As part of the ongoing research for my book on the global history of immigrant radicals who were deported during America’s First Red Scare, I have posted brief profiles of 835 (and counting) individual deportees I have identified. This list is a work in progress, and entries are being added and updated as I obtain additional information.
Who is included:
This list includes radicals and suspected radicals who were deported between 1917 (following America’s entrance into the First World War) and 1925, when the last of the foreign-born radicals arrested between 1917 and 1920 were expelled, some after serving prison sentences or being interned as “enemy aliens.” It includes both those who were deported by government order and those who were ordered deported but “voluntarily departed” at their own expense with the government’s consent (both categories were included in US government deportation statistics). It does not include those who fled the country to avoid arrest or deportation. It includes both individuals deported for belonging to legally-defined “anarchistic classes,” and others who were suspected of radicalism but deported on other grounds (most commonly for entering the country without inspection or being retroactively deemed “likely to become a public charge” at the time of their entry).
This is not a complete list. In the fiscal years (June-July) 1918-1926, the United States deported 979 aliens as “anarchists,” and an unknown number of additional radical immigrants under other statutes. The largest single group of deportees, composed of 242 alleged radicals (as well as seven unrelated deportees) departed on the USAT Buford on December 21, 1919. However, it appears that no complete list of Red Scare deportees was produced by either the Bureau of Immigration or the Bureau of Investigation. I have instead had to rely on partial lists and mentions of individual cases included in these organizations’ files, congressional testimony, radical publications, newspaper reports, and other sources.
How to use this site:
Profiles have been posted in small batches. They are organized in alphabetical order by last name, followed by alternate spellings and pseudonyms in parentheses. (The Cyrillic spellings of Russian names are generally my best guess; American sources from the era were wildly inconsistent in their spellings of such names. The same is true of the transliteration of Chinese names in the Roman alphabet.) You can also browse the Index of Names.
Birth years are often approximate, usually having been calculated from an individual’s age at the time of their examination by immigration authorities, and some may therefore be off by a year.
You can search by individuals’ nationalities (country of birth and, in some cases, ethnicity [i.e. Jewish, Lithuanian, etc.]) by using the tags above.
Occupations describe the individuals’ employment in the US, not necessarily the work they engaged in before arrival or after their deportation.
Political affiliations represented include the syndicalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the anarcho-syndicalist Union of Russian Workers of the United States and Canada (URW); the anarchist Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM); anarchists unaffiliated with larger organizations; the Communist Party of America (CP); the Communist Labor Party (CLP); the Socialist Party of America (SP); the Socialist Labor Party (SLP); and unaffiliated socialists. You can search by political affiliation by using the tags above.
You may also use the “Search” box at the top of the page to look for individual names, locations, etc.
The main sources used for compiling these profiles are case files from the Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Record Group 85, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC; the Old German Files (OG) and Bureau Section Files (BS) of the Records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Record Group 65, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD (as digitized at fold3.com); and (for Italians) the Casellario Politico Centrale (CPC), Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Rome, Italy.
A special thanks to Molly Thacker, Brooke Thompson, and Nargis Azaryun, who photographed hundreds of INS files for me; Malcolm Archibald, who has translated a number of Russian-language sources; D.J. Alperovitz, who has provided sources on IWW members; and the dozens of other archivists, translators, activists, and colleagues who have helped me locate, acquire, and read material from across the globe while undertaking this research.
Finally, if you have additional information about any of the deportees, or spot an error, please contact me!
Born: 1896, Austria-Hungary Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Communist Party in Detroit in September 1919. Deported to Austria on May 8, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54860/358.
Mikhail Bilokumsky (or Michael Bilokumsky)
Born: 1892, Andreevka, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: United Communist Party
Member of the United Communist Party (the result of a merger between the Communist Labor Party and part of the Communist Party of America in 1920). Arrested in Philadelphia in January 1921 during the second Palmer Raids, and again in April 1921 while distributing UCP May Day leaflets. Ordered deported to Russia in August 1921 on the basis of the revolutionary content of those handbills. His legal challenge failed before the U.S. Supreme Court in United States ex rel. Bilokumsky v. Tod (1923). Because the Soviet Union no longer accepted deportees from the United States, officials attempted to use a passport issued by the unrecognized “Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission,” but this document was invalid. Although an Immigration Bureau board recommended his release in January 1924 due to the impossibility of lawful deportation, officials nevertheless deported him May 24, 1924.
Routed through Switzerland to the Russian border, he was refused entry. Last reported to be stranded and starving in Vienna.
Sources: INS file 55009/76; Daily Worker, June 19, 1924; Kansas State News (Topeka KS), August 29, 1924.
A list of IWW prisoners and deportees in the IWW’s One Big Union Monthly lists a Bjorkman as having been deported on October 28, 1919. This may be Conrad Bjorkman, a Swedish IWW member and delegate arrested in Seattle in November 1917 for failing to register for the draft, and again in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in March 1919 for “vagrancy.”
Sources: One Big Union Monthly, March 1920; Seattle Star, Novembrer 17, 1919; FBI file MS 15960.
Juan Blanco
Born: Nationality: Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: IWW
Listed in an IWW publication as having been deported sometime before February 1921.
Sources: La Unión del Marino (Buenos Aires), February 1921.
Catherine Hartog Bloom
Born: 1883, Hoogwoud, The Netherlands Nationality: Dutch Ethnicity: Occupation: Housewife Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Not politically active before migration, but joined the Socialist Party of America around 1915 and became treasurer of her Chicago SP local. Transferred to the Ninth Ward branch of the Communist Party of America in October 1919. Married to Nick Bloom, a building-trades worker; the couple owned a home in Chicago and intended to sell it so that he could accompany her back to the Netherlands. Deported on June 11, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54861/120; FBI file OG 381560.
Sergey Bobkov (or Serge Bobkoff/Babkoff)
Born: 1898, Moscow, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Carpenter Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
A 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 on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/431; FBI file 388847.
Sevastyan Bogdanovich (or Sebastian; a.k.a. Sam)
Born: 1892, Grodno Governate, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Arrested in Baltimore in March 1920 after he “nearly caused a riot” by giving a pro-Bolshevik speech in front of Holy Rosary Church. Deported to Poland on February 1, 1921.
Born: Born 1882, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Blacksmith Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
A former Russian army conscript, Brodya migrated to the United States in 1913 as an already-committed anarcho‑syndicalist. Settling in Pittsburgh, he joined the Union of Russian Workers and served as secretary of his local branch. He collaborated with fellow activist Frank Belesta in calls for a general strike to force the lifting of the U.S. blockade of Soviet Russia. Immigration authorities considered him “one of the most dangerous Russians in the Pittsburgh district,” and his deportation warrant initially misidentified him as an Italian citizen. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54616/89; New-York Tribune, October 4, 1919.
Abe Brook (or Bruk; Brooks)
Abe Brook, 1919. National Archives.
Born: Born 1893, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Brooklyn branch of the Union of Russian Workers, though he denied membership under interrogation. Around 1918 he married fellow anarchist Clara Kessler. He was arrested in October 1919 while helping organize a protest against the U.S. blockade of Russia, and again during the first Palmer Raids the following month. Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919, his wife publicly protested the deportations and petitioned to be deported herself, but was denied on account of her US birth.
Sources: INS file 54709/273.
Ivan Nicholaevich Brunert (a.k.a. John Brunert or Brunett)
Born: Born 1869, Volhynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Bookkeeper; tailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
His wife and two sons remained in Kiev when he emigrated to the U.S. By 1918 he had joined Baltimore’s Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers and served as its financial secretary. Previously affiliated with an IWW branch of Polish tailors and later with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/109
Ivan Bubenko (a.k.a. John)
Born: Born 1884, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 (via Canada) Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife and child remained in Russia when he emigrated to avoid military service. Joined the Socialist Party of America in 1918 and soon transferred to Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America. Accepted “voluntary departure” on October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54860/22; FBI file BS 202600-712-1.
Anton Budkovsky (or Budkowsky; a.k.a. Antoni Buoty or Buotv)
Born: Born 1884, Pružany, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 (via Canada) Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Entered the U.S. from Canada without inspection. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Detroit in 1917. Arrested in July 1918 after a confrontation between authorities and local Russian radicals, he stated, “I am a sympathizer of the anarchists, but I am not an anarchist…I believe in their teachings.” He “voluntarily departed” on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54554/23.
Fedor Buhay (a.k.a. Frank Bohai)
Born: Born 1893, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US c. 1910 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Born in Russia but raised in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, Buhay was a Belarusian (“Ruthenian”) who joined the Communist Party of America in Buffalo and was deported to Austria on April 14, 1920.
Born: Born 1902, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Nephew of URW activist Peter Bianki. In 1909 he and his sister joined their mother, Alexandra Nikiforovna Bukhanova, in the US. He graduated from high school in Manhattan in 1918 and became secretary of the Greenpoint, Brooklyn branch of the Union of Russian Workers. He was arrested during the Palmer Raids in November 1919 and became the youngest passenger deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
After returning to Russia he was employed by the Russian-American Tool Plant (Russko-Amerikanskiy instrumental’nyy zavod). In July 1921 he signed (possibly under duress) a statement issued by the Union of Russian Anarchist Workers Repatriated from America that advocated critical support for the Soviet regime. Arrested in 1923 during a crackdown on anarchists. Married 1930s and in 1937 graduated from the Leningrad Industrial Institute with a degree in metallurgy. Assigned to a factory in Voronezh, where his mother, wife, and children joined him. Arrested in July 1938 during the Great Purge and sentenced to five years in the Tomasinlag forced labor camp, where he died November 1942.
Alexander Bukovetsky (or Bukhovetsky; a.k.a. Felix or Feliks Konosevich)
Bukhovetsky with family, c. 1919. National Archives.Bukhovetsky in Windsor, c. 1940s. Delo Truda-Probuzhdenie, January–April 1954.
Born: Born 1886, Ekaterinoslav, Russia (present-day Dnipro, Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Metalworker Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1908; then to US 1919 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Socialist-Revolutionary Party as a youth and participated in the 1905 Russian Revolution. Migrated with his wife Frances and their daughter to Canada, where a son was born. Became an anarchist in Ontario; moved between the United States and Canada repeatedly for work. Arrested in March 1918 after giving radical speech in Timmins, Ontario, but the charges were dropped. Migrated to the US with family the following year, and employed as a machinist at the Ford Motor Company. Active in the Union of Russian Workers in Detroit and organized URW branches in Jackson and Kalamazoo, Michigan. Arrested in Detroit in January 1920 and detained at Fort Wayne, where on one occasion guards beat him bloody in front of his visiting wife and children. During his detainment, Frances was diagnosed with tuberculosis and the family was “dependent upon the charity of friends for support.” At their request, the entire family was deported February 26, 1921 (Frances being deported as an immigrant who entered the US illegally and was “likely to become a public charge”).
After arrival in Soviet Russia he immediately spoke out against the Communist dictatorship and was arrested as a Makhnovist supporter. Frances obtained his release with the assistance of anarchists including Emma Goldman, and the family emigrated to Germany and then Windsor, Canada, where they remained active in the Russian-speaking anarchist movement. Frances died in 1935; Alexander (under the name “Felix Konosevich”) died in 1954.
Sources: INS file 54709/467; 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; 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).
Mikhail Bushanowits
Born: Born 1887, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW
Served in the Russian military before migrating to the United States, where he became active distributing radical literature. He joined the Union of Russian Workers, distributed Russian-language IWW literature, and served as secretary of the Progressive Union of Russian Peasants in Hartford, Connecticut. He was arrested there in December 1919 and deported to Soviet Russia on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54709/152.
Ivan J. Busija (a.k.a. John J. Busija)
Busija’s Communist Party membership card
Born: Born 1888, Austria-Hungary (likely in present-day Croatia) Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Croatian Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1908 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
An Italian speaker and machinist at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh. Joined East Pittsburgh’s South Slavic Branch No. 5 of the Communist Party of America in October 1919. Arrested December 27, 1919; deported to Yugoslavia via Greece on June 19, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54908/279; FBI file OG 387246.
Paul Bussert
Born: Born 1885, Germany Nationality: German Ethnicity: Occupation: Sailor; laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1906 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1916 and was arrested in Walla Walla, Washington, where authorities discovered a large quantity of IWW literature in his room. Considered “above the average in intelligence,” he was interned as an enemy alien at Fort Douglas, Utah, and “voluntarily departed” to Germany in September 1919.
Sources: INS file 54379/52.
William Butrimuk (a.k.a. Basil Warseleideuk; William Novick)
Born: Born 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Autoworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Worked in the auto industry in Detroit and became a member of the Communist Party of America. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and subsequently “voluntarily departed” to Russia via Canada on October 16, 1920.
Sources: FBI file BS 202600-1379-1.
Mikhail Demyanovich Butskevich (or Michael Deminavich Butzkevich)
Butskevich’s URW membership card. National Archives.
Born: Born 1893, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Bridgeport, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. He was arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported to Soviet Russia aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Alfons Hajduk’s URW membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1886, Volhynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Window cleaner Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliations: Union of Russian Workers
His wife and child remained in Russia while he emigrated. He joined the Union of Russian Workers in Newark, New Jersey. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/357.
Onofry Halevich
Born: Austria-Hungary, year unknown Nationality: Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A member of the Communist Party of America deported on June 8, 1920, reportedly to either Austria or Yugoslavia. No additional biographical information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G; FBI file BS 202600-33.
Vazil Haluszak (a.k.a. Basil Haluszak; William Halussosek)
Born: Unknown Nationality: Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A member of the Communist Party of America deported on March 2, 1920, to the Galician Soviet Socialist Republic. No additional biographical information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G; and FBI file BS 202600-33.
Peter Hancharuk
Born: c. 1892, Grodnensky Uyezd, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party of America in Detroit, and later transferred into the Communist Party of America. Arrested in January 1920 and interned at Fort Wayne. On February 1, 1921, he “voluntarily departed” to Soviet Russia.
Sources: INS file 54859/746.
Stanley Haranin (a.k.a. B. Haranin)
Born: 1894, Vilna, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Tailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
First joined the Socialist Party of America and later became a member of Milwaukee’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested on January 2, 1920, and deported to Russia on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54809/152
Vasil Haritouchik (a.k.a. Wasil Haryntoczyk; William Hatrinuk; Chartonchak)
Born: 1888, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party of America in 1918 and in 1919 transferred into Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America in Detroit. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and “voluntarily departed” for Russian on October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54859/735; FBI file OG 386253.
Leo Haskevich (a.k.a. Leonti Hackwicz; Leonte Hackewicz; Sittimikoff)
Born: 1896, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
No political involvement prior to his emigration from Russia, but joined the Union of Russian Workers in Akron, Ohio, in 1917. Became involved in efforts to organize a strike among Akron rubber workers and was arrested in December 1917. Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54235/159.
Ernest Emil Albert Heitmiller (a.k.a. E.A. Heitmiller)
Born: 1887, Linden-Limmer, Germany Nationality: German Ethnicity: Occupation: Sailor; lumber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 via Canada Affiliation: IWW
Entered the United States in 1914 via Canada without inspection. Worked as a sailor and lumber worker and became active in the Industrial Workers of the World, eventually serving as a delegate and organizer. Arrested in Seattle in February 1919 and deported on January 7, 1920.
He afterward wrote of his experiences as a passenger aboard the SS Mongolia: “It was a bad trip, as the ship had no accommodations for the many passengers…Several died on the journey and it is a wonder that no contagious sickness developed.”
Sources: INS file 54645/435; FBI file OG 347306; New Solidarity, March 6, 1920.
Peter Herasevich (or Gerasevich)
Born: 1892, Kobryn, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Pipe inspector Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
His wife and son remained in Russia when he emigrated. In January 1919 he joined the Youngstown, Ohio branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 while on strike from the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/513.
José Ángel Hernández
El Heraldo de Mexico, May 13, 1919.
Born: 1885, Tepic, Mexico Nationality: Mexican Ethnicity: Occupation: Bricklayer; carpenter Migration: Immigrated to US year unkown Affiliation: Partido Liberal Mexicano; IWW; Socialist Party of America
By 1906 he was living in Los Angeles, where he became a member of the PLM-affiliated Grupo Reforma, Libertad y Justicia. By 1911 he was in Houston, Texas, serving as head of the PLM-affiliated Grupo Regeneración Solidaridad Obrera. He joined the IWW in 1913. In 1914 he married fellow PLM member Elisa Alemán, and their daughter Emancipación was born later that year. In 1915 he became an organizer for the Socialist Party’s Land League of Texas and was active in the PLM-affiliated Grupo Germinal in San Antonio. A second daughter, Susana, was born in 1916, after which Hernández separated from Alemán. In 1917 he was active in the Grupo Solidaridad in Houston and founded a mixed local of the IWW there, serving as its secretary. Arrested on August 22, 1917, for IWW organizing and illegally deported to Mexico on August 31, 1917, by an agent of the Bureau of Investigation.
Back in Mexico, Hernández was active with the IWW and the Casa del Obrero Mundial in Tampico ,and joined the anarchist Hermanos Rojos, becoming a regular contributor to their paper Germinal. In January 1918 he was elected general secretary of the Casa del Obrero Mundial in Tampico, though by March he was no longer affiliated with Hermanos Rojos. He cofounded and edited the newspaper Fuerza y Cerebro and was arrested in August 1918 for his organizing activities. In 1919 began writing for the anarchist newspaper Luz! and was arrested again as a leader of an oil workers’ strike in Tampico. In March 1920 he founded the Liga Socialista in Tampico, which endorsed electoral participation. Arrested 1921 for assisting with an IWW strike and later accused of mismanaging funds raised for a publication project. He subsequently disappeared, with some rumors suggesting he traveled to Soviet Russia.
Sources: FBI Mexican Files 232-84 and 232-2971; El Heraldo de México, May 13, 1919; Steve Rossignol, “A Forgotten Wobbly: José Ángel Hernández Across Two Nations,” Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, Summer 2024.
Included on a list of radicals deported to Soviet Russia on December 23, 1920. No further biographical information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Christopher Hetaguroff
Born: Terskoy, Caucasus, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Armenian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1915 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Society for the Relief of Russia, then in 1919 joined the Communist Party in Seattle and was elected secretary of his branch. Arrested in January 1920, and immigration authorities issued a deportation warrant describing him as both an anarchist and “likely to become a public charge,” arguing that this charge was “borne out by the fact that thru his radical activities and membership he is now a public charge in the jail at Seattle, Wash.” Hetaguroff protested the designation, stating, “I would not become a public charge; I can work.” Deported aboard the SS Stockholm on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54861/48; Ancestry.com.
John Charles Hicke (or Kicke; a.k.a. Kurowsky)
Born: 1882, Bukovina, Austria-Hungary (present-day Romania) Nationality: Romanian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 via Canada Affiliations: Unknown
Arrested in April 1918 in Oxford, Mississippi, and interned as an alien enemy at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, where he remained for nearly two years before being transferred to immigration custody. During detention, Hicke declared: “I am opposed to the Government of the United States and its peoples. I do not think its peoples are intelligent enough to govern themselves…I think the government should be overthrown and to accomplish this end every action would be justified.” Later, however, he claimed these statements were a strategy to expedite his deportation. He repeatedly petitioned U.S. and Austrian officials to hasten his removal. Deported to Romania on June 29, 1920.
Born: 1895, Pinsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Housewife Migration: Immigrated to US 1906 Affiliation: Anarchist
Became an anarchist in New York and was active in the Francisco Ferrer Center. Lived in a common-law marriage with fellow anarchist Jacob Isaacson. After Jacob was ordered deported in 1920, she submitted an affidavit declaring, “I am an anarchist, and a believer and advocate of anarchism,” in order to be deported alongside him. The couple “departed voluntarily” for England on June 20, 1922.
She and Jacob later illegally returned to the United States around 1924 under her maiden name, Denenberg, and she was naturalized in 1940. In interviews conducted in the 1970s, she stated, “Anarchism is a way of life, no matter what your view is of human nature. No authority over you, no slaves under you—that’s the anarchist life.” She died in 1983.
Sources: INS file 54616/202; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America.
Jacob Isaacson (or Itzickson; Jack; a.k.a. Jacob Denenberg)
Born: 1896, Libau, Russia (present-day Latvia) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Laborer; locksmith Migration: Immigrated to US 1908 Affiliation: Anarchist
Migrated to the United States with his mother and sister and became active in New York anarchist circles, particularly the Francisco Ferrer Center, where he was known as “the Rabbi” due to his depth of reading knowledge. Helped publish the anarchist periodicals Revolt (1916) and Freedom (1919). Arrested in May 1919 for an antiwar article published in Freedom, which he accepted responsibility for even though he was not its author, and was indicted under the Espionage Act after the war had ended. In 1920 the case was dropped in exchange for a warrant of deportation. While on bail, he edited The Hotel Worker, organ of the syndicalist International Federation of Workers in the Hotel, Restaurant, Lunchroom, Club, and Catering Industry. Departed voluntarily to England in June 1922 with his partner Gussie Denenberg.
Returned to the United States in 1924 via Canada under Gussie’s maiden name and opened a grocery store in Washington, DC. When Gussie applied for naturalization in 1940, his true identity came to the attention of immigration authorities, who repeatedly threatened him with deportation. He died by suicide in 1946.
Sources: INS file 54616/202; FBI file OG 281175; Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: : An Oral History of Anarchism in America; interview with Helen McGee, July 25, 2022.
Andrew Iswashko
Born: Austria-Hungary, year unknown Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation:
Included on an internal Bureau of Immigration list of radicals deported radicals. Deported to Austria on September 1, 1920. No further biographical information has been found.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
George Ivanov
Born: 1889, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Member of the Communist Party in Bayonne, New Jersey. Deported to Russia on December 23, 1920. No additional biographical information located.
One of the circulars Ivanyuk was distributing when arrested. National Archives.
Born: 1882, Brodna, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Unknown
His wife and child remained in Russia when he emigrated. Arrested in Camden, New Jersey in April 1919 for distributing radical circulars calling for a general strike on May Day to free political prisoners. Arrested again in Philadelphia in November 1919. His precise political affiliation remains unclear. Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54616/173.
Dmytro Iwankiw
Born: 1884, Stańkowa, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Salesman; journalist; steelworker; labor spy Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
May have joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1917 (he denied this after first attesting to it). Recruited in June 1919 by the Armesworthy and Cavitt Detective Agency on behalf of the Youngstown Sheet & Tool Company to inform on Russian radicals. Joined the Socialist Party and then cofounded East Youngstown Ukrainian Branch No. 32 of the Communist Party, serving as its financial secretary, while reporting to company detectives and federal authorities. Arrested during the November 1919 Palmer Raids but released once his informant role was revealed; arrested again January 1920. Although assured by Department of Justice agent J.F. Sawkin that he would be deported to Russia to allay suspicions and then be allowed to reenter the US, and his bail was paid by the Youngstown Sheet & Tool Company, he was arrested in Youngstown for operated an illegal alcohol still on March 26, 1920. Later claimed he was held in solitary confinement and “starved” for about two weeks to extract an incriminating confession. Spent more than a year in detention on Deer Island, and assaulted by other detainees for being an “agent provocateur” and placed in a separate cell for his own protection. Deported May 19, 1921 and not allowed to return.
Sources: INS file 54860/901; FBI file BS 212986; Sidney Howard and Robert Dunn, The Labor Spy.
Jacob Jackotonsky (a.k.a. Jacknowsky; Jakov Zukatansky)
Born: 1891, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Shoemaker Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio in 1919. Literate and widely read. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/201.
Herbert Harold Jackson
Born: 1900, Hull, England Nationality: British Ethnicity: English Occupation: Sailor; laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1917 Affiliation: IWW
Jumped ship to enter the United States and joined the IWW shortly thereafter. Arrested multiple times for IWW activities, including distribution of the IWW Defense Bulletin in Seattle in December 1918. Declared, “My reason for joining the I.W.W. was because I realized that I was not master of my own economic living and that I was opposed to being enslaved in the machine of production. I believe the worker is entitled to all he produces.” Deported on February 27, 1919.
Upon arrival in England, his IWW literature was confiscated and he was placed under surveillance and barred from public speaking. Migrated to Canada in May 1921 intending to return to the United States.
Sources: INS file 54547/15; FBI file OG 347558; Rebel Worker, April 15, 1919.
Born: 1891, Saratov, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Served in the Russian Army in the Caucasus before emigrating.
In the United States he worked for the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, and joined the Union of Russian Workers around 1915. Arrested in December 1917 for attempting to organize a strike of rubber workers and released on bail. Deported on January 22, 1921. His wife remained in Russia.
Sources: INS file 54235/158.
Tikon Krasnov (a.k.a. Tehon Krassnoff)
Born: 1888, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Carpenter; miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Philadelphia branch of the Union of Russian Workers and in November 1919 organized an eight-member URW branch in Barracksville, West Virginia, at Jamieson Coal and Coke Company Mine No. 7. Arrested December 2, 1919, “in possession of a considerable amount of anarchistic literature,” he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21. His wife and three children remained in Russia.
Sources: INS file 54709/625; FBI file OG 389365.
Faras Kravchuk
Born: 1894, Komarów, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Factory worker Migration: Migrated to Canada 1914; then to US 1916 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party in 1919 and later became a member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 4 of the Communist Party. Arrested in January 1920, he was deported to Russia on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/972.
Peter Krawchuk
Born: 1885, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1912 or 1913; immigrated to US 1916; returned to Canada 1917; reentered US 1918 Affiliation: Industrial Workers of the World; Communist Party of America
Joined IWW Branch no. 517 in Spokane in 1919. Arrested January 4, 1920 at the Detroit Communist Party’s House of the Masses, he answered “Yes” when asked whether he believed in Communist Party doctrine. Held at Fort Wayne, he was deported March 18, 1921. His wife and child remained in Russia.
Sources: INS file 54860/27.
Natale Krilete (a.k.a. Boso)
Born: Austria-Hungary Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation:
Deported as a radical to Austria on June 29, 1920. No further information has been located.
Sources: Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G.
Alexander Krishtal (a.k.a. Aleksey Kryshtall)
Born: 1893, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1907 Affiliation: Anarchist
Deported to Russia on February 26, 1921 but was refused entry at Libau, along with several other deportees, because of his anarchist beliefs. In response, he coauthored “An Open Letter to the Russian Premier Lenin.”
He later returned to the United States and lived in the anarchist colony at Mohegan, New York, into at least the 1940s. He died in Lindenhurst, New York, in 1961.
Sources:Free Society (New York), Oct.–Nov. 1921; Ancestry.com.
Felip Krishtepowich
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation:
Deported as a radical to Russia on October 16, 1920. No further information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Teodor Krishtop (a.k.a. Theodore Krishtiop)
Born: 1885, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Worked at Jamieson Coal and Coke Company Mine No. 9 in Farmington, West Virginia. He joined both the Union of Russian Workers and the United Mine Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was described as being “of a surly, non-communicative disposition” and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919. His wife and two children remained in Russia.
Sources: INS file 54709/598.
Maxim Kruk (a.k.a. Max Kroock)
Born: 1881, Volhynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1911 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Worked at Detroit’s Studebaker Plant No. 3. Joined Ukrainian Branch No. 1 of the Socialist Party in Detroit in 1911, which in 1919 became Ukrainian Branch No. 22 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and held at Fort Wayne, he “voluntarily departed” for Russia via Canada on October 14, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54859/778; FBI file BS 202600-714-1.
Pavel Krupka (a.k.a. Paul Krupkie; Krupkic)
Born: 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Worked for the Republic Rubber Company and joined the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21 of that year.
Sources: INS file 54709/195.
John Krutz
Born: 1888, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1914; then to US 1918 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Worked for the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn. He joined the Socialist Party around 1918 and later transferred to Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 4, 1920, he was deported March 18, 1921. His wife and three children remained in Russia.
Born: 1897, Kovno, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Carpenter; miner; laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Belonged to the Russian Social Democratic Party before emigrating.
In the United States he worked as a coal miner, and later for Ford Motor Company in Detroit. In 1915 he joined the Lithuanian Branch of the Socialist Party of America, which transferred into the Communist Party of America in 1919. Arrested April 22, 1919, “while distributing radical literature on a Michigan Avenue street car,” he declared his belief in “the soviet form of government.” Deported February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54616/165.
Michael Kucher
Born: Nationality: Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Served as recording secretary of the Jersey City branch of the Communist Party of America. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he was deported March 30, 1920 to “Galicia” (likely either Poland or Ukraine). No further information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G; FBI file OG 380877.
Efrem Kucher
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation:
Arrested in Brooklyn during the second Palmer Raids in January 1919 and deported as a radical to Russia on December 23, 1920. No further information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G; The Standard Union (Brooklyn), Dec. 23, 1920.
Alek Grigorov Kuchinsky
Born: c. 1884, Vilna, Russia (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Textile worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Norwich, Connecticut, in September 1919. Arrested in January 1920, he was deported to Russia on February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54861/9.
Mikal Kudreyko (a.k.a. Peter Kravchuk; Michael Kravchuk)
Mid-Week Pictorial, January 1, 1920.
Born: 1883, Pruzhany, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
His wife and child remained in Russia during his emigration. Became secretary of a Detroit branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested in July 1918 at a radical picnic, he admitted he was “an anarchist, and proud of it.” After moving to New York he became secretary of the Housewreckers’ Union and coeditor of the URW paper Khlieb i Volia. Arrested with its editorial team in August 1919 and indicted for “criminal anarchy,” he falsely claimed he had left the URW in 1918 “because I thought this organization is not radical enough.” Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Reportedly died in Russia soon thereafter.
Sources: INS file 54554/23; Mid-Week Pictorial, January 1, 1920; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America.
Simon Kuish (a.k.a. Sam)
Born: 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Rubber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21.
Sources: INS file 54709/193.
Ivan Kulak (a.k.a. John)
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation:
Deported as a radical to Russia on November 27, 1920. No further information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Roman Kulich (a.k.a. Kovalevich)
Born: 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Belonged to Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920, he was deported February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/722.
Mark Kulish (or Kulesch; Kulesh)
Born: 1890, Vilna, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; factory inspector Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
During the First World War he worked first as a factory laborer and later as a US arms factory inspector for the Russian Commission. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Hartford, Connecticut, around 1916 and became secretary of the URW branch in South Manchester in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and falsely suspected of being a “bomb-maker,” he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21. His wife and child remained in Russia.
Born: 1890, Rokitnica, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Longshoreman Migration: Immigrated to US 1910 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Newark branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/345.
Tony Kurson (a.k.a. Kirsion; Kirson)
Born: 1884, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Luch Society in Ansonia, Connecticut, around 1917, which federal authorities claimed was a branch of the Union of Russian Workers, though he denied this. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/326; FBI file OG 382937.
Michael Kusbit
Born: Austria-Hungary Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation:
Deported as a radical to Austria on May 8, 1920. No further information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Fedor Kushnarev (a.k.a. Theodore Kushnareff; Theodore Alexander Casher; Alexander Dalny or Dalney)
Fedor Kushnarev, 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1898, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Student; laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Migrated to the UW with his parents and five younger siblings; his father died less than a year later. After graduating high school in New Haven he attended New York University. Joined the Union of Russian Workers around 1917–1918, organized a URW branch in New Haven, and in 1919 became financial secretary of the URW branch in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Arrested there in March 1919 under the pen name Alexander Dalney, the case was dismissed. In New York he coedited Khlieb i Volia. Arrested several more times under different names, he was last arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. He requested permission for his companion, anarchist organizer Rose Pesotta, to accompany him if deported. Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
In Russia, arrested in Crimea in 1920 and sentenced to five years in a prison camp for “propaganda of libertarian ideas” and allegedly taking up arms against the Soviet government, but was later released after authorities deemed his imprisonment an error. He later concluded that “to support the Revolution means to support Lenin and Trotsky.” He briefly attended the Moscow Institute of Journalism and worked for the American Relief Administration as interpreter and secretary for US Colonel Walter Bell in Ufa during the famine, where he contracted typhus. Some sources claim he died in 1925, but in 1934 his mother petitioned the US government to allow him and his family to visit the U.S.
Sources: INS file 54709/522; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; Elaine J. Leeder, The Gentle General: Rose Pesotta, Anarchist and Labor Organizer; Groupe des anarchistes russes exilés en Allemagne, Répression de l’anarchisme en Russie Soviétique; Elaine Leeder Collection of Rose Pesotta Papers, Cornell University Library.
Steve K______
His partially illegible name as it appears in the records. National Archives.
Born: Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation:
The individual appears in immigration records under a partially illegible surname. He was deported as a radical to Yugoslavia on September 1, 1920. No further information has been located.
Born: 1881, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lived in Fairmont, West Virginia, and was arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Deported as a radical to Austria on May 8, 1920. No additional information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Anton Lichkevich (or Lishkevitch; Litshkevitch; a.k.a. Anton Cotie)
Born: 1887, Kamieniec, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1912; then to US April 1919 Affiliation: Anarchist
Declared, “I have been an Anarchist since 1905.” Arrested in Detroit in January 1920 while traveling to distribute anarchist newspapers, he openly affirmed his anarchism at his immigration hearing and “voluntarily departed” to Russia February 26, 1921.
Russian authorities at Libau refused him and several others entry because of their anarchism. He and other deportees coauthored “An Open Letter to the Russian Premier Lenin” in response.
Sources: INS file 54861/375; FBI file OG 367316; Free Society, October–November 1921.
Tito Ligi (a.k.a. Augusto Vitaletti)
Tito Ligi, c. 1922. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Italy.
Born: 1894, Sassoferrato, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Anarchist
Ligi and his brother Adolfo were already anarchists before emigrating together. In the United States he associated with Luigi Galleani’s circle. In November 1920 he was arrested in Scranton, Pennsylvania, for evading the draft after filing a declaration of intent to naturalize, and he briefly became a leading suspect—almost certainly falsely—in the 1920 Wall Street bombing. Deported on August 3, 1922.
In 1925 he moved to Rome with his wife, Bianchi Angela, where they opened a small shop. He remained under government surveillance until 1940; although he retained anarchist beliefs, authorities recorded no significant political activity. Meanwhile his brother Angelo, living in Jessup, Pennsylvania, adopted Tito’s name and married anarchist Maria Giaconi, who later fought in the Spanish Civil War.
Sources: FBI file BS 25-63-12-1; CPC busta 2786; The Nation, May 18, 1921; Beverly Gage, The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror; Charles H. McCormick, Hopeless Cases: The Hunt for the Red Scare Terrorist Bombers; Kenyon Zimmer, “The Other Volunteers: American Anarchists and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939,” Journal for the Study of Radicalism 10, no. 2 (2016).
Amedeo Lilli
Born: 1894, Acqualagna, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; tailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Anarchist
Arrested in September 1917 after an Italian anarchist “riot” during which he was shot in the shoulder by an undercover policeman. Convicted of assault, he was sentenced to twenty-five years in Wisconsin State Prison. Pardoned in 1922 on condition of deportation, he was deported February 16, 1922.
After returning to Italy he became a tailor and, according to police surveillance extending to 1932, did not resume radical political activity.
Sources: INS file 54235/67; CPC busta 2787; Robert Tanzilo, The Milwaukee Police Station Bomb of 1917; Dean A. Strang, Worse than the Devil: Anarchists, Clarence Darrow, and Justice in a Time of Terror.
Peter Linecky (a.k.a. Pete; Linieski)
Born: 1885, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Linecky had a wife and two children in Russia. While living in Detroit he joined the Communist Party of America. Arrested in January 1920, he was deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/713.
Dora Lipkin
Dora Lipkin, 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1910 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
An anarchist and the common-law wife of URW leader and fellow deportee Hyman Perkus. She lived in New York with the family of fellow URW member Boris Shatz. Arrested in October 1919 for “disturbing the peace,” she was arrested again during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and refused to answer questions while detained. She helped lead a hunger strike on Ellis Island protesting detention conditions and was deported with Perkus aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
After plans to leave Russia in 1924 fell through, she married Hyman Perkus and by 1930 both had joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Sources: INS file 54709/275; New York Tribune, November 30, 1919; Elaine Leeder Collection of Rose Pesotta Papers, 1912–1961, Cornell University Library; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America.
Samuel Lipman (a.k.a. Schaie Lipzcuk)
Samuel Lipman, 1921. Paul Avrich Collection, Library of Congress.
Born: 1888, Pinsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Furrier Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America
Lipman belonged to the Socialist Party of America as well as New York’s anarchist Frayhayt Group, and identified as a leftwing socialist and Marxist rather than an anarchist. A pacifist and vegetarian strongly influenced by Leo Tolstoy, he lived with anarchist Ethel Bernstein, his common-law wife. In 1918 he was arrested with others for distributing leaflets opposing US intervention in the Russian Civil War and sentenced to twenty years under the Espionage Act. While imprisoned he became disillusioned with Tolstoy and falsely claimed anarchist beliefs in hopes of deportation. After losing the landmark Supreme Court free-speech case Abrams v. United States, he was deported November 23, 1921.
In Russia he married Bernstein, studied agronomy, and became chairman of the Department of Economic Geography at the University of the Toilers of the East. In 1928 he applied to join the Communist Party. During Stalin’s purges in the 1930s he was executed.
Sources: INS file 54517/72; Richard Polenberg, Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; Senya Fléchine Papers, International Institute for Social History, The Netherlands.
Anton Lipsky
Born: 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Presser Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lipsky stated that he came to the United States “to learn some profession.” Living in New York, he joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/456.
Demian Lisiuk (a.k.a. Jim; Lisuk)
Born: 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party of America in 1919 and later transferred into Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested in January 1920, he was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/772.
Nikolai Lisiuk (a.k.a. Nicholas; Nick)
Born: 1887, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1911; then to US 1917 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Lisiuk had a wife and two children in Russia. Arrested in Pittsburgh on November 17, 1920, federal agents accused him of owning a trunk full of Communist Party literature. Indicted under the Sedition Act and jailed in Allegheny County, he denied radical affiliations, though a confidential informant identified him as a Communist Party literature agent. He was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54885/71.
Aftanasy Litvakoff
Born: c. 1884, Lopatni, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lived in Homestead, Pennsylvania for six years and joined the URW there in 1917. Arrested for distributing radical handbills, he served twenty days in jail. After moving to Cleveland he was arrested again February 21, 1921. He stated, “I do recognize Anarchism, but I feel that I am not worthy enough to be called such, owing to the fat that I do not understand Anarchy enough to be honored by being called an Anarchist.” Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/22.
Anna Loban
Born: c. 1893, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Housewife Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Married fellow anarchist Konstantin Loban in Akron in 1916 and became a member of the Union of Russian Workers. Deported to Russia with her husband on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/24.
Konstantin Loban (a.k.a. Peter Dedka or Dutka)
Born: 1893, Slutsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Rubber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Worked at the BF Goodrich plant in Akron and married Anna Loban there in 1916. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1915 and became secretary of its Lansing, Michigan branch in 1919. Asked why he had become antagonistic to the US government, he replied “Because I have been working here for eight years and am still doing hard laboring work and have not enough money to return to Russia, whereas the Americans all have much better jobs, have money and have privileges that I do not have and this country does not belong to Americans any more than it belongs to any one…as it was originally owned by the Indians.” Deported to Russia with his wife on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/24.
Michael Lojan
Born: 1897, Austria-Hungary Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: N Occupation: Barber Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Communist Party while living in Milwaukee. Arrested there and deported to Yugoslavia in 1923.
Born: 1895, A Coruña, Spain Nationality: Spanish Ethnicity: Galician Occupation: Sailor; bookkeeper Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: IWW; anarchist
Emigrated Cuba and then, in 1916, to the United States. An anarchist, he joined the Industrial Workers of the World’s Marine Transport Workers in 1917 and edited the IWW newspaper Defensa Obrera. During the federal IWW trial, he served as an assistant to the IWW’s attorney, George Vanderveer. He was also a member of Philadelphia’s anarchist Pro-Prensa group. Arrested in Philadelphia, he was deported to Spain on December 20, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54648/28; Peter Cole, Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia.
Luigi Parenti
Luigi Parenti in 1918. National Archives.Luigi Parenti in 1922. Archivio dello Stato, Italy.
Born: 1887, Calcinaia, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; union organizer; journalist Migration: Immigrated to US 1910 Affiliation: IWW; anarchist
Initially a Christian democrat and completed two years of seminary study in Lucca before abandoning religious training, marrying, and assisting an Italian streetcar drivers’ strike.
He emigrated to the United States with his wife Maria in 1910 and soon became an anarchist, joining the Industrial Workers of the World in San Francisco in 1911. He became a lecturer and organizer for the IWW and was arrested several times for leading strikes and demonstrations. Italian consular authorities described him as “one of the most dangerous propagandists in the anarchist movement across the United States,” calling him “taciturn in character, educated, intelligent, [and] cultured.” A defendant in the mass IWW trial of 1917–1918, he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and a $30,000 fine. From September 1917 to June 1919 he was denied permission to communicate with his wife and three daughters, one of whom was born while he was incarcerated. Released on bail pending appeal, he worked as an organizer for an independent Italian fishermen’s union in San Francisco and later as a correspondent for La Voce del Popolo. After losing his appeal in May 1921, he reentered prison, but in 1922 his sentence was commuted on condition of deportation. He “voluntarily departed” with his family on October 26, 1922.
Back in Italy, he settled in Lucca, joined the syndicalist Unione Sindacale Italiana, and attended its illegal 1926 convention. He later withdrew from overt radical activity and worked for a Fascist state-created union and as a reporter. Official reports alternately described him as obedient to Fascist directives (1929), secretly receiving radical publications from the United States (1930), and again demonstrating “good moral and political conduct” aligned with the regime (1932). The true nature of his political beliefs in these years is unclear. Died in 1961.
Sources: INS file 54235/61; CPC busta 3732; Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library; Kenyon Zimmer, Immigrants Against the State: Yiddish and Italian Anarchism in America.
Feodor Pasiuk (a.k.a. Theodor, Paschuk)
Born: c. 1880, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife and child remained in Russia when he emigrated. Became a member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 4, 1920, he was deported to Russia on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/967.
Lev Paskevich (a.k.a. Levi Paskevick; Paskovich)
Born: c. 1889, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Ship rigger Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party of America and later Philadelphia’s First Branch of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 7, 1920, he was deported to Russia on February 1, 1921 aboard the SS Estonia.
Sources: INS file 54859/134; Philadelphia Enquirer, February 1, 1921.
John Paskvalick (or Pashvalisk)
Born: Austria-Hungary, year unknown Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: M Affiliation:
Deported to Austria as a radical on June 19, 1920. No further information has been found.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
George Pasukow
Born: Russia, year unknown Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: M Affiliation:
Deported to Russia as a radical on October 17, 1920. No further information has been found.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Peter Pavlas (a.k.a. Pete Pawlas)
Born: 1885, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Czech Occupation: Machinist; laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1917 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America
The child of Czech (“Bohemian”) immigrants in Russia, he returned with his parents to Bohemia in 1894. In he 1909 migrated to Argentina; then to Mexico in 1915.
Entered the United States in 1917 without inspection as a contract laborer to work in a sugar factory near San Francisco. An immigration agent described him as “a peculiar character, being somewhat of a ‘globe trotter’, and a student of Esperanto…He is believed to be more intelligent than he would represent.” Arrested in Cleveland on January 31, 1919 while distributing Socialist Party literature and was reportedly in poor health while detained at Ellis Island. Because Socialist Party membership was not a deportable offense, authorities acknowledged they could not substantiate anarchism charges, but he was nevertheless deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919 on the grounds that he had entered the country without inspection and was “likely to become a public charge.”
Sources: INS file 54616/16.
Artemy Pavluk (or Pauluk; Paulik)
Born: 1885, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
He served four years in the Russian Army before emigrating.
Drafted into the U.S. Army, he served six months at Camp Lee and Camp Shelby before being discharged. Became secretary of the Union of Russian Workers branch at the Dakota Mine in Fairmont, West Virginia. Arrested December 2, 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/605.
Josef Penske (a.k.a. Joseph Penski)
Born: 1886, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Autoworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Worked as an autoworker while living in Hamtramck, Michigan. He joined the Socialist Party of America in 1914 and later the Communist Party. Arrested in January 1920, he “voluntarily departed” to Russia on October 16, 1920.
