Tag Archives: cuban

Galeotti to Gazeyog

Alba Galeotti (born Giuseppina Genisio; Galleoti)

Born 1867, Canischio, Italy. Housewife; laborer. Migrated to US circa 1902. April 1902 married coal miner Killo Gotti in Lafayette, Missouri. She adopted the common anarchist name Alba (“Dawn”), and named her children Idea (i.e. “L’Idea” of anarchism) and Ravachol (after the French anarchist of the same name). By 1908 she was contributing funds and writings to the Italian-American anarchist newspapers Cronaca Sovversiva and La Questione Sociale. Also in contact with anarchists in Italy, including Aldino Felicani (future treasurer of the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee), and raised funs for the antimilitarist anarchist newspaper Rompete le file! (Break Ranks!) in Milan. Separated from Gotti (who died in 1913); in 1909 married anarchist coal miner Guglielmo Galeotti (“William Galleoti”). Lived in various mining towns in Kansas and Illinois. Named their children Ferrer (after martyred Spanish anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer) and Germinal (after Émile Zola’s radical novel about French coal miners, Germinal). Unconfirmed reports claim she was deported as an anarchist in 1916 but returned illegally to the US. Arrested 1920 with Guglielmo Galeotti; she escaped custody while he was deported. 1921 she collected money for the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee. Arrested 1923 in Schulter, Oklahoma. Ill and fasting when detained, she refused to eat for 33 days and was declared “insane” and force-fed. Deported January 10, 1924. Her youngest two children were left in the care of their sister, Ida (Idea) Gotti, now age 21 and a teacher.

Died 1940 in Turin.

See also: Ancestry.com; Cronaca Sovversiva, May 31, 1913; Financial Report of the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee (1925); Jennifer Guglielmo, Living the Revolution: Italian Women’s Resistance and Radicalism in New York City, 1880-1945; Caroline Waldron Merithew, “Anarchist Motherhood: Toward the Making of a Revolutionary Proletariat in Illinois Coal Towns,” in Women, Gender, and Transnational Lives: Italian Workers of the World; Henryetta Daily Stanard (Henryetta OK), January 1 and 2, 1924; Henryetta Standard (Henryetta OK), January 3 and January 7, 1924

Guglielmo Galeotti (aka William Galleoti)

Born 1871, Santa Sofia, Italy. Miner. Anarchist by late 1880s. Considered by Italian authorities to be “extremely dangerous” and “one of the most actives subversives of S. Sofia, capable of fomenting disorder.” Arrested and imprisoned repeatedly between 1888 and 1902. 1898 fled to Switzerland, but deported in 1901 and arrested on (unfounded) suspicion of being an accomplice to the assassination of King Umberto I. Briefly emigrated to Trieste, but expelled. Migrated to US 1902. Lived in various mining towns in Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Illinois; leading figure in Kansas anarchist Gruppo 11 Novembre. 1909 married fellow anarchist and deportee Alba Genisio, with whom he had two children named Ferrer (after martyred Spanish anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer) and Germinal (after Émile Zola’s radical novel about French coal miners, Germinal). 1911 left with other members of the Gruppo 11 Novembre to join forces of the anarchist Partido Liberal Mexicano in the Mexican Revolution, but quickly disillusioned with the PLM and returned to US. Deported February 19, 1920.

Under surveillance in Italy, but in 1935 reported to have “left politics” and “oriented himself towards the regime for which he now shows sympathy.”

CPC busta 2236

See also: Ancestry.com; Michele Presutto, La rivoluzione dietro l’angolo: Gli anarchici italiani e la Rivoluzione messicana, 1910-1914; Henryetta Daily Stanard (Henryetta OK), January 1, 1924

Luigi Galleani

Born 1861, Vercelli, Italy. Editor. Became anarchist while studying law at the University of Turin; left before finishing degree. Fled police to France in 1880; migrated to Switzerland where worked for anarchist geographer Élisée Reclus on his La Nouvelle Géographie universelle. Arrested and expelled; returned to France; deported to Italy. 1894 arrested for anarchist activities and served five years in prison and internal exile. While confined to island of Pantelleria met his wife, Maria. Escaped Pantellaria in 1900 and fled to Egypt, then England. Migrated to US in 1901 with an invitation to edit the anarchist newspaper La Questione Sociale in Paterson, New Jersey. Leader of 1902 general strike of silk workers in Paterson, where indicted for inciting riot and fled to Canada, then Barre, Vermont, where founded newspaper Cronaca Sovversiva. Moved paper to Lynn, Massachusetts; Galleani became the leading Italian anarchist proponent of violent acts of insurrection and revolt. Deported June 1919, leaving wife and six children in the US (only his daughter Cossyra would later rejoin him in Italy).

Immediately arrested upon arrival in Italy, but released a day later after maritime workers’ union threatened to strike on his behalf. Relaunched Cronaca Sovversiva in Turin in 1920. Involved in armed resistance movement and evaded warrant for his arrest for two years; turned himself in 1922 and sentenced to 14 months imprisonment for sedition. Maintained contact with comrades in US and fellow deportees, but suffered increasingly from diabetes. 1926 arrested again and sentenced to two years in prison, followed by two years of internal exile. Allowed to return to mainland, but under surveillance until his death in 1931.

INS file 54235/33; CPC busta 2241

See also: Ugo Fedeli, Luigi Galleani: quarant’anni di lotte rivoluzionarie (1891 –1931); Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background; Roberto Gremmo, “La ‘Cronaca Sovversiva’ di Galleani, le ‘bande armate’ di Raffaele Schiavina e la bomba del giovane anarchico Musso,” Storia ribelle 18 (2005): 1657-67; Antonio Senta, Luigi Galleani: The Most Dangerous Anarchist in America

Alexander Gallod (Alex; Golod)

Gallod’s Communist Party membership card

Born 1888, Grodno region, Russia (present-day Belarus). Polish. Migrated to US 1914. Machinist. Wife in Russia. Joined the Socialist Party, then “a very active member of the United Communist Party” in Camden, New Jersey, and Phildelphia. Arrested Philadelphia, January 7, 1920. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54811/973

Laureano García

Born Spain. In the United States, became miner. Anarchist and IWW member. Arrested in Jerome, Arizona, February 1919, and deported.

1931 still donating funds to Cultura Proletaria from Spain (see issue of April 18, 1931).

Regelio García (Roglio)

Members of Spanish-speaking Los Corsarios Group, including Garcia, 1919

Born 1894, Quibicano, Cuba. Cigar maker. Migrated to US 1903; became anarchist circa 1917. Member of Los Corsarios Group which published anarchist paper El Corsario. One of 14 members arrested in New York, February 1919, by Secret Service on baseless allegations of plotting to assassinate President Wilson. All charges dropped, but several members, including García, held for deportation as anarchists. When asked why he had failed to apply for naturalization in the US, he replied, “I do not even believe in my own country.” US-born wife, Blanca Fernandez, and 9-month-old child. Deported April 1919.

INS file 54616/79

Isso Gartner (aka Imre Geery or Geerry)

Born 1895, Kassa, Hungary (present-day Košice, Slovakia). Jewish. Jeweler. Migrated to US 1911. A socialist in Hungary, he joined the Socialist Party of America in Baltimore; did not align with either side in 1919 split between Left and Right. Conscientious objector and opposed WWI draft. Attempted to unionize Baltimore jewelry workers in International Jewelry Workers Union (AFL), then arrested May 1918 for allegedly “stealing a number of gold rings” from a former employer and sentenced to six months imprisonment. Subsequently Interned at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, as an “enemy alien.” Suffered from “tuberculosis of the hip and is on crutches.” Deported May 1920 upon release of internees on basis “That he believes in the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States” (a patently unsubstantiated charge).

INS file 54709/38

See also: Baltimore Sun, May 23, 1918; Jewelers’ Circular-Weekly, July 10, 1918

Jack Gaveel (J. G. Gaveel; aka Jackotonsky, Jacknowsky, Jakov Zukatansky)

Born 1889, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Migrated to England 1905; returned to Netherlands 1910 and migrated to Canada that same year. Joined IWW 1913 in Canada. 1914 secretary of IWW Local no. 339, Edmonton, Canada. Migrated to US 1915. 1917 included in federal indictment of IWW leaders, but dropped before case went to trial. IWW delegate in Los Angeles, where “active in organizing the Austrian and Croatian fishermen.” Arrested April 1921 and sentenced to 1-4 years under California’s criminal syndicalism law. In San Quentin, refused to work in prison jute mill, declaring: “I have never scabbed on my class outside of prison, and I won’t do it inside.” Sent to solitary confinement, sparking sympathy strike of thirteen other imprisoned IWW members. Deported to The Netherlands 1924.

1925 in Hamburg, Germany, where supported IWW affiliation with the Red International of Labor Unions (RILU). Living in Amsterdam in 1926. After WWII worked for Stichting Pelita, a foundation dedicated to aiding Indos (mixed-race Dutch-Indonesians) from the former Dutch East Indies in The Netherlands. In 1951, receiving IWW literature from US and supporting the Dutch anarchist movement. 1960 (at age 71) wrote to the Industrial Worker and recalled he could still sing most of the songs from the union’s Little Red Song Book; also wrote: “I wish I were in America. I’d join you in the fight then.”

FBI file BS 186701-240

See also: Industrial Worker, June 11, 1921 and August 5, 1922; San Francisco Examiner, August 2, 1922; Daily Worker, February 23, 1925; Daily Worker (special magazine supplement), February 28, 1925; http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/rapportencentraleinlichtingendienst/data/IndexResultaten/IndexVensterResultaat?persoon=Gaveel%2C+J.G.; Jack Gaveel Correspondence, Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.

Fred Gazeyog (Gazeyek, Gazeycg)

Born 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to the US 1911. Employee at B. F. Goodrich. Joined Union of Russian Workers in Akron in 1916; became secretary of that branch. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/535

Sachar to Sánchez

Andrey Sachar (Андрей Сачар; Andrej; Andrew; aka Henry Sugar)

Born 1898, Minsk oblast, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1913. Employed by the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. 1918 became secretary of the Russian National Home/Russian People’s Home, “an alleged Bolshevik organization” that hosted talks by members of the Union of Russian Workers and the Communist Party of America, and admitted support for the Bolshevik government and for a revolution in the US (but subsequently claimed his testimony had not been accurately translated). Arrested April, 1919, after three members of Russian community swore out affidavits that he had advocated the overthrow of the US government. The accusations may have been related to a dispute within Detroit’s Russian Orthodox All Saints Church, of which Sachar was reportedly a member. “Voluntarily departed” September 25, 1920.

INS file 54709/557; FBI file BS 202600-353-1

Andrei Sacharchuk

Communist Party member. Arrested Atlantic City, November 19, 1919; then went to Elkhorn West Virginia; arrested for deportation in Welch, West Virginia, where he distributed radical literature. Deported to Russia, March 18, 1921.

INS file 54861/359

Mike Sachco

Born c.1897, Russia. Migrated to US 1912. Steamfitters’ helper. Member of Milwaukee’s Russian Branch No. 2 of the Communist Party. Arrested January, 1920. Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859-158

Nikita Safroniev (Никита Сафроньев; Necita; Zafronia; Safronieff)

Born 1883, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1914. Wife in Russia. Member of the Maspeth, Queens branch of the Union of Russian Workers in New York. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 9, 1919. Testified: “I lived long enough in Russia under the Czar. I have seen enough brutality committed there, but I have never seen the brutality that was committed upon the Russian people here in my case…When I was arrested…I was travelling in the automobile, they were beating me in the sides with their handcuffs; and this continued all the way until they brought me to the Park Row Building in New York.” Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/284; FBI file OG 379106

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

Orteof Sahtabnog (Ortiof; Ortiob Shtabnoy)

Born 1891, Russia. Miner. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch at the Jamieson No. 9 mine in Farmington, West Virginia, September 1919; became branch secretary. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/586

Nikofor Salabay (Никофор Салабай)

Born Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine), c.1890. Migrated to Canada 1913 and from there to US 1916. Autoworker. Wife and two children in Russia. Joined the Communist Party of America in Pittsburgh, September 1919. Arrested January 1920. Deported to Russia February 1, 1921.

INS file 54860/644

Marcelo Salinas y López (Marcelino; Marcelo Salinas; Marcelo Salinas Lopez; aka Marcelino Menendez; Jorge Gallart; George Gallart; Pedro Martín; Pedro Martín Sánchez; Palomero)

Born 1889, Batabanó, Cuba. Cigarworker; writer. Became anarchist circa 1908, in Cuba. Migrated to US 1911. Active in anarchist groups in Ybor City, Florida, where also joined and organized for the IWW. Wrote for Spanish-language anarchist newspapers published throughout the world. A strong supporter of the Partido Liberal Mexicano in the Mexican Revolution. Was briefly the roommate of anarchist Manuel Pardiñas, who in 1912 returned to Spain and assassinated Spanish Prime Minister José Canalejas; therefore wrongly suspected of involvement in the assassination; January 1913 the Mexican government warned the US (falsely) that Salinas was part of plot to kill Mexican President Madero. Arrested and deported to Cuba February 7, 1913. He illegally returned to the US in June of that year under the name “Marcelino Menendez” and participated in IWW maritime strike in New Orleans; then in New York under the name “Jorge (Georgie) Gallart,” where he frequented the Francisco Ferrer Center and collaborated on the newspaper Cultura Obrera; participated in protests at the home John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in response to the 1914 Ludlow Massacre. That same year migrated to Spain as “Jorge Gallart,” where he was part of an influential group of “americanos” (Spanish-speaking anarchists who had lived in the US) and collaborated on anarchist newspapers and joined and organized on behalf of the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del Trabajo; imprisoned numerous times for these activities. 1916 migrated to either Mexico or the US; by 1918 was again in New York where, under the name “Pedro Martín,” he was a member of the Los Corsarios Group and became editor the newspaper El Corsario. One of 14 group members arrested in New York, February 1919, by Secret Service on baseless allegations of plotting to assassinate President Wilson. All charges dropped, but several members, including Salinas, held for deportation as anarchists. He claimed to have been born in Cartagena, Spain, and was deported to Spain May 4, 1919 as “Pedro Martín.”

Arrested during a propaganda tour in Andalusia (for possession false identity documents under the name Pedro Martín); sentenced to two months in prison in Cádiz and then deported to Cuba August 1, 1919. In Cuba took active part in 1919 general strikes; arrested and sentenced to death along with several other leading anarchists, but released 1921. While in prison, sent a letter to the Comintern to apply for the creation of a Cuban Communist Party, but soon disillusioned with Soviet Communism. 1921 cofounded newspaper Los Tiempos Nuevos; 1923-1924 collaborated on ¡Tierra!. 1920-1940s became nationally recognized as radical poet, novelist, and playwright. 1944 helped found the Asociacíon Libertaria de Cuba (ALC); 1948 appointed its Secretary of Culture. Edited a succession of Cuban anarchist newspapers. 1956 coauthored pamphlet Proyecciones libertarias, which denounced Fulgencio Batista but also questioned rebel Fidel Castro’s views. 1956-1959 a member of the secretariat of the Confederacíon de Trabajadores de Cuba. Refused to support Castro’s seizure of power. 1960 appointed to the national committee of the embattled ALC, which resolved its support for the Cuban Revolution but called for “total opposition to all the imperialisms, totalitarianisms and dictatorships of the world.” 1961 refused to sign a declaration condemning anarchists who did not support the Castro regime. 1967 migrated to US; legally allowed to enter as an anti-Castro refugee. Lived in Miami, Florida, where he continued to be an active member of the Movimiento Libertario Cubano en el Exilio and to write for anarchist publications. Died 1976.

INS file 53572/12 (1913 deportation); 54616/79 (1919 deportation [under name “Pedro Martin aka Pedro Martin Sanchez”])

See also: Marcelo Salinas: Un ideal sublime y elevado; Kirwin R. Shaffer, Anarchists of the Caribbean: Countercultural Politics and Transnational Networks in the Age of US Expansion; Frank Fernández, Cuban Anarchism: The History of a Movement; Manuel Buenacas, El movimiento obrero español, 1886-1926; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America

Nikolai Salov (Николай Салов; Nick Saloff)

Born 1891, Alagir, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1914; from there migrated to US 1915. Joined the Communist Party of America in Seattle. Deported January 22, 1921.

INS file 54861/31

Nikolai Saluk (Николай Салюк; Nikolaj; Celiuk)

Born 1892, Bobry, Russia. Migrated to US 1910. Laborer; punch press operator. Member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54860/24

Roland S. Samuleson (aka Roy Samuelson)

Born 1884, Stockholm, Sweden. Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Joined IWW Mixed Local No. 382 in Seattle in April 1917; became IWW delegate. Arrested January 1920 in Everett, Washington, for “criminal syndicalism” after the Great Northern Railway fired him for organizing his fellow workers and reported him to the police. Deported August 13, 1920.

INS file 54861/371; FBI file OG 386735

Ivan Samuylov (Иван Самуйлов; John; Samuyloff; Somaurloff; Samuyilof)

Member of the Communist Party of America in New York. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1919. Deported to Russia December 23, 1920.

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

See also: Minneapolis Star, December 27, 1920

Vladimir Samuylov (Владимир Самуйлов; Samuyloff; Samoileff; aka Pavel Wolkoff)

Member of the Communist Party of America in New York. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1919. Deported to Russia December 23, 1920; accompanied by teenage son and daughter.

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

See also: Minneapolis Star, December 27, 1920; New-York Tribune, December 19, 1920

Ramón Sánchez

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Members of Spanish-speaking Los Corsarios Group, including Sánchez, 1919

Born 1886, Santa Cruz, Canary Islands, Spain. Cigarmaker. Migrated with family to Cuba 1898; Migrated to Mexico 1916; from there migrated to US 1916. Anarchist; member of Los Corsarios Group which published anarchist paper El Corsario. One of 14 members arrested in New York, February 1919, by Secret Service on baseless allegations of plotting to assassinate President Wilson. All charges dropped, but several members, including Sánchez, held for deportation as anarchists. Deported to Spain May 4, 1919.

INS file 54616/79

Ramón L. Sánchez (aka R.J. Sánchez)

Ramón L. Sánchez’s mugshot, 1921

Arrested June 21, 1921 in Sacramento for “criminal syndicalism” after handing out IWW literature. Sentenced to 1 to 14 years in San Quentin Penitentiary. Contracted tuberculosis in prison. Sentence commuted 1924 on condition of deportation to Spain.

See: Sacramento Star, June 22, October 21, 1921; Daily Worker, February 29 and June 2, 1924; Stephen M. Kohn, American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions under the Espionage and Sedition Acts