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: 1880, Vilna, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Tailor Migration: Immigrated to US c. 1902 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
By 1919 he operated his own tailor shop in Baltimore. He joined the IWW around 1914 but left that organization approximately two years later. In 1917 he became a member of Baltimore Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers and participated in URW affairs at the national level. Arrested in November 1919 during the first wave of federal raids, he was deported on January 20, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54709/419.
Tom Benich
Born: 1895, Slavonia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (present-day Croatia) Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Croatian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Initially a member of the Socialist Labor Party, he joined South Slavic Branch No. 75 of the Communist Party of America in 1919, later claiming that his purpose in doing so was “to get the members to come over to the Socialist Labor Party.” Arrested in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1920, he declared during interrogation: “I believe that the working men should run this country.” Deported to Yugoslavia on September 1, 1920.
Source: INS file 54811/479; FBI file OG 384859.
Philip Beresko (or Berezka, Borodsky, Berezovsky)
Born: 1896, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belaruaian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 (via Canada) Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Employed by the Pullman Coach Company. He joined the Socialist Party in Rockford, Illinois, in 1918 and became a member of the Communist Party of America in November 1919. Arrested during the January 1920 Palmer Raids in Chicago, he stated to investigators: “I do not believe in organized government.” While out on bail in August 1920 he was arrested again, together with Kondrate Serovatke, while posting pro-Soviet placards on telephone poles. He accepted “voluntary departure” to Russia on October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54808/7; FBI files OG 811, OG 386686, and BS 202600-152-1.
Edward Berg
Edward Berg’s IWW credentials. National Archives.
Born: 1880, Sweden Nationality: Swedish Ethnicity: Occupation: Union organizer Migration: Immigrated to US 1905 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1906. He worked as a paid organizer and delegate for Lumber Workers Industrial Union No. 500 of the IWW. Arrested in Spokane, Washington, in April 1918, he was deported on November 4, 1918.
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.
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.
Born: 1877, Sunderland, England Nationality: British Ethnicity: English Occupation: Sailor; baker Migration: Immigrated to US 1897 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the Industrial Workers of the World circa 1909 and became an IWW delegate, organizer, and secretary of its Seattle branch. Arrested “at least five or six times” in connection with IWW activities. As a sailor, traveled to India, China, Japan, Singapore, Samoa, and the Philippines. Arrested in Seattle in July 1918 and deported on June 21, 1919.
Emigrated to Canada, arriving in Quebec on July 5, 1920. Organized on behalf of the IWW’s Martine Transport Workers Industrial Union in Vancouver.
Sources: INS file 54379/503; Ancestry.com; Industrial Worker, November 28, 1923.
Wincenty Dmowski (a.k.a. Vincenty Druowski)
Born: 1885, Russian Poland Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1924 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Arrested in Detroit during the January 1920 Palmer raids as a member of the Communist Party of America. Initially ordered deported to Poland, but later permitted “voluntary departure” to Soviet Russia. Departed October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54709/836.
John W. Dobrinich
Born: 1889, Austria-Hungary (in present-day Croatia) Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Croatian Occupation: Coal miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Married with four children remaining in Croatia. Joined the South Slavic Branch of the Socialist Party in Staunton, Illinois in 1916, later becoming secretary of the Benld, Illinois branch. Transferred into the Communist Party. Arrested in Missouri on April 1, 1920. Appealed his case multiple times before being deported to Croatia on April 4, 1925.
Sources: INS file 54861/376; American Labor Year Book, 1926.
Peter Dolgay (or Dolgag; Dowhay)
Born: 1880, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russia Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Metal worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Wife and three children remained in Russia. Member of the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio. Arrested in August 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/543.
Victor Dombrowski (a.k.a. Douglas Dombrowski; Dombrivski)
Victor Dombrowski’s Socialist Party membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1871, Telsha, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality/Ethnicity: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1900 Affiliation: IWW; Communist Party of America
Not politically active in Russia. Arrested in Chicago around 1914 and imprisoned for three years for assault with intent to kill. After his release, joined the Socialist Party of America and the IWW (leaving the latter in 1918), then the Communist Party in 1919. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and deported to Lithuania on May 14, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54809/19; FBI files OG 385518 and OG 388575.
Gerasim Dorosh (a.k.a. Harry Dorosh; Mike Dorash; Mike Smith)
Born: 1893, near Brest-Litovsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Wife and child remained in Russia. Joined the URW branch in Ansonia, Connecticut in March 1919 and became branch secretary. Arrested June 1919 and deported to Russia on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS folder 54616/252.
Konstantin Demyanovich Draco
Born: 1888, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Wife and son remained in Russia. Joined the New London, Connecticut URW branch in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/373; FBI file OG 388601.
Sidor Drankovich (a.k.a. Cedar Drankovich)
Born: 1880, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Autoworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party
Resided in Hamtramck, Michigan. Joined Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party in 1919, which later became a Communist Party branch. Arrested in January 1920 and detained at Fort Wayne. Deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54589/983.
Dionisy Drichetz (a.k.a. Dennis Drichitz)
Born: Year unknown, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Unknown Migration: Immigration to US year unknown Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Member of the Communist Party of America in Bayonne, New Jersey. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and deported to Russia on December 23, 1920.
Sources: INS folder 54325/36G; The Morning Post (Camden, NJ), December 23, 1920.
Sergey Drigov (or Drigoff)
Born: 1883, Mogilev, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW
Wife and children remained in Russia. Joined the Seattle URW in April 1919, becoming financial secretary, and joined the IWW in December 1919. Arrested in Seattle in January 1920 and deported to Russia on February 1, 1921 aboard the SS Estonia.
Sources: INS file 54860/473; FBI file OG 388594.
Alexandr Dubarev (or Dubareff)
Born: Year unknown, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigration to US year unknown Affiliation: Unknown
Name included on a government list of deported radicals; deported to Russia on January 27, 1921.
Sources: INS folder 54325/36G.
Ivan Dubov (a.k.a. John Duboff)
Ivan Dubov, 1919. The Globe (Worthington, MN), March 4, 1920.
Born: 1885, Fyodorovka, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Active in Union of Russian Worker branches in McKees Rocks (Pennsylvania), New York, and Detroit. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. Declared to authorities: “Of course, I am an anarchist… I do not acknowledge any government.” Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/97; FBI file OG 381656.
Peter Dubovik
Born: c. 1880, Zadworna, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Member of the Union of Russian Workers in Seattle. Deported to Russia on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/462.
Ivan Dudinsky (a.k.a. John Dudinsky)
Dudinsky’s Communist Party membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1889, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A former member of the Russian branch of the Socialist Party of America who then joined the Communist Party of America. Arrested in Newark, New Jersey and detained for 101 days while suffering from tuberculosis. Refused to answer questions without legal counsel, which was not provided. Deported December 23, 1920.
Emigrated to from Russia to Canada in 1923 and settled in Quebec. In 1935 sought permission to reenter the US temporarily, which was denied.
Sources: INS file 54810/346; Investigation of Administration of Louis F. Post, Assistant Secretary of Labor: In the Matter of Deportation of Aliens, Hearings, Sixty-sixth Congress, Second Session; Constantine Maria Panunzio, The Deportation Cases of 1919-1920; Beverly Gage, The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror.
Anton Dudka (a.k.a. Antonio or Tony Dudka)
Born: 1894, Podolsk, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Blacksmith; handyman Migration: Migrated to Canada 1914; then to US 1918 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Chairman of Buffalo’s East Side Russian Branch of the Communist Party. Arrested January 7, 1920. Denied all allegations. Deported to Russia on February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54809/443.
Serge Dukhane
Born: c. 1892, Chernigov, Russia (present-day Chernihiv, Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Tailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Socialist Labor Party
Wife and child remained in Russia. Member of the Socialist Labor Party. Arrested in Pittsburgh in January 1920. Affirmed his belief in Communism and Bolshevism but denied membership in the Communist Party. Deported to Russia in February 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/646.
Alex Dulchewski (or Dulchewsky; Dulchavsky)
Born: 1891, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Member of the Communist Party in Detroit. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/808.
Michael Dunetz
Born: 1885, Vilensky, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Carpenter Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Carpenter for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, where he also belonged to Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920, detained at Fort Wayne, and deported to Russia on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/988.
Wladyslaw Dwanowsky (a.k.a. Walter Jazonski)
Born: c. 1884, Lublin, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Bricklayer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Previously arrested in Russia for taking an unauthorized furlough (presumably from the Russian army). Arrested in Hamtramck, Michigan in January 1920 due to his Communist Party membership; previously detained for distributing radical May Day flyers. Deported to Russia on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/610.
Paul Dyachuk (a.k.a. Pavel Deonesieff)
Born: c. 1882, Kiev, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Boilermaker Migration: Immigrated to US 1903 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Seattle in 1919. Also a member of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders and Helpers of America. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.
Born: c. 1882, Cape Breton, Canada Nationality: Canadian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; soldier; foreman; journalist; editor Migration: Immigrated to US c. 1901 Affiliation: IWW
Served nine years in the US Army at Vancouver, Washington, before discharge due to tuberculosis contracted during service. He joined the IWW around 1913 in Kansas City and became editor of The Industrial Worker in Seattle in May 1916, actively defending members prosecuted after the Everett Massacre. A defendant in the federal IWW trial (1917–1918), he was sentenced to ten years. His wife Kate (Katherine Beidel), whom he married in 1918, edited the paper during the trial until July 1918. His sentence was commuted in 1923, and he was deported to Canada August 5, 1923.
In Canada he continued organizing for the IWW and writing for its US publications through at least 1926, including organizing agricultural workers alongside fellow deportee Sam Scarlett.
Sources: INS file 54616/145; FBI file OG 8000-41990; Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University; Heather Mayer, Beyond the Rebel Girl: Women and the Industrial Workers of the World in the Pacific Northwest, 1905-1924; James Sullivan, “Reviewing the 1925 Harvest Drive,” Industrial Pioneer, November 1925; J. A. McDonald [sic], “Training for Freedom,” Industrial Pioneer, March 1926; J. A. MacDonald, “The Reforging of Russia,” Industrial Pioneer, May 1925.
Samuel Mackway
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation:
Deported to Russia as a radical on January 22, 1921. No further information has been found.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Victor Macur
Born: 1887, Vilna, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party of America in August 1919, which soon transferred into the Communist Party. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he accepted “voluntary departure” and left for Poland via Canada October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54859/984; FBI file OG 387500.
Nils Madsen
Nils Madsen, 1960s. Arbeiderbladet, July 26, 1965.
Born: 1886, Drammen, Norway Nationality: Norwegian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1904 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the IWW in 1912 and became General Organizer for the Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union No. 500 around 1916, facing repeated arrests for organizing. Arrested March 26, 1918, in St. Maries, Idaho under a criminal syndicalism law, he was deported November 4, 1918.
Back in Norway he lectured widely about US conditions and cofounded a Norwegian-American Defense Committee for imprisoned IWW members. By 1922 he was organizing for the Norwegian Labour Party and led its radical youth scouting organization, the Norges Røde Speiderforbund. After the party split in 1925 he sided with the expelled pro-Communist faction, but then appears to have abandoned Communism. From 1934 to 1955 he was an organizer and official of the Norwegian Union of Hotel and Restaurant Workers (Norsk Hotell-og Restaurantarbeiderforbund). He died in 1965.
Sources: INS file 54379/199; “Norwegian Workers Come to the Aid of the I. W. W.,” One Big Union Monthly, March 1, 1919; Sondre Ljoså, “‘Etter beste evne at alltid være en god kamerat’: Speiderarbeid i arbeiderbevegelsen på 1920-tallet,” Arbeiderhistorie (2007); Harald Berntsen, Alle rettigheter!: hotell- og restaurantarbeiderne i service og strid gjennom 75 år.
Piotr Mager (a.k.a. Peter Magyar)
Born: 1891, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Metalworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Youngstown, Ohio around 1915. Arrested in August 1919 and again during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/498.
Ivan Maiboroda (a.k.a. John Mayborada)
Born: 1885, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: IWW; Union of Russian Workers
Belonged to the Socialist Revolutionary Party in Russia before emigrating.
In the United States he joined the IWW in Butte and later, in 1919, joined the URW in Seattle. Deported to Russia January 22, 1921.
Deported to Croatia as a radical on September 1, 1920. No further information has been found.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
George Makaranko (or Makarenko)
Born: 1893, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Makaranko, who had a wife and children in Russia, belonged to Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920, he was deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/621.
Lavrenti Makarevich (a.k.a. Lawrence Makarvitch)
Born: 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1914; then to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, records state he was deported January 22, 1921. However, a Department of Justice agent reported that he attended a URW conference in New Haven June 4, 1922 as a delegate of that city’s Russian Progressive Organization. His wife Sophie Babitz, living with her parents in Connecticut, reportedly wished no further contact with him. It remains unclear whether he was deported and returned, never deported, or the report of his later return was mistaken.
Born: 1874, Edinburgh, Scotland Nationality: British Ethnicity: Scottish Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to U.S. c. 1901 Affiliation: IWW; anarchist
Migrated to South Africa c. 1900, then to Australia and Mexico, before arriving in the United States around 1901. Worked in mines and acted as an IWW propagandist on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border. Although he filed a declaration of intent to naturalize, he never completed his application for citizenship, explaining, “I traveled all over the country and saw too much.” Arrested in Deming, New Mexico, in September 1919, he was deported April 3, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54709/648; The Deming Headlight (Deming, NM), September 26, 1919.
Anton Minarich (a.k.a. Tony)
Born: 1891, near Fiume, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia) Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to U.S. 1909 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Worked for the Ford Motor Company Hospital in Detroit and joined South Slavic Branch No. 17 of the Communist Party in 1919. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and held at Fort Wayne, he was deported to Yugoslavia on June 19, 1920.
Born: c. 1888, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife and three children remained in Russia. He joined Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America in Rachine, Wisconsin. Arrested January 2, 1920, and deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Source: INS file 54859-167.
Petr Ivanovich Mironovich
Mironovich’s URW membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1900, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Belonged to the URW in New York and later Hartford, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Source: INS file 54709/527.
______ Mirolyubov
Born: Russia, year unknown Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
A member of the Union of Russian Workers in Akron, Ohio, he was deported to Russia. No further information has been found.
Sources:Probuzhdenie, January 1932.
Simeon Misnik (a.k.a. Semeon; Minnik)
Born: Russia, year unknown Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation:
Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and agreed to “voluntary departure” to Russia October 16, 1920. No further information has been found.
Deported to Hungary as a radical on March 21, 1920. No additional information has been found.
Source: NS file 54325/36G.
Xavier Mitalski (a.k.a. Prostopluk)
Born: 1885, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Carpenter Migration: Migrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Worked in New York, Chicago, and Detroit and belonged to the URW along with his brothers and cousin. Arrested in Chicago November 14, 1919, he claimed his membership lasted only “a month and a half,” though authorities found URW literature in his apartment. Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54709/434; FBI file OG 8000-385993.
Nicholas Mlaveransky (or Mlaverausky)
Born: 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Machinist Migration: Migrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1918. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Source: INS file 54709/376.
Ketia Fedrovich Molkowsky (a.k.a. L.C. Marten; Leo Martin)
Arrested in Seattle in September 1919 and deported on the Buford on December 21 as a contract laborer and as “likely to become a public charge,” though officials also suspected radicalism.
Source: Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, Communist and Anarchist Deportation Cases.
Aggi Molochko (a.k.a. Mike A. Molaka)
Born: 1889, Starobin, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Millworker Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Norwich, Connecticut, in February 1918. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he was deported February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54861/8; FBI file OG 380828.
Peter Moloishik (or Maloishun)
Moloishik’s URW membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1895, Grodna, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Polish Ethnicity: Russian Occupation: Laborer; moulder Migration: Migrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Although he claimed Polish citizenship, authorities listed his “race” as Russian. He joined the URW in May 1919. Arrested in Marshall, Michigan, November 14, 1919, he was deported to Poland January 22, 1921.
Born: 1889, Mogilev, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Homestead, Pennsylvania in 1915. Authorities suspected he was “one of the moving spirits” of a URW branch believed to exist in the Bertha mines in Morgantown, West Virginia. He was also a member of the United Mine Workers. Received anarchist and IWW literature from Max Maisel’s anarchist bookstore in New York. Arrested December 1, 1919 during the miners’ strike and deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/608.
Samuel Orlov (a.k.a. Sam Orloff)
Born: 1889, Mogliev, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Monessen, Pennsylvania circa 1915. Also a member of the United Mine Workers. Arrested December 1, 1919 during the miners’ strike and deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/609; FBI file OG 8000-248688.
Albert Osborn
Born: 1898, Førde, Norway Nationality: Norwegian Ethnicity: Occupation: Sailor; laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: IWW
Migrated to the United States with his stepmother in 1909 to rejoin his father. Joined the IWW in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota in 1915, though he later claimed he joined only under pressure from other members. Arrested in Everett, Washington in 1917 for failing to register for the draft and served thirteen days in jail. Arrested again May 23, 1918 in Seattle as an IWW member. Diagnosed on June 6, 1918 as “insane” due to “dementia praecox” attributed to a childhood head injury. Deported September 20, 1919 as “likely to become a public charge,” for entering without inspection (upon his return from a sailing voyage in 1915), and for alleged insanity. According to Commissioner General of Immigration A. Caminetti, “the charge against him does not arise, even remotely, from his connection with the I.W.W.”
Sources: INS file 54414/81.
Anton Ostopchuk
Born: c. 1886, Russia (in present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Metalworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife and two children remained in Russia. Joined Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/719.
Nikolai Ostreiko
Born: 1877, Lida, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1910 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A member of the Russian Branch of the Socialist Party of America in Flint, Michigan, later transferring to the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/739.
Osip Otroschyk (or Otrozttzek; a.k.a. Joe Trocki)
Born: 1880, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife remained in Russia when he emigrated. Employed at Fisher Body Company in Detroit and a member of Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920 and held at Fort Wayne. “Voluntarily departed” to Russia via Canada January 24, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/989.
Yakov Ozols (a.k.a. Jacob; Ozal)
Born: c. 1887, Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Sailor; laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1917 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party and later the Russian Branch of the Communist Party of America in Philadelphia. Arrested January 7, 1920 and deported February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54811/944; FBI file OG 8000-276616.
Peter Paich (or Paick)
Born: 1897, Požega, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia) Nationality: Hungarian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America; Workers’ International Industrial Union
Joined the Socialist Party in Detroit in 1915 and the Workers’ International Industrial Union in Lorain, Ohio in 1918. Arrested August 1917 for distributing socialist literature and jailed four days. Arrested again April 1918 for distributing socialist and anti-conscription literature, then interned at Fort Oglethorpe as an “alien enemy.” Detained for deportation upon release in September 1919 and deported May 8, 1920 on the charge of being “likely to become a public charge,” as Socialist Party membership did not meet the legal definition of anarchism.
Sources: INS file 54379/474; FBI file OG 8000-203962.
Alexandr Palukevich (or Palukovich; Pavlukoich)
Born: Russia, year unknown Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Member of the Communist Party in Bayonne, New Jersey. Deported to Russia December 23, 1920. No further information has been found.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Pavel Panasuk (a.k.a. Paul; Panosik)
Born: Russia, year unknown Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Member of the Communist Party in Chicago. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids January 2, 1920. “Voluntarily departed” to Russia October 10, 1920.
Deported to Yugoslavia as a radical on August 1, 1920. No further information found.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Dimitri Panko
Born: 1890, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Mechanic Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined Branch No. 2 of the Union of Russian Workers in Newark, for which he distributed literature. Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Later employed in Moscow at the Russian-American Tool Plant, where he helped form a factory committee and appears to have joined the Communist Party of Russia.
Sources: INS file 54709/112; B. Ratner, Istoriia Moskovskogo instrumental’nogo zavoda.
Pavel Pankov (a.k.a. Pual Panko; Pankoff)
Born: 1886, Mogliev, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Moulder; bartender Migration: Immigrated to US 1907 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party in 1914, then Detroit’s Russian Branch of the Communist Party in 1919. Worked as a bartender at Detroit’s House of the Masses. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/634.
Kostas Papadogiannis
Born: 1885, Greece Nationality: Greek Ethnicity: Occupation: Printer Migration: Immigrated to US 1908 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Secretary of New York’s Greek Socialist Union and printer of its newspaper Phone tou Ergatou (Voice of the Worker), founded 1918. Later became a member of the Communist Party of America. Deported to Greece in early 1921.
In Athens he wrote for the Greek Socialist Workers’ Party newspaper and established a leftist publishing house that printed Communist literature and distributed Greek-language Marxist texts from the United States, including the first Greek translation of Lenin’s The State and Revolution. After 1924, however, he left the party and published dissident radical literature, such as Trotsky’s biography of Lenin.
Sources: Kostis Karpozilos, Red America: Greek Communists in the United States, 1920–1950; additional information supplied by Kostis Karpozilos.
Born: 1892, Veliki Bečkerek, Austria-Hungary (present-day Serbia) Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: Serbian Occupation: Autoworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Employed by the Fisher Body Corporation in Detroit. In 1913 he joined Branch No. 61 (later Branch No. 17) of the Socialist Party’s South Slavic Federation, transferring into the Communist Party of America in 1919. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he was deported to Yugoslavia on April 14, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54860/374; FBI file OG 388055.
Jacob K. Platek (or Platat)
Born: 1889, Podolovka, Russia Nationality: Polish Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer; foundry worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife and child remained in Russia when he emigrated. He joined the Socialist Party and in 1919 became a member and financial secretary of Polish Branch No. 80 of the Communist Party in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Arrested January 2, 1920, he was deported to Poland August 4, 1920.
Sources: File 54859/527.
Mike Podalak
Born: Austria-Hungary, year unkown Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation:
Deported to Austria as a radical on, June 19, 1920. No further information has been identified.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Mathew Podlipsky
Matthew Podlipsky’s URW membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1887, Rakitnitsa, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish-Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
A member of the Union of Russian Workers branch in Newark. Arrested during the Palmer Raids and deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/356; FBI file OG 381187.
Marko Podner
Born: 1892, Okrug, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia) Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: Croatian Occupation: Laborer; miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife remained in Croatia-Slavonia while he emigrated. In June 1919 he joined Branch No. 62 of the Communist Party in West Winfield, Pennsylvania, becoming its secretary. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he was deported to Yugoslavia June 19, 1920.
Sources: FBI file OG 8000-382563.
Wolf Pohl (a.k.a. Pawlowicz; Pavlovich)
Wolf Pohl’s Communist Party membership card. National Archives.
Born: c. 1896, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Housepainter Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America; IWW
Joined the Socialist Party in 1913 and later the Communist Party, becoming a speaker and distributor of literature in Buffalo. Arrested August 1919 for distributing radical material but released; arrested again January 1920. While confined in Erie County Jail he contracted pneumonia and required hospitalization. December 1920 he joined the IWW. Deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/912.
George Polevoy
Born: 1883, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1907 Affiliation: IWW
Married with a child in the United States, he joined the IWW around 1914 in Moundsville, West Virginia, and also belonged to the United Mine Workers. Participated in miners’ strikes protesting the conviction of Tom Mooney and the imprisonment of Eugene V. Debs. Arrested June 1918 for disturbing the peace during a dispute with UMW leaders and sentenced to a $50 fine and ten days in jail; a union witness described him as a leader “of the foreign element…they have made all kinds of trouble.” Arrested again August 1919 and described by an immigration agent as “exceptionally shrewd and astute.” Deported to Russia February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54709/49.
Osip Polulechka (a.k.a.Josef Polulech; Joseph Balluch)
Born: 1892, Grodno region, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers (alleged)
Arrested during the November 1919 raid on the Union of Russian Workers’ Russian People’s House in New York. He denied URW membership and said he had only attended arithmetic and Russian classes; no evidence of membership was produced. He had, however, been active since 1913 in the Methodist Episcopal Church of All Nations, whose leaders attempted to intervene on his behalf. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/449; FBI file OG 8000-382493; The Churchman (January 24 and February 21, 1920); Constantine M. Panunzio, The Deportation Cases of 1919-1920.
Jacob Popich
Born: 1892, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia) Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A member of the South Slavic Branch of the Communist Party of America in Omaha. Arrested in St. Paul, Nebraska, January 8, 1920 and deported to Yugoslavia July 15, 1920. No further information has been identified.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G; Omaha Daily Bee, January 9, 1920.
Sergey Porchunoff (a.k.a. Sergy; Serjy)
Born: 1888, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Served two years in the Russian Army.
In the United States, employed by Standard Oil. Joined the Russian Branch of the Whiting, Indiana Socialist Party in 1914 and later the Communist Party, serving as secretary of both branches. Arrested in Chicago January 7, 1920, and deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54809/82.
Andrew Postaruk
Born: 1881, Kiev Governorate, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: . Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Previously emigrated to and worked in Austria and Germany. His wife and two children remained in Russia.
In 1918 he joined the Union of Russian Workers in Seattle. He told authorities, “I don’t believe in any government,” but also “stated believe in change through the ballot as a I fear that bloodshed would ensue by bringing a revolution through force of arms.” Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/542.
Efrim Potenkin (or Potemkin)
Born: 1897, Gomel, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russia Ethnicity: Occupation: Steelworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers (alleged)
He attended meetings of the Union of Russian Workers in Monessen, Pennsylvania, but denied membership and no evidence of such was produced. Arrested in Greensburg during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. The Immigration Inspector in Charge recommended cancellation of his deportation warrant for lack of evidence, but was overruled by Commissioner General A. Caminetti. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/519; Kate Holladay Claghorn, The Immigrant’s Day in Court.
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)
Vargo’s Communist Party membership card
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.
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.
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.
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.
