Tag Archives: CP

Urkevich to Vazenas

May 27, 2020Red Scare DeporteesAustrian, CP, Croatian, Russian, SP, URWadmin

Peter Urkevich (Петр Уркевич; Urkevitch; Yurkovics; Yurkewicz; aka John Jorkevits)

Born unknown year , Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Shirt presser. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and two children in Russia. 1919 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Philadelphia. Federal agents claimed he was treasurer of the branch; he claimed to be illiterate. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 7, 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/212; FBI file OG 378953

Josip Vargo (Joseph; Varga; aka Jospeh Vasek)

Born 1881, Zákány, Austria-Hungary (present-day Hungary). Grew up in Croatia; Croatian speaker. Steelworker. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and three children in Croatia. 1916 joined the South Slavic Branch of the Socialist Party of America in Youngstown, Ohio; 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America. Participated in 1919 steel strike at Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. Arrested February, 1920. Deported to Yugoslavia, September 1, 1920.

INS file 54861/122

Angelo Varricchio

Born 1892 near Naples, Italy. Migrated to US 1910. Tailor. Joined the IWW and the syndicalist Federazione Socialista Italiana in Utica, New York; secretary of FSI branch. Arrested 1916 for protesting trial of Carlo Tresca. Arrested November 11, 1918 and December 18, 1918 after a music teacher adjacent to his workplace reported him for “seditious utterances.” Deported to Italy March 27, 1919.

Italian authorities noted no political activity after his deportation.

INS file 54517/90; CPC busta 5327

See also: New York Call, March 28, 1919

Vasiliy Vaschuk (Василий Ващук; Wasily Waschuk; aka Porify Silkuko; Proify Silnko)

Born 1892, Volhynia region, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Russia. October 1919 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Philadelphia. Arrested in the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/330

Mikhail Vaseyko (Михаил Васейко; Michael; Wassiko; Vaseiko; Mike Vsiko)

Born 1890, Volhynia region, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1913; from there migrated to US 1916. Wife and child in Russia. Member of the Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 20, 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/388; FBI file OG 8000-133915

Zachary Vaseyko (Захарий Васейко; Zach Wasciki)

Born 1886, Pidhorodna, Volynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1913; from there to the US in 1916. Wife and three children in Russia. Inconclusive evidence that he was a member of the Union of Russian Workers in Hartford, Connecticut, though he did attend several of its meetings and signed up for its automobile school. Arrested in raid on Hartford URW hall November 25, 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/398

Iosif Vasilenko (Иосиф Василенко; Joseph; Joe; Wassilenko)

Born 1881, Kiev Governorate, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Machinist. Migrated to US 1907; returned to Russia 1912; again migrated to US 1913. Wife and child in Russia. Twice arrested during 1919 strike at American Brass Company in Ansonia, Connecticut. Arrested again during the first Palmer Raids, November 7, 1919. Authorities claimed he belonged to the Union of Russian Workers, but he denied this and claimed he belonged only to the Socialist Party of America. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/236; FBI file OG 379009

Nikolai Vasilyev (Николай Васильев; Nicholas; Wasilieff; aka Adam Vlasoff)

Born 1883, Podolian Governorate, Russia (present-day Ukriane). Ukrainian. Sailor. Already an anarchist in Russia. Migrated to US 1912. Joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in New York; says he quit the URW because it “does not consist of anarchists, but merely of people who want education.” Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 11, 1919. Stated, “I believe that the history of government is the history of organized burglary.” Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/99

Konstantin Vasiliuk (Константин Василюк)

Born Lemburg, Austria-Hungry (present-day Lviv, Ukraine), c.1890. Ukrainian. Migrated to US 1909. Laborer. Married to deportee Maria Vasiliuk. Four American-born children, ages two weeks to four years in January 1921. Member and secretary of the Ukrainian Branch of the Communist Party of America in Coal Run, Pennsylvania. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 55110/4

Maria Vasiliuk (Мария Василюк; Mary)

Born c.1895, Lviv (Lemburg), Russia (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Migrated to US 1915. Housewife. Married to deportee Konstntin Vasiliuk. Four American-born children, ages two weeks to four years in January 1921. Member of the Communist Party of America in Coal Run, Pennsylvania. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

IINS file 54885/74

Stefan Vasiluk (Стефан Василук; Stephan; Wasiluk)

Born c.1892, Saratov, Russia. Migrated to US 1916. Laborer. Joined of the Union of Russian Workers in New York around 1917. Admitted to holding anarchist beliefs and agreeing with the ideas of Peter Kropotkin. Arrested February 1920. Deported January 22, 1921.

INS file 54861/133

Vasily Vasilyevich (Василий Васильевич; Wasilly; Wasilewics; Wasylewics; Wasylevicz)

Deported to Russia, October 2, 1920.

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

Stanley Vazenas (Stasys)

Born 1887, Kamay, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Lithuanian. Migrated to the US in 1913. Wood finisher. Joined the Socialist Party in 1917, then the Lithuanian Branch of the Communist Party in Rockford, Illinois, of which he became chairman. Arrested January 1920. Originally was to be deported to Lithuania, but as he had no relatives there, at his request he was deported to Russia on February 26, 1921, on the SS Zeeland.

INS file 54860/692

Walter to Whitehead

May 30, 2020Red Scare DeporteesCLP, CP, English, German, IWW, Russian, SPadmin

Albert Wilhelm Walter (Walters)

*Source:* Fort Wayne Sentinel, January 5, 1920

Born 1889, Saxony, Germany. Knitter. Migrated to US 1912. Joined the Socialist Party of America in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and in 1916 elected secretary of the Party’s German Federation. 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America; Indiana State Secretary of the Communist Party beginning November 1919. Deported January 12, 1921. Sent his wife Martha and two US-born daughters to Germany ahead of him. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54859/123; FBI file OG 8000-383588

See also: Fort Wayne Sentinel, January 5, 1920; Garrett Clipper, December 23, 1920

Henry William Watts (Willy; H. W. Watts)

Journalist. Migrated to US from Canada in 1914. Immediately joined the Socialist Party of America in Everett, Washington. January 1915 began writing for the Washington Socialist; February 1915 became its business manager. Continued that role for the paper’s successor, the Northwest Worker, of which he became editor in April 1916. He wrote in support of the IWW and of “collective ownership” (by workers) rather than “state socialism” (i.e. government ownership). Arrested August 1916 for protesting police repression of IWW speakers in Everett. Arrested again April 6, 1917 for libel of local military recruiters; charges dismissed. Arrested once more October 25, 1917 as an alien “anarchist”; released on bail after seven weeks. While in jail, continued as editor of the Northwest Worker and its successor, The Co-operative News. Eventually deported solely on the dubious grounds that he had been “likely to become a public charge” at the time of his entry into the US. Deported to Canada, February 27, 1918–making him the first known deportee of the Red Scare.

INS file 54235/57 (file missing); FBI file OG 52458

See also: https://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/NWWorker.htm; https://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/CoopNews.htm; The Co-operative News, February 21 and February 28, 1918

Gregory Isaakovich Weinstein (Григорий Исаакович Вайнштейн; Grigoriy Isaakovich Vaynshteyn)

Source: *Richmond Palladium* (IN), January 8, 1920.

Born 1880, Vilna, Russia (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania). Jewish. Statistician; editor. In Russia, “a public school teacher in a Jewish school.” Involved in socialist movement since 1900 (in both the General Jewish Labour Bund and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party); participated in 1905 revolution and befriended Leon Trotsky. December 1905 arrested at Brest-Litovsk and imprisoned, then in 1916 sentenced to four years in Siberia; escaped after ten days and went to France. 1907 migrated from there to Switzerland, where he graduated from the University of Geneva in 1912 with degrees in law and social science. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Russian Federation of the Socialist Party of America in New York; 1914 became an editor of the socialist newspaper Novy Mir; employed Trotsky as a writer January-March 1917. 1919 cofounded the Communist Labor Party and became general office manager of the (unrecognized) Russian Soviet Government Bureau. Also became an editor of the CLP’s Class Struggle and its short-lived Russian-language paper Pravda. Ordered deported; “voluntarily departed” January 22, 1921. 1922 employed by the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs (which in 1923 became the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs); served as a Soviet diplomatic representative to Canada, a diplomatic agent in Leningrad, and in 1926-28 worked at the Soviet Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey. 1930s in Moscow became head of the Second Western Department of the USSR People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs. August 1939 arrested in Stalin’s purges; executed 1940.

INS file 54810/500 (file missing) and 54810/500A (Exhibits)

See also: New York Tribune, June 22, 1919; Kenneth D. Ackerman, Trotsky in New York, 1917: A Radical on the Eve of Revolution; Todd J. Pfannestiel, Rethinking the Red Scare: The Lusk Committee and New York’s Crusade against Radicalism, 1919-1923; http://documentstalk.com/wp/weinstein-gregory-isaakovich/; http://www.knowbysight.info/VVV/03652.asp; http://theinfounderground.com/smf/index.php?topic=16678.0

Alfred Wesley (Westley)

Deported to England, June 19, 1920. No further information found.

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

Albert Whitehead

Born 1867, Leicester, England. Sailor. Migrated to US 1907. 1911 joined the IWW; became a charter member of Sacramento Council of the IWW. Defendant along with 45 other IWW members in federal trail in Sacramento for violating the Espionage Act; engaged with most of the other defendants in a “silent defense” by refusing to participate in the proceedings. Accused of “arson and destruction of property” in connection with fires that had occurred near Fresno. Sentenced to a year in San Francisco County Jail; caught tuberculosis while imprisoned. Deported December 24, 1919. Upon his arrival in Liverpool, he “gave all his cash to poor children,” and apparently joined the Merseyside IWW branch.

INS file 54616/36; FBI file OG 8000-237893

See also: Stephen M. Kohn, American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions under the Espionage and Sedition Acts; Socialist Review (London), February 1, 1959

Bell Wicenski

Born 1899, Hampovica, Croatia, Austria. Listed by immigration athorities as “Croatian, Jugo-Slav,” and gave his “race” as “Croatian.” Immigrated to the US in 1913. Laborer. Unmarried. Empoyed by the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. Joined the Socialist Party c.1918, then Local No. 8 of the Communist Labor Party in Youngstown. Arrested January 1920 and deported on the SS Calabria, September 1, 1920, bound for Yugoslavia via Greece.

INS file 54810/679

Zharko to ______

June 1, 2020Red Scare DeporteesCP, Italian, IWW, Lithuanian, Russian, SP, URWadmin

Nikifor Zharko (Никифор Жарко; Zarko)

Born 1894, Grodno region, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. May 1918 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore. Arrested November 26, 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/484

Lukian Viktolorovich Zibula (Лукиан Виктолорович Зибула; Luka; Victolorovish; Sebull; Tsibuliev)

Born 1892, Volhynia, Russia. Weaver. Migrated to US 1912. Joined the Socialist Party of America in Philadelphia; subsequently joined the Philadelphia branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested December 30, 1919. Deported to Russia, February 1, 1921.

INS file 54809/900

Bertha Zimmerman (Берта Цимерман; née Masdawid or Masdawit)

Born 1885, Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia). Latvian. Housewife; garment worker. Migrated to US 1907. Married fellow deportee David Zimmerman in Boston that same year. Literate in Russian, Lettish, German, and some English. Joined the National Lettish Organization of the Socialist Party of America. 1908 son Erick born. Circa 1908 moved to Chicago, where involved in the IWW. Circa 1918 moved to Baltimore. September 1919 charter member of the Lettish Federation of the Communist Party of America; member of the party’s Baltimore Central Committee and distributor of its publication The Communist. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 2, 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.

INS file 54859/549; FBI file OG 391151

See also: Vernon L. Pedersen, The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-57

David Davidovich Zimmerman (Давид Давидович Цимерман)

Born 1875, Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia). Latvian. Carpenter. Circa 1904 joined the Latvian Social Democratic Workers’ Party. Migrated to US 1906. Joined the National Lettish Organization of the Socialist Party of America that year. Married fellow deportee Bertha Zimmerman in Boston 1907. 1908 son Erick born. Circa 1908 moved to Chicago, where involved in the IWW. Circa 1918 moved to Baltimore. September 1919 charter member of the Lettish Federation of the Communist Party of America; member of the party’s Baltimore Central Committee and distributor of its publication The Communist. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 2, 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.

Joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that same year. Lived in Leningrad. Arrested June 1938 for espionage during Stalin’s purges. Executed October 10, 1938.

INS file 54859/548; FBI file OG 46773

See also: Vernon L. Pedersen, The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-57; https://ru.openlist.wiki/%D0%A6%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD_%D0%94%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4_%D0%94%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87_(1875)

Victor Zubkiadich (Виктор Зубкиадич; Jubkiavich)

Born 1885, Vilna, Russia (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania). Laborer. Migrated to US 1911. Circa 1917 joined Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party of America; 1919 transferred into Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party in Detroit. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 6, 1920, at the House of the Masses. “Voluntary departure” to Russia via Montreal, October 16, 1920.

INS file 54859/982; FBI file OG 8000-391223

Nestor Zubko (Нестор Зубко; aka Walter)

Born 1895, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. 1918 joined the Russian Branch of the Socialist Party of America in Bridgeport, Connecticut; 1919 joined the Bridgeport branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 12, 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/400

Simeon Zuk (Симеон Цук; Sam; Zuek; Suek)

Born 1885, Grodno region, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913 (via Canada). Wife and children in Russia. Joined the Socialist Party of America in Detroit; 1919 transferred into Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested February 1920. “Voluntarily departed” October 30, 1920.

INS file 54859/799

Jonas (“John”) Zukauski (Zukauskas)

Born state of Kovno, Russia (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania) c.1895. Migrated to US 1909. Machinist. Participated in anti-conscription protest July 6, 1917, for which he served a year in prison. Member of Branch No. 75 of the Communist Party of America in Rockford, Illinois. Arrested January 1920. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. Wife (Telki) and seven-year-old son (Edvard) accompanied him.

INS file 54860/694

Salvatore Zumpano

Born 1888, San Nicola dell’Alto, Calabria, Italy. Laborer; teacher; bookseller. Graduated from an industrial school in Cosenza and trained as an electrician. Migrated to US 1914. Settled in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, where worked as a laborer and Italian language teacher. 1914 joined IWW and became organizer for it among local miners. 1916 moved to Youngstown, Ohio, and active in defense campaign for Carlo Tresca during the Mesabi Iron Range Strike; quit the IWW along with Tresca following internal controversy over Tresca’s actions during the strike. Returned to Old Forge and opened a small bookstore in “a shack,” selling both radical and non-radical literature. Arrested June 4, 1917 for anti-conscription activities, and “about one hundred and fifty pounds of anarchistic literature,” as well as an envelope containing a portion of executed IWW member Joe Hill’s ashes, were confiscated by police, who also allegedly stole more than $20 from his store. Sentenced to a year in Lackawanna County Jail for failing to register for the draft. He explained his actions: “I cherish and believe in international brotherhood of the workers–of mankind.” Subsequently indicted under the Espionage Act in the federal IWW trial in Chicago and moved to Cook County Jail, but the indictment against him was dropped after six months because he was no longer a member of the IWW at the time of America’s entrance into it. Released from jail August 15, 1918; immediately arrested by immigration authorities and held for deportation. Deported July 3, 1919.

No political activity noted by Italian authorities, who in 1937 removed him from the Italian government’s list of “subversives” after reporting that he “no longer professes subversive ideas” and instead “takes an active part in all patriotic and [Fascist] Party ceremonies.”

INS file 54235/39; FBI file OG 21993; CPC busta 5611

See also: Harrisburg Telegraph (Harrisburg PA), June 9, 1917; Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University

Anton ______

Deported to Lithuania, October 22, 1920. No further information found.