Born: 1872, Mogilev, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Sailor; carpenter Migration: Immigrated to US 1917 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; Workers’ International Industrial Union
Migrated to England in 1914; then to Canada and back to England in 1916. Jumped ship in the United States in 1917. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Buffalo in July 1919 and was also a member of the Workers’ International Industrial Union. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported to Russia aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919. At the time of his deportation, his wife and four children remained in Russia.
Sources: INS file 54709/144; FBI file OG 8000-378509.
Joseph Kish
Born: 1889, Aranyosgyéres, Hungary (present-day Câmpia Turzii, Romania) Nationality: Hungarian Ethnicity: Hungarian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1911 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America; IWW
Joined the Hungarian Federation of the Socialist Party of America around 1912 and became a member of the IWW in 1919. Arrested in Cleveland during the May Day disturbances of 1919 and sentenced to thirty days in the workhouse for disturbing the peace. Arrested again in July 1919, he spent nearly nine months confined in the overcrowded and unsanitary Cuyahoga County Jail while awaiting deportation. Deported on March 21, 1920. At the time, his three children were living in Hungary with his mother.
Sources: INS file 54616/236.
Nikolai Kizer (a.k.a. Nick; Nicholas)
Born: 1896, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Alleged to be the secretary of the Hartford, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, along with his cousin Peter Kizer. Due to an administrative error, Peter was mistakenly sent to Ellis Island while Nikolai remained in the Hartford city jail, but the mistake was later corrected. Nikolai was deported to Russia on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS files 54709/160 and 54709/265; Bruce B. Sherbert, “The Palmer Raids in Connecticut, 1919–1920,” Connecticut Review 5, no. 1 (1971).
Nikolai Klemiatov (or Nicholas Klemiatoff; Kleminatoff)
Nikolai Klemiatov, c. 1920. National Archives.
Born: 1891, Vilna, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Not specified Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to the US 1912 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America; Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party of America in Pittsburgh and transferred to the Communist Party of America in 1919. Arrested in October 1920 and deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54885/48.
Efim Kochovetz (a.k.a. M. Berisoff)
Born: 1888, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer; organizer Migration: Immigrated to US 1907 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York in 1914 and later became secretary of the New London, Connecticut branch, where he also taught arithmetic classes in its school. Arrested in Hartford during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/161.
Efim Kolesnikov (a.k.a. John Kolesnikoff; Joachim)
Efim Kolesnikov (center, standing) with other URW members arrested in New York, November 7, 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1880, Kursk, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Ship reamer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
A widower, Kolesnikov joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York in 1919. He was arrested and beaten during the first Palmer Raids on November 7, 1919, during the raid on the Russian People’s House in New York. Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/454.
Jim Komar (or Jonar)
Born: 1879, Chernihiv, 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 1919. He was arrested in Youngstown, Ohio during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919. His wife and two children remained in Russia.
Sources: INS file 54709/544; FBI file OG 378979.
Pavel Konavalchuk (a.k.a. Paul)
Born: 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1911 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
A member of the Union of Russian Workers in Newark until the organization was broken up in November 1919. Arrested in Newark on January 3, 1920, he openly identified as an anarchist but stated his opposition to violence. Despite having a wife and American-born child in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, he was deported to Russia on February 26, 1921.
Born: c. 1875, Saratov Oblast, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
His wife remained in Russia while he emigrated. In the U.S. he joined the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested in Seattle in December 1919 and deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/526; FBI file OG 389407.
Gregory Koroviansky (a.k.a. George Karoff)
Born: 1891, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Argentina 1912; then to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Buffalo in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919. His wife and child remained in Russia.
Sources: INS file 54709/145.
Anton Korshikov (a.k.a. Tony Korschikoff)
Born: 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Described himself as “a fugitive from Czarism.” He was arrested and beaten while attending an arithmetic class at the Union of Russian Workers’ People’s House in New York during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/455.
Wacław Kosiorek
Born: 1894, Russian Poland Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined Detroit’s Polish Branch No. 8 of the Socialist Party in 1914, which later transferred into the Communist Party. Arrested December 29, 1919 and “voluntarily departed” on October 16, 1920, traveling to Russia via Canada and England.
Sources: INS file 54709/860.
Mike Koslick
Born: c. 1889, Pyatigorsk, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Weaver Migration: Immigrated to US 1911 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party in Philadelphia in 1918 and then the city’s First Russian Branch of the Communist Party in 1919. Arrested in January 1920, he declared, “I am willing to go back to Russia if the Government will deport me.” Seported on February 1, 1921 aboard the SS Estonia. He was married, though records are unclear whether his wife resided in Russia or the United States.
Sources: INS file 54811/936.
Logvin Kostevich (a.k.a. Lenohon or Louis Kostevich)
Born: 1894, Povusk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the “Russian Workmen’s Organization” in Baltimore in 1917 and transferred in 1919 into Branch No. 2 of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/420.
Gabriel Kosticovitch (pr Kosticowitsc)
Born: 1882, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A member of Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America in Detroit. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he “voluntarily departed” the United States via Canada on October 16, 1920.
Sources: FBI file 202600-1380-1.
Konstantin Koszko
Born: c. 1897, Zasieki, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Butcher; meatpacker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Anarchist
Became an anarchist around 1917 and joined the Anarchist-Communist Groups of the United States and Canada. Arrested in Cleveland in February 1921, he defined anarchism by stating: “An Anarchist is a man who understands the ‘Blood-suckers’ of the world and its parasites, who are a menace to society, and understanding that, no man can be anything else but an Anarchist.” Deported to Russia on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/23.
Anton Kotiak
Anton Kotiak’s URW membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1895, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Drafted into the US Army in November 1918 but honorably discharged in March 1919 at his request as an unnaturalized alien. Around September 1919 he joined the Bridgeport, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested in Hartford during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/386; FBI file OG 389393.
Maxwell Kotick (a.k.a. Kotik; Kutick)
Maxwell Kotick’s Communist Party membership card. National Archives
Born: c. 1890, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Clerk Migration: Immigrated to US 1910 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A widower who was literate in English, Yiddish, Russian, and German. He joined the Socialist Party in 1912 and transferred in October 1919 to the Russian Branch of the Communist Party in Philadelphia. Arrested January 2, 1920, he was deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54810/820; FBI file OG 389320.
Dionisiy Ivanovich Koval (a.k.a. Daniel Kowal; Danny Cowas)
Born: 1884, Lutsk Raion, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York in 1919 and escaped arrest during the Palmer Raids on the Russian People’s House in November of that year. He relocated to Waterbury, Connecticut, where he joined the Union of Russian Citizens (an umbrella organization for Russian progressives). Arrested in March 1920, he was deported on January 22, 1921. His wife and two children remained in Russia.
Sources: INS file 54861/332; FBI file OG 384417.
Foma Koval (a.k.a. Tom Coval)
Koval’s Communist Party card. National Archives.
Born: 1891, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Blacksmith Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined Buffalo’s Russian Branch of the Socialist Party of America, then the Communist Party of America in September 1919. Deported to Russia on February 26, 1921.
Born: 1900, Lachka, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Autoworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A member of the Communist Party of America in Philadelphia. He was deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54811/967; Philadelphia Inquirer, February 1, 1921.
Evgraf Kovalenko (a.k.a. Efgram; Kovaleko; E. Koval)
Born: 1885, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Migrated to England 1906; then to Germany; then Canada 1912; and finally to US 1917 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
His wife and two children remained in Russia. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Pittsburgh and was described by local authorities as “one of the worst radicals in the city.” Arrested in May 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21 of that year.
At an unknown later date, he and his family were sentenced to internal Russian exile in the Omsk region of Siberia.
Born: 1892, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1911; then to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined Branch No. 2 of the Union of Russian Workers in Detroit in February 1918 and distributed Russian anarchist and IWW publications. Arrested in May 1919, he was deported January 22, 1921.
He appears to have illegally returned to the United States, where in 1939 he was active in Detroit’s Dielo Truda Group and described as a comrade “capable of doing great work of the organizational-educational type in the movement.”
Sources: INS file 54616/187; FBI file OG 369234; Lazar Lipotkin, The Russian Anarchist Movement in North America.
Born: 1897, Kovno, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Carpenter; miner; laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Belonged to the Russian Social Democratic Party before emigrating.
In the United States he worked as a coal miner, and later for Ford Motor Company in Detroit. In 1915 he joined the Lithuanian Branch of the Socialist Party of America, which transferred into the Communist Party of America in 1919. Arrested April 22, 1919, “while distributing radical literature on a Michigan Avenue street car,” he declared his belief in “the soviet form of government.” Deported February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54616/165.
Michael Kucher
Born: Nationality: Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Served as recording secretary of the Jersey City branch of the Communist Party of America. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he was deported March 30, 1920 to “Galicia” (likely either Poland or Ukraine). No further information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G; FBI file OG 380877.
Efrem Kucher
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation:
Arrested in Brooklyn during the second Palmer Raids in January 1919 and deported as a radical to Russia on December 23, 1920. No further information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G; The Standard Union (Brooklyn), Dec. 23, 1920.
Alek Grigorov Kuchinsky
Born: c. 1884, Vilna, Russia (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Textile worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Norwich, Connecticut, in September 1919. Arrested in January 1920, he was deported to Russia on February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54861/9.
Mikal Kudreyko (a.k.a. Peter Kravchuk; Michael Kravchuk)
Mid-Week Pictorial, January 1, 1920.
Born: 1883, Pruzhany, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
His wife and child remained in Russia during his emigration. Became secretary of a Detroit branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested in July 1918 at a radical picnic, he admitted he was “an anarchist, and proud of it.” After moving to New York he became secretary of the Housewreckers’ Union and coeditor of the URW paper Khlieb i Volia. Arrested with its editorial team in August 1919 and indicted for “criminal anarchy,” he falsely claimed he had left the URW in 1918 “because I thought this organization is not radical enough.” Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Reportedly died in Russia soon thereafter.
Sources: INS file 54554/23; Mid-Week Pictorial, January 1, 1920; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America.
Simon Kuish (a.k.a. Sam)
Born: 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Rubber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21.
Sources: INS file 54709/193.
Ivan Kulak (a.k.a. John)
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation:
Deported as a radical to Russia on November 27, 1920. No further information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Roman Kulich (a.k.a. Kovalevich)
Born: 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Belonged to Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920, he was deported February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/722.
Mark Kulish (or Kulesch; Kulesh)
Born: 1890, Vilna, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; factory inspector Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
During the First World War he worked first as a factory laborer and later as a US arms factory inspector for the Russian Commission. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Hartford, Connecticut, around 1916 and became secretary of the URW branch in South Manchester in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and falsely suspected of being a “bomb-maker,” he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21. His wife and child remained in Russia.
Born: 1890, Rokitnica, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Longshoreman Migration: Immigrated to US 1910 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Newark branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/345.
Tony Kurson (a.k.a. Kirsion; Kirson)
Born: 1884, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Luch Society in Ansonia, Connecticut, around 1917, which federal authorities claimed was a branch of the Union of Russian Workers, though he denied this. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/326; FBI file OG 382937.
Michael Kusbit
Born: Austria-Hungary Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation:
Deported as a radical to Austria on May 8, 1920. No further information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Fedor Kushnarev (a.k.a. Theodore Kushnareff; Theodore Alexander Casher; Alexander Dalny or Dalney)
Fedor Kushnarev, 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1898, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Student; laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Migrated to the UW with his parents and five younger siblings; his father died less than a year later. After graduating high school in New Haven he attended New York University. Joined the Union of Russian Workers around 1917–1918, organized a URW branch in New Haven, and in 1919 became financial secretary of the URW branch in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Arrested there in March 1919 under the pen name Alexander Dalney, the case was dismissed. In New York he coedited Khlieb i Volia. Arrested several more times under different names, he was last arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. He requested permission for his companion, anarchist organizer Rose Pesotta, to accompany him if deported. Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
In Russia, arrested in Crimea in 1920 and sentenced to five years in a prison camp for “propaganda of libertarian ideas” and allegedly taking up arms against the Soviet government, but was later released after authorities deemed his imprisonment an error. He later concluded that “to support the Revolution means to support Lenin and Trotsky.” He briefly attended the Moscow Institute of Journalism and worked for the American Relief Administration as interpreter and secretary for US Colonel Walter Bell in Ufa during the famine, where he contracted typhus. Some sources claim he died in 1925, but in 1934 his mother petitioned the US government to allow him and his family to visit the U.S.
Sources: INS file 54709/522; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; Elaine J. Leeder, The Gentle General: Rose Pesotta, Anarchist and Labor Organizer; Groupe des anarchistes russes exilés en Allemagne, Répression de l’anarchisme en Russie Soviétique; Elaine Leeder Collection of Rose Pesotta Papers, Cornell University Library.
Steve K______
His partially illegible name as it appears in the records. National Archives.
Born: Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation:
The individual appears in immigration records under a partially illegible surname. He was deported as a radical to Yugoslavia on September 1, 1920. No further information has been located.
Unidentified newspaper clipping, Paul Avrich Collection, Library of Congress.
Born: 1894, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Bookbinder Migration: Immigrated to US 1907 Affiliation: Anarchist
In 1917 Lachowsky joined New York’s militant Jewish anarchist Shturem Group, which became the Frayhayt Group in 1918. On August 23, 1918, he was arrested with Molly Steimer while distributing leaflets protesting US intervention in the Russian Civil War. Beaten during interrogation, he was convicted with other group members under the Espionage Act and sentenced to twenty years in prison and a $1,000 fine. In October 1919 he declared to immigration agents, “I am an alien and an anarchist…I am opposed to all organized government. Not only the Government of the United States but any government…I’m an anarchist and proud of it.” By 1921, however, he had become disillusioned and renounced anarchism. After losing the Supreme Court free-speech case Abrams v. United States, he was deported November 23, 1921.
Disillusioned with radicalism, he returned to Minsk, started a family, and stayed out of politics. He reportedly died of natural causes sometime before the Second World War.
Sources: INS file 54517/74; Richard Polenberg, Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America.
Charles Lindsay Lambert
Charles Lambert, 1918. National Archives.
Born: 1881, Arbroath, Scotland Nationality: British Ethnicity: Scottish Occupation: Baker; oil worker; labor organizer Migration: Immigrated to US 1901 or 1902 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the IWW in 1911 and served as secretary of Local No. 453 of the Oil Workers’ Industrial Union in Taft, California, in 1913, and later as secretary of mixed IWW locals in Sacramento from 1914 to 1917. As Secretary-Treasurer of the Wheatland Defense Committee (1914–1915), he advocated sabotage on behalf of the campaign to free the Wheatland prisoners. Elected to the IWW’s General Executive Board in 1916, he played a key role in the controversial decertification of the IWW’s Domestic Workers’ Industrial Union in Denver. A defendant in the federal IWW trial of 1917–1918, where his writings were used against the union by the prosecution, and sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment. In 1922 his sentence was commuted in exchange for “voluntary departure” to Britain, and he sailed March 31, 1923.
In Britain he attended trade-union meetings and encouraged protests against the imprisonment of IWW members in the United States. He may have worked in the Tampico oil fields during the 1920s, appears to have illegally reentered the US, then returned to Scotland via New York in 1926. During the 1930s he worked as an oil worker in the Caribbean, returned to the UK in 1933, and later left radical politics, becoming a diamond prospector in British Guiana and then a bookie’s runner (i.e. enforcer) in London, where he died circa 1961.
Sources: INS file 54616/59; FBI file OG 8000-160053; Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University; Jane Little Botkin, The Girl Who Dared to Defy: Jane Street and the Rebel Maids of Denver; Richard Brazier, “The Mass I.W.W. Trial of 1918: A Retrospect,” Labor History 7, no. 2 (1966); Eric Thomas Chester, The Wobblies in Their Heyday: The Rise and Destruction of the Industrial Workers of the World during the World War I Era; Eric Thomas Chester, Yours for Industrial Freedom: The Industrial Workers of the World from the Inside; Ancestry.com.
Manya Lansky
Born: 1898, Pieski, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Garment worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Migrated to the United States for work and soon became an anarchist in New York. She distributed the Union of Russian Workers’ paper Golos Truda. Arrested July 4, 1920 en route to a radical picnic in Cleveland, she was described by an immigration inspector as “the most typical of the usual conception of the anarchistic type that one may have occasion to observe.” She stated, “I am not in sympathy with the leaders of the Soviets, but am in sympathy with the Russian people.” Deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54885/2.
Ivan Lapitsky (a.k.a. John; Lapinsky; Lapitzky)
Born: 1893, Mogilev, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Dye worker Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1917 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Belonged to Buffalo’s Russian Branch of the Communist Party. Arrested January 2, 1920, he initially denied Communist Party membership but admitted it after authorities produced documentary proof. Deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54809/491.
Ivan Laposanko (or Lapczanko; a.k.a. John Lapko)
Born: 1890, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; coal miner; steel worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Pittsburgh in 1914 and served as a delegate to its New York convention in January 1919. Arrested in Erie, Pennsylvania during May Day disturbances on May 1, 1919, and again on December 12, 1919, he testified: “Yes, I am an anarchist; but I am not the violent anarchist that is pictured… I am studying the question of Anarchy.” Deported January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54709/642.
James Larkin (a.k.a. Jim; “Big Jim”)
James Larkin, 1919. Wikimedia Commons.
Born: 1876, Liverpool, England Nationality: British Ethnicity: Irish Occupation: Laborer; lecturer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Labor Party
Raised in poverty in Ireland, Larkin joined the Independent Labour Party in 1893 and became a full-time organizer for the National Union of Dock Labourers in 1905 before being expelled in 1908. He founded the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union, cofounded the Irish Labour Party in 1912, and helped lead the 1913 Dublin Lockout with James Connolly while also founding the Irish Citizen Army.
In the United States he joined the Socialist Party of America, aligned with its pro-Bolshevik Left Wing, and lectured widely, often in conjunction with the IWW. Expelled from the SPA in 1919, he cofounded the Communist Labor Party. Arrested under New York’s criminal anarchy law, sentenced to five to ten years, pardoned by Governor Al Smith in 1923, and deported to England in April 1923, after repeated passport denials by British authorities.
Returning to Ireland he founded the Irish Worker League as the country’s official Communist Party and became head of the Communist-aligned Worker’s Union of Ireland. Attended the Fifth Congress of the Comintern in 1924 and appointed to the Comintern’s Executive Committee.In 1927 he was elected to the Irish parliament (Dáil Éireann) on behalf of the IWL , but unable to take his seat due to an unpaid award for libel against him. He resigned from the Comintern in 1929 and broke with Communism completely in 1932. In 1936 he was elected to the Dublin city government; 1937 elected to the Dáil Éireann as an independent candidate, but lost reelection the following year. In 1941 he rejoined the Irish Labour Party and served in the Dáil Éireann from 1943 to 1944. He died in 1947.
Sources: Emmet O’Connor, “James Larkin in the United States, 1914-23,” Journal of Contemporary History 37, no. 2 (April 2002); Emmet O’Connor, Big Jim Larkin: Hero or Wrecker?
Carl Larson (born Carl Johan Fredrik Larson)
Born: 1885, Upsala, Sweden Nationality: Swedish Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; shoemaker Migration: Migrated to US via Canada 1911 Affiliation: IWW; Communist Labor Party
Joined the IWW in 1912 and the Scandinavian section of the Socialist Party of America in 1917. Arrested May 3, 1918 after denouncing the US government, he was convicted under the Espionage Act in February 1919 and sentenced to one year and a day in Leavenworth. While imprisoned he joined the Communist Labor Party. After his release he served as literature agent for Salt Lake City’s Scandinavian Socialist Club. Arrested again in August 1920, he was deported June 9, 1921.
He reportedly left Sweden in 1924 as a seaman and jumped ship in Canada, returning to the US. On January 7, 1925, the Swedish Communist paper Folkets Dagblad Politiken printed a letter from him about Communist activity in America. In 1932 he was believed to be living in Seattle, and in 1933 authorities received confidential reports that he was in San Francisco under an assumed name and active in the Communist Party.
Sources: INS file 54861/408; FBI file OG 196909; The Toiler, April 2, 1920; One Big Union Monthly, May 1920.
Ludwig Lau
Born: Nationality: Polish Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation:
Deported as a radical to Poland on September 1, 1920. No further information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Stefan Lavrichuk (a.k.a. Lawrichuk; Steve Liunsky)
Born: 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Mechanic Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party in Rockford, Illinois, later transferring into the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920, he “voluntarily departed” to Russia via Canada on October 20, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54860/671.
Mikail Lavrinuk (a.k.a. Michael Lawrinuk)
Born: 1891, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Hotel worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York around 1918 and the IWW in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/489.
Giacomo Lavrio (a.k.a. James Lavrio)
Giacomo Lavrio, c. 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1884, Turin, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1901 Affiliation: Anarchist
Worked in mines across the United States and became an anarchist there, supporting Cronaca Sovversiva and corresponding extensively with Italian-American anarchists. Briefly returned to Italy from 1905 to 1907. Arrested in St. Charles, Michigan, in May 1919 while participating in a miners’ strike. He married widow Maria Perocchetti while out on bail and promised to abandon radicalism for her. Deported December 20, 1919.
Upon arrival in Italy he was detained for possible draft evasion, after which authorities lost track of him. He died on October 17, 1923 in Turin of unknown causes.
Sources: INS file 54616/206; CPC busta 2781.
William Lawna (or Launa; Lauva; a.k.a. Alfred Schmidt)
Born: 1886, Libau, Russia (present-day Latvia) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Locksmith Migration: Immigrated to US 1906 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1919 and was alleged to have served as secretary of its Elizabeth, New Jersey branch and to have hosted Leon Trotsky in his home, though he denied this claim. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919. His wife remained in the United States.
Sources: INS file 54709/103.
Andrey Lazarevich (a.k.a. Andrew Lazarewich or Lazarowitz)
Born: 1895, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
A member of the Union of Russian Workers in Newark, though the only evidence authorities had against him was a membership card for the Executive Committee of the Second Russian All-Colonial Convention of the United States and Canada (a meeting of various leftwing Russian groups held in New York in January 1919). Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919. His wife Maria and their newborn child were left behind in the US.
Sources: INS file 54709/347.
Maria Lazarevich (née Kott; a.k.a. Mary Lazarewich)
Born: 1896, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Housewife Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
An anarchist since 1917 and member of the URW, Maria Lazarevich was the wife of Buford deportee Andrey Lazarevich. After actively campaigning to be expelled to rejoin her husband, she was deported to Russia on February 26, 1921 along with the couple’s fourteen-month-old child.
Sources: INS file 55009/14.
Simeon Lebed (a.k.a. Sam Lebed)
Born: 1893, Novovolynsk, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party and later Detroit’s Communist Party Branch No. 22. Arrested January 1920, he was deported March 18, 1921.
Born: 1881, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lived in Fairmont, West Virginia, and was arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Deported as a radical to Austria on May 8, 1920. No additional information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Anton Lichkevich (or Lishkevitch; Litshkevitch; a.k.a. Anton Cotie)
Born: 1887, Kamieniec, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1912; then to US April 1919 Affiliation: Anarchist
Declared, “I have been an Anarchist since 1905.” Arrested in Detroit in January 1920 while traveling to distribute anarchist newspapers, he openly affirmed his anarchism at his immigration hearing and “voluntarily departed” to Russia February 26, 1921.
Russian authorities at Libau refused him and several others entry because of their anarchism. He and other deportees coauthored “An Open Letter to the Russian Premier Lenin” in response.
Sources: INS file 54861/375; FBI file OG 367316; Free Society, October–November 1921.
Tito Ligi (a.k.a. Augusto Vitaletti)
Tito Ligi, c. 1922. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Italy.
Born: 1894, Sassoferrato, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Anarchist
Ligi and his brother Adolfo were already anarchists before emigrating together. In the United States he associated with Luigi Galleani’s circle. In November 1920 he was arrested in Scranton, Pennsylvania, for evading the draft after filing a declaration of intent to naturalize, and he briefly became a leading suspect—almost certainly falsely—in the 1920 Wall Street bombing. Deported on August 3, 1922.
In 1925 he moved to Rome with his wife, Bianchi Angela, where they opened a small shop. He remained under government surveillance until 1940; although he retained anarchist beliefs, authorities recorded no significant political activity. Meanwhile his brother Angelo, living in Jessup, Pennsylvania, adopted Tito’s name and married anarchist Maria Giaconi, who later fought in the Spanish Civil War.
Sources: FBI file BS 25-63-12-1; CPC busta 2786; The Nation, May 18, 1921; Beverly Gage, The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror; Charles H. McCormick, Hopeless Cases: The Hunt for the Red Scare Terrorist Bombers; Kenyon Zimmer, “The Other Volunteers: American Anarchists and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939,” Journal for the Study of Radicalism 10, no. 2 (2016).
Amedeo Lilli
Born: 1894, Acqualagna, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; tailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Anarchist
Arrested in September 1917 after an Italian anarchist “riot” during which he was shot in the shoulder by an undercover policeman. Convicted of assault, he was sentenced to twenty-five years in Wisconsin State Prison. Pardoned in 1922 on condition of deportation, he was deported February 16, 1922.
After returning to Italy he became a tailor and, according to police surveillance extending to 1932, did not resume radical political activity.
Sources: INS file 54235/67; CPC busta 2787; Robert Tanzilo, The Milwaukee Police Station Bomb of 1917; Dean A. Strang, Worse than the Devil: Anarchists, Clarence Darrow, and Justice in a Time of Terror.
Peter Linecky (a.k.a. Pete; Linieski)
Born: 1885, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Linecky had a wife and two children in Russia. While living in Detroit he joined the Communist Party of America. Arrested in January 1920, he was deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/713.
Dora Lipkin
Dora Lipkin, 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1910 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
An anarchist and the common-law wife of URW leader and fellow deportee Hyman Perkus. She lived in New York with the family of fellow URW member Boris Shatz. Arrested in October 1919 for “disturbing the peace,” she was arrested again during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and refused to answer questions while detained. She helped lead a hunger strike on Ellis Island protesting detention conditions and was deported with Perkus aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
After plans to leave Russia in 1924 fell through, she married Hyman Perkus and by 1930 both had joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Sources: INS file 54709/275; New York Tribune, November 30, 1919; Elaine Leeder Collection of Rose Pesotta Papers, 1912–1961, Cornell University Library; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America.
Samuel Lipman (a.k.a. Schaie Lipzcuk)
Samuel Lipman, 1921. Paul Avrich Collection, Library of Congress.
Born: 1888, Pinsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Furrier Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America
Lipman belonged to the Socialist Party of America as well as New York’s anarchist Frayhayt Group, and identified as a leftwing socialist and Marxist rather than an anarchist. A pacifist and vegetarian strongly influenced by Leo Tolstoy, he lived with anarchist Ethel Bernstein, his common-law wife. In 1918 he was arrested with others for distributing leaflets opposing US intervention in the Russian Civil War and sentenced to twenty years under the Espionage Act. While imprisoned he became disillusioned with Tolstoy and falsely claimed anarchist beliefs in hopes of deportation. After losing the landmark Supreme Court free-speech case Abrams v. United States, he was deported November 23, 1921.
In Russia he married Bernstein, studied agronomy, and became chairman of the Department of Economic Geography at the University of the Toilers of the East. In 1928 he applied to join the Communist Party. During Stalin’s purges in the 1930s he was executed.
Sources: INS file 54517/72; Richard Polenberg, Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; Senya Fléchine Papers, International Institute for Social History, The Netherlands.
Anton Lipsky
Born: 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Presser Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lipsky stated that he came to the United States “to learn some profession.” Living in New York, he joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/456.
Demian Lisiuk (a.k.a. Jim; Lisuk)
Born: 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party of America in 1919 and later transferred into Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested in January 1920, he was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/772.
Nikolai Lisiuk (a.k.a. Nicholas; Nick)
Born: 1887, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1911; then to US 1917 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Lisiuk had a wife and two children in Russia. Arrested in Pittsburgh on November 17, 1920, federal agents accused him of owning a trunk full of Communist Party literature. Indicted under the Sedition Act and jailed in Allegheny County, he denied radical affiliations, though a confidential informant identified him as a Communist Party literature agent. He was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54885/71.
Aftanasy Litvakoff
Born: c. 1884, Lopatni, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lived in Homestead, Pennsylvania for six years and joined the URW there in 1917. Arrested for distributing radical handbills, he served twenty days in jail. After moving to Cleveland he was arrested again February 21, 1921. He stated, “I do recognize Anarchism, but I feel that I am not worthy enough to be called such, owing to the fat that I do not understand Anarchy enough to be honored by being called an Anarchist.” Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/22.
Anna Loban
Born: c. 1893, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Housewife Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Married fellow anarchist Konstantin Loban in Akron in 1916 and became a member of the Union of Russian Workers. Deported to Russia with her husband on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/24.
Konstantin Loban (a.k.a. Peter Dedka or Dutka)
Born: 1893, Slutsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Rubber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Worked at the BF Goodrich plant in Akron and married Anna Loban there in 1916. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1915 and became secretary of its Lansing, Michigan branch in 1919. Asked why he had become antagonistic to the US government, he replied “Because I have been working here for eight years and am still doing hard laboring work and have not enough money to return to Russia, whereas the Americans all have much better jobs, have money and have privileges that I do not have and this country does not belong to Americans any more than it belongs to any one…as it was originally owned by the Indians.” Deported to Russia with his wife on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/24.
Michael Lojan
Born: 1897, Austria-Hungary Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: N Occupation: Barber Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Communist Party while living in Milwaukee. Arrested there and deported to Yugoslavia in 1923.
Born: 1894, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Hartford, Connecticut, in August 1919. Arrested in the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Source: INS file 54709/397
Alexander Nagula
Born: Russia, year unknown Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Belonged to Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party in Detroit. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he accepted “voluntary departure” to Russia via Canada on October 16, 1920. No further information has been located.
Source: FBI file BS 202600-1377-1.
Semeon Nakhwat (a.k.a. Samuel Mackway)
Born: 1886, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Factory worker Migration: Migrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW branch in Ansonia, Connecticut, in October 1919. Arrested November 1919, he was deported to Russia January 22, 1921.
Source: INS file 54709/383.
Pasquale Nardini (a.k.a. Bruno Nardini)
Pasquale Nardini with wife Maria, c. 1917. Social War Bulletin, April 1918.
Born: 1882, Fano, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: millworker Migration: Migrated to US 1910 Affiliation: Anarchist
Migrated to the U.S. in 1910 with his wife Maria (née Frattesi) and their five-year-old son. Both and Maria joned the anarchist Circolo Studi Sociali of Milwaukee. Both arrested in 1917 after an Italian anarchist riot and convicted of “assault with intent to kill and murder,” but their convictions were overturned. Immediately afterward they were detained for deportation. Pasquale was deported July 15, 1920; Maria’s deportation warrant was canceled June 8, 1920.
In 1921 he emigrated from Italy to Canada, where Maria and their child joined him. Maria and their son returned to the US in 1925, and Pasquale followed illegally soon after, now going by the name Bruno Nardini. From their New Haven home he donated funds to New York’s anarchist paper L’Adunata dei Refrattari from 1925 to at least 1937. By 1941 the family was living in Harlem operating a grocery store. Maria became a US citizen in 1945. Pasquale died in 1951.
Sources: INS file 54235/72 (missing); CPC busta 3494; Robert Tanzilo, The Milwaukee Police Station Bomb of 1917; Dean A. Strang, Worse than the Devil: Anarchists, Clarence Darrow, and Justice in a Time of Terror; L’Adunata dei Refrattari.
Anani Nazarchuk (a.k.a. Anni; Andrew; Nazarczuk)
Born: 1892, Volhynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine or Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America; Union of Russian Workers
Belonged to the Socialist Party in Bristol, Connecticut, and was also accused—on flimsy evidence—of URW membership. Arrested June 1918 for distributing radical literature and again in November 1919 during the first Palmer Raids, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/164; FBI file OG 8000-373183.
Andrei Nazaruk (a.k.a. Andrew; Mazaruk; Prisoophick)
Born: 1894, Zabawa, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarussian Occupation: Steelworker Migration: Migrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Arrested in Newark on December 3, 1919, during the Palmer Raids, accused–based upon flimsy evidence–of belonging to the Union of Russian Workers. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Source: INS file 54709/627.
Gavril Nechiporenko (a.k.a. Gabriel)
Born: 1889, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wiefe remained in Russia when he emigrated. Worked in a foundry at the Ford Motor Company and joined Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America in Detroit. Arrested January 1920 and held at Fort Wayne, he was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Born: 1892, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Hatmaker; chiropractor; pharmacist Migration: Migrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Anarchist; IWW
Anarchist and IWW organizer in Cleveland. In February 1919 he was convicted under the Espionage Act for an antiwar speech and sentenced to nineteen years. At his sentencing the judge declared: “I presume that the Russian Bolshevists would welcome you, and Lenine and Trotzky would be glad to see you back in the event that the government should deport you…in the event that the Government does not send you back to Russia I am going to protect America from your activities by sending you the Atlanta penitentiary for 19 years at hard labor.” His sentence was later commuted on condition of deportation, and he was deported February 26, 1921.
Refused entry at Libau because of anarchism, he coauthored An Open Letter to the Russian Premier Lenin and returned to the U.S., where he apparently ceased radical activity. He received an unconditional presidential pardon in September 1930. In 1935 he applied for US citizenship and was denied, but the decision was reversed on appeal.
Sources: INS file 121/2; Pittsburgh Daily Post, February 23, 1919; Freedom (London), May 1921; Free Society (New York), October–November 1921; Ancenstry.com.
Pavel Nestoruk (a.k.a. Paul Nestoruck; Piole Nestium; Prole Nestruk; Nestrum)
Born: 1888, Brest-Litovsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Migrated to the U.S. in 1913 via Canada, while his wife and children remained in Russia. Joined the URW in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1919. Arrested in the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Source: INS file 54709/395.
Ivan Nevar (a.k.a. John Newar)
Born: 1885, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Newark in September 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/338; FBI file OG 381446.
Carl William Newlander (a.k.a. Karl Wilhelm Nylander)
Born: 1890, Boo, Sweden Nationality: Swedish Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1906 Affiliation: Anarchist
Migrated to the U.S. in 1906 to evade military service, he lived in Chicago, San Francisco, and New York. Became an active anarchist and close friend of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, collaborating on Mother Earth, The Blast, and the Mother Earth Bulletin, and he ran the Mother Earth Book Shop in New York. Arrested June 29, 1918, for draft evasion and sentenced in January 1919 to 60 days under the Selective Service Act, he was detained upon release and deported April 24, 1919.
In Sweden he settled in Hjortkvarn but was blacklisted in 1920 after a dispute with an employer. He visited Goldman and Berkman in Stockholm in early 1921 and corresponded extensively with Goldman. In 1922 he migrated to Canada with his companion and child. After Goldman moved there in 1927, he reunited with and assisted her, later serving as secretary of Toronto’s Libertarian Group.
Source: INS file 54517/1; Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University; Freedom (New York), April–May 1919; Emma Goldman Papers, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam; Paul Avrich and Karen Avrich, Sasha and Emma: The Anarchist Odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman.
Born: 1892, Veliki Bečkerek, Austria-Hungary (present-day Serbia) Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: Serbian Occupation: Autoworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Employed by the Fisher Body Corporation in Detroit. In 1913 he joined Branch No. 61 (later Branch No. 17) of the Socialist Party’s South Slavic Federation, transferring into the Communist Party of America in 1919. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he was deported to Yugoslavia on April 14, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54860/374; FBI file OG 388055.
Jacob K. Platek (or Platat)
Born: 1889, Podolovka, Russia Nationality: Polish Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer; foundry worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife and child remained in Russia when he emigrated. He joined the Socialist Party and in 1919 became a member and financial secretary of Polish Branch No. 80 of the Communist Party in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Arrested January 2, 1920, he was deported to Poland August 4, 1920.
Sources: File 54859/527.
Mike Podalak
Born: Austria-Hungary, year unkown Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation:
Deported to Austria as a radical on, June 19, 1920. No further information has been identified.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Mathew Podlipsky
Matthew Podlipsky’s URW membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1887, Rakitnitsa, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish-Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
A member of the Union of Russian Workers branch in Newark. Arrested during the Palmer Raids and deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/356; FBI file OG 381187.
Marko Podner
Born: 1892, Okrug, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia) Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: Croatian Occupation: Laborer; miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife remained in Croatia-Slavonia while he emigrated. In June 1919 he joined Branch No. 62 of the Communist Party in West Winfield, Pennsylvania, becoming its secretary. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he was deported to Yugoslavia June 19, 1920.
Sources: FBI file OG 8000-382563.
Wolf Pohl (a.k.a. Pawlowicz; Pavlovich)
Wolf Pohl’s Communist Party membership card. National Archives.
Born: c. 1896, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Housepainter Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America; IWW
Joined the Socialist Party in 1913 and later the Communist Party, becoming a speaker and distributor of literature in Buffalo. Arrested August 1919 for distributing radical material but released; arrested again January 1920. While confined in Erie County Jail he contracted pneumonia and required hospitalization. December 1920 he joined the IWW. Deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/912.
George Polevoy
Born: 1883, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1907 Affiliation: IWW
Married with a child in the United States, he joined the IWW around 1914 in Moundsville, West Virginia, and also belonged to the United Mine Workers. Participated in miners’ strikes protesting the conviction of Tom Mooney and the imprisonment of Eugene V. Debs. Arrested June 1918 for disturbing the peace during a dispute with UMW leaders and sentenced to a $50 fine and ten days in jail; a union witness described him as a leader “of the foreign element…they have made all kinds of trouble.” Arrested again August 1919 and described by an immigration agent as “exceptionally shrewd and astute.” Deported to Russia February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54709/49.
Osip Polulechka (a.k.a.Josef Polulech; Joseph Balluch)
Born: 1892, Grodno region, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers (alleged)
Arrested during the November 1919 raid on the Union of Russian Workers’ Russian People’s House in New York. He denied URW membership and said he had only attended arithmetic and Russian classes; no evidence of membership was produced. He had, however, been active since 1913 in the Methodist Episcopal Church of All Nations, whose leaders attempted to intervene on his behalf. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/449; FBI file OG 8000-382493; The Churchman (January 24 and February 21, 1920); Constantine M. Panunzio, The Deportation Cases of 1919-1920.
Jacob Popich
Born: 1892, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia) Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A member of the South Slavic Branch of the Communist Party of America in Omaha. Arrested in St. Paul, Nebraska, January 8, 1920 and deported to Yugoslavia July 15, 1920. No further information has been identified.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G; Omaha Daily Bee, January 9, 1920.
Sergey Porchunoff (a.k.a. Sergy; Serjy)
Born: 1888, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Served two years in the Russian Army.
In the United States, employed by Standard Oil. Joined the Russian Branch of the Whiting, Indiana Socialist Party in 1914 and later the Communist Party, serving as secretary of both branches. Arrested in Chicago January 7, 1920, and deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54809/82.
Andrew Postaruk
Born: 1881, Kiev Governorate, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: . Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Previously emigrated to and worked in Austria and Germany. His wife and two children remained in Russia.
In 1918 he joined the Union of Russian Workers in Seattle. He told authorities, “I don’t believe in any government,” but also “stated believe in change through the ballot as a I fear that bloodshed would ensue by bringing a revolution through force of arms.” Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/542.
Efrim Potenkin (or Potemkin)
Born: 1897, Gomel, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russia Ethnicity: Occupation: Steelworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers (alleged)
He attended meetings of the Union of Russian Workers in Monessen, Pennsylvania, but denied membership and no evidence of such was produced. Arrested in Greensburg during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. The Immigration Inspector in Charge recommended cancellation of his deportation warrant for lack of evidence, but was overruled by Commissioner General A. Caminetti. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/519; Kate Holladay Claghorn, The Immigrant’s Day in Court.
Born: 1883, Kilmarnock, Scotland Nationality: British Ethnicity: Scottish Occupation: Machinist; union organizer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1903; then to US 1904 Affiliation: IWW
Originally a member of the International Association of Machinists, he was radicalized and joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1911, becoming a prominent speaker and organizer reportedly arrested about 160 times. Among these arrests was his detention during the 1916 strike on the Mesabi Iron Range on murder charges that were later dropped. A defendant in the federal IWW trial of 1917–1918, he was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment and a $20,000 fine. His sentence was commuted in 1923 on condition of deportation, and he was deported to England in April of that year.
That August he emigrated to Canada and resumed organizing for the IWW in the Vancouver area, especially among miners. Canadian authorities attempted to deport him in 1924 using evidence supplied by US immigration officials, but the case was dropped. In 1931 he joined the Communist Party of Canada. He became an organizer for the party’s Mine Workers’ Union of Canada and was arrested in connection with the violent Estevan strike of October 1931, receiving a one-year sentence that damaged his health. Around 1938 he became chairman of the party in Toronto and of its newspaper The Clarion. When the party was outlawed in 1940, Scarlett lived underground and clandestinely entered the United States, where he remained illegally until his death in 1941.
Sources: INS file 54616/49; Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University; Daily Worker, October 2, 1931; Donald H. Avery, “British-Born ‘Radicals’ in North America, 1900-1941: The Case of Sam Scarlett,” Canadian Ethnic Studies/Etudes Ethniques Au Canada 10, no. 2 (1978); Barbara Ann Roberts, Whence They Came: Deportation from Canada, 1900-1935.
Alexander Schatz (or Shatz; a.k.a. Harry)
Born: 1884, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Ethnicity: Occupation: Printer Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Around 1917 he joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in New York. A member of the editorial board of Khleb i Volia and brother of fellow URW member Boris Schatz, he was arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. During questioning he declared, “I consider myself a citizen and a laborer wherever I work and wherever I live.” He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919, leaving behind his wife and stepchild in the U.S.
Sources: INS file 54709/128.
Boris Schatz (or Shatz)
Born: 1894, Russia (probably in present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Ethnicity: Occupation: Photographer Migration: Immigrated to US 1911 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
In 1917 he joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in New York City. He served on the editorial board of the organization’s newspaper Khleb i Volia and was the brother of fellow member and deportee Alexander Schatz. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, the stress of his detention reportedly caused his wife Elsie to miscarry. He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919, while Elsie remained in New York.
Sources: INS file 54709/278; FBI file OG 378924; Constantine M. Panunzio, The Deportation Cases of 1919-1920.
John Carl Schedel
John Carl Schedel, 1920. Fort Wayne Sentinel, September 1, 1920.
Born: 1885, Munich, Germany Nationality: German Ethnicity: Occupation: Piano polisher Migration: Immigrated to US 1903 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
In August 1914 he reportedly registered with the German consulate in Cincinnati to join the German Army, yet he simultaneously became active in American radical politics, serving as county secretary of the Socialist Party of America in Fort Wayne, Indiana and later joining the Communist Party of America. Described as “a very radical socialist ” who “and “during the war caused considerable trouble at the Packard Piano Company where he his employed,” he was arrested in 1920 for declaring he would rather live in Russia “where all is freedom” than in the United States. Deported May 22, 1920, leaving behind a pregnant wife and four American-born children; shortly afterward their newborn died and his wife was temporarily declared insane.
In Germany he reportedly joined the merchant marine and then traveled to Russia, where he claimed to have joined the Red Army and worked as an interpreter near Soviet leaders. After about a year he returned to Germany disillusioned with Soviet rule. In May 1921 he stowed away from Rotterdam to New York but was ordered deported again; disembarking in England, he was jailed for a month and undertook a hunger strike. After several failed attempts he reentered the United States in 1924 via Mexico. Arrested in Chicago for unlawful entry, he was defended by the American Civil Liberties Union and pursued multiple appeals until his deportation warrant was dropped. He died in Chicago in November 1968.
Sources: FBI file OG 341493; Fort Wayne Sentinel, September 1, 1920; Garrett Clipper (Garrett, IN), July 4, 1921; American Civil Liberties Union, Annual Report, 1924; Indianapolis Star, January 21, 1925; Chicago Tribune, November 7, 1968.
Nathan Schechter (or Shechter; Shacter)
Born: 1884, Minsk region, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife remained in Russia when he emigrated to the United States in 1913. In September 1919 he joined Russian Branch No. 5 of the Communist Party of America in New York. Arrested in December 1919 for “criminal anarchy” and released on bail, he was arrested again during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920. He told an immigration inspector “I consider the entire capitalist system to be rotten, and it ought to be abolished,” and protested being deported as a criminal, insisting he could pay his own passage if forced to leave. After four months’ detention on Ellis Island he became a leader of protests among detained radicals and was placed in a separate cell, prompting others to threaten a hunger strike. He was deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54811/424.
Raffaele Schiavina (a.k.a. Max Sartin; Melchior Steele; Bruno)
Raffaele Schiavina, 1920s. Archives Nationales, France.
Born: 1895, San Carlo, Ferrara, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Bookkeeper Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Anarchist
Attended an Italian business school until age nineteen and initially a socialist.
Emigrated to the United States in 1913 and became an anarchist the following year. In 1916 he became bookkeeper for Luigi Galleani’s newspaper Cronaca Sovversiva in Lynn, becoming a close associate and contributor. Arrested in 1916 for inciting to riot but acquitted, he was arrested again in 1918 for refusing draft registration and sentenced to one year in the Middlesex County House of Correction. Upon release in March 1919 he was detained for deportation and described by a federal judge as “one of the most dangerous men with whom he has had to deal.” Deported to Italy June 24, 1919, with Galleani and other associates.
Back in Italy he was briefly jailed for draft evasion, then settled in Turin, where he helped revive Cronaca Sovversiva (January–October 1920) until it was suppressed. Arrested in 1921 alongside several Communists and falsely accused of leading Turin’s paramilitary Arditi del Popolo sections, but all defendants were acquitted. In March 1923 he emigrated illegally to France; in Paris he published the anarchist newspapers Il Monito and La Difesa per Sacco e Vanzetti.
He returned clandestinely to the United States in 1928 under various pseudonyms and edited the anarchist paper L’Adunata dei Refrattari in New York and New Jersey from 1928 until 1971. He died in Salt Lake City in 1987.
Sources: INS file 54391/81; CPC busta 4690; Max Sartin, “Breve autobiografia,” Bollettino Archivio G. Pinelli, no. 13 (August 1999); Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background; Maurizio Antonioli et al., Dizionario biografico degli anarchici italiani.
Andrew Schkurski (or Schkursky; Shkursky)
Born: 1896, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Crane operator Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Became a member of the Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party in Milwaukee, serving as its delegate to the party’s City Central Committee. Deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54809/196.
Adolph Schnabel
Adolph Schnabel, 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1882, Kharkiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: German Occupation: Machinist; sailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1907 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
The child of German immigrants to Russia, he participated in socialist organizations in Ukraine during the Russian Revolution of 1905–1907 before emigrating to the United States in 1907.
Married Helena Ring in Philadelphia in 1913 and cofounded the Union of Russian Workers the following year, editing several of its newspapers and serving as national secretary prior to Peter Bianki. Arrested in Chicago in June 1917 for allegedly circulating anti-draft literature, the charge was dismissed for lack of evidence. He was later arrested in Duquesne, Pennsylvania for holding a street meeting without a permit. After recovering from influenza in 1919 he was arrested again in New York for deportation; released on bail, he reportedly traveled through New York and New Jersey organizing anarchist clubs. Returned to detention on Ellis Island, he participated in a hunger strike protesting conditions and was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
His wife petitioned to be deported as well, though whether she was is unclear. In Russia Schnabel was active in anarchist organizations in Ukraine before leaving the movement; in 1931 he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Arrested in Moscow during the purges in 1937 as an alleged German spy, he was shot in a mass execution.
Bernard Lazarevich Sernaker (Бернард Лазаревич Сернакер; aka Adolph/Adolff Benet Sernaker)
Born 1884, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland). Jewish. Machinist. Raised in Orthodox family. Early 1900s joined the Polish Socialist Party (Polska Partia Socjalistyczna) and supported Polish independence; 1905 arrested in Warsaw for protesting the Russo-Japanese War and imprisoned for two months. Migrated to Argentina working as a ship’s fireman; studied engineering there. Spoke Polish, Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, Spanish, German, and English, as well as some Italian and Chinese. Circa 1907-8 migrated to England; active in anarchist circles in London and Leeds, where me met an unofficially married Jenny/Jennie Cohen, a participant in the 1905 Russian Revolution. 1909 daughter Germain (“Germinal”) born in London; that same year Bernard migrated to US, followed by Jenny and Germaine. Became estranged from Jenny; lived with daughters at the anarchist Stelton colony near New York City; active in anarchist movement in New York. Deeply influenced by Tolstoy and became a pacifist advocate of “nonresistance” as well as a vegetarian. Daughter Harmony born 1912. 1917 joined the Yiddish-speaking anarchist Der Shturem Group as well as the Conscientious Objectors League. Questioned by federal agents November 1918 after making a speech in which he allegedly hailed “a world-wide revolution that will knock in the gates of Ellis Island.” Moved to San Francisco, where arrested pending deportation; while out on bail, an active member of the “San Francisco Soviet of Russian Workers.” Removed to Ellis Island, where he became a leader of protests of detained radicals and was placed in a separate cell after allegedly “endeavoring to incite the other men to violence,” leading other detainees to threaten a hunger strike. Appealed to conservative congressman Albert Johnson, “Would you be so kind as to order my immediate deportation, and get rid of another RED, which I certainly acknowledge to be.” “Voluntarily departed” as a ship’s fireman September 16, 1920. Wife and children remained in US.
In Russia, worked as an engineer at the Moscow Tool Plant (Московского инструментального завода) and an automobile factory; remarried to Sophia Finkelstein and had two more daughters. Not active politically, but known among his coworkers to be an anarchist and privately remained one. 1949, at age 65, sent to the prison camp in Abez for six year for having “subversive” foreign connections. Upon his release in 1956 he reestablished contact with his adult American-born daughters. In Moscow he and his family were treated as pariahs until his death in 1971.
INS file 54517/81; FBI file OG 325661
See also: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Papers, University of Wisconsin, Madison; interviews with Ralph Coppola and Janet Goldner; personal collection of Janet Goldner; https://bessmertnybarak.ru/books/person/1807049/
Kondrate Serovatka (Кондратэ Сероватка; Conrad)
Born 1895, Grodno area, Russia (present-day Belarus). Lumber worker. Migrated to US 1913. 1918 joined the Russian Branch of the Socialist Party of America in Rockford, Illinois; 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America. Arrested in Chicago during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Released on bail; joined the breakaway United Communist Party; arrested again August 1920 while posting UCP fliers calling for a general strike against US aid to Poland in the Polish-Soviet War. “Voluntarily departed,” October 16, 1920.
INS file 54859/506; FBI files BS 202600-151-1 and OG 386686
Stanislav Servatka (Станислав Серватка; Stanislaus; Stanley; Serwatka)
Born 1888, Russia. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and five children in Russia. Joined the Communist Party of America branch in Passaic, New Jersey. Deported December 23, 1920.
INS file 54810/701; FBI file OG 380377
Vladimir Sestrensky (Владимир Сестренский)
Deported to Russia October 16, 1920. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
Born 1892, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1914. Laborer. Financial secretary of the Seattle branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Deported January 22, 1921.
INS file 54860/474; FBI file OG 386685
Afanasy Severny (Афанасий Северный; Alfamasy; aka Frank Sergin)
Born 1895, Uman, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1913; from there migrated to US 1918. 1919 secretary of the Philadelphia branch of the Union of Russian Workers. February 1920 arrested in Chester, Pennsylvania “for endeavoring to make a speech advocating the overthrow of this government and all capitalism.” Deported February 26, 1921
Refused entry on the basis of his anarchism at Libau, along with several other deportees. Coauthored “An Open Letter to the Russian Premier Lenin” in response. Transported to the Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland); illegally crossed into Poland, where arrested June 2, 1921, and deported to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. He “expressed his indignation” at the conditions in his hometown and was arrested by the Cheka August 24, 1921, and not released until January 6, 1922. Migrated to the Netherlands; from there stowed away on a ship to Canada but discovered and detained for deportation. While out on bail, illegally crossed the border into Detroit, where arrested. Quoted from jail as saying, “If the anarchists, communists and bolshevists in the United States would spend just one week in Russia they would be cured.” 1928 he was living in Ontario, Canada, where he worked as a papermaker and married Annie Areshenkoff. Died June 11, 1960, in Vancouver.
FBI file OG 383729
See also: Free Society (New York), October-November 1921; Detroit Free Press, September 27, 1923; Billings Gazette (Billings MO), October 14 1923; Ancestry.com
Edward Shainfine (Эдвард Шейнфайн)
Born 1896, Russia. Jewish. Salesman. Migrated to US 1913. August 1919 joined the Socialist Party of America in Philadelphia; November 1919 transferred into the First Russian Branch of the Communist Party of America; became branch secretary December 1919. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.
INS file 54809/897; FBI file OG 8000-362520
Witte Moses Shakman
Born Odesa, Russia (present-day Ukraine), 1882. Jewish. Migrated to US 1915. Tailor. Former member of the Russian Federation of the Socialist Party in Chicago. Member of the Communist Party of America and then the United Communist Party. Also a member of the IWW and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. Arrested Chicago. Wife (Rachael) and seven-year-old daughter Lucy (born in Paris) in Chicago. Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Kurt Gustav Wilckens (aka Chris Jensen; Gus Jansen)
Born 1886, Bramstedt, Germany. Miner. Migrated to US 1910. 1914 enlisted in the US Army; deserted after six months due to “mis-treatment.” Following several unsuccessful attempts to enter Canada, surrendered to military authorities at St. Louis and was court-martialed; sentenced to a year in military detention at Fort Leavenworth; dishonorably discharged upon his release in November 1916. Around this time he discovered the writings of Leo Tolstoy, became a pacifist and an anarchist, and joined the IWW. June 1917 participated in IWW miners’ strike in Bisbee, Arizona; was one of the 2,000 miners rounded up by vigilantes and “deported” to the New Mexico desert. August 1917 arrested as an “enemy alien” and interned at Fort Douglas, Utah. After several unsuccessful attempts, escaped with a fellow detainee December 24, 1917. Organized for the IWW in Seattle and Colorado (under the name “Chris Jensen”). November 1919 arrested in Silverton, Colorado as an IWW member who “had been making disloyal remarks against the United States Government. Deported to Germany, March 27, 1920. Circa 1921 migrated to Argentina and worked as a dispatcher at port of Buenos Aires. He roomed with Spanish anarchist Diego Abad de Santillán and wrote as correspondent for German anarchist newspapers Alarm and Der Syndikalist. Outraged at the execution of hundreds of striking workers during the Patagonia Rebellion, on January 23, 1923 he assassinated the Colonel responsible, Héctor Benigno Varela, outside of his home. On June 15, 1923, Wilckens was murdered in prison by one of Valera’s former troops; his death led to widespread strikes and protests in Argentina, and his killer was in turn murdered two years later in retaliation.
INS file 54709/612
See also: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Papers, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Diego Abad de Santillán Papers, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam; Osvaldo Bayer, Rebellion in Patagonia
Harry Wodner (Wadner; Wardner)
Born 1894, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland). Jewish. Machinist. Migrated to US 1913. Arrested during raid on the Union of Russian Workers’ People’s House in New York during the first Palmer Raids, November 15, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/461
Kronagi Workolf
Born 1896, Gomel, Russia (present-day Belarus). Steelworker. Migrated to US 1913. February 1919 he helped organize the Monessen, Pennsylvania branch of the Union of Russian Workers, of which he became secretary. Arrested March 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54616/133; FBI file OG 224794
Maxim Worobey
Born 1895, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Machinist. Migrated to US 1914. 1919 joined Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested November 28, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/369
Ignac Worobien (Ignace)
Born 1884, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1909. April 1919 joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested November 18, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
INS file 54709/403; FBI file OG 380406
Pavel Yakimov (Павел Якимов; Paul; Jacimoff; Jakimov)
Born 1887, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1914. Wife and son in Russia. 1919 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Philadelphia. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
Born c. 1899, Vologda, Russia. Migrated to US in 1916 (jumped ship from the SS Czar). Sailor. Joined the Russian Branch of the IWW in New York City, of which he became secretary, as well as the Socialist Party and then the Second Russian Branch of the Communist Party. Arrested January 8, 1920. Declared: “I am a revolutionist…I believe in overthrowing all capitalistic forms of government…I have nothing against deportation to Russia. I love my motherland. I left my relatives there and I am quite willing to go there.” Deported January 22, 1921 on the SS Stockholm.
INS file 54860/597
Mikhail Yanish (Михаил Яниш; Mike)
Born 1889, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Wife and child in Russia. Member of the Monessen, Pennsylvania branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested November 26, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.
