Meron Daskevitch

Born: 1894, Grodno Governorate, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1914
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

His wife remained in Russia when he emigrated. Became a member of the Communist Party of America in Detroit and was deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54859/965.

Vasiliy Daynega (or Wasily Denega; a.k.a. William)

Born: 1893, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Russia (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Ukrainian
Occupation: Tire maker
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Joined the Communist Party in Detroit in December 1919. Arrested in January 1920 and deported to Russia on February 26, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54859/576.

Andrey Dediushka (a.k.a. Andrew; Andy; Giguska; Diguska)

Born: 1899, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

His wife and two children remained in Russia while he emigrated. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1919 and was arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November of that year. Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/203.

Mikhail Degtyarev (a.k.a. Michael Diaktarow)

Born: 1889, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Joined the Socialist Party of America in Pittsburgh before affiliating with the Union of Russian Workers in Universal, Pennsylvania, in 1917. Served as acting secretary of his URW branch and possessed a large quantity of anarchist literature. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. During interrogation, he expressed a desire to return to Russia because “The work is exceptionally hard here and we are not given the opportunity to learn the English language and customs and therefore I find myself very inconvenient in this country.” Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/217.

Kalistrat Demco (or Demes)

Born: 1892, Brest, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation: Waiter
Migration: Immigrated to US 1914
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Joined the Communist Party of America in Detroit. Arrested in January 1920 and deported to Russia on February 26, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54859/560.

Gerasim Demianoff (or Herasim Demianow)

Born: c. 1897, Branew, Russia (present-day Poland)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Russian
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Employed at Ford Hospital in Detroit. Joined the Socialist Party of America and later the Communist Party of America. Arrested in January 1920, he was detained at Fort Wayne. Expressed a desire to return to Russia and was permitted to “voluntarily depart” aboard the SS Canada from Montreal on September 25, 1920.

Sources: INS file 54811/9.

Ivan Denczyk (a.k.a. John)

Born: 1884, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 (via Canada)
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

His wife and child remained in Russia when he emigrated. Joinedthe Union of Russian Workers in Philadelphia and later in Ansonia, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/325; FBI file OG 8000-383591.

Yakim Denisyuk (or Denisuk; a.k.a. Jack Denison)

Born: 1896, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Toolmaker; weaver
Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

His wife and three children remained in Russia. Joined the Chester, Pennsylvania branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1918. Appointed as the branch’s delegate to the Philadelphia “Soviet of Deputies.” Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. expressed a desire to remain in the United States, and said of Russian government, “before it was dominated by the Germans and now it is ruled by the Jews.” Provided information to authorities about other URW members in hopes of leniency but was nevertheless deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/451.

Alexander Derkach (or Derkatch)

Born: 1885, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Belarusian
Occupation: Printer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

In Russia, arrested for membership in the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party and later became an anarchist in 1911. Migrated to Austria, where he was again arrested, and then immigrated to the United States in 1913.

Joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1915 and was arrested in 1918 for publishing the Russian-language anarchist newspaper Kolokol, edited by Adolf Schnabel. Although he left the URW in 1918, he remained an outspoken anarchist and was arrested again in New York in 1919. Stated to authorities “all governments are based on violence, and supported by an institution of slavery and bayonets.” Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.

In 1920, he signed a declaration of the Union of Russian Anarchist Workers Repatriated from America, which offered critical support for the Bolshevik regime as a temporary necessity.

Sources: INS file 54709/674; Victor Serge, Anarchists Never Surrender: Essays, Polemics, and Correspondence on Anarchism, 1908–1938.

Nello di Ciuccio (a.k.a. Nalia Desiuccio)

Born: 1892, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Tailor
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Anarchist; IWW

An anarchist and member of the IWW, he was arrested in San Francisco in 1919 and deported to Italy on May 5, 1920.

In 1941, Italian authorities reported that he had not engaged in political activity since his return.

Sources: INS file 54379/517; CPC busta 1778.

Vincenzo di Lecce (a.k.a. Ebreo Errante)

Born: 1881, Masera, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1905
Affiliation: Anarchist

Joined the American Federazione Socialista Italiana after its formation in 1906 and left it in 1911. Although he had only two years of formal schooling, he taught himself to read. By 1909, he was contributing funds to Cronaca Sovversiva and later became a founding member of the anarchist Gruppo Autonomo of East Boston, alongside Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Arrested at his home in Athol, Massachusetts, where authorities discovered stolen drills, ammunition, a copy of Luigi Galleani’s bomb-making manual La Salute è in voi!, and correspondence with leading Italian anarchists. He was deported with Galleani on June 24, 1919.

Upon returning to Italy, he was briefly arrested for military desertion but soon released. He married Paoletta Anna in Ancona in December 1919, and the couple emigrated to Buenos Aires in May 1922. There he worked as a mechanic in a textile factory and had three children. In June 1930, he was arrested in Argentina for allegedly harboring members of Severino Di Giovanni’s anarchist group but was released after denying continued involvement in the anarchist movement. In May 1933, Italian authorities classified him as an antifascist subject to surveillance upon return.

Sources: INS file 54379/403; FBI file OG 266288; CPC busta 1794; Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background.

Frank Diarkovsky (a.k.a. Franz Dzerkovskie)

Born: Year unknown, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1904
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Active in the revolutionary movement in Russia before immigrating to the United States in 1904. He later moved to Canada in 1912 and returned to the United States around 1915. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Seattle. When authorities asked his nationality, he replied: “I belong to the world. I deny all nationality.” He further declared: “Only ignorant people don’t believe in anarchy…I believe in taking a big cannon and busting up all governments. They are no good.” Deported to Russia on February 26, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54860/406.

Joaquín Díaz Álvarez

Born: c. 1890, Ribadesella, Spain
Nationality: Spanish
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Restaurant worker
Migration: Immigrated to US unknown year
Affiliation: Anarchist

In 1914 employed as a restaurant worker in Havana, Cuba; affiliated with the Cuban anarcho-syndicalist movement and the newspaper El Dependiente. Subsequently migrated to the United States. Deported to Spain on October 31, 1919.

Sources: El Dipendiente, January 28, 1914; Ministerio de Estado, Spain.