Carl Ahlteen (or Carl Althén; born Karl Emil Johansson)
Carl Ahlteen, 1918. National Archives.
Born: 1888, Sweden Nationality: Swedish Ethnicity: Occupation: Painter; editor Migration: Immigrated to US 1911 Affiliations: IWW
Editor of the Swedish-language IWW paper Allarm beginning in 1915, and a personal friend of Joe Hill. Arrested in Minneapolis in 1917 and convicted in the federal IWW mass trial; sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment and a $20,000 fine. Studied homeopathy while in prison. Released from Leavenworth in 1923 on condition of deportation; deported January 13, 1923.
In Sweden he joined the syndicalist Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation and spoke at a 1924 memorial meeting for Joe Hill. Later abandoned labor activism, practiced homeopathy in Stockholm, and was convicted of malpractice in 1933 following several patients’ deaths. Subsequently moved to Colombia and the Panama Canal Zone, where he continued his practice until his death in 1948. His widow and son subsequently relocated to California, and interred his ashes in Oakland.
Born: 1893, Vilna, Russia (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Laborer; steelworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliations: Communist Party of America
Settled in Pittsburgh, where he joined Communist Party of America in 1919 shortly after its founding. Arrested in November 1919 and deported on February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/337; FBI file OG 382279
August Allman (or Allmann)
Born: 1870, Obereisenbach, Sankt Julian, Germany Nationality: German Ethnicity: Occupation: Agricultural worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1887 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the IWW at least as early as 1917; arrested in 1918 in Walla Walla, Washington. Like all immigrant IWW members arrested in Washington, charged with promoting illegal destruction of property and being “likely to become a public charge” (despite having $528 in savings). Due to his German nationality, he was interned as an “alien enemy” at Fort Douglas, Utah. Deported on September 25, 1919.
Source: INS file 54379/36
Lars Anderson (or Andersson)
IWW stickers in Anderson’s possession when arrested. National Archives.
Born: 1881, Sweden Nationality: Swedish Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US (via Canada) 1904 Affiliation: IWW
Immigrated in 1904 without inspection and subsequently crossed between the US and Canada several times for work. Joined the IWW in 1916. Arrested in Spokane, Washington, in 1918. In possession of a number of IWW stickers (or “silent agitators”) when arrested. Deported on November 4, 1918.
Sources: INS file 54379/241
Peter Anderson (or Andersson; a.k.a. Peter Martel)
Born: 1885, Sweden Nationality: Swedish Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1908; then to US 1910 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the IWW in 1917 in Montana; later belonged to the Rockford, Illinois IWW Literature Committee. Arrested in 1918 for distributing IWW literature; deported on July 21, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54709/532; FBI file OG 8000-212463
Henning Anderson (or Andersson)
Henning Anderson’s IWW delegate credentials. National Archives.
Born: 1884, Sweden Nationality: Swedish Ethnicity: Occupation: Sailor; laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1908 Affiliation: IWW
Worked a number of jobs between the US and Canada until 1915. Joined the IWW in 1912; became a union organizer and delegate for the IWW’s Lumber Workers Industrial Union. Arrested in Spokane, Washington, in March 1918; deported on November 4, 1918.
Born: 1897, Petrograd, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Seaman; acrobat; actor Migration: Immigrated to US 1915 Affiliation: Anarchist
Worked as a seaman between the ages of fifteen and nineteen before becoming a traveling acrobat and actor. In the United States he met Emma Goldman and maintained regular contact with her; also a vegetarian who opposed the killing of animals. Toured with the variety troupe “The Five Pandurs,” and his American employer reported that he actively disseminated socialist and anarchist literature and ideas while traveling on tour. Andreyev also belonged to the White Rats Actors’ Union of America (an AFL affiliate) and took part in its 1916–17 strike in New York City. He was arrested in Chicago in 1918 after federal agents traced issues of the Mother Earth Bulletin to him. After release on bail, he was deported on January 22, 1921.
Sources: FBI file OG 8000-133039; Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University.
Anton Andronsyuk (or Andronsuk; Androusuk)
Born: 1893, Grodno Province, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1911 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
At the time of his arrest in November 1919, he served as financial secretary of the Buffalo branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/137
Roman Andryuk (or Andriuk)
Born: 1893, Grodno Province, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Sailor (marine fireman) Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1918. Arrested in New York during the Palmer Raids of November 1919, he voiced his support for the Soviet government during interrogation. He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/272
George Angulus (a.k.a. Charles Stern)
Born: c. 1888, Libau, Russia (present-day Liepāja, Latvia) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Latvian Occupation: Carpenter Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A socialist in Russia prior to migrating to the United States; he joined Cleveland’s Lettish Branch No. 1 of the Socialist Party of America, which transferred into the Communist Party of America in 1919. Arrested twice—in December 1919 and again in March 1920—and deported to Soviet Russia on February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54811/4
Antoniy Anisenya (or Anthony Anisienia)
Born: 1887, Sobolki, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Hartford, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested in November of that year, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919. Wife died in childbirth in Russia shortly after his emigration, and he was never reunited with this two children, who were raised by relatives.
Sources: INS file 54709/391; information provided by Katya Anisenya.
Ivan Anotsky (or Onotsky; Onotzky)
Born: 1893, Grodno Province, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Porter Migration: Immigrated to US 1915 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Hoined Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party in Detroit around 1917, and transferred into the Communist Party of America at its founding in 1919. That same year he traveled to Pittsburgh to speak publicly against the anarchists of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested in Detroit during the first Palmer Raids in January 1920, he was described by the city’s Review Committee of Citizens as educated, thrifty, hardworking, and of high intelligence. Deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.
Upon arrival, he reportedly volunteered to help suppress the Kronstadt mutiny, afterward became a commissar, and ultimately fell into disfavor. One account claims he became an alcoholic and “degenerate,” and was sentenced to death for embezzlement, but escaped to Poland.
Sources: INS file 54860/602; FBI file OG 386232; Delo Truda, December 1937-February 1938 (with thanks to Malcolm Archibald)
Fedor Antonchick (or Fred/Frederick)
Born: 1891, Grodno Province, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Longshoreman Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1913; to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Migrated surreptitiously to the United States from Canada in 1914, leaving behind a wife and child in Petrograd. He joined Local 895 of the International Longshoremen’s Association (AFL), and was likely also a member of the Communist Party of America. Arrested in New York on October 20, 1919, during an ILA strike while distributing multilingual Communist Party leaflets, he was arrested again in the November 11 Palmer Raids and once more on November 29 on charges of “criminal anarchy.” He stated that he was not an anarchist but welcomed deportation if he could be sent to rejoin his wife. Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/94
Alexander Antonov (or Antonoff)
Born: c. 1896, Grodno Province, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1913; to US 1916 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW
A member of the both the Union of Russian Workers and the IWW in Pittsburgh, he identified himself as an anarchist. Arrested in Pittsburgh on April 14, 1919, and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54616/135
Vladimir Archuk (or Wladzimar Archiuk)
Born: 1888, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1913; to US 1916 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Served as a corporal in the Russian Army before emigrating to the United States. In 1919 he joined the Union of Russian Workers in Hartford, Connecticut. Arrested during the nationwide raids of November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Born: Year unknown, Germany Nationality: German Ethnicity: Occupation: Construction worker Migration: Year unknown Affiliation: IWW
Organizer and delegate for the IWW’s Local No. 573 of the Construction Workers’ Industrial Union in Seattle. He refused to register for the draft during the First World War and was arrested in February 1919 during a raid on the Seattle IWW headquarters. Charged with “criminal anarchy,” he declined to answer investigators’ questions. Because of his German nationality, he was interned as an “alien enemy” at Fort Douglas, Utah. He was released on condition of “voluntary repatriation” and deported on June 23, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54616/32; FBI file OG 347754
Charles Ashleigh
Charles Ashleigh, 1918. National Archives.
Born: 1889, London, England Nationality: British Ethnicity: English; Jewish Occupation: Clerk; laborer; union organizer; journalist Migration: Immigrated to Argentina 1909; to US 1912 Affiliation: IWW; Communist Party of America
Raised in a middle-class environment, Ashleigh joined the Independent Labour Party at age fifteen, later affiliating with the Fabian Society and the Social Democratic Federation. He served as a secretary of the Fabian Society from 1908 and was active in the socialist Clarion Scouts. At the behest of the ILP, he organized among South Wales coal miners in 1908–9. In 1909 he moved to Buenos Aires to work as a clerk with the Central Argentine Railroad, founded a Socialist Club there, and wrote for the Buenos Aires Herald. After traveling on foot through Argentina, Chile, and Peru, he worked his way as a crew member to Portland in 1912, then regularized his legal status by crossing between Canada and the United States. He became a paid speaker for the Socialist Party of America, but soon aligned himself with the IWW and became a paid organizer. He traveled extensively as a journalist, wrote poetry, and participated in the Rangel-Cline and Everett defense campaigns. Openly gay, he maintained a romantic relationship with African American radical poet Claude McKay. Arrested in 1917, he was a defendant in the federal IWW trial and received a ten-year sentence and a $30,000 fine. He joined the Communist Party while incarcerated, and his sentence was commuted in 1921 on the condition of his voluntary departure on February 7, 1922.
In London, Ashleigh transferred to the Communist Party of Great Britain and worked for the Sunday Worker, Daily Worker, and TASS. In 1922 he was dispatched to India to deliver invitations to the Fourth Comintern Congress but was detained and expelled by British authorities, yet was able to complete his mission. Later that year, he worked as a translator at the Fourth Comintern Congress in Moscow and was asked to establish an American information section for the Red International of Labor Unions, and moved to Berlin in 1923 to work for the RILU. He was arrested and expelled from Germany shortly thereafter. Published his semi-autobiographical IWW novel The Rambling Kid in 1930. Sent to Moscow in 1931 to write for The Moscow News/Moscow Daily News, he was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1934 after being denounced as homosexual by a roommate. He remained a member of the CPGB until his death in 1974, though largely marginalized within it.
Sources: INS file 54235/39-A; Steve Kellerman, “Introduction,” Charles Ashleigh, The Rambling Kid (2004); Kevin Morgan, Gidon Cohen, and Andrew Flynn, 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: c. 1896, Bartninkai, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Deliveryman Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America
Joined the Lithuanian Federation of the Socialist Party of America in December 1913 and remained a member until September 1919, serving as secretary of its Cleveland branch for seven months. Although he claimed Russian citizenship, his deportation warrant was issued for Lithuania. Deported on February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/795
Aurelio Vincente Azuara (or Vicente Azuara)
Born: 1884, Spain Nationality: Spanish Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; miner Migration: Immigrated to Mexico 1907; to US 1912 Affiliation: IWW; anarchist
Migrated to Mexico in 1907 and to the United States in 1912. Joined the IWW in 1913 and became an unofficial organizer. In Los Angeles he edited the unofficial Spanish-language IWW paper El Rebelde (1916–17). Arrested in September 1917, he was a defendant in the federal IWW trial and received a sentence of twenty years and a $10,000 fine. His sentence was commuted on condition of deportation to Spain on March 27, 1923.
Possibly the same Aurelio Vicente Azuara who from Paris requested a visa to visit England on behalf of Spain’s anarcho-syndicalist CNT in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.
Born: 1864, Turin, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1907 Affiliation: Anarchist
An orphan and an anarchist, he was expelled from France in 1904 for unclear reasons. He migrated to the United States in 1907 and settled in Spring Valley, Illinois, where he lived with his wife Domenica Cariglio and their adopted son. A supporter of Cronaca Sovversiva, Umanità Nova (Milan), and Alleanza Libertaria (Rome), he was active in local mining strikes. According to Chicago immigration inspector George E. Schubert, Bagaglino was the “actual leader” and “most outspoken” of the Spring Valley anarchists, and “a forcible speaker.” Deported to Italy on March 16, 1921; his wife intended to sell their home and join him.
He continued to correspond with Italian anarchists in the United States. In 1926 he was arrested by fascist authorities for anti-fascist activities and sentenced to several years of mandato al confino (internal exile in a prison colony). He died in Turin in 1936.
Sources: INS file 54885/18; CPC busta 239; Un trentennio di attività anarchica (1915-1945); L’Adunata dei Refrattari, June 6, 1936.
Simon Bagatchuk (a.k.a. Sam Bush)
Born: 1888, Podolsk, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 (via Canada) Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Seattle branch of the Union of Russian Workers in April 1919. Arrested in Seattle on 17 January 1919, and again on 17 November 1919. Deported on February 1, 1921.
Born: 1897, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US c. 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; Socialist Party of America
Migrated to the United States around 1914 and settled in Detroit, where he joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1916. By 1919 he had relocated to Passaic, New Jersey, and briefly joined the Socialist Party while maintaining URW membership. Arrested in Passaic and deported to Soviet Russia on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54810/845.
Frederick Baker
Born: 1881, Surrey, England Nationality: British Ethnicity: English Occupation: Laborer; clerk Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: IWW
Before immigrating, Baker suffered a significant head injury in 1912 that reportedly affected his behavior. Drafted into the British Army in 1915, he received an honorable discharge following a “nervous breakdown.” After immigrating to the United States, he was arrested in Chicago in 1917 for stealing $80 from a neighbor and spent three months in prison. Arrested in October 1918 as an alleged member of the IWW, a charge he denied but is confirmed by other evidence. Immigration authorities deemed him “mentally defective” but not insane. Although he received a pension from the British Post Office, he was nevertheless deported on March 1, 1919 as “likely to become a public charge.”
Sources: INS file 54552/33; Klasen Kampf (New York), April 1919.
Andrei Balash (or Andrew Balucz)
Born: 1886, Vilna region, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1919. Arrested that November in Ansonia, Connecticut, a substantial collection of Russian-language anarchist literature was found in his room. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/320.
Giovanni Baldazzi
Giovanni Baldazzi, 1918. National Archives.
Born: 1883, Imola, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Printer; electrician; labor organizer; editor Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: IWW; anarchist
Active in Italian anarchist circles by 1903, he wrote for several anarchist papers and advocated the general strike. Repeatedly arrested for labor activism, he shifted in 1906 toward individualist anarchism and spent 1907–1910 moving between England, France, and Italy as a sales representative. Expelled from France in 1912, he again engaged in labor struggles in Italy. In 1914 he collaborated on Utopia, a pro-war, syndicalist-leaning newspaper edited by then-socialist Benito Mussolini.
Migrating to the United States later that year, he joined the IWW, became an organizer for its Bakers’ Union in New York, and contributed to (and later edited) the IWW’s Italian-language newspaper Il Proletario. Arrested in Pennsylvania in 1917 for “pernicious activities” and opposition to conscription, he was a defendant in the 1918 federal IWW trial and received a sentence of ten years and a $30,000 fine. His sentence was commuted in 1922 on condition of deportation on February 21, 1922.
Back in Italy, Baldazzi gravitated to Fascist institutions—working for the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro and later the fascist newspaper La Stirpe—though he never joined the National Fascist Party. 1931–1936 employed as a translator for the Italian National Olympic Committee and the Federazione Internazionale dei Tecnici Agricoli. In 1935, however, he was placed under government surveillance as a suspected antifascist. He began advocating for a liberal-democratic renewal in Europe and petitioned unsuccessfully to emigrate to France in 1936. Died in 1940.
Born: 1895, Zvenyhorodka, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Bookkeeper; salesman; journalist Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW; Communist Labor Party
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Newark in 1915; joined the IWW in 1919; and later joined the Syracuse branch of the Communist Labor Party. Active as an IWW organizer and URW literary agent, he was arrested in 1920. While held in the Cortland County jail, he led a hunger strike of Russian radicals demanding expedited deportation. He was deported to Soviet Russia on February 1, 1921.
S. Barkovsky’s IWW membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1893, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Became an active member of the Socialist Party of America, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the Ansonia, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers. He served as chairman of Luch, a URW front functioning as a mutual-aid society, and was a delegate to the 1919 URW convention. Arrested in June 1919 in Ansonia for “breach of the peace” connected to URW-led strike agitation, and arrested again in Hartford in November 1919, where authorities discovered a large cache of anarchist literature in his home. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/405; FBI file OG 8000-364023.
Stanislaw Bartesiewics (a.k.a. Stanley Barton; Joe Rink, Joe Rynkiewich)
Born: 1888, Lithuanian territrories of the Russian Empire Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
As a young man he shot and killed a woman under unclear circumstances and fled to the United States in 1899, where his wife joined him. That same year he was extradited back to Russia, convicted, and imprisoned for three years and seven months, during which time his wife remained in the United States and divorced him. He re-entered the U.S. in 1915 and joined the Lithuanian section of the Communist Party of America. In Detroit in 1920 he was denounced as a violent Communist to federal agents by his second wife Julia, as well as his brother George and sister-in-law. Arrested during the January 1920 Palmer Raids, he was deported on January 20, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54861/6; FBI file OG 382016.
Ivan Baskevich (or John Baskevich)
Born: 1897, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Though he held socialist ideas in Russia, he had belonged to no organization prior to emigration. Shortly after his arrival he joined the Socialist Party of America and later became financial secretary of Cleveland’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested in January 1920 and deported to Soviet Russia on February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/943.
Aleksandr Ivanovich Batura
Born: Year unknown, Polish territories of the Russian Empire Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: Anarchist; IWW
An anarchist and member of the IWW, he was arrested in Steubenville, Ohio, and deported to Poland on September 10, 1924.
Upon return to Soviet territory he openly criticized living conditions and declared that “only Commissars and not workers live well here.” For these remarks he was sentenced to the Solovetsky prison camp and subsequently to internal exile. In correspondence circa 1927 he wrote to comrades in the U.S. reporting: “The main thing is that I have no work and it is so hard to get anything. I have been actually starving here, moreover, I am sick.” International anarchist networks sent him aid between 1929 and 1931.
Sources:Pittsburgh Gazette Times, September 6, 1924; Senya Fleshin Papers, International Institute for Social History; G. P. Maximoff, The Guillotine at Work: Twenty Years of Terror in Russia (Data and Documents).
Morris Becker
Born: 1885, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1906 Affiliation: Anarchist
Supporter of Alexander Berkman’s The Blast and participated in the No-Conscription League. One of the first individuals arrested under the Selective Service Act of 1917, he received a sentence of one year and eight months in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for interfering with the draft. He described himself as “a man without a country,” an anarchist, and “an advocate of peace and not of force.” Deported on the Buford on January 21, 1919.
In Petrograd he secured factory employment but complained of poor conditions, prompting accusations that he was a “pampered bourgeois” nostalgic for “capitalist America.” After a decade of silence, he sent a coded letter to Alexander Berkman in 1931.
Sources: INS file 54235/32; Emma Goldman, Living My Life; Alexander Berkman Papers, International Institute for Social History.
Max Belesky
Born: 1888, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Carpenter Migration: Immigration to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Left behind a wife and three children in Russia. In Detroit he joined Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party of America, which later became a Communist Party of America branch. Arrested in January 1920, he accepted “voluntary departure” and returned to Russia on October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54859/752.
Emelyan Belesta (a.k.a. Michael, Andrew, or Andriev Belesta)
Born: 1886, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigration to Canada 1912; then to US 1916 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
His wife remained in Russia while he emigrated to Canada. From there he entered the United States without inspection. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Pittsburgh around 1918 and was described as taking a “prominent” role in local radical meetings. Arrested in 1919 in possession of substantial quantities of radical literature, he was released on bail only to be arrested again for distributing a handbill calling for a nationwide general strike “to enforce the the lifting of the blockade against Russia.” He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
He died of typhus in Ufa at an unknown date.
Sources: INS file 54616/134; INS file 54616/89; New-York Tribune, October 4, 1919; Delo Truda, December 1937–February 1938.
Bezil Belousov (or Basil Belusoff)
Born: 1881, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Had a wife and three children in Russia. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1919 and was arrested in Fairmont, West Virginia, that November. Told immigration authorities he had joined the URW while drunk. Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/593.
Demyan Belowky
Born: 1882, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigration to US in 1915 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Communist Party in Detroit and was deported on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54850/994; FBI file OG 382092.
William Bendik (or Bendick)
Flier in Bendik’s possession when arrested. National Archives.
Born: 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigration to US in 1912 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America or Socialist Labor Party
Although he claimed membership in Russian Branch No. 2 of the Socialist Party in Cleveland, authorities noted that he possessed Socialist Labor Party literature at the time of his 1919 arrest. Neither organizational affiliation legally qualified him for deportation. Instead, the case was built on allegations that after the police attacked a 1919 May Day demonstration, he boasted: “We only gave them a demonstration of what we will do July 4th; we will be prepared and have ammunition and everything, and we will show them what we will do.” Deported on December 21, 1919 on the Buford.
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: 1885, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: IWW; anarchist
An anarchist, Berger was involved in “revolutionary groups in Russia” and participated in the 1905 Revolution before migrating to the United States. Shortly thereafter he joined the Industrial Workers of the World. Arrested in Fresno, California, in September 1917 for public drunkenness, he was detained when authorities discovered his IWW membership card. Berger stated: “I hold allegiance to no country. The world is my country…I was a syndicalist since I was a lad of 13 or 14.” He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54407/17.
Otto Berglind (a.k.a. August Berdland)
Born: 1880, Västmanland County, Sweden Nationality: Swedish Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1908; then to US 1913 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1913. Arrested in Everett, Washington, in January 1918 and deported on October 31, 1918.
Sources: INS file 54379/33.
Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman, 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1870, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Laborer; typesetter; editor Migration: Immigrated to US 1888 Affiliation: Anarchist
Born Ovsei Osipovich Berkman into a prosperous Jewish family. Joined the Russian Populist movement as a student. After migrating to the United States, he became an anarchist and a lifelong collaborator of Emma Goldman. In 1892 he attempted to assassinate industrialist Henry Clay Frick in retaliation for the deaths of several steelworkers during the Homestead Strike. He served fourteen years of a twenty-one-year sentence for attempted murder. Upon his release in 1906 he was one of the country’s most prominent anarchists. He later edited Goldman’s Mother Earth and in 1915 established The Blast in San Francisco. A co-founder of the No-Conscription League, he was arrested under the Selective Service Act in June 1917, served two years in federal prison, and was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
In Soviet Russia he and Goldman gathered materials for a projected Museum of the Revolution. Initially critically supportive of the Bolshevik dictatorship, he broke with it completely after the Kronstadt mutiny of 1921, prompting his departure with Goldman later that year. Berkman lived precariously in Germany, France, and other European countries and became an important critic of the Soviet regime, most notably through his book The Bolshevik Myth (1925). He co-founded and served as secretary of the Joint Committee for the Defense of Revolutionists Imprisoned in Russia and was active in the RRelief Fund of the International Working Men’s Association for Anarchists and Anarcho-Syndicalists Imprisoned or Exiled in Russia. In ill health and financial distress, he died by suicide in Nice, France, on June 28, 1936.
Sources: INS file 52410/43; Alexander Berkman, The Bolshevik Myth (Diary 1920–1922); Emma Goldman, Living My Life; Paul Avrich and Karen Avrich, The Anarchist Odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman; Alexander Berkman Papers, International Institute for Social History.
Grigoriy Berko (or Gregory Berko/Berkoff/Bezko)
Born: 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Became a member of the Communist Party branch in Rockford, Illinois. Arrested in Chicago during the January 1920 Palmer Raids, he “voluntarily departed” for Soviet Russia on October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54809/8; FBI file BS 202600-150-1.
Charles Bernat
Born: 1879, Russia (somewhere in present-day Estonia) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Estonian Occupation: Lumber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1902 Affiliation: IWW
Hoined the Industrial Workers of the World around 1908 and became an IWW delegate and organizer. In 1917 he was appointed Secretary of Lumber Workers Industrial Union Local No. 500 in Seattle. Arrested there in June 1918, he was deported on February 1, 1921.
Born: 1896, Austria-Hungary Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Communist Party in Detroit in September 1919. Deported to Austria on May 8, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54860/358.
Mikhail Bilokumsky (or Michael Bilokumsky)
Born: 1892, Andreevka, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: United Communist Party
Member of the United Communist Party (the result of a merger between the Communist Labor Party and part of the Communist Party of America in 1920). Arrested in Philadelphia in January 1921 during the second Palmer Raids, and again in April 1921 while distributing UCP May Day leaflets. Ordered deported to Russia in August 1921 on the basis of the revolutionary content of those handbills. His legal challenge failed before the U.S. Supreme Court in United States ex rel. Bilokumsky v. Tod (1923). Because the Soviet Union no longer accepted deportees from the United States, officials attempted to use a passport issued by the unrecognized “Ukrainian Diplomatic Mission,” but this document was invalid. Although an Immigration Bureau board recommended his release in January 1924 due to the impossibility of lawful deportation, officials nevertheless deported him May 24, 1924.
Routed through Switzerland to the Russian border, he was refused entry. Last reported to be stranded and starving in Vienna.
Sources: INS file 55009/76; Daily Worker, June 19, 1924; Kansas State News (Topeka KS), August 29, 1924.
A list of IWW prisoners and deportees in the IWW’s One Big Union Monthly lists a Bjorkman as having been deported on October 28, 1919. This may be Conrad Bjorkman, a Swedish IWW member and delegate arrested in Seattle in November 1917 for failing to register for the draft, and again in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in March 1919 for “vagrancy.”
Sources: One Big Union Monthly, March 1920; Seattle Star, Novembrer 17, 1919; FBI file MS 15960.
Juan Blanco
Born: Nationality: Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: IWW
Listed in an IWW publication as having been deported sometime before February 1921.
Sources: La Unión del Marino (Buenos Aires), February 1921.
Catherine Hartog Bloom
Born: 1883, Hoogwoud, The Netherlands Nationality: Dutch Ethnicity: Occupation: Housewife Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Not politically active before migration, but joined the Socialist Party of America around 1915 and became treasurer of her Chicago SP local. Transferred to the Ninth Ward branch of the Communist Party of America in October 1919. Married to Nick Bloom, a building-trades worker; the couple owned a home in Chicago and intended to sell it so that he could accompany her back to the Netherlands. Deported on June 11, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54861/120; FBI file OG 381560.
Sergey Bobkov (or Serge Bobkoff/Babkoff)
Born: 1898, Moscow, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Carpenter Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
A member and delegate of the Seattle branch of the Union of Russian Workers. After his brother, Feodor, died in Seattle in 1919, he became the sole supporter of Feodor’s sick wife and daughter. Arrested Seattle, December 1919. Deported on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/431; FBI file 388847.
Sevastyan Bogdanovich (or Sebastian; a.k.a. Sam)
Born: 1892, Grodno Governate, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Arrested in Baltimore in March 1920 after he “nearly caused a riot” by giving a pro-Bolshevik speech in front of Holy Rosary Church. Deported to Poland on February 1, 1921.
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 1882, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Blacksmith Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
A former Russian army conscript, Brodya migrated to the United States in 1913 as an already-committed anarcho‑syndicalist. Settling in Pittsburgh, he joined the Union of Russian Workers and served as secretary of his local branch. He collaborated with fellow activist Frank Belesta in calls for a general strike to force the lifting of the U.S. blockade of Soviet Russia. Immigration authorities considered him “one of the most dangerous Russians in the Pittsburgh district,” and his deportation warrant initially misidentified him as an Italian citizen. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54616/89; New-York Tribune, October 4, 1919.
Abe Brook (or Bruk; Brooks)
Abe Brook, 1919. National Archives.
Born: Born 1893, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Brooklyn branch of the Union of Russian Workers, though he denied membership under interrogation. Around 1918 he married fellow anarchist Clara Kessler. He was arrested in October 1919 while helping organize a protest against the U.S. blockade of Russia, and again during the first Palmer Raids the following month. Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919, his wife publicly protested the deportations and petitioned to be deported herself, but was denied on account of her US birth.
Sources: INS file 54709/273.
Ivan Nicholaevich Brunert (a.k.a. John Brunert or Brunett)
Born: Born 1869, Volhynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Bookkeeper; tailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
His wife and two sons remained in Kiev when he emigrated to the U.S. By 1918 he had joined Baltimore’s Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers and served as its financial secretary. Previously affiliated with an IWW branch of Polish tailors and later with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/109
Ivan Bubenko (a.k.a. John)
Born: Born 1884, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 (via Canada) Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife and child remained in Russia when he emigrated to avoid military service. Joined the Socialist Party of America in 1918 and soon transferred to Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America. Accepted “voluntary departure” on October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54860/22; FBI file BS 202600-712-1.
Anton Budkovsky (or Budkowsky; a.k.a. Antoni Buoty or Buotv)
Born: Born 1884, Pružany, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 (via Canada) Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Entered the U.S. from Canada without inspection. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Detroit in 1917. Arrested in July 1918 after a confrontation between authorities and local Russian radicals, he stated, “I am a sympathizer of the anarchists, but I am not an anarchist…I believe in their teachings.” He “voluntarily departed” on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54554/23.
Fedor Buhay (a.k.a. Frank Bohai)
Born: Born 1893, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US c. 1910 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Born in Russia but raised in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, Buhay was a Belarusian (“Ruthenian”) who joined the Communist Party of America in Buffalo and was deported to Austria on April 14, 1920.
