As part of the ongoing research for my book on the global history of immigrant radicals who were deported during America’s First Red Scare, I have posted brief profiles of 835 (and counting) individual deportees I have identified. This list is a work in progress, and entries are being added and updated as I obtain additional information.
Who is included:
This list includes radicals and suspected radicals who were deported between 1917 (following America’s entrance into the First World War) and 1925, when the last of the foreign-born radicals arrested between 1917 and 1920 were expelled, some after serving prison sentences or being interned as “enemy aliens.” It includes both those who were deported by government order and those who were ordered deported but “voluntarily departed” at their own expense with the government’s consent (both categories were included in US government deportation statistics). It does not include those who fled the country to avoid arrest or deportation. It includes both individuals deported for belonging to legally-defined “anarchistic classes,” and others who were suspected of radicalism but deported on other grounds (most commonly for entering the country without inspection or being retroactively deemed “likely to become a public charge” at the time of their entry).
This is not a complete list. In the fiscal years (June-July) 1918-1926, the United States deported 979 aliens as “anarchists,” and an unknown number of additional radical immigrants under other statutes. The largest single group of deportees, composed of 242 alleged radicals (as well as seven unrelated deportees) departed on the USAT Buford on December 21, 1919. However, it appears that no complete list of Red Scare deportees was produced by either the Bureau of Immigration or the Bureau of Investigation. I have instead had to rely on partial lists and mentions of individual cases included in these organizations’ files, congressional testimony, radical publications, newspaper reports, and other sources.
How to use this site:
Profiles have been posted in small batches. They are organized in alphabetical order by last name, followed by alternate spellings and pseudonyms in parentheses. (The Cyrillic spellings of Russian names are generally my best guess; American sources from the era were wildly inconsistent in their spellings of such names. The same is true of the transliteration of Chinese names in the Roman alphabet.) You can also browse the Index of Names.
Birth years are often approximate, usually having been calculated from an individual’s age at the time of their examination by immigration authorities, and some may therefore be off by a year.
You can search by individuals’ nationalities (country of birth and, in some cases, ethnicity [i.e. Jewish, Lithuanian, etc.]) by using the tags above.
Occupations describe the individuals’ employment in the US, not necessarily the work they engaged in before arrival or after their deportation.
Political affiliations represented include the syndicalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the anarcho-syndicalist Union of Russian Workers of the United States and Canada (URW); the anarchist Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM); anarchists unaffiliated with larger organizations; the Communist Party of America (CP); the Communist Labor Party (CLP); the Socialist Party of America (SP); the Socialist Labor Party (SLP); and unaffiliated socialists. You can search by political affiliation by using the tags above.
You may also use the “Search” box at the top of the page to look for individual names, locations, etc.
The main sources used for compiling these profiles are case files from the Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Record Group 85, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC; the Old German Files (OG) and Bureau Section Files (BS) of the Records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Record Group 65, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD (as digitized at fold3.com); and (for Italians) the Casellario Politico Centrale (CPC), Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Rome, Italy.
A special thanks to Molly Thacker, Brooke Thompson, and Nargis Azaryun, who photographed hundreds of INS files for me; Malcolm Archibald, who has translated a number of Russian-language sources; D.J. Alperovitz, who has provided sources on IWW members; and the dozens of other archivists, translators, activists, and colleagues who have helped me locate, acquire, and read material from across the globe while undertaking this research.
Finally, if you have additional information about any of the deportees, or spot an error, please contact me!
Born: 1896, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Employee of Remington Arms Union Metallic Cartridge Company, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In August 1919 he joined the Union of Russian Workers and was arrested the following month in Hartford. Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/389.
Ugo Balzano
Born: 1882, Castel di Sangro, Aquila, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Typographer Migration: Immigrated to US 1903 Affiliation: Anarchist
Employed by Cleveland’s mainstream Italian-language newspaper La Voce del Popolo Italiano. Active in anarchist circles, he belonged to the Circolo Studi Sociali di Cleveland, distributed Cronaca Sovversiva, and published the anarchist paper L’Appello (1916–17). deported on July 28, 1919.
Upon his return to Italy he was immediately arrested for draft evasion during the war. Later subscribed to the paper La Frustra, published by fellow deportee Giobbe Sanchini. Balzano died in his hometown in 1926.
Walter Banaczyk’s Communist Party membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1901, Słupia, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Automobile worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1915 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Migrated to the United States with his mother to rejoin his father. Employed at the Fisher Body plant in Detroit, he joined Branch 37 of the Polish Section of the Communist Party of America in December 1919. Arrested in January 1920 at the age of eighteen, he “voluntary departed” to Poland on October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54859/569; FBI files OG 382042 and BS 202600-768-1.
Peter P. Banaitis
Born: 1899, Lithuania Nationality: Lithuanian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Miner; laborer; toolmaker Migration: Immigrated to US 1911 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined Branch 37 of the Lithuanian Section of the Communist Party of America. Arrested in Chicago in January 1920, he remarked that “as people are thrown in jail here for their beliefs he thinks he will enjoy just as much liberty in his native country.” An immigration inspector described him as “a typical Bolshevik and…more or less intelligent…This individual should be deported by all means as he is manifestly and potentially a bad influence.” He was deported to Lithuania on December 9, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54811/563; FBI file OG 382041.
Daniel Bardaio (or Bardal)
Born: c. 1882, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1906 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
First migrated to the United States in 1906, then moved to Canada in 1908, and returned to the U.S. in 1915. Initially a member of the Socialist Party of America, he later joined the First Russian Branch of the Communist Party of America in Philadelphia. Bardaio was deported on February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/124.
Moses Baritz
Moses Baritz, c. 1912. Wikimedia Commons.
Born: 1883, Manchester, England Nationality: British Ethnicity: Russian; Jewish Occupation: Musician; journalist Migration: Immigrated to US 1915 Affiliation: Socialist Party of Great Britain; Socialist Party of the United States
Born in England to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. A musician and journalist, Baritz became a prominent member of the small and sectarian Socialist Party of Great Britain and gained notoriety as a skilled Marxist debater. He migrated to Canada in 1910, helping found the “impossibilist” Socialist Party of North America in 1911, before returning to Britain in 1914 and then moving to the United States in 1915 to avoid conscription. In Detroit he cofounded the small “impossibilist” Socialist Party of the United States (which eventually became the World Socialist Party of the United States). Arrested in Seattle in 1918 due to mistaken identity—he was erroneously alleged to be a Russian anarchist and IWW member—he was permitted to “reship foreign” as a sailor to Australia on September 10, 1918.
Baritz subsequently debated rival radicals in Australia, was the first person expelled from New Zealand in January 1920 under that country’s Undesirable Immigrants Exclusion Act, was barred from entry to Canada, returned to Australia, and was deported again in 1920. On the voyage to England he was barred from disembarking in Cape Town to deliver a speech, but was allowed to briefly go ashore in Durban. In England he resumed SPGB activities and became a noted music critic, and in 1924 he became Britain’s first radio disc jockey. He died in 1938.
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: 1877, Sunderland, England Nationality: British Ethnicity: English Occupation: Sailor; baker Migration: Immigrated to US 1897 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the Industrial Workers of the World circa 1909 and became an IWW delegate, organizer, and secretary of its Seattle branch. Arrested “at least five or six times” in connection with IWW activities. As a sailor, traveled to India, China, Japan, Singapore, Samoa, and the Philippines. Arrested in Seattle in July 1918 and deported on June 21, 1919.
Emigrated to Canada, arriving in Quebec on July 5, 1920. Organized on behalf of the IWW’s Martine Transport Workers Industrial Union in Vancouver.
Sources: INS file 54379/503; Ancestry.com; Industrial Worker, November 28, 1923.
Wincenty Dmowski (a.k.a. Vincenty Druowski)
Born: 1885, Russian Poland Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1924 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Arrested in Detroit during the January 1920 Palmer raids as a member of the Communist Party of America. Initially ordered deported to Poland, but later permitted “voluntary departure” to Soviet Russia. Departed October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54709/836.
John W. Dobrinich
Born: 1889, Austria-Hungary (in present-day Croatia) Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Croatian Occupation: Coal miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Married with four children remaining in Croatia. Joined the South Slavic Branch of the Socialist Party in Staunton, Illinois in 1916, later becoming secretary of the Benld, Illinois branch. Transferred into the Communist Party. Arrested in Missouri on April 1, 1920. Appealed his case multiple times before being deported to Croatia on April 4, 1925.
Sources: INS file 54861/376; American Labor Year Book, 1926.
Peter Dolgay (or Dolgag; Dowhay)
Born: 1880, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russia Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Metal worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Wife and three children remained in Russia. Member of the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio. Arrested in August 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/543.
Victor Dombrowski (a.k.a. Douglas Dombrowski; Dombrivski)
Victor Dombrowski’s Socialist Party membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1871, Telsha, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality/Ethnicity: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1900 Affiliation: IWW; Communist Party of America
Not politically active in Russia. Arrested in Chicago around 1914 and imprisoned for three years for assault with intent to kill. After his release, joined the Socialist Party of America and the IWW (leaving the latter in 1918), then the Communist Party in 1919. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and deported to Lithuania on May 14, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54809/19; FBI files OG 385518 and OG 388575.
Gerasim Dorosh (a.k.a. Harry Dorosh; Mike Dorash; Mike Smith)
Born: 1893, near Brest-Litovsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Wife and child remained in Russia. Joined the URW branch in Ansonia, Connecticut in March 1919 and became branch secretary. Arrested June 1919 and deported to Russia on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS folder 54616/252.
Konstantin Demyanovich Draco
Born: 1888, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Wife and son remained in Russia. Joined the New London, Connecticut URW branch in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/373; FBI file OG 388601.
Sidor Drankovich (a.k.a. Cedar Drankovich)
Born: 1880, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Autoworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party
Resided in Hamtramck, Michigan. Joined Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party in 1919, which later became a Communist Party branch. Arrested in January 1920 and detained at Fort Wayne. Deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54589/983.
Dionisy Drichetz (a.k.a. Dennis Drichitz)
Born: Year unknown, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Unknown Migration: Immigration to US year unknown Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Member of the Communist Party of America in Bayonne, New Jersey. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and deported to Russia on December 23, 1920.
Sources: INS folder 54325/36G; The Morning Post (Camden, NJ), December 23, 1920.
Sergey Drigov (or Drigoff)
Born: 1883, Mogilev, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW
Wife and children remained in Russia. Joined the Seattle URW in April 1919, becoming financial secretary, and joined the IWW in December 1919. Arrested in Seattle in January 1920 and deported to Russia on February 1, 1921 aboard the SS Estonia.
Sources: INS file 54860/473; FBI file OG 388594.
Alexandr Dubarev (or Dubareff)
Born: Year unknown, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigration to US year unknown Affiliation: Unknown
Name included on a government list of deported radicals; deported to Russia on January 27, 1921.
Sources: INS folder 54325/36G.
Ivan Dubov (a.k.a. John Duboff)
Ivan Dubov, 1919. The Globe (Worthington, MN), March 4, 1920.
Born: 1885, Fyodorovka, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Active in Union of Russian Worker branches in McKees Rocks (Pennsylvania), New York, and Detroit. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. Declared to authorities: “Of course, I am an anarchist… I do not acknowledge any government.” Deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/97; FBI file OG 381656.
Peter Dubovik
Born: c. 1880, Zadworna, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Member of the Union of Russian Workers in Seattle. Deported to Russia on January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/462.
Ivan Dudinsky (a.k.a. John Dudinsky)
Dudinsky’s Communist Party membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1889, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A former member of the Russian branch of the Socialist Party of America who then joined the Communist Party of America. Arrested in Newark, New Jersey and detained for 101 days while suffering from tuberculosis. Refused to answer questions without legal counsel, which was not provided. Deported December 23, 1920.
Emigrated to from Russia to Canada in 1923 and settled in Quebec. In 1935 sought permission to reenter the US temporarily, which was denied.
Sources: INS file 54810/346; Investigation of Administration of Louis F. Post, Assistant Secretary of Labor: In the Matter of Deportation of Aliens, Hearings, Sixty-sixth Congress, Second Session; Constantine Maria Panunzio, The Deportation Cases of 1919-1920; Beverly Gage, The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror.
Anton Dudka (a.k.a. Antonio or Tony Dudka)
Born: 1894, Podolsk, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Blacksmith; handyman Migration: Migrated to Canada 1914; then to US 1918 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Chairman of Buffalo’s East Side Russian Branch of the Communist Party. Arrested January 7, 1920. Denied all allegations. Deported to Russia on February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54809/443.
Serge Dukhane
Born: c. 1892, Chernigov, Russia (present-day Chernihiv, Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Tailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Socialist Labor Party
Wife and child remained in Russia. Member of the Socialist Labor Party. Arrested in Pittsburgh in January 1920. Affirmed his belief in Communism and Bolshevism but denied membership in the Communist Party. Deported to Russia in February 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/646.
Alex Dulchewski (or Dulchewsky; Dulchavsky)
Born: 1891, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Member of the Communist Party in Detroit. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/808.
Michael Dunetz
Born: 1885, Vilensky, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Carpenter Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Carpenter for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, where he also belonged to Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920, detained at Fort Wayne, and deported to Russia on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/988.
Wladyslaw Dwanowsky (a.k.a. Walter Jazonski)
Born: c. 1884, Lublin, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Bricklayer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Previously arrested in Russia for taking an unauthorized furlough (presumably from the Russian army). Arrested in Hamtramck, Michigan in January 1920 due to his Communist Party membership; previously detained for distributing radical May Day flyers. Deported to Russia on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/610.
Paul Dyachuk (a.k.a. Pavel Deonesieff)
Born: c. 1882, Kiev, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Boilermaker Migration: Immigrated to US 1903 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Seattle in 1919. Also a member of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders and Helpers of America. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.
Arthur Katzes, 1919. Springfield News (OH) December 28, 1919.
Born: 1897, Podolia, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Printer Migration: Entered the United States without inspection in 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; anarchist
Had been a student in Russia and was apprenticing as a pressman before working as a sailor to finance his passage to the United States in 1914. Around 1917, he joined the Union of Russian Workers and became a member of the editorial board of its newspaper, Khleb i Volia. He was arrested in New York in March 1919 and released on bail. While at liberty, he collaborated in producing the illegal Anarchist Soviet Bulletin. In September 1919, he was arrested again, together with Ethel Bernstein, for distributing copies of that publication. He was deported to Russia aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54616/115; Richard Polenberg, Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech.
Joe Kaunas (or Kavnas; a.k.a. Bogdonas; Boglonas)
Born: 1885, Russian Lithuania Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Coal miner; student Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Entered the US without inspection in 1913. Worked as a coal miner in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and later attended Valparaiso University. He became a member of Valparaiso Branch No. 20 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested on January 14, 1920. Although he claimed Lithuanian citizenship, immigration authorities deported him to Russia on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/713.
Teleso Kavalianskas (or Kavalionskas, Kavalauskas; Talespor Kavalanchas; a.k.a. Stanley)
Born: 1881, Kovno, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Became secretary of Branch No. 43 of the Lithuanian Federation of the Communist Party of America in Detroit. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920. “Voluntarily departed” for Rissia via Canada on October 20, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54709/954; FBI file BS 202600-155-1.
Joseph Kennedy
Joseph Kennedy, 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1885, Belfast, Ireland Nationality: British Ethnicity: Irish Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1905 Affiliation: Industrial Workers of the World
Joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1917 and became secretary of Metal Mine Workers’ Industrial Union No. 800 in Butte, Montana. He worked closely with IWW organizer Frank Little before Little was lynched during the Butte copper strike in 1917. Kennedy was arrested multiple times for IWW activity and was also described by authorities as “active…in the cause of Irish independence.” Arrested again in February 1919 in the aftermath of a miners’ strike and deported on June 21, 1919.
After his return to Britain, Kennedy joined the Merseyside branch of the IWW in Liverpool and involved in underground activities on behalf of the Irish Republican Army, including as an accessory to a botched robbery. In 1924, he was reported to be planning an illegal return to the United States, and emigrated to Canada. Settled in Timmins, Ontario, where he became secretary of the local branch of the IWW’s Metal and Coal Mine Workers Industrial Union. In 1928, after a fire in the Hollinger Gold Mine killed thirty-nine people, Kennedy led a protest meeting of 600 miners “to demand action on the part of those responsible for the murder of our fellow workers.”
Sources: INS file 54616/74; Butte Daily Bulletin, June 13, 1919; Socialist Review (London), February 1, 1959; Ancestry.com; Windsor Star, February 15, 1928.
Born: c. 1898, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer; longshoreman Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Unknown
Worked as a laborer and longshoreman in Camden, New Jersey, and New York. In May 1919, he was arrested in Philadelphia by company guards from the Pusey and Jones Shipbuilding Company of Gloucester City, New Jersey, for distributing what authorities described as “Bolshevik circulars” on company property. Deported to Russia on February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54616/173.
Boris Keretchuk
Born: 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Newark branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported to Russia aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/358.
Nuval Kerget (or Nabul)
Born: 1875, Minsk Governorate, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Lumber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1910 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW
First arrived in the United States through Honolulu in 1910 and later settled in Seattle in 1918. Worked as a lumber worker and became a member of the Union of Russian Workers as well as the Industrial Workers of the World in 1919. Arrested in January 1920 and deported to Russia on February 26, 1921.
Included on a list of deported members of the Industrial Workers of the World, and deported on October 31, 1919. No further biographical information has been found.
Sources: One Big Union Monthly, March 1920.
William Kircher
Born: 1892, Hesse, Germany Nationality: German Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1906 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1917. He was arrested in Seattle in May 1918 and interned as an “alien enemy” at Fort Douglas, Utah. Released on condition of “voluntary departure” and left the United States on September 25, 1919.
Born: 1886, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Steelworker Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Had a wife living in Russia. He joined the URW in Youngstown, Ohio. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Source: INS file 54709/187.
Giuseppe Montagni
Giuseppe Montagni, c. 1920. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Italy.
Born: 1890, Riva di Trento, Austria-Hungary (present-day Italy) Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Italian Occupation: Electrician Migration: Migrated to US 1911 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Lived in Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh and joined the Communist Party of America. Deported June 19, 1920.
He apparently did not join the Italian Communist Party, but in late 1922 he illegally emigrated to Hungary hoping to reach Russia. Arrested in Budapest en route, he was interned for ten months at Zalaegerszeg before being expelled back to Italy in June 1924. After several years of itinerant work, he settled in his hometown as a farmer. Italian authorities continued surveillance of him as a radical until 1941.
Sources: FBI file OG 204622; CPC busta 3359.
Tugardo Montanari
Born: 1886, Orciano di Pesaro, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Metalworker; iron molder Migration: Migrated to US 1903 Affiliation: Anarchist
Not politically radical before immigrating, he became an anarchist and distributed Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva throughout New England by motorcycle. In 1913 he was arrested in Worcester, Massachusetts, for “lewd and lascivious cohabitation” with his companion Lucia Mancini and served six months. Arrested again May 17, 1918, in Mansfield, Massachusetts, he was deported June 24, 1919, while Mancini and their daughter remained in the US.
In 1923 he emigrated to France, where he continued anarchist and antifascist activity. He was still living there in 1977 and contributing funds to the Italian anarchist magazine Volontà.
Sources: INS file 54379/374; CPC busta 3366; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; Volontà, January–February 1977.
Ivan Morgolenkow (a.k.a. John Novak)
Born: 1891, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Longshoreman Migration: Migrated to US 1911 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Belonged to the URW in Baltimore. Arrested December 3, 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Source: INS file 54709/622.
Harry Morozoff (a.k.a. Morogoff)
Born: c. 1894, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party in 1917 and attended meetings of Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party in Detroit in 1919, though he denied formal membership. Arrested January 1920 and held at Fort Wayne, he was deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Source: INS file 54860/54.
Grigori Moroz (a.k.a. Gregory; Mike Moroz)
Born: 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1916 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined URW Branch No. 1 in Baltimore in April 1919. He worked at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Plant, where in October 1919 a company officer reported him for wearing a black button bearing the name of the URW newspaper Khleb i Volia. Arrested November 1919, he was deported to Russia February 1, 1921.
Source: INS file 54709/108.
Roman Mosichuk (or Mosichok; Mosicshok; Mosithuk)
Born: 1890, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Blacksmith’s helper Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Newark in 1915 and became secretary of its school in Trenton, New Jersey, where he distributed URW literature. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Source: INS file 54709/220.
Pavel Mozuris (a.k.a. Paul; Mozures)
Born: 1885, Suwałki, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1907 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Communist Party in New York in 1919. On January 20, 1920, he voluntarily reported himself to the Department of Justice as a party member because he had been blacklisted and wanted to return to Russia. After more than six months’ detention on Ellis Island, he escaped July 12, 1920, by leaping from a third-floor window into the water below. Later located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, he was arrested and deported February 26, 1921.
Deported to Yugoslavia as a radical June 19, 1920. No additional information has been located.
Source: INS file 54325/36G.
Camillo Muñoz
Born: 1880, Nochistlán, Mexico Nationality: Mexican Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1915 Affiliation: Anarchist
Muñoz belonged to the anarchist group Los Errantes in Morenci, Arizona, affiliated with the Partido Liberal Mexicano. Arrested September 19, 1919, in Tucson, his wife and three Mexican-born children traveled there intending to accompany him if deported. He was deported December 3, 1919.
Source: INS file 54709/70.
José Maria Murias
Born: 1889, Rosario de Santa Fe, Argentina Nationality: Disputed Ethnicity: Spanish (father); Italian (mother) Occupation: Sailor; miner Migration: Migrated to US 1914 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the IWW in San Francisco in 1914 and became a delegate and organizer in Arizona. Arrested in Globe, Arizona, in September 1918, immigration officials faced a diplomatic impasse when Argentina claimed he was a Spanish citizen and Spain claimed he was an Argentine citizen. He was ultimately allowed to “reship as a foreign seaman” to Costa Rica July 11, 1919.
A 1920 report stated he later made several voyages to New York as a seaman and expected to return again.
Source: INS file 54648/32.
Vasily Murza (a.k.a. Sam Drozda; Sam Murza; Sam Murgu)
Born: c. 1897, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Steelworker Migration: Migrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Communist Party of America in Buffalo in November 1919. According to immigration authorities, “He appears to be a dangerous radical and, in addition, he is immoral, as will be seen from the testimony he is living with a woman without being married to her.” (In fact, he and his wife Pauline Brya had been legally married in a civil ceremony.) Arrested January 1920, he was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Born: 1871, Derry, Ireland Nationality: British Ethnicity: Ulster-Scots Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US c. 1890s Affiliation: IWW
Worked as an itinerant laborer throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Arrested in Centralia, Washington, in November 1919, he stated he was “ashamed to say” that he was not a dues-paying member of the IWW due to lack of funds, though he supported its ideology and declared that the only government he supported was that of Soviet Russia. Deported April 2, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54709/581; FBI file OG 378240.
Dimitry Remar
Born: 1896, Podolsk, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1915; then to US 1918 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Became a member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 5 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/796.
Benjamin Repsys (or Repshys)
Born: 1894, Kovno, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Autoworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Worked for the Ford Motor Company and in 1918 joined Detroit’s Branch No. 116 of the Lithuanian Socialist Federation, later transferring into the Communist Party. Arrested November 15, 1919, for receiving radical literature but released. Arrested again in January 1920 and deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/658.
Manuel Rey y García (a.k.a. Louis G. Raymond)
Manuel Rey y García, 1918. National Archives.
Born: 1888, Castrofoya, Spain Nationality: Spanish Ethnicity: Galician Occupation: Sailor; union organizer; house painter Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: IWW
His father was killed in the Cuban War of Independence. Emigrated to Cuba in 1905; from 1909 to 1914 he worked as sailor throughout Atlantic.
Entered the United States without inspection in 1914. An anarchist, he joined the IWW around that same year and became secretary of its Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union in Philadelphia; in April 1917 he moved to Niagara Falls, New York, where he was elected secretary of the local IWW organization. Arrested three times within six months for failure to register for the draft and for antiwar speeches, he was a defendant in the 1917–1918 mass IWW trial in Chicago and was sentenced to twenty years and a $20,000 fine. While imprisoned he corresponded with anarchist Lilly Sarnoff, who became his lifelong companion. His sentence was commuted in December 1922 on condition of deportation, and he was deported to Spain March 22, 1923.
He illegally returned to the United States, was deported again in 1926, and returned once more under the name “Louis G. Raymond.” He continued to be active in the anarchist movemint, living in the Stelton, New Jersey anarchist community and coediting the newspaper Freedom (1933–1934). He died in New York in 1990 at age 101.
Sources: INS file 54297/18; FBI file OG 8000-160053′ Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University; Peter Cole, Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia; Bieito Alonso, “Spanish Anarchists and Maritime Workers in the IWW,” in Wobblies of the World: A Global History of the IWW; Bieito Alonso, Anarquistas galegos en América; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America.
Federico Ricci
Federico Ricci, c. 1920. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Italy.
Born: 1887, Cesenatico, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Shoemaker Migration: Immigrated to US 1905 Affiliation: Anarchist
Originally a socialist in Italy, he became an anarchist in the U.S. around 1910. Returned to Italy from 1911 to 1913. Arrested in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in January 1918 for failure to register for the draft, he was sentenced to a year in prison and declared, “I do not believe in any form of government, because the people have no liberty.” Deported May 22, 1919.
In 1920 he was arrested in Naples for desertion but released on probation. He returned to Cesenatico, where authorities reported he lived a solitary life. Emigrated to France in 1925 and returned to Italy in 1929, remaining under surveillance until 1941, though no further radical activity was noted.
Sources: INS files 54379/2 and 54379/3; CPC busta 4302.
Augusto Rigoni
Augusto Rigoni, c. 1920. Archivio Central dello Stato, Italy.
Not politically radical in Italy, in the United States he joined the anarchist Circolo Studi Sociali in Kensington, Illinois, and supported Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva. He was deported December 20, 1919.
After returning to Italy, authorities reported he initially showed sympathy with socialism but withdrew from politics, married, had children, and devoted himself to farming with his brothers. In 1932 he developed symptoms described as “mental alienation” and was confined to a provincial psychiatric hospital in Vicenza, where he died that same year.
Sources: CPC busta 4329; Cronaca Sovversiva, July 15, 1916.
Thomas Rimmer
Born: 1886, England Nationality: British Ethnicity: English Occupation: Sailor; miner Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1912; then to US 1914 Affiliation: IWW
Emigrated to Canada in 1912, and from there entered the United States in 1914 without inspection. Radicalized in the U.S., he joined the Socialist Party of America and the Western Federation of Miners, then became an IWW member around. Helped organize the 1917 miners’ strike in Butte, Montana, served on the strikers’ publicity committee, and spoke at the funeral of organizer Frank Little. In 1918 he became an IWW delegate. Arrested May 6, 1918, during a police raid on an IWW hall in Seattle, he befriended fellow deportee Moses Baritz, beginning a lifelong political and personal friendship. Deported February 27, 1919, as a person deemed likely to become a public charge.
In Liverpool he joined the Merseyside IWW branch. In 1921 he joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain, and that was believed to travel frequently between England and Canada. After a lapse he rejoined the SPGB in 1933. He died in 1952.
Born: 1896, Volynia, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Worked for the Singer Sewing Machine Company in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested in New York during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/457.
Librado Rivera
Librado Rivera, c. 1910s. Wikimedia Commons.
Librado Rivera, c. 1930.
Born: 1864, Rayón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico Nationality: Mexican Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1905 Affiliation: Partido Liberal Mexicano
In Mexico, became a teacher in 1888 and in 1900 cofounded a liberal political group in San Luis Potosí opposing Catholic influence on the government. Arrested in 1902 for political activities, he served a year in prison. In 1903 he collaborated with Ricardo Flores Magón and others on El hijo del Ahuizote and was arrested for “ridiculing public officials.”
After migrating to the United States in 1905, he cofounded the Partido Liberal Mexicano and soon adopted anarchism. Arrested in St. Louis in 1906, the US government attempted unsuccessfully to extradite him to Mexico. In 1907 he moved to Los Angeles, where he and other PLM leaders were arrested without warrants by private detectives acting for the Mexican government and convicted of violating US neutrality laws, though later released. In 1910 he became a founding editor of Regeneración. Arrested again in 1911 for neutrality violations related to organizing PLM fighters for the Mexican Revolution, he was imprisoned until 1914. In 1918 he was convicted under the Espionage Act for material published in Regeneración and sentenced to fifteen years. In 1920 he was transferred from McNeil Island to Leavenworth Penitentiary. His sentence was commuted in 1923 on condition of deportation to Mexico.
Back in Mexico he declined government posts offered in San Luis Potosí and continued publishing anarchist newspapers and supporting anarcho-syndicalist unionxsin Tampico, for which he was arrested repeatedly. He died in 1932 after being struck by a car in Mexico City.
Born 1894, Grodno region, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. May 1918 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore. Arrested November 26, 1919. Deported on the Buford.
Born 1892, Volhynia, Russia. Weaver. Migrated to US 1912. Joined the Socialist Party of America in Philadelphia; subsequently joined the Philadelphia branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested December 30, 1919. Deported to Russia, February 1, 1921.
INS file 54809/900
Bertha Zimmerman (Берта Цимерман; née Masdawid or Masdawit)
Born 1885, Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia). Latvian. Housewife; garment worker. Migrated to US 1907. Married fellow deportee David Zimmerman in Boston that same year. Literate in Russian, Lettish, German, and some English. Joined the National Lettish Organization of the Socialist Party of America. 1908 son Erick born. Circa 1908 moved to Chicago, where involved in the IWW. Circa 1918 moved to Baltimore. September 1919 charter member of the Lettish Federation of the Communist Party of America; member of the party’s Baltimore Central Committee and distributor of its publication The Communist. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 2, 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.
INS file 54859/549; FBI file OG 391151
See also: Vernon L. Pedersen, The Communist Party in Maryland, 1919-57
David Davidovich Zimmerman (Давид Давидович Цимерман)
Born 1875, Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia). Latvian. Carpenter. Circa 1904 joined the Latvian Social Democratic Workers’ Party. Migrated to US 1906. Joined the National Lettish Organization of the Socialist Party of America that year. Married fellow deportee Bertha Zimmerman in Boston 1907. 1908 son Erick born. Circa 1908 moved to Chicago, where involved in the IWW. Circa 1918 moved to Baltimore. September 1919 charter member of the Lettish Federation of the Communist Party of America; member of the party’s Baltimore Central Committee and distributor of its publication The Communist. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 2, 1920. Deported February 1, 1921.
Joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that same year. Lived in Leningrad. Arrested June 1938 for espionage during Stalin’s purges. Executed October 10, 1938.
Born 1885, Vilna, Russia (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania). Laborer. Migrated to US 1911. Circa 1917 joined Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party of America; 1919 transferred into Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party in Detroit. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 6, 1920, at the House of the Masses. “Voluntary departure” to Russia via Montreal, October 16, 1920.
INS file 54859/982; FBI file OG 8000-391223
Nestor Zubko (Нестор Зубко; aka Walter)
Zubko’s Socialist Party membership card
Born 1895, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. 1918 joined the Russian Branch of the Socialist Party of America in Bridgeport, Connecticut; 1919 joined the Bridgeport branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 12, 1919. Deported on the Buford.
INS file 54709/400
Simeon Zuk (Симеон Цук; Sam; Zuek; Suek)
Born 1885, Grodno region, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913 (via Canada). Wife and children in Russia. Joined the Socialist Party of America in Detroit; 1919 transferred into Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested February 1920. “Voluntarily departed” October 30, 1920.
INS file 54859/799
Jonas (“John”) Zukauski (Zukauskas)
Born state of Kovno, Russia (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania) c.1895. Migrated to US 1909. Machinist. Participated in anti-conscription protest July 6, 1917, for which he served a year in prison. Member of Branch No. 75 of the Communist Party of America in Rockford, Illinois. Arrested January 1920. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. Wife (Telki) and seven-year-old son (Edvard) accompanied him.
Born 1888, San Nicola dell’Alto, Calabria, Italy. Laborer; teacher; bookseller. Graduated from an industrial school in Cosenza and trained as an electrician. Migrated to US 1914. Settled in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, where worked as a laborer and Italian language teacher. 1914 joined IWW and became organizer for it among local miners. 1916 moved to Youngstown, Ohio, and active in defense campaign for Carlo Tresca during the Mesabi Iron Range Strike; quit the IWW along with Tresca following internal controversy over Tresca’s actions during the strike. Returned to Old Forge and opened a small bookstore in “a shack,” selling both radical and non-radical literature. Arrested June 4, 1917 for anti-conscription activities, and “about one hundred and fifty pounds of anarchistic literature,” as well as an envelope containing a portion of executed IWW member Joe Hill’s ashes, were confiscated by police, who also allegedly stole more than $20 from his store. Sentenced to a year in Lackawanna County Jail for failing to register for the draft. He explained his actions: “I cherish and believe in international brotherhood of the workers–of mankind.” Subsequently indicted under the Espionage Act in the federal IWW trial in Chicago and moved to Cook County Jail, but the indictment against him was dropped after six months because he was no longer a member of the IWW at the time of America’s entrance into it. Released from jail August 15, 1918; immediately arrested by immigration authorities and held for deportation. Deported July 3, 1919.
No political activity noted by Italian authorities, who in 1937 removed him from the Italian government’s list of “subversives” after reporting that he “no longer professes subversive ideas” and instead “takes an active part in all patriotic and [Fascist] Party ceremonies.”
INS file 54235/39; FBI file OG 21993; CPC busta 5611
See also: Harrisburg Telegraph (Harrisburg PA), June 9, 1917; Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University
Anton ______
Deported to Lithuania, October 22, 1920. No further information found.
Included on list of deported radicals in INS file 54325/36G
