Tag Archives: English

Faces of the First Red Scare

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 19187(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!

Arndt to Bagatchuk

Fred Arndt

Born Germany, year unknown. Construction worker; year of migration unknown. IWW organizer and delegate for Local No. 573 of Construction Workers’ Industrial Union, Seattle. Refused to register for the draft. Arrested during raid on Seattle IWW in February 1919; charged with “criminal anarchy.” Refused to answer questions. Interned at Fort Douglas, Utah as “enemy alien”; released on condition of “voluntary repatriation” and departed June 1919.

INS file 54616/32, FBI file OG 347754

Charles Ashleigh

Born 1888 or 1889, London, England. Clerk, laborer, union organizer, journalist. Middle-class upbringing; joined Independent Labour Party age 15, then Fabian Society and Social Democratic Federation; became a secretary for the Fabian Society 1908 and active in socialist Clarion Scouts movement. 1908-9 sent by ILP to agitate among coal miners in South Wales. 1909 migrated Buenos Aires for clerk position with Central Argentine Railroad; established Socialist Club and wrote for Buenos Aires Herald. Hiked from Argentina to Chile and Peru, then 1912 sailed as crew member from Peru to Portland where jumped ship (with collusion of captain) and regularized his status by crossing into Canada and back. Immediately employed as a paid speaker for Socialist Party of America, but soon left it for IWW, for which became a paid organizer. Traveled as migrant laborer, or “hobo,” throughout US and wrote poetry on behalf of IWW; involved in Rangel-Cline and Everett defense campaigns. Openly queer, he had a romantic relationship with African American radical poet Claude McKay. Arrested 1917 and defendant at federal IWW trial; sentenced to 10 years and $30,000 fine. Joined Communist Party in prison; 1921 sentence commuted on condition of “voluntary departure” in early 1922.

In London transferred to Communist Party of Great Britain and on staff of Sunday Worker and Daily Worker, as well as TASS. September 1922 traveled to India to deliver invitations to Fourth Congress of the Comintern; detained and expelled by British authorities but managed to complete his mission. November 1922 in Moscow (with McKay) where worked as translator for Fourth Comintern Congress, then asked to start an “American information section in the RILU,” which transferred to Berlin 1923. Soon arrested in Berlin and expelled. 1930 published semi-autobiographical novel about IWW, The Rambling Kid. 1931 sent to Moscow to write for The Moscow News/Moscow Daily News; 1934 denounced by roommate as homosexual and expelled from USSR. Remained member of CPGB until his death in 1974, but on the margins of local party activity.

INS file 54235/39-A

See also: Steve Kellerman, “Introduction,” Charles Ashleigh, The Rambling Kid (2004); Kevin Morgan, Gidon Cohen, and Andrew Flinn, Communists and British Society, 1920-1991 (2007); Lisa A. Kirschenbaum, International Communism and the Spanish Civil War: Solidarity and Suspicion (2015)

Joseph Kyauskas Aukstuolis

Born Bartninkai, Russia (present-day Lithuania), c.1896. Lithuanian. Migrated to US 1913. Deliveryman. Member of the Lithuanian Federation of the Socialist Party of America from December 1913 to September 1919, and secretary of its Cleveland branch for seven months. Claimed Russian citizenship, but deportation warrant issued for Lithuania. Deported February 26, 1921.

INS file 54860/795

Aurelio Vincente Azuara (Vicente Azuara)

Born Spain, 1884. Laborer, miner, editor. Migrated to Mexico 1907, then to US 1912. Joined IWW 1913, became unofficial organizer for it. In Los Angeles, edited unofficial Spanish-language IWW paper El Rebelde (1916-17). Arrested Los Angeles September 1917; defendant at federal IWW trial; sentenced to 20 years and $10,000 fine. Sentence commuted on condition of deportation to Spain 1923.

INS file 54616/48

See also David Struthers, The World in a City: Multiethnic Radicalism in Early Twentieth-Century Los Angeles (2019)

Alfredo Bagaglino

Born 1868, Turin, Italy. Orphaned. Miner. Anarchist. 1904 expelled from France (reason unclear). Migrated to US 1907; miner in Spring Valley, Illinois, where lived with wife Domenica Cariglio and their adopted son. Supporter of Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva, Umanità Nova (Milan), and Alleanza Libertaria (Rome), and active in mining strikes. According to Chicago Immigration Inspector George E. Schubert, Bagaglino “is the actual leader and the most outspoken” of the Spring Valley anarchists, and “a forcible speaker and has command of the language and the high sounding phrases used by the present radical demagogues.” Deported March 1921; wife planned to sell home and join him in Italy.

Maintained correspondence with Italian anarchists in US; 1926 arrested by fascist authorities and sentenced to several years “mandato al Confino” (confinement to a prison colony). Died Turin 1936.

INS file 54885/18; CPC busta 239

See also: Un trentennio di attività anarchica (1915-1945) (1953)

Simon Bagatchuk (aka Sam Bush)

Born 1888, Podolsk, Russia. Laborer; migrated to US 1913 (via Canada). April 1919 joined the Seattle branch of Union of Russian Workers. Arrested Seattle, January 17, 1919, then again November 17, 1919. Deported February 1921.

INS file 54860/453; FBI file OG 388850

Balick to Baritz

Vasiliy Balik (Василий Балик, Wasily Balick or Bilicki)

Born 1896, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer; migrated to US 1913. Employee of Remington Arms Union Metallic Cartridge Company, Bridgeport, CT. Joined of Union of Russian Workers August 1919; arrested September 1919, Hartford, CT. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/389

Ugo Balzano

Born 1882, Castel di Sangro, Aquila, Italy. Typographer; migrated to US 1903; employed by mainstream Italian-American Cleveland newspaper, La Voce del Popolo Italiano. Anarchist; member Circolo Studi Sociali di Cleveland; distributor of Cronaca Sovversiva; publisher of anarchist paper L’Appello (1916-1917). Deported 1919.

Arrested immediately upon return to Italy for avoiding the draft. Died Castel di Sangro, 1926.

INS file 54616/348; CPC busta 298

See also: http://bibliotecaborghi.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Cicolani-La-presenza-anarchica.pdf

Walter Banaczyk

Banaczyk’s Communist Party membership card

Born 1901, Słupia, Russia (present-day Poland). Polish. Auto worker. Migrated to US with mother 1915 to join father already there; employee at Fischer Body. December 1919 joined Branch 37, Polish Section of the Communist Party of America. Arrested Detroit January 1920, age 18. “Voluntarily departed” to Poland October 16, 1920.

INS file 54859/569; FBI files OG 382042 and BS 202600-768-1

Peter P. Banaitis

Born 1899, Lithuania. Miner, laborer, toolmaker. Migrated to US 1911. Member International Union of Tool, Die, and Mold Makers; member Branch 37, Lithuanian Section of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 1920, Chicago. When asked if he intended to remain in US, replied “he did intend to remain here but he has no preference, and as people are thrown in jail here for their beliefs he thinks he will enjoy just as much liberty in his native country as he does here.” According to immigration inspector, “Subject appears to be a typical Bolshevik and is more or less intelligent…This individual should be deported by all means as he is manifestly and potentially a bad influence.” Deported December 9, 1920.

INS file 54811/563; FBI file OG 382041

William Bander

Deported to Russia, January 22, 1921.

Daniel Bardaio

Born Russia, year unknown. Member Communist Party of America. Deported February, 1921.

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

Moses Baritz

Moses Baritz, center

Born 1883, Manchester, England, to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. Musician, journalist. Member Socialist Party of Great Britain; renowned (and feared) agitator and debater, able to quote Marx extemporaneously. Migrated to Canada 1910, where in 1911 he helped found the tiny, shortlived, “impossibilist” Socialist Party of North America. Returned to England 1914 then migrated to US 1915 to avoid conscription; joined the Socialist Party of America, then in 1916 in Detroit cofounded the small “impossibilist” “Socialist Party of the United States” (which later became the Socialist Educational Society, the Workers’ Socialist Party, and finally the World Socialist Party of the United States). Arrested Seattle, 1918, in a clear-cut case of mistaken identity; alleged to be a Russian-born anarchist, IWW member, and “Bolshevik” named “Morris Baritz alias Moritz Baritzki.” Allowed to “reship foreign” as sailor on a ship to Australia, September 1918.

In Australia debated IWW members and reformist socialists, then went to New Zealand, from which he was the first person expelled under the Undesirable Immigrants Exclusion Act in January 1920 and returned to Australia. Summer 1920 apparently deported from Australia; July 1920 not allowed to disembark in Cape Town, South Africa on stopover, but was allowed to go ashore in Durban, and then returned to England 1920. Resumed SPGB membership; in 1924 also became “Britain’s first radio disc jockey” and a prominent music critic. Died 1938.

INS file 54408/12

See: http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2014/09/death-of-moses-baritz.html; https://www.solidarityforeverbook.com/book/solidarityforever.pdf; Ian Angus, Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early Years of the Communist Party of Canada (2004); Karla Doris Rab, Role-Modeling Socialist Behavior: The Life and Letters of Isaac Rab (2010)

Canle to Chernyavsky

Juan Canle (John; Jan; Canel; Canlo)

Born 1895, Coruña, Spain. Laborer. Migrated to US 1911. Former member of IWW’s Marine Oilers, Firemen and Watertenders Union. Member of Spanish anarchist group El Ariete in Niagara Falls, New York. Arrested May 1919 with two other members for “alleged conspiracy to overthrow by force the Government of the United States” based on a manifesto they were distributing that called for revolution, but case thrown out by the judge. Deported as anarchist August 1920. Subsequent activities unknown, but may have later been active in anarchist movement in Argentina and/or Uruguay.

INS file 54709/16; FBI files OG 389193 and OG 8000-357909

Arthur Stanley Cattell (aka Kotel)

Born 1886, London, England. Plumber. Migrated to US 1911. Former member of the Socialist Party of America; member and treasurer of West Philadelphia branch of the Communist Party of America. Deported September 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54811/490; FBI file OG 380747

Michele Centrone

Born 1879, Puglia, Italy. Carpenter. Joined Socialist Party of Italy, 1897; gravitated to anarchists 1900. Migrated to US 1903. In San Francisco, collaborated on anarchist papers La Protesta Umana and Nihil; distributor of Cronaca Sovversiva. Member anarchist Volontá Group; secretary of Latin Branch of Local 95 of United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (AFL). Arrested May 1918; deported March 1920.

After Mussolini took power in 1922, Centrone returned to US via Mexico, but apprehended and deported again. 1924 fled to France; arrested and expelled 1928. Spent time in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg; illegally returned to France 1931. Involved in antifascist exile organizations, including Giustizia e Libertà; implicated in plots to assassinate Mussolini; correspondent for US anarchist papers, including L’Adunata dei Refrattari. 1936, at age 57, volunteered to fight in Spanish Civil War as part of anarchist Ascaso Column. Killed in action August 28, 1936.

INS file 54379/330; FBI file OG 321621; CPC busta 1243

See also: Mario Gianfrate and Kenyon Zimmer, Michele Centrone, tra vecchio e nuovo mondo: Anarchici pugliesi in difesa della libertà spagnola

Antonio Cesco (Chesco)

Born 1882, Bellano, Italy. Miner. Migrated to US 1904. Not radical in Italy. Former Socialist Party member; individualist anarchist; distributor of Cronaca Sovversiva. Coal miner in Pennsylvania then Ohio. Member, United Mine Workers. Arrested Yorkville, Ohio, while in hospital with injured leg from mining injury. Deported February 1920.

Arrested upon arrival in Italy, then amnestied. Emigrated with family in 1922 for work. First he went to Germany, then 1924 to France where he settled in Lyon, where “although known for his antifascist sentiments,” he was not politically active.

INS file 54379/401; CPC busta 1274

Boris Cevetsky (Sckiwitsky)

Born 1885, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Immigrated to US 1913; dishwasher. Early 1919 joined Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party , which transferred into the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920; held at Wort Wayne. Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/985

Yakov Cewook (Yakow; Gewook; Tsiwuh)

Born 1886, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1911. Wife and two children in Russia. Joined Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio, 1918. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/540

Alexandr “Sasha” Chernov (Александр Чернов, Alexander Chernoff; aka Vasiley Vasilitt; aka Lightner)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Chernoff.jpg

Born 1896, Samara, Russia. Machinist. Migrated to US 1913. Member of both Union of Russian Workers and IWW; lecturer for URW. Arrested March 1919 in Waterbury, Connecticut, and sentenced to six months in prison for violation of the Espionage Act; after release “actively engaged in pernicious propaganda.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/117; FBI file OG 8000-363703

See also: Lazar Lipotkin, The Russian Anarchist Movement in North America

George Chernov (Chernoff; Chernove; Chernova; Obernoff)

Born 1893, Kherson, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Mechanic. Migrated to US 1913. Joined Branch no. 2 of the Union of Russian Workers in Detroit, 1917. Employee of Ford Motor Company, where arrested November 1919. Deported November 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/285

Ivan Chernyavsky (Иван Чернявский; John Cherniawsky; Chermiansky)

Chernyavsky’s URW membership card (which he attempted to rip up during arrest)

Born 1894, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Machinist. Migrated to US 1912. Member of Union of Russian Workers, in Jackson, Michigan. Arrested Detroit October 1918. Deported January 1921. Subsequent activities unknown; possibly anarchist Chernyavsky arrested in Petrograd 1923.

INS file 54709/465; FBI file OG 375427

Dixon to Dyachuk

Samuel H. Dixon

Born 1877, Sunderland, England. Sailor; baker. Migrated to US 1897. Joined IWW circa 1909; IWW delegate and organizer; secretary of Seattle IWW branch. Arrested “at least five or six times in connection with his I.W.W. activities.” As sailor, shipped to India, China, Japan, Singapore, Samoa, and the Philippines. Arrested Seattle, July 1918. Deported June 1919.

INS file 54379/503

Wincenty Dmowski (Vincenty Druowski)

Born 1885 in Russian Poland. Polish. Migrated to US 1914. Member of the Communist Party of America. Arrested Detroit, January 1920. Initially ordered deported to Poland, then allowed “voluntary departure” to Russia, October 16, 1920.

INS file 54709/836

John W. Dobrinich

Born 1892, Austria-Hungary (in present-day Croatia). Croatian. Migrated to US 1910. Laborer. Joined the Socialist Labor Party. Arrested Missouri, 1919 or 1920. Deported to Croatia 1925.

INS file 54861/376

See also: American Labor Year Book, 1926

Peter Dolgay (Dolgag; Dowhay)

Born 1880, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Metal worker. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and three children in Russia. Member of the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio. Arrested August 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/543

Victor Dombrowski (Dombrivski; aka Douglas Dombrowski)

Dombrowski’s Socialist Party membership card

Born 1871, Telsha, Russia (present-day Lithuania). Lithuanian. Laborer. Not radical in Russia. Migrated to US 1900. Arrested in Chicago circa 1914 and served 3 years in prison for “assault with intent to kill.” Joined Socialist Party of America and IWW; left IWW 1918; then joined Communist Party of America in 1919. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920, in Chicago. Deported to Lithuania May 14, 1920.

INS file 54809/19; FBI files OG 385518 and OG 388575

Harry Dorosh (aka Mike Dorash, Gerasim Dorosh, Mike Smith)

Born near Brest Litovsk, Russia (present-day Belarus), 1893. Immigrated to the US 1913. Wife and child in Russia. Machinist. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Ansonia, Connecticut in March 1919, and became branch secretary. Arrested June 1919. Deported to Russia January 1921.

INS folder 54616/252

Konstantin Demyanovich Draco (Константин Демьянович Драко)

Born 1888, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and son in Russia. Joined New London, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers, 1919. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/373; FBI file OG 388601

Sidor Drankovich (Cedar)

Born 1880 in Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US in 1913. Autoworker. Lived in Hamtramck. 1919 joined Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party, which later that year became Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920.; held at Fort Wayne. Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54589/983

Dionisy Drichetz (Dennis Drichitz)

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

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

See also: The Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey), December 23, 1920

Sergey Drigov (сергей дригов; Drigoff)

Financial secretary of the Seattle branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Deported February 1921.

FBI file OG 388594

Alexandr Dubarev (Александр Дубарев, Alexander Dubareff)

Deported to Russia February, 1921.

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

Ivan Dubov (Иван Дубов, John Duboff)

Born 1885, Feodorovka, Russia. Migrated to US 1912. First joined Union of Russian Workers in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, circa 1914; then active in branches in New York and then Detroit. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Told immigration agents, “Of course, I am an anarchist…I do not acknowledge any government.” Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/97; FBI file OG 381656

Petr Dubovik (Петр Дубовик)

Deported to Russia January 1921.

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

Ivan Dudinsky (John Dudinsky)

Dudinsky’s Communist Party membership card

Born 1889, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Date of migration to US unknown. Former member of the Russian branch of the Socialist Party of America, then joined the Communist Party of America. Arrested Newark, New Jersey. Detained for 101 days, while suffering from tuberculosis, and refused to answer any questions without a lawyer, which was not provided. Deported December 23, 1920.

1923 immigrated to Canada and settled in Quebec. In 1935 requested readmission to the US to visit his brother and acquaintances, but denied.

INS file 54810/346

See also: 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 (Антон Дудка; Antonio; Tony)

Born Podolsk, Russia, 1894. Polish. Migrated to Canada 1914, then to US 1918. Blacksmith, handyman. Chairman of Buffalo’s East Side Russian Branch. Arrested January 7, 1920. Denied all allegations. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54809/443

Serge Dukhane

Born Chernigov, Russia (present-day Chernihiv, Ukraine), c.1892. Migrated to US 1913. Tailor. Wife and child in Russia. Member of the Socialist Labor Party. Arrested in Pittsburgh, January 1920. Affirmed his belief in Communism and Bolshevism, but denied being a member of the Communist Party. Deported to Russia, February 1921.

INS file 54860/646

Alex Dulchewski (Dulchewsky; Dulchavsky)

Born 1891, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1909. Laborer. Member of the Communist Party of America in Detroit. Arrested January 1920. Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54860/808

Michael Dunetz (Mike)

Born 1885, Vilensky, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1912. Carpenter for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. Member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920; held at Fort Wayne. Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/988

Wladyslaw Dwanowsky (Walter Jazonski)

Born c. 1884 in Lublin, Russia (present-day Poland). Polish. Arrested in Russia for going “on a furlough without permission.” Migrated to US 1914. Bricklayer. Member of Communist Party in Hamtramck, Michigan, where arrested January 1920. Arrested previously or handing out May Day flyers. Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/610

Paul Dyachuk (aka Pavel Deonesieff)

Born Kiev, Russia (present-day Belarus) c.1882. Migrated to US 1903. 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. Deported to Russia, February 1921.

INS file 4860/402

Graves to Gusko

Thomas Graves

Born Haverigg, England. Miner. Migrated to US 1913. One of the striking miners “deported” from Bisbee, Arizona to the New Mexico desert, July 1917. Joined IWW’s Metal Mine Workers Branch 65, Local No. 800, Bisbee, January 1918; became organizer for IWW and returned to Bisbee to reestablish IWW branch. Arrested May 1918 for “vagrancy.” Arrested 1918 in Globe, Arizona, for violating the Espionage Act. Again arrested Globe in April 1919. Deported June 1919.

In a confiscated letter, Graves wrote to a friend, “I have been trying to figure our this democracy for a long time but the only answer that I can come to is if you don’t do as I tell you, you must go to the can, therefore I don’t want any more of it, and the sooner they send me back to the lands of the Kings the better.” Continued working as a miner in England, then circa 1929 migrated to colonial Rhodesia (present-day Zambia), where he “acquired a reputation as a gun-totting firebrand” and was a founding member and shop steward of a whites-only miners’ union. Migrated back to England in 1939 after “after being sacked for attempting to instigate a wildcat strike, threatening the mine manager and brutally assaulting an African miner (all in the same week).” Died 1966. 

INS file 54616/87

Additional information supplied by Duncan Money.

Pavel Grib (Paul; Gribb; Greb)

Born 1887, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Machinist, laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Wife and two children in Russia. 1919 joined the IWW and the Union of Russian Workers branch in Seattle; became URW branch financial secretary. Arrested February 7, 1920, as lumber camp near Ashford, Washington. Deported to Russia February 1921.

INS file 54860/444; FBI file OG 372555

Seodor Grigoreko or Grigorenko

Born 1895, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Migrated to US 1913. Joined Russian Branch No. 3 of Socialist Party of America in Detroit 1918, which then transferred into the Communist Party of America. Arrested Detroit during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported January 1921.

FBI file OG 385764

Nikolai Grishko (Grishco; Nicholas Hrishco)

Born 1898, Minsk, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Steel worker. Migrated to US 1914. 1918 joined Russian Branch no. 1 of the Socialist Party of America in Baltimore; transferred into Communist Party of America, of which he became recording secretary. Arrested January 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.

INS file 54809/655; FBI files OG 8000-383428 and 377436

Alfred Groener

Born Germany 1898. Laborer. Migrated to US 1914. Arrested Portland, Oregon, January 1918. Had two IWW pamphlets in his possession, but no evidence that he was a member. Interned as an “enemy alien.” “Voluntary departure” in exchange for release, June 1919.

INS file 54379/80

Adolph Gross (or Grosse)

Born 1860, Mainz, Germany. Jewish. Farmer; teamster; news vendor. Migrated to US 1882. Wife (Carrie Gross), seven children, two grandchildren in US. Anarchist; family lived at anarchist Home Colony in Washington since 1903. Opened a newsstand in Tacoma, Washington, circa 1918. Arrested late 1919; sentenced to 28 months in McNeil Island federal prison under Espionage Act for selling “seditious” literature (even though the war had already ended). Deported December 1921 (the oldest known Red Scare deportee), without being allowed to contact family or bring any money or belongings.

Settled in Hamburg. His daughter reported in 1922: “it is killing him to live in idleness over there and he says unless he has a few hundred dollars he cannot do anything.”

INS file 54861/406; FBI file OG 8000-381731

See also: Elizabeth Gurley Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society; The Nation, October 19, 1921

Janos (“John”) Grunzweig

John Grunzweig

Born 1900, Schöndorf, Austria-Hungary (present-day Frumușeni, Romania). German speaker. Cabinetmaker. Migrated with parents and siblings to US 1910 to join father already there. Joined Communist Party of America; father kicked him out of the house in Tonawanda, New York. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported May 1920.

However, when disembarked in Athens, Greece, arrested and put in jail for two weeks; Romanian consul refused him entry because his place of birth was not part of Romania at that time, and Hungary also denied he was a citizen. Released and worked odd jobs in Greece for three months, then stowed away on a Canadian-bound ship in Greece; jumped ship and traveled from Montreal to Tonawanda, where he lived with his father and was arrested May 1921. March 1922 ordered free on bail due to government’s inability to deport him. Labeled “A Man Without a Country” by the American press. By 1940 was a naturalized citizen. Died Buffalo, New York, 1984.

INS file 54811/755; FBI files OG 388225 and BS 202600-1932

See also: Buffalo Times, December 13, 1922; https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/106691432/person/200183622090/story

Ivan Gushchia (Иван Гущя; John; Gushchla)

Laborer. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

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

Martin Gunderson

Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls), September 10, 1918

Born Norway c. 1890. Migrated to US 1907. IWW member in Aberdeen, South Dakota. November 1918 indicted with fellow IWW member Stanley Brown on federal charges for allegedly sending phosphorous through the US mails intended for arson; sentenced to two and a half years at Leavenworth. At trial, admitted to burning down the barn of the Aberdeen chief of police. Deported to Norway September 4, 1919.

See: Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls), November 15, 1917, September 10, 1918, and August 5, 1919; New Solidarity, September 20, 1919.

Ivan Gushchia (John; Gushchany; Gushia)

Gushchia’s URW membership card

Born 1897, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Joined Bridgeport, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers September 1919. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/380

William Gusko (Jusko)

Born Grodno region, Russia (present-day Belarus), 1894. Migrated to US 1914. Wife in Russia. Punch press operator. Joined the Communist Party in Detroit, December 1919. Arrested January 1920. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54859/968

Isaacson to Jackson

Gussie Isaacson (Gussie Itzickson; née Denenberg)

Born 1895, Pinsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Housewife. Jewish. Migrated to US 1906. Became anarchist in New York; involved in Francisco Ferrer Center. Common-law marriage to fellow anarchist Jacob Isaacson. After Jacob was ordered deported in 1920, she swore an affidavit that “I am an anarchist, and a believer and advocate of anarchism,” in order to be deported along with him. “Voluntary departure” to England, June 1922, with Jacob. Returned to US circa 1924 under maiden name, Denenberg. Naturalized between 1930 and 1940. When interviewed in 1970s, stated: “Anarchism is a way of life, no matter what your view is of human nature. No authority over you, no slaved under you–that’s the anarchist life.” Died 1983.

INS file 54616/202

See also: Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America

Jacob (“Jack”) Isaacson (Jacob Itzickson; aka Jacob Denenberg)

Born 1896, Libau, Russia (present-day Latvia). Laborer; locksmith; editor. Laborer, locksmith, editor. Jewish. Migrated to US 1908 with mother and sister. Became anarchist in New York; active in Francisco Ferrer Center, where he became known as “the Rabbi.” Helped publish Revolt (1916) and Freedom (1919). Common-law marriage to fellow anarchist Gussie Denenberg. Arrested May 1919 for antiwar article in Freedom, for which he took responsibility (although he was not the author). Indicted for violation of the Espionage Act (even though the war had ended); 1920 case dropped in exchange for a warrant of deportation. While on bail, he edited The Hotel Worker, organ of the syndicalist International Federation of Workers in the Hotel, Restaurant, Lunchroom, Club, and Catering Industry. “Voluntary departure” to England, June 1922, with Gussie. Returned to US 1924 via Canada, under wife’s maiden name, Denenberg. Opened grocery store in Washington DC. Naturalized between 1930 and 1940, but this brought his true identity to the attention of immigration authorities, who hounded him and threatened him with deportation, driving him to commit suicide in 1946.

INS file 54616/202; FBI file OG 281175

See also: Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America

Andrew Iswashko

Deported to Austria, September 1920. No further information found.

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

George Ivanov (Evenov)

Born 1889, Russia. Laborer. Member of the Communist Party in Bayonne, New Jersey. Deported December 1920. No further information found.

FBI file BS 202600-601

See also: Butte Daily Bulletin, December 29, 1920

Dmitry Ivanyuk (Дмитрий Иванюк, Dimitri Iwaniuk; aka James Nouvak)

One of the circulars Ivanyuk was distributing when arrested

Born 1882, Brodna, Russia (present-day Poland). Migrated to US 1912. Wife and child in Russia. Arrested April 1919 in Camden, New Jersey, for distributing radical circulars calling for a general strike on May First to free all political prisoners. His exact political affiliation is unclear. Arrested again November 1919 in Philadelphia. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/173

Dmytro Iwankiw (Dmitri Iwankiu; Iwankow; Ivanikiv)

Born Stańkowa, Russia (present-day Poland), 1884. Migrated to US via Canada in 1913. Salesman, journalist, steelworker. May have joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1917 (he denied this after first attesting to it). June 1919 recruited by the Armesworthy and Cavitt Detective Agency in Pittsburgh on behalf of the Youngstown Sheet & Tool Company to work as an informant against Russian radicals employed by the company. As part of this work, he joined the Socialist Party and then the Communist Party of America, cofounding becoming financial secretary of East Youngstown Ukrainian Branch No. 32 of the CP. His reports were shared with the Bureau of Investigation offices in Cleveland. First arrested November 7, 1919 during raids on URW, but released after identity revealed. Arrested again January 2, 1920, in raid on Communist Party members. Assured by Department of Justice agent J.F. Sawkin that he would be deported to Russia to allay suspicions and then allowed to reenter the US. Bail paid for by the Youngstown Sheet & Tool Company, but arrested in Youngstown for operated an illegal alcohol still on March 26, 1920. Claimed he was held in solitary confinement and “starved” for about two weeks to extract an incriminating confession. Then held at Deer Island. Spent more than a year in detention and assaulted by other detainees for being an “agent provocateur,” and had to be placed in a separate cell for his own protection. Deported May 19, 1921.

INS file 54860/901; FBI file BS 212986

Jacob Jackotonsky (Jacknowsky; Jakov Zukatansky)

Born 1891, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Shoemaker. Migrated to US 1912. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio in 1919. Literate and widely read. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/201

Herbert Harold Jackson

Born 1900, Hull, England. Sailor; laborer. Migrated to US 1917 (jumped ship). Joined IWW soon after arrival, in August 1917; arrested several times for IWW activities. “My reason for joining the I.W.W. was because I realized that I was not master of my own economic living and that I was opposed to being enslaved in the machine of production. I believe the worker is entitled to all he produces.” Arrested in Seattle, December 1918, for distributing IWW’s Defense Bulletin. Deported February 1919. Upon arrival to England, all IWW literature confiscated, placed under surveillance, and told not to speak in public. May 1921 migrated to Canada “intending in some way to reach the United States from there.” Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54547/15; FBI file OG 347558

See also: Rebel Worker, April 15, 1919

Martzin to McPherson

Mary Martzin

Born c.1898, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Housewife. Anarchist and URW member since 1918. Wife of fellow deportee Vincent Martzin. Two children–one two years old and one six months old–when detained. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 55009/16

Vincent Martzin

Born 1893, Russia. Migrated to US 1914. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1916. New York. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Pregnant common-law wife and infant child left behind in US.

INS file 54709/276; FBI file OG 378318

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

Pietro Marucco (Peter; Marrucho)

Born Maggiora, Italy, circa 1885. Miner. Migrated to US 1905. Joined the anarchist “Demolizione” Group in Latrobe, Pennsylvania; a supporter of Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva. Arrested May 20, 1918. Deported February 22, 1919. Although reported to be in perfect health at the time of his deportation, he died at sea March 8, 1919. Officially the cause of death was “pneumonia following influenza” and he was buried at sea, but his comrades suspected that he was thrown overboard.

INS file 54379/378

See also: Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background

Kazis Maskalunas (Казис Маскалунас; Kasimir Maskaljunas; Kaziz Maskilunas; Maskalunae)

Born 1894, Kovno, Russia (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania). Lithuanian. Lumber worker. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers 1916; joined IWW 1917. Arrested January 1918 in Seattle when inquiring at US Immigration office after a friend who had been detained; held without hearing for three months and then transferred to jail in Ellensburg, Washington, where finally examined. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54379/101

Bartolomeo Massullo (Massulo)

Born 1881, Bagnoli, Italy. Laborer. Already an anarchist in Italy. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and three children in Italy. Member of Seattle’s Circolo di Studi Sociali; distributed Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva and corresponded extensively with its leading figures. Arrested November 1917. Under interrogation, provided names and addresses of members of the Circolo. Deported July 10, 1919.

Italian government surveillance reported no radical activities. 1923 emigrated to Canada, from there illegally reentered the US in 1929 and settled in Hayward, California. Still not active in politics.

INS file 54616/19; CPC busta 3143

See also: Gianfranco Cresciani, “Exploitation, Emigration and Anarchism: the Case of Isidoro Alessandro Bertazzon,” Altreitalie no. 46 (January-June 2013); Giuseppe Galzerano, Andrea Salsedo: vita, galera e morte dell’editore anarchico “suicidato” dalla polizia americana

Filimon Matera (William; Molorik)

Born Chernihiv Oblast, Russia (present-day Ukraine) 1881. Active in the revolutionary movement in Russia since 1905. Migrated to US 1913. Laborer. Wife and children in Russia. Joined the URW and the IWW in Seattle. Arrested January 1920. Deported to Russia February 2, 1921.

INS file 54860/420

Pavel Matesky (Павел Матеский; Paul)

Born Mogiliev, Russia (present-day Belarus), c.1889. Immigrated to US 1914. Weaver. Joined the URW in Waterbury CT in October 1917. Became eecretary of URW branch in Montville, CT. Admitted to being an anarchist and advocating the overthrow of all governments through force and violence. Also a member of the IWW. Arrested January 19, 1920. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54861/11

Elia Matuska

Born 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1912. Machinist. Joined the Socialist Party, then a charter member of Chicago’s Karl Marx Branch No. 4 of the Communist Party, and served as branch librarian. Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/4

James Maundeloe

Born 1895, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. 1919 joined the Greensburg, Pennsylvania branch of the Union of Russian Workers, but claimed he was expelled when he briefly became owner of a butcher shop. Participated in 1919 strike at American Sheet and Tinplate Company. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/431

Donald McPherson (aka Edgar Dunn)

Born 1898, Leeds, England. Scottish. Sailor. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the IWW circa 1915. Arrested September 9, 1918 in Seattle. When asked about his thoughts on the Soviet government, replied: “It is all right.” At his second immigration hearing, he refused to answer any questions. Deported July 12, 1919. (Note: Not to be confused with the Donald McPherson of the Sydney Twelve trial of IWW members in Australia.)

INS file 54517/54

Metcalfe to Miller

Sidney Metcalfe (Sydney)

Born 1893, Leeds, England. Laborer. Migrated to US 1906 (age 13) with family. Became a “hobo” laborer; “I had a thousand different jobs” in the US and Canada. Joined the IWW in 1916 in Salina, Kansas. Served one year in Pierce County (Washington) Jail for refusing to register for the draft–“In my estimation it was just an employers’ edict to go and fight for them.” Arrested in Tacoma, Washington, February 1919 while posting IWW stickers along waterfront. Deported June 21, 1919.

Upon arrival asked if he intended “to carry on I.W.W. propaganda in England;” replied: “Yes, if conditions are no better than they were in America,” but later noted, “the real wobblies I have been deported with, seem to find no outlet for I.W.W. activities [in England].” Became admirer of socialist George Lansbury, and worked as a docker in Liverpool.

INS file 54517/88; FBI file OG 8000-382412

Nicholas Michels

Member of the Communist Labor Party. Deported to Hungary 1921. No further information found.

FBI file OG 381688

Frederik Michkov (Фредерик Мичков; Fred Mechcoff; Michcov; Mihaitch)

Deported to Russia January 22, 1921. No further information found.

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

Kalenik Migura (Kalymnyk)

Born 1885, Russia. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Northampton Heights (present-day Bethlehem), Pennsylvania, and became its secretary. Arrested February 1920. Deported January 22, 1921.

FBI file OG 381865

Nikolai Mikhaelov (Николай Михайлов; Nicholas Mihaeloff; Mikeloff; Michaelov; aka Peter Lund; Fritiak)

Born 1893, Petrograd, Russia. Sailor; machinist. 1914 enlisted in British Army; fought in France, where injured and discharged; returned to Russia 1915 and drafted into Russian Army; deserted 1916 and migrated to England, the US, Cuba, and then, in 1917, the US again. (According to another source, however, leader of an anarchist gang that took part in “expropriations” in Petrograd in 1916 and fled to US after two members killed and he was injured in the hand.) Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Newark; 1919 also joined the IWW. Arrested March 1919; released on bail; expelled from the URW after his common-law wife, Celia Fisher, “had made overtures to the Police of Newark to furnish information.” Nevertheless, he remained “anxious to return to Russia to take part in the over-throw of Lenine [sic] and putting in effect pure anarchy.” Deported on the Buford. Wife and seven-year-old child remained in US and requested to be allowed to leave for Russia.

INS file 54616/106

Grigory Mikhalevich (Григорий Михалевич; Gregory Michaelevitcz; Nicholavitch; Michailevich; Michalkovich)

Born 1886, Russia. Migrated to US 1910. Joined Russian Branch No. 6 of the Communist Party of America in New York. Deported December 23, 1920.

INS file 54859/199

Gavril Mikhnevich (Гаврил Михневич; Hawril Michnewitz; Michniewich; Gavrilo)

Mikhnevich’s URW membership card

Born 1886, Kremno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Russia. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Hartford, Connecticut in August 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/421

Julius Miller (Юлиус Миллер)

Born 1894, Dvinsk, Russia (present-day Latvia). Migrated to US 1915. Laborer. IWW member and delegate. Arrested Detroit, January 1920; held at Fort Wayne. While on bail moved to Cleveland, where arrested September 8, 1920 for distributing IWW literature. Held in the county jail for more than a year; immigration inspector reported he “has been in the county jail a long time and complains that his health is breaking down on account of the confinement and he looks very bad physically.” Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54860/32

Samuel Miller (Sholem Melamed; Schulim)

Born 1897, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Jewish. Laborer. Migrated to US 1914. IWW; anarchist. Employee of Sears, Roebuck and Company. in Chicago. Arrested July 1917. When asked his nationality, replied: “Well, I am international. I don’t belong in any nationality. I am born of Jewish parentage in Russia.” Clarence Darrow acted as his attorney, and unsuccessfully argued that a “philosophical anarchist” and pacifist like Miller did not properly fall under anarchist exclusion laws. Deported December 23, 1920.

INS file 54235/36-A

Roberts to Roy

Vasily Roberts (Wasily; Robertz; Robetz)

Roberts’ Communist Party membership card

Born c.1882, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to Canada 1915, then to US 1917. Member of the Socialist Party, then Philadelphia’s First Russian Branch of the Communist Party. Arrested January 7, 1920. Deported to Russia February 1, 1921.

INS file 54811/947; FBI file OG 382735

Jack Robey

IWW member arrested in Sand Point, Idaho, 1918; released then rearrested; deported October 28, 1919.

See: One Big Union Monthly, March 1920

Alfred Robinson

Born 1893, Chislehurst, England. Laborer. Migrated to US 1905. Worked throughout the US and Canada. Joined the IWW’s Metal and Machinery Workers’ Industrial Union No. 300 in July 1919. Arrested in Detroit during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported March 27, 1920.

INS file 54709/578; FBI file OG 8000-385119

Abraham Rodríguez (Abram Rodríguez)

Abraham Rodríguez, by Ralph Chaplin. Labadie Collection

Born in Mexico. Miner, labor organizer, and poet. 1911 formed PLM group in Del Valle, Texas, and reportedly served as “a colonel in the rebel army that overthrew the dictatorship in Mexico” before returning to work as a miner in Miami, Arizona, where he belonged to IWW Local 800 and was chairman of its grievance committee. Indicted in the federal IWW trial in 1917 and arrested in Valedon, New Mexico, following an armed standoff with authorities. The charges against him were dropped in exchange for his deportation to Mexico.

Continued to be active in the IWW in Mexico.

FBI file Misc 18346

Juan Rodríguez

Born Asturias, Spain, 1889. Immigrated to the US in 1916. IWW member. Arrested in Philadelphia, 1919. Deported to Spain.

INS file 54648/28

Konstantin Romanchuk (Константин Романчук; Konstan; Konstanti)

Born 1895, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1915. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut, circa July 1919; became its secretary. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/396; FBI file OG 376791

Gavril Romanovich (Гавриил Романович; Gabriel)

Born 1896, Vilna Governorate, Russia (present-day Lithuania?). Laborer. Migrated to US 1915. Joined the Russian Federation of the Socialist Party of America; 1919 transferred into of the Russian Branch of the Communist Party of America; became secretary of its branch in Waterbury, Connecticut. Arrested March, 1920 during raid on branch headquarters. Deported February 1, 1921.

INS file 54709/462; FBI file OG 379909

Jesus Romo

Los Angeles Times, June 11, 1919

Thursday morning and wil? join in the petition that the Westlake

Born in Mexico, c. 1884. Laborer. Immigrated to US 1916, returned to Mexico 1918, then returned to US. Joined the IWW in Los Angeles February 1919 and immediately became a delegate for its General Recruiting Union, but was probably previously a member in Morenci, Arizona, where his father Cleofas and brother Guadalupe were also IWW activists. Arrested June 9, 1919, after distributing IWW literature outside of an employment agency. Stated that he “was born an anarchist.” Deported August 18, 1919.

After his deportation, continued his IWW membership and organizing in Guadalajara, Mexico.

INS fil 54616/232; FBI file OG 363737

Angel Roncal

Born 1896, Spain. Reportedly “spent some time in South America.” Migrated to US 1916. Sailor. Member of the Niagara Falls, New York branch of the IWW. Arrested September 1918 for failing to register for the draft; IWW literature discovered in his possession. February 1919 released from jail after five months without trial; immediately detained by immigration authorities for deportation. Deported circa July 1, 1920.

See: Buffalo Commercial, February 1 and 3, 1919; Buffalo Times, February 20, 1919; Cattaraucus Republican, March 27, 1919; Buffalo Express, April 30, 1919; Illustrated Buffalo Express, June 22, 1919

Maxim Rosak (Максим Росак; Max; Roosak)

Rosak’s Communist Party membership card

Born c.1887, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1912. Driller. Former member of the Russian Federation of the Socialist Party of America in Philadelphia; 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 7, 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.

INS file 54811/948; FBI file OG 379897

Savely Roshkov (Савелий Рошков; aka Charles Roshko)

Roshkov holding a copy of the URW newspaper Khleb i Volia. Source: Roshkov’s INS file

Born 1893, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Machinist. Migrated to US 1912. Employed by Singer Manufacturing Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut; member of International Association of Machinists, Local No. 30; participated in 1919 wildcat strike. Member of the Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport. Arrested February 12, 1920. Deported January 22, 1921.

INS file 54861/143; FBI file OG 382709

Mikail Rosnak (Микаил Роснак; Michael Rosnack; Bosnack)

Born 1897, Bukovina, Austria-Hungary (present-day Romania). Ukrainian. Blacksmith’s helper. Migrated to Canada 1913; expelled as an “enemy alien” and migrated to US 1917. 1919 joined Branch No. 6 of the Union of Russian Workers in Detroit. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Testified that the detective who arrested him said he should be sent back to Russia, called him “worse than a nigger,” and gave him “a smash in the face.” Deported to Romania, March 17, 1920.

INS file 54739/469

Janet Johnstone Roy (Jeanette; Janet Johnstone MacKay)

Born 1895, Milmathort, Scotland. Supporter of the Independent Labour Party before emigration. Laborer. Migrated to US 1916 with her sister, Margaret. Worked in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where joined the Socialist Party of America and then, in July 1917, Textile Workers Industrial Union No. 1000 of the IWW. Moved to Chicago where worked for the IWW’s bindery, then October 1918 moved to Seattle, where arrested with sister in police raid on IWW two days later. Married a Scottish-born Ian V. MacKay on January 21, 1919 to attempt to claim US citizenship and avoid deportation, but deported with her sister regardless on July 23, 1919.

Migrated to British Columbia, Canada, where reunited with husband. Ian died 1941; she died in British Columbia in 1972.

INS files 54379/532 and 54379/532A

See also: Frances H. Early, A World Without War: How U.S. Feminists and Pacifists Resisted World War I; Heather Mayer, Beyond the Rebel Girl: Women and the Industrial Workers of the World in the Pacific Northwest, 1905-1924; Ancestry.com

Margaret Roy (Margaret Ray)

Born 1893, Milmathort, Scotland. Laborer. Migrated to Canada (via US) 1913; 1916 returned to Scotland to collect her sister Janet; 1916 migrated to US. Worked in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where joined the Socialist Party of America and then, in July 1917, Textile Workers Industrial Union No. 1000 of the IWW. Moved to Chicago where worked for the IWW’s bindery, then October 1918 moved to Seattle, where arrested with sister in police raid on IWW two days later. Married and US citizen named Alonzo Ray on January 21, 1919 to attempt to claim US citizenship and avoid deportation, but deported with her sister regardless on July 23, 1919.

INS files 54379/532 and 54379/532A

See also: Frances H. Early, A World Without War: How U.S. Feminists and Pacifists Resisted World War I; Heather Mayer, Beyond the Rebel Girl: Women and the Industrial Workers of the World in the Pacific Northwest, 1905-1924