207

Bogush to Brezovic

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , , , , ,

______ Bogush (Богуш)

Born Russia (probably in present-day Ukraine). Member of the Union of Russian Workers. Multiple sources claim Bogush was deported on the Buford; however his name is not on the ship’s manifest (though it is possible that Bogush or the name he was deported under was a pseudonym). In Ukraine, joined anarchist Nabat Federation and observed Nestor Makhno’s partisan army. Arrested Kharkov circa November 1920 and executed by Checka circa March 1921 (Voline and Maximoff give slightly different dates).

See: 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 (Bolson, Bolsum)

Member of the Communist Party of America in Plainfield, New Jersey. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported to Russia December 23, 1920. Nor further information found.

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

See also: The Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey), December 23, 1920

Vasiliy Bondarenko (Васи́лий Бондаренко, Wasiliy Bondarenko, aka William Bender/Bander)

Born 1897, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Wife and two children in US. “Very active” member of Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and lectured for the URW nationally. Arrested Bridgeport, Connecticut November 9, 1919, again in Hartford, Connecticut, November 28, 1919, and then in New York during second the Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported January 22, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown, but likely the same Bondarenko mentioned by anarchist Clara Larsen as having been “killed by Stalin.”

INS file 54709/404; FBI file OG 382161

See also Lazar Lipotkin, The Russian Anarchist Movement in North America; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America

Samuel Bondarenko (Самуил Бондаренко; Sam Bondarenko)

Born Russia (present-day Ukraine), year unknown. Member, Communist Party of America, Philadelphia. Deported to Russia February 1921. No further information found.

Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G; see also FBI file OG 267034

Peter Bonko

Arrested in Brooklyn during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Probably Communist Party of America member. Deported to Russia December 23, 1920. No further information found.

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

See also: The Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey), December 23, 1920

Vasiliy Bootryn

Born 1888, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Molder. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and children in Russia. Joined the Socialist Party of America in Detroit, April 1919; transferred to Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America later that year. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Held at Fort Wayne. “Voluntarily departed” 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54859/998; FBI file OG 387334

Vladimir Borisyuk (Владимир Борисюк, Vladimir Borisiuk/Borisink, Walter Borisuk)

Vladimir Borisyuk’s Socialist Party membership card

Born 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1914. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November, 1919, Hartford, Connecticut. Member of the Socialist Party (not a deportable offense), but had paid one month’s dues to Communist Party, and authorities suspected he belonged to Union of Russian Workers. Also accused of making revolutionary statements. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/151

____ Borkhak

Polish IWW member deported February 20, 1921. No further information found.

See Golos Truzhenika, March 5, 1921.

Ivan Borovsky (Боровский; John; Borowsky)

Born 1878, Ventspils, Russia (present-day Latvia). Barber, railroad worker. Migrated to US 1908. Married; wife in Chicago. Member of IWW’s Russian Branch in Chicago; also suspected of belonging to URW. Arrested Chicago during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported March 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/267; FBI file OG 380320

Boris Borsuk (Борис Борсук, Boroes/Borores Borsuk)

Born 1896, Brest, Russia (present-day Belarus). Barber. Migrated to US 1912. Owned barbershop at 70 Robinson Rd., Youngstown, Ohio. Helped organize Youngstown branch of the Union of Russian Workers and distributed URW literature. Arrested Youngstown in August 1919. His brother, Dimitri, arrested after visiting him in jail and again in 1920 on suspicion of belonging to the URW, although he denied this and does not appear to have been deported. Boris meanwhile was deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/500

See also: FBI file OG 380628

Max Brazeliya (Макс Бразелия or Бразилия, Brazelia)

Born 1892, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland). Jewish; laborer. Migrated to US 1913 (via Canada). Unaffiliated socialist; subscribed to the Forverts. Arrested March 1919, St. Louis after employer at Nelson Pants Manufacturing Company reported him for “spreading Bolsheviki propaganda in the workroom.” His employer, not actually wanting to see him deported, later defended him as harmless and “a good workingman.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/25; FBI file OG 352388

See also: 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, edited by Kenyon Zimmer and Cristina Salinas

Josef Brencich

Born 1887, Fiume, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia). Sailor; painter. Italian-speaker, member of “the Slavish Race.” Migrated to US 1911. Anarchist, member of Philadelphia’s Union of Italian Workers. Arrested April, 1921, with Erasmo Abate and other members. Ordered deported to Hungary, but in 1921 Fiume had become an independent state, so allowed “voluntary departure” as a sailor “direct for Mediterranean ports,” January 1923. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 55009/82

Stefen Brezovic (Vrezovic; Steve)

Born 1886, Austro-Hungarian Empire (somewhere that later became part of Yugoslavia). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Joined Socialist Party of America 1916; September 1919 transferred to the South Slavic Branch No. 17 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 1920, Detroit. Deported May 1920 to Yugoslavia. Subsequent activities unknown.

FBI file OG 387297

Brodya to Buhay

Red Scare Deportees, , , , ,

Frank Brodya (Бродя, Frank Brodia, Frank Broida, aka P. Broido)

Born 1882, Russia. Blacksmith. Served five years in Russian army. Wife and three children in Russia. Migrated to US 1913; already an anarcho-syndicalist at that time. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Pittsburgh and secretary of his branch. Cooperated with Frank Belesta in campaign for a general strike of American workers “to enforce the lifting of the blockade against Russia.” Local immigration inspector described him as “intelligent and I consider him one of the most dangerous Russians in the Pittsburgh district.” His original deportation warrant erroneously listed his country of citizenship as Italy. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/89

See also: New-York Tribune, October 4, 1919

Abe Brook (Эйб Брук, Abe Bruk/Brooks/Brock/Bruke, Obe Bruk)

Image result for "Abe brooks" + buford

Born 1893, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Jewish. Migrated to US 1914. Member of the Brooklyn branch of the Union of Russian Workers (but denied this in interrogation). Married Clara Kessler, also an anarchist, circa 1918. Arrested in New York October 1919 while organizing protest of US blockade of Russia, and again during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Clara Brook led protest upon learning of the deportations; petitioned to be deported herself to join her husband. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/273

Ivan Nicholaevich Brunert (Иван Брунерт, John Brunert/Brunett)

Born 1869, Volhynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Bookkeeper; tailor. Wife and two sons in Kiev. Migrated to US 1912. Joined Branch no. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore in 1918, and served as its financial secretary. Former member of an IWW branch of Polish tailors, and member of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in 1919. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/109

Ivan Bubenko (aka John Bubenko)

Born 1884, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Wife and child in Russia. Migrated to US 1912 (via Canada) to avoid military service. Joined Socialist Party of America 1918, then transferred to Russian Branch no. 3 of Communist Party of America in Detroit. “Voluntary departure” October 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54860/22; FBI file BS 202600-712-1

Anton Budkowsky (Antoni Buoty/Buotv; Butkocky; Butkockery; Butkowski)

Born 1884, Pružany, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Wife and son in Russia. Migrated to US 1914 (via Canada, without inspection). Joined Union of Russian Workers in Detroit in 1917. Arrested July 1918 during scuffle between authorities and Russian radicals attending picnic. Told immigration inspectors “I am a sympathizer of the anarchists, but I am not an anarchist…I believe in their teachings.” “Voluntary departure” January 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54554/23

Fedor Buhay (Frank Bohai)

Born 1893, Russia. At age three family moved to Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Belarusian (“Ruthenian”). Machinist; Russian-speaker. Migrated to US circa 1910. Joined Communist Party of America in Buffalo. Deported to Austria, April 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54809/427; FBI file OG 382147

Bukhanov to Butskevich

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , ,

Timofey Pavlovich Bukhanov (Тимофей Павлович Буханов, Thomas P. Bukhanov, Buchanov or Bukanoff, aka “Tommy the Kid”)

Mid-Week Pictorial, January 1, 1920
Bukhanov in the Soviet Union, circa 1930s

Born 1902, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine). In 1909 he and his sister joined their mother, Alexandra Nikiforovna Bukhanova, in US. Graduated high school in Manhattan in 1918; laborer. Nephew of Union of Russian Workers activist (and fellow deportee) Peter Bianki. Secretary of the Greenpoint, Brooklyn branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919, and again December 1919. Deported on the Buford; youngest deportee aboard (just seventeen years old). On voyage contracted a fever that resulted in temporary deafness. 1920 joined Union of Russian Anarchist Workers Repatriated from America, formed by Hyman Perkus, which critically supported the Bolshevik dictatorship as a temporary necessity. Arrested 1923 during a crackdown on anarchists. Married 1930s. 1937 graduated from Leningrad Industrial Institute with a degree in metallurgy. Assigned to a factory in Voronezh, where joined by mother, wife, and children. Arrested July 1938 and sentenced to five years in a forced labor camp, where he died November 1942.

INS file 54709/647; FBI file OG 382170

See also: Alexander Berkman, “The Log of the Transport Buford,” Liberator, April 1920; Victor Serge, Anarchists Never Surrender: Essays, Polemics, and Correspondence on Anarchism, 1908–1938; http://visz.nlr.ru/person/show/264430; http://visz.nlr.ru/person/book/t12/0/350

Alexander Bukhovetsky (Александра Буховецкого, Alexander Bukovetsky, aka Felix/Feliks Konosevich/Konossevich, Феликс Коносевич)

Bukhovetsky with family, c. 1919
Bukhovetsky in Windsor

Born 1886, Ekaterinoslav, Russia (present-day Dnipro, Ukraine). etalworker. Joined Socialist-Revolutionary Party as a youth; involved in 1905 revolution. Married (wife named Frances [Frantsyska?]) with daughter. Migrated with family to Canada 1908, where son born. Family lived and moved between US and Canada repeatedly. Became anarchist in Ontario. Arrested March 1918 after giving radical speech in Timmins, Ontario, but charges dropped. 1919 migrated to US with family. Machinist at Ford Motor Company. Member of Union of Russian Workers in Detroit (in interrogation denied membership, but admitted to organizing URW branches in Jackson and Kalamazoo, Michigan, and lecturing for other branches). Arrested Detroit. During his detainment, Frances diagnosed with tuberculosis and family “Was dependent upon the charity of friends for support.” At family’s request, deported February 26, 1921 with wife and two children, William and Violet/Valentina (as immigrants who entered the US illegally from Canada and were “likely to become a public charge”). Upon arrival in Moscow with his family, arrested and imprisoned as a supporter of Nestor Makhno; released 1921. Frances, with the aid of Emma Goldman and others, obtained permission for the family to emigrate to Germany “[a]fter beating on many doors for six months”; they subsequently migrated to Canada again and settled in Windsor, and remained active in the Russia-speaking anarchist movement. Frances died 1935; Alexander (under the name “Felix Konosevich”) died 1954.

INS file 54709/467

See also: Suzanne Elizabeth Orr, “Deporting the Red Menace: Russian Immigrants, Progressive Reformers, and the First Red Scare in Chicago, 1917-1920” (PhD diss., University of Notre Dame, 2010); National Popular Government League, To the American People: Report Upon the Illegal Practices of the United States Department of Justice; Vadim Kukushkin, From Peasants to Labourers: Ukrainian and Belarusan Immigration from the Russian Empire to Canada; Emma Goldman, Living My Life; http://monde-nouveau.net/IMG/pdf/Repression_de_l_anarchisme_en_Russie_mis_en_page.pdf; Delo Truda-Probuzhdenie, January-April 1954 (with thanks to Malcolm Archibald for finding and translating this source)

Mikhail Bushanowits (Michael)

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

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

Ivan J. Busija (aka John J. Busija)

Busija’s Communist Party membership card

Born 1888, Austria-Hungary (in present-day Croatia); Italian speaker. Migrated to US 1908. Machinist at Westinghouse. Joined East Pittsburgh’s South Slavic Branch No. 5 of the Communist Party of America in October 1919. Arrested Decembrer 27, 1919, January 1920. Deported to Yugoslavia via Greece June 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54908/279; FBI file OG 387246

Paul Bussert

Born 1885, Germany. Sailor; laborer. Migrated to US 1906. Joined IWW 1916. Arrested Walla Walla, Washington; trove of IWW literature found in his room. Deemed “above the average in intelligence”; interned as an “enemy alien” at Fort Douglas, Utah. “Voluntary departure” September 1919. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/52

William Butrimuk (aka Basil Warseleideuk, aka William Novick)

Born 1894, Russia. Autoworker. Migrated to US 1913. Member, Communist Party of America in Detroit. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. “Voluntary departure” via Canada, October 1920.

FBI file BS 202600-1379-1

Mikhail Demyanovich Butskevich (Михаил Демьянович Буцкевич, Michael Deminavich Butzkevich)

Butskevich’s URW membership card

Born 1893, Russia. Migrated to US 1913. Joined Bridgeport, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/382

Canle to Chernyavsky

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , , ,

Juan Canle (John; Jan; Canel; Canlo)

Born 1895, Coruña, Spain. Laborer. Migrated to US 1911. Former member of IWW’s Marine Oilers, Firemen and Watertenders Union. Member of Spanish anarchist group El Ariete in Niagara Falls, New York. Arrested May 1919 with two other members for “alleged conspiracy to overthrow by force the Government of the United States” based on a manifesto they were distributing that called for revolution, but case thrown out by the judge. Deported as anarchist August 1920. Subsequent activities unknown, but may have later been active in anarchist movement in Argentina and/or Uruguay.

INS file 54709/16; FBI files OG 389193 and OG 8000-357909

Arthur Stanley Cattell (aka Kotel)

Born 1886, London, England. Plumber. Migrated to US 1911. Former member of the Socialist Party of America; member and treasurer of West Philadelphia branch of the Communist Party of America. Deported September 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54811/490; FBI file OG 380747

Michele Centrone

Born 1879, Puglia, Italy. Carpenter. Joined Socialist Party of Italy, 1897; gravitated to anarchists 1900. Migrated to US 1903. In San Francisco, collaborated on anarchist papers La Protesta Umana and Nihil; distributor of Cronaca Sovversiva. Member anarchist Volontá Group; secretary of Latin Branch of Local 95 of United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (AFL). Arrested May 1918; deported March 1920. After Mussolini took power in 1922, Centrone returned to US via Mexico, but apprehended and deported again. 1924 fled to France; arrested and expelled 1928. Spent time in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg; illegally returned to France 1931. Involved in antifascist exile organizations, including Giustizia e Libertà; implicated in plots to assassinate Mussolini; correspondent for US anarchist papers, including L’Adunata dei Refrattari. 1936, at age 57, volunteered to fight in Spanish Civil War as part of anarchist Ascaso Column. Killed in action August 28, 1936.

INS file 54379/330; FBI file OG 321621; CPC busta 1243

See also: Mario Gianfrate and Kenyon Zimmer, Michele Centrone, tra vecchio e nuovo mondo: Anarchici pugliesi in difesa della libertà spagnola

Antonio Cesco (Chesco)

Born 1884, northern Italy. Miner. Migrated to US 1908. Former Socialist Party member; anarchist; distributor of Cronaca Sovversiva. Member, United Mine Workers. Arrested Yorkville, Ohio, while in hospital with injured leg from mining injury. Deported February 1920. Not placed under surveillance by Italian authorities. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/401

Boris Cevetsky (Sckiwitsky)

Born 1885, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Immigrated to US 1913; dishwasher. Early 1919 joined Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party , which transferred into the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920; held at Wort Wayne. Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/985

Yakov Cewook (Yakow; Gewook; Tsiwuh)

Born 1886, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1911. Wife and two children in Russia. Joined Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio, 1918. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/540

Alexandr “Sasha” Chernov (Александр Чернов, Alexander Chernoff; aka Vasiley Vasilitt; aka Lightner)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Chernoff.jpg

Born 1896, Samara, Russia. Machinist. Migrated to US 1913. Member of both Union of Russian Workers and IWW; lecturer for URW. Arrested March 1919 in Waterbury, Connecticut, and sentenced to six months in prison for violation of the Espionage Act; after release “actively engaged in pernicious propaganda.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/117; FBI file OG 8000-363703

See also: Lazar Lipotkin, The Russian Anarchist Movement in North America

George Chernov (Chernoff; Chernove; Chernova; Obernoff)

Born 1893, Kherson, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Mechanic. Migrated to US 1913. Joined Branch no. 2 of the Union of Russian Workers in Detroit, 1917. Employee of Ford Motor Company, where arrested November 1919. Deported November 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/285

Ivan Chernyavsky (Иван Чернявский; John Cherniawsky; Chermiansky)

Chernyavsky’s URW membership card (which he attempted to rip up during arrest)

Born 1894, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Machinist. Migrated to US 1912. Member of Union of Russian Workers, in Jackson, Michigan. Arrested Detroit October 1918. Deported January 1921. Subsequent activities unknown; possibly anarchist Chernyavsky arrested in Petrograd 1923.

INS file 54709/465; FBI file OG 375427

Chestyakov to Chuprina

Red Scare Deportees, , , ,

S. G. Chestyakov (С. Г. Честяков, Gregory Chestikoff)

Born Russia, year unknown. Member of Union of Russian Workers in Donoroa, Pennsylvania. Reportedly betrayed to police, along with John Sergeyenko, by fellow URW member Stefan Zhuk, who was arrested stealing chickens. Chestyakov and Sergeyenko “beaten half to death” by police. Deported February 26, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

FBI file OG 389087

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

Andrey Chigraev (Андрей Чиграев, Andy Chigraeff)

Chigraev’s membership cards for the SPA and URW

Born 1891, Russia. Miner, laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Russia. In Russia had belonged to Greek Orthodox Church. In US, joined Ukrainian Branch of the Socialist Party of America in 1918, then joined Monessen, Pennsylvania branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. According to an undercover officer, “the alien always took part in debates and the subjects discussed were generally socialism and anarchism” and admitted he was an anarchist. On strike at mill where employed when arrested. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/478

Leon Chikalyuk (Леон Чикалюк, Leo Chrikaluik, Chikaliuk)

Born 1890, Russia (in present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1914, then US 1915. Wife and son in Russia. Joined Monesson, Pennsylvania branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November, 1919, while on strike at tool mill. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/516

Stepan Chinevich (or Stephen; Hinievich)

Born 1886, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Involved in radical movement in Russia. Migrated to US 1907; migrated between US and Canada for work. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Seattle in 1917; also joined the IWW in Seattle in 1919. Arrested several times for radical activity, beginning 1917. Deported February 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54235/94

Maksim Chineyko (Maxim Chinejko)

Born 1890, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1914. Member Union of Russian Workers branch no. 10, Brooklyn. Arrested at Guggenheim Copper Company, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/117

Lev Ilyich Chizhevsky (Лев Ильич Чижевский, Leo Chijefsky)

Born 1896, Konotop, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Jewish. Laborer. Migrated to US 1917. Member, Buffalo branch of the Union of Russian Workers, for which he was “the librarian distributor of the literature.” Brother of fellow URW member and deportee Stanislav Chizhevsky. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. In Russia, continued education and became engineer at a paper mill; joined Communist Party. Arrested April 1937 on charges of belonging to a “counter-revolutionary organization”; executed September 1938.

INS file 54709/140

See also https://ru.openlist.wiki/%D0%A7%D0%B8%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%9B%D0%B5%D0%B2_%D0%98%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B8%D1%87_(1896)

Stanislav Chizhevsky (Станислав Чижевский, Stanislaus Chijevsky)

Born 1874, Russia. Jewish. Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Member of the Buffalo branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Brother of fellow URW member and deportee Lev Ilyich Chizhevsky. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/141

Andrey Chuprina (Андрей Чуприна; Andrew; Chaprina; Czupryna)

Born 1881, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to US 1916 (via Canada). Wife and three children in Detroit. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919, on suspicion of belonging to Union of Russian Workers, although may only have attended a few meetings. “Voluntary departure” September 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/551; FBI file OG 385742

See also: United States Congress, Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Charges of Illegal Practices of the Department of Justice

Coacci to Dardzinski

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , ,

Ferruccio Coacci

Born 1892, Ancona, Italy. Shoemaker. Migrated to US 1911. Anarchist militant associated with Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva. Wife and two children in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Arrested 1918. Subsequently suspected by police (but not most historians) of involvement in the robberies and murder for which Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested. Deported April 18, 1920; joined by family in Italy. According to Eugene Lyons, Coacci’s “yellow-haired wife wept for the vanished glories of life in a New England shoe town,” and “The man’s shelves were lined with brochures on the home manufacture of bombs and he professed himself a terrorist of the Galleani school.” October 1921 migrated to Argentina, where involved in anarchist “expropriations” and bombings, associated with Severino Di Giovanni. Arrested Buenos Aires 1930 with two other Italian anarchists in connection with robbery of a bus company.

INS file 54379/396; FBI file OG 387205; CPC busta 1382

See also: Eugene Lyons, Assignment in Utopia; Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background

Umberto Colarossi

Born 1894, Carpineto, Italy. Bookkeeper. Migrated to US 1913. Became anarchist “After a few months I arrived in this country.” Associated with Luigi Galleani and Cronaca Sovversiva. In Mexico 1917-1919 to avoid US draft. Arrested Chicago, May 1919. Deported July 1920. September 1921, wrote letter to Italian government repenting and renouncing his pas radicalism. 1922 inducted into Italian military. In Italy became manager for the Singer Corporation. 1929 fascist government reported that “he has maintained a sincere attitude of sympathy towards the current regime, also showing loyalty to the current institutions, thus giving evident proof of repentance.”

INS file 54616/214; CPC busta 1400

See also: Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background

Sam Colbus (aka Colbas, Colbun, Kolbun)

Born 1879, Russia. Minder. Migrated to US 1910. Wife and two children in Russia. Joined Union of Russian Workers 1919. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919, in Fairmont, West Virginia. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/592

Amy Colyer (née Withall)

Born 1881, London, England. Housewife. Joined the Independent Labour Party. 1915 married William Thomas Colyer. Migrated to US 1915 with husband. 1916 joined the Socialist Party of America in Boston, 1917 became branch secretary; joined the Communist Party of America in 1919; secretary of Boston CPA branch. Arrested with husband during second Palmer Raids, January 1920; arrested again in 1922 and detained at Deer Island Prison; formed a prisoners’ “soviet.” Told immigration agents, “As a communist I am opposed to all capitalist governments.” When asked “Do you understand the form of government that you are enjoying in the United States?” she replied, “I am not enjoying it, but I think I understand it.” Appealed their case to the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit but lost; both deported April 11, 1922. Joined the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Labour Party; then became active in the Independent Labour Party again.

INS file 54810/162

See also: https://books.google.com/books?id=jUPJAl4AAYcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false; Deirdre M. Moloney, National Insecurities: Immigrants and U.S. Deportation Policy since 1882

William Thomas Colyer (aka Tom Colyer)

Born 1883, London, England. Civil servant. Opposed the First World War; joined the Independent Labour Party. Migrated to US 1915 with his new wife, Amy Colyer. 1916 joined the Socialist Party of America in Boston; became a leading figure in the Massachusetts branch of the SPA, which he helped transfer into the Communist Party of America 1919. Wrote for several radical publications, and on the editorial staff of The Communist. Made a declaration of intent to naturalize in 1916, but abandoned plans to become a US citizen “Because of the treatment I have received and because I have discovered that the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence and the historic speeches of Lincoln are interpreted entirely different by the authorities from any way which I could possibly imagine by reading those documents.” Arrested with Amy during second Palmer Raids, January 1920; arrested again in 1922 and detained at Deer Island Prison; formed a prisoners’ “soviet.” Appealed their case to the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit but lost; both deported April 11, 1922. Later that year he published a scathing critique of the US titled Americanism: A World Menace. Joined the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Labour Party. 1926 became secretary of the Greater London Left-Wing Movement (an organization created to expand Communist influence within the Labour Party), then secretary of the National Left-Wing Movement, but resigned from the CPGB around this same time and forced to resign from the NLWM after less than a year for resisting CPGB control of the organization. Became chair of the Kent Federation of Labour Parties; ran unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1931 and 1935 as a Labour Party candidate. 1942 resigned from Labour Party and rejoined the Independent Labour Party, for which he eventually served on the National Administrative Council. Died 1956.

INS file 54810/209

See also: https://books.google.com/books?id=jUPJAl4AAYcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Colyer; Lawrence Parker, Communists and Labour: The National Left-Wing Movement, 1925-1929

James Cully (Jimmy; Culley)

IWW member; led group of 200 draft resisters in Rockford, Illinois, where all were arrested and 112 convicted. Deported to England sometime before October 1919. Continued as street speaker for the Merseyside IWW branch in Liverpool.

Included on list of deported IWW members in One Big Union Monthly, October 1919

See also Gerald E. Shenk, “Work or Fight!”: Race, Gender, and the Draft in World War One; Socialist Review (London), February 1, 1959

George Cyzyk (Cysyk, Cyzik, Chizhik, aka Paul Gigalko; Paul Zygaloff)

Born 1896, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Member of and lecturer for Union of Russian Workers. Arrested Cleveland, February 1918, then New York during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Anarchist literature, including copies The Anarchist Soviet Bulletin, found in his home. Suspected involvement in a counterfeiting scheme. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/125; FBI file OG 375385

Jan Dalkovksy (Ян Далковский; Dalkowsky)

Born 1896, Plotsk Governate, Russia (present-day Poland). Polish. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Joined Polish Local No. 28 of Socialist Party of America in Erie, Pennsylvania in January 1918; transferred into Communist Party in 1919. Also a member of the IWW. Arrested January 1920. Deported to Poland, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54809/280

Ivan Danilovich (Иван Данилович, John Danilovich)

Born 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1914. Wife in Russia. Member of the Union of Russian Workers in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown

INS file 54709/390; FBI file OG 388677

John Dardzinski

Born c.1905, Russia. Polish. Migrated to US 1912; shade maker. Member of the Communist Party. Arrested in Hamtramck, Michigan, January 1920. Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/574

Daskevitch to Diarkovsky

Red Scare Deportees, , ,

Moron Daskevitch

Deported to Russia February 1921. No further information found.

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

William Daynega (Wasily; Denega)

Born Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Russia (present-day Ukraine), 1893. Migrated to US 1913; tire maker. Joined the Communist Party in Detroit, December 1919. Arrested January 1920; deported to Russia February 26, 1921.

INS file 54859/576

Vincenzo de Lecce (aka Ebreo Errante)

Born 1882, Italy. Laborer. Only two years of formal schooling in Italy, but taught himself to read. Migrated to US 1905. Joined Federazione Socialista Italiana (Italian Socialist Federation) some time after its formation in 1906, and left it in 1911. By 1909 contributing money to Cronaca Sovversiva, and became a founding member of the anarchist Gruppo Autonomo of East Boston (along with Sacco and Vanzetti); distributor of Cronaca Sovversiva. Arrested at home in Athol, Massachusetts. Authorities found “several hundred dollars worth of drills which the alien had stolen form his employers, together with a quantity of dum dum bullets and 38 caliber cartridges,” a copy of Luigi Galleani’s bomb-making manual, La Salute è in voi!, and correspondence with many members of Galleani’s inner circle. Deported with Galleani in June 1919. Not placed under surveillance by Italian authorities; subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/403; FBI file OG 266288

See also: Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background

Andrey Dediushka (Andrew; Andy; Giguska; Diguska)

Born 1899, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and two children in Russia. Joined Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Youngstown, Ohio. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/203

Mikhail Degtyarev (Михаил Дегтярев, Michael Deitktirow; Diaktarow)

Born 1889, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Joined Socialist Party of America in Pittsburgh, then joined Union of Russian Workers branch in Universal, Pennsylvania, in 1917. Acting secretary of his URW branch, and in possession of a large amount of anarchist literature. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Told authorities he wished to return to Soviet Russia because “The work is exceptionally hard here and we are not given the opportunity to learn the English language and customs and therefore I find myself very inconvenient in this country.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/217

Kalistrat Demco (Калистрат Демко; Demes)

Born Brest, Russia (present-day Belarus), 1892. Migrated to US 1914; waiter. Joined the Communist Party in Detroit. Arrested January 1920. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. No further information found.

INS file 54859/560

Ivan Denczyk (John)

Born 1884, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1912 (via Canada). Wife and child in Russia. Member of the Union of Russian Workers in Philadelphia, then in Ansonia, Connecticut. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/325; FBI file OG 8000-383591

Yakim Denisyuk (Яким Денисюк; Yakim Denisuk; Jack Denison)

Born 1896, Russia. Toolmaker; weaver. Wife and three children in Russia. Joined the Chester, Pennsylvania branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1918. Appointed the branch’s delegate to “Soviet of Deputies” in Philadelphia. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Wished to remain in US; said of Russian government, “before it was dominated by the Germans and now it is ruled by the Jews.” Provided information on other members of the URW to authorities in hopes of leniency; nevertheless deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/451

Alexandr Derkach (Александр Деркач; Alexander Derkatch)

Born 1885, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Printer. In Russia, arrested for belonging to the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (unclear if Bolsheviks or Mensheviks); became anarchist in 1911; migrated to Austria where arrested for unspecified reasons; migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers 1915; arrested 1918 for publishing Russian anarchist newspaper Kolokol, edited by Adolf Schnabel. Quit URW in 1918, but still outspoken anarchist in 1919, when arrested in New York. Told authorities “all governments are based on violence, and supported by an institution of slavery and bayonets.” Deported on the Buford.

1920 joined Union of Russian Anarchist Workers Repatriated from America, formed by Hyman Perkus, which critically supported the Bolshevik dictatorship as a temporary necessity.

INS file 54709/674

See also: Victor Serge, Anarchists Never Surrender: Essays, Polemics, and Correspondence on Anarchism, 1908–1938

Nello di Ciuccio (Nalia Desiuccio)

Born 1892, Italy. Migrated to US 1912. Tailor. Anarchist; IWW member. Arrested San Francisco, 1919. Deported May 5, 1920.

In 1941, Italian authorities noted no political activities since his return.

INS file 54379/517; CPC busta 1778

Frank Diarkovsky (Franz Dzerkovskie)

A member of the revolutionary movement in Russia. Migrated to US 1904, then to Canada, 1912, then back to US c.1915. Laborer. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Seattle. When asked his nationality, replied: “I belong to the world. I deny all nationality.” Also declared: “Only ignorant people don’t believe in anarchy…I believe in taking a big cannon and busting up all governments. They are no good.” Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54860/406