Sam Scarlett (Samuel)

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

INS file 54616/49

See also: Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University; Daily Worker, October 2, 1931; Donald H. Avery, “British-Born ‘Radicals’ in North America, 1900-1941: The Case of Sam Scarlett,” Canadian Ethnic Studies/Etudes Ethniques Au Canada 10, no. 2 (1978); Barbara Ann Roberts, Whence They Came: Deportation from Canada, 1900-1935

Boris Schatz (Борис Шац or Шатц; Shatz)

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

INS file 54709/278; FBI file OG 378924

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

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

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

INS file 54709/128

John Carl Schedel (Schadel)

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

FBI file OG 341493

See also: Fort Wayne Sentinel, September 1, 1920; Garrett Clipper (Garrett, IN), July 4, 1921; American Civil Liberties Union, Annual Report, 1924; Indianapolis Star, January 21, 1925; Chicago Tribune, November 7, 1968

Nathan Schechter (Shechter; Shacter)

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

INS file 54811/424

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

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

INS file 54391/81; CPC busta 4690

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

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

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

INS file 54809/196

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

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

INS file 54616/29

See also: Freedom (New York), October-November, 1919; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; https://anarhia.club/forum/viewtopic.php?p=363546; https://ru.openlist.wiki/%D0%A8%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C_%D0%90%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%84_%D0%98%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87_(1882)