Tag Archives: Communist Party

Bileski to Bogdanovich

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , ,

Harry Bileski (or Hawrylo Bilecki)

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.

(Conrad?) Bjorkman

Born: Sweden?
Nationality: Swedish?
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration: 
Affiliation: IWW

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.

Sources: INS file 54861/380; FBI file OG 384761.

Bogush to Brezovic

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nikolai Bolsun (or Bolson/Bolsum)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Later reported to have been killed executed under Stalin.

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

Samuel Bondarenko (or Bondarewko)

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

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

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

Peter Bonko

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

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

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

Vasily Bootryn

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

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

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

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

Vladimir Borisyuk’s Socialist Party membership card. National Archives.

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

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

Sources: INS file 54709/151.

Borkhak

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

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

Source: Golos Truzhenika, March 5, 1921.

Ivan Borovsky (or John Borowsky)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Max Brazeliya (or Brazelia)

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

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

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

Josef Brencich

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

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

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

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

Stefen Brezovic (or Vrezovic)

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

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

Sources: FBI file OG 387297.

Brodya to Buhay

Red Scare Deportees, , , , ,

Frank Brodya (or Brodia; a.k.a. P. Broido)

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)

Image result for "Abe brooks" + buford
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.

Sources: INS file 54809/427; FBI file OG 382147.