Tag Archives: Polish

Orlov to Papadogiannis

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , , , ,

Mikhail Orlov (a.k.a. Mike Orloff)

Born: 1889, Mogilev, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Miner
Migration: Immigrated to US 1909
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Homestead, Pennsylvania in 1915. Authorities suspected he was “one of the moving spirits” of a URW branch believed to exist in the Bertha mines in Morgantown, West Virginia. He was also a member of the United Mine Workers. Received anarchist and IWW literature from Max Maisel’s anarchist bookstore in New York. Arrested December 1, 1919 during the miners’ strike and deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/608.

Samuel Orlov (a.k.a. Sam Orloff)

Born: 1889, Mogliev, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Miner
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Monessen, Pennsylvania circa 1915. Also a member of the United Mine Workers. Arrested December 1, 1919 during the miners’ strike and deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/609; FBI file OG 8000-248688.

Albert Osborn

Born: 1898, Førde, Norway
Nationality: Norwegian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Sailor; laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1909
Affiliation: IWW

Migrated to the United States with his stepmother in 1909 to rejoin his father. Joined the IWW in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota in 1915, though he later claimed he joined only under pressure from other members. Arrested in Everett, Washington in 1917 for failing to register for the draft and served thirteen days in jail. Arrested again May 23, 1918 in Seattle as an IWW member. Diagnosed on June 6, 1918 as “insane” due to “dementia praecox” attributed to a childhood head injury. Deported September 20, 1919 as “likely to become a public charge,” for entering without inspection (upon his return from a sailing voyage in 1915), and for alleged insanity. According to Commissioner General of Immigration A. Caminetti, “the charge against him does not arise, even remotely, from his connection with the I.W.W.”

Sources: INS file 54414/81.

Anton Ostopchuk

Born: c. 1886, Russia (in present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Metalworker
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

His wife and two children remained in Russia. Joined Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54859/719.

Nikolai Ostreiko

Born: 1877, Lida, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration: Immigrated to US 1910
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

A member of the Russian Branch of the Socialist Party of America in Flint, Michigan, later transferring to the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54860/739.

Osip Otroschyk (or Otrozttzek; a.k.a. Joe Trocki)

Born: 1880, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Polish
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

His wife remained in Russia when he emigrated. Employed at Fisher Body Company in Detroit and a member of Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920 and held at Fort Wayne. “Voluntarily departed” to Russia via Canada January 24, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54859/989.

Yakov Ozols (a.k.a. Jacob; Ozal)

Born: c. 1887, Riga, Russia (present-day Latvia)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Sailor; laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1917
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Joined the Socialist Party and later the Russian Branch of the Communist Party of America in Philadelphia. Arrested January 7, 1920 and deported February 1, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54811/944; FBI file OG 8000-276616.

Peter Paich (or Paick)

Born: 1897, Požega, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia)
Nationality: Hungarian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Socialist Party of America; Workers’ International Industrial Union

Joined the Socialist Party in Detroit in 1915 and the Workers’ International Industrial Union in Lorain, Ohio in 1918. Arrested August 1917 for distributing socialist literature and jailed four days. Arrested again April 1918 for distributing socialist and anti-conscription literature, then interned at Fort Oglethorpe as an “alien enemy.” Detained for deportation upon release in September 1919 and deported May 8, 1920 on the charge of being “likely to become a public charge,” as Socialist Party membership did not meet the legal definition of anarchism.

Sources: INS file 54379/474; FBI file OG 8000-203962.

Alexandr Palukevich (or Palukovich; Pavlukoich)

Born: Russia, year unknown
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration:
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Member of the Communist Party in Bayonne, New Jersey. Deported to Russia December 23, 1920. No further information has been found.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G.

Pavel Panasuk (a.k.a. Paul; Panosik)

Born: Russia, year unknown
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration:
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Member of the Communist Party in Chicago. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids January 2, 1920. “Voluntarily departed” to Russia October 10, 1920.

Sources: FBI file BS 202600-149-1.

Joseph T. Pandack

Born:
Nationality: Yugoslavian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration:
Affiliation:

Deported to Yugoslavia as a radical on August 1, 1920. No further information found.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G.

Dimitri Panko

Born: 1890, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Mechanic
Migration: Immigrated to US 1914
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Joined Branch No. 2 of the Union of Russian Workers in Newark, for which he distributed literature. Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Later employed in Moscow at the Russian-American Tool Plant, where he helped form a factory committee and appears to have joined the Communist Party of Russia.

Sources: INS file 54709/112; B. Ratner, Istoriia Moskovskogo instrumental’nogo zavoda.

Pavel Pankov (a.k.a. Pual Panko; Pankoff)

Born: 1886, Mogliev, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Moulder; bartender
Migration: Immigrated to US 1907
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Joined the Socialist Party in 1914, then Detroit’s Russian Branch of the Communist Party in 1919. Worked as a bartender at Detroit’s House of the Masses. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia February 26, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54859/634.

Kostas Papadogiannis

Born: 1885, Greece
Nationality: Greek
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Printer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1908
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Secretary of New York’s Greek Socialist Union and printer of its newspaper Phone tou Ergatou (Voice of the Worker), founded 1918. Later became a member of the Communist Party of America. Deported to Greece in early 1921.

In Athens he wrote for the Greek Socialist Workers’ Party newspaper and established a leftist publishing house that printed Communist literature and distributed Greek-language Marxist texts from the United States, including the first Greek translation of Lenin’s The State and Revolution. After 1924, however, he left the party and published dissident radical literature, such as Trotsky’s biography of Lenin.

Sources: Kostis Karpozilos, Red America: Greek Communists in the United States, 1920–1950; additional information supplied by Kostis Karpozilos.

Paredes García to Penske

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , , , ,

Eduardo Paredes García

Born: 1895, A Coruña, Spain
Nationality: Spanish
Ethnicity: Galician
Occupation: Sailor; bookkeeper
Migration: Immigrated to US 1916
Affiliation: IWW; anarchist

Emigrated Cuba and then, in 1916, to the United States. An anarchist, he joined the Industrial Workers of the World’s Marine Transport Workers in 1917 and edited the IWW newspaper Defensa Obrera. During the federal IWW trial, he served as an assistant to the IWW’s attorney, George Vanderveer. He was also a member of Philadelphia’s anarchist Pro-Prensa group. Arrested in Philadelphia, he was deported to Spain on December 20, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54648/28; Peter Cole, Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia.

Luigi Parenti

Luigi Parenti in 1918. National Archives.
Luigi Parenti in 1922. Archivio dello Stato, Italy.

Born: 1887, Calcinaia, Italy
Nationality: Italian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer; union organizer; journalist
Migration: Immigrated to US 1910
Affiliation: IWW; anarchist

Initially a Christian democrat and completed two years of seminary study in Lucca before abandoning religious training, marrying, and assisting an Italian streetcar drivers’ strike.

He emigrated to the United States with his wife Maria in 1910 and soon became an anarchist, joining the Industrial Workers of the World in San Francisco in 1911. He became a lecturer and organizer for the IWW and was arrested several times for leading strikes and demonstrations. Italian consular authorities described him as “one of the most dangerous propagandists in the anarchist movement across the United States,” calling him “taciturn in character, educated, intelligent, [and] cultured.” A defendant in the mass IWW trial of 1917–1918, he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and a $30,000 fine. From September 1917 to June 1919 he was denied permission to communicate with his wife and three daughters, one of whom was born while he was incarcerated. Released on bail pending appeal, he worked as an organizer for an independent Italian fishermen’s union in San Francisco and later as a correspondent for La Voce del Popolo. After losing his appeal in May 1921, he reentered prison, but in 1922 his sentence was commuted on condition of deportation. He “voluntarily departed” with his family on October 26, 1922.

Back in Italy, he settled in Lucca, joined the syndicalist Unione Sindacale Italiana, and attended its illegal 1926 convention. He later withdrew from overt radical activity and worked for a Fascist state-created union and as a reporter. Official reports alternately described him as obedient to Fascist directives (1929), secretly receiving radical publications from the United States (1930), and again demonstrating “good moral and political conduct” aligned with the regime (1932). The true nature of his political beliefs in these years is unclear. Died in 1961.

Sources: INS file 54235/61; CPC busta 3732; Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library; Kenyon Zimmer, Immigrants Against the State: Yiddish and Italian Anarchism in America.

Feodor Pasiuk (a.k.a. Theodor, Paschuk)

Born: c. 1880, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

His wife and child remained in Russia when he emigrated. Became a member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 4, 1920, he was deported to Russia on March 18, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54859/967.

Lev Paskevich (a.k.a. Levi Paskevick; Paskovich)

Born: c. 1889, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Ship rigger
Migration: Migrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Joined the Socialist Party of America and later Philadelphia’s First Branch of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 7, 1920, he was deported to Russia on February 1, 1921 aboard the SS Estonia.

Sources: INS file 54859/134; Philadelphia Enquirer, February 1, 1921.

John Paskvalick (or Pashvalisk)

Born: Austria-Hungary, year unknown
Nationality: Austrian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration: M
Affiliation:

Deported to Austria as a radical on June 19, 1920. No further information has been found.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G.

George Pasukow

Born: Russia, year unknown
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration: M
Affiliation:

Deported to Russia as a radical on October 17, 1920. No further information has been found.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G.

Peter Pavlas (a.k.a. Pete Pawlas)

Born: 1885, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Czech
Occupation: Machinist; laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1917
Affiliation: Socialist Party of America

The child of Czech (“Bohemian”) immigrants in Russia, he returned with his parents to Bohemia in 1894. In he 1909 migrated to Argentina; then to Mexico in 1915.

Entered the United States in 1917 without inspection as a contract laborer to work in a sugar factory near San Francisco. An immigration agent described him as “a peculiar character, being somewhat of a ‘globe trotter’, and a student of Esperanto…He is believed to be more intelligent than he would represent.” Arrested in Cleveland on January 31, 1919 while distributing Socialist Party literature and was reportedly in poor health while detained at Ellis Island. Because Socialist Party membership was not a deportable offense, authorities acknowledged they could not substantiate anarchism charges, but he was nevertheless deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919 on the grounds that he had entered the country without inspection and was “likely to become a public charge.”

Sources: INS file 54616/16.

Artemy Pavluk (or Pauluk; Paulik)

Born: 1885, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Russia (present-day Ukraine)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Miner
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

He served four years in the Russian Army before emigrating.

Drafted into the U.S. Army, he served six months at Camp Lee and Camp Shelby before being discharged. Became secretary of the Union of Russian Workers branch at the Dakota Mine in Fairmont, West Virginia. Arrested December 2, 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/605.

Josef Penske (a.k.a. Joseph Penski)

Born: 1886, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity: Polish
Occupation: Autoworker
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Worked as an autoworker while living in Hamtramck, Michigan. He joined the Socialist Party of America in 1914 and later the Communist Party. Arrested in January 1920, he “voluntarily departed” to Russia on October 16, 1920.

Sources: INS file 54859/541.

Pivarsky to Potenkin

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , , , ,

Steve Pivarsky

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.

Proshkovich to Ravavio

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , ,

Fedor Proshkovich (a.k.a. Theodor)

Fedor Proshkovich’s URW membership card. National Archives.

Born: 1896, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Machine operator
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York around 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54709/364.

Tomas Prosk

Born: 1893, Kaluga, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Metalworker
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW

Joined the New Haven branch of the Union of Russian Workers around 1918. Employed at the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in New Haven, he was fired for organizing for the IWW; although he denied IWW membership, evidence showed he paid dues and received literature. At work, when given instructions for paying his income tax, he also remarked, “F— the Government.” Arrested April 1919 after his employer reported him to authorities, and deported on the Buford December 21, 1919.

Sources: INS file 54616/156.

Anton Prushchuk (or Prushtshuk; a.k.a. Anthony Pruschuk; Tony)

Born: 1898, Brest-Litovsk, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers (alleged)

Immigrated to the United States in 1913 to avoid military service. Worked in Detroit and was probably a member of the Union of Russian Workers, though he denied it. An avowed pacifist, he was arrested in 1918 for failing to register for the draft and illegally inducted into the US Army. Court-martialed in June 1918 for refusing orders, he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and confined at the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks and later Fort Douglas, Utah, until August 1919, when he was dishonorably discharged. Arrested again during the second Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported to Poland January 22, 1921.

Arrested by the Soviet government due to his anarchism, he participated in a hunger strike in Petrograd’s House of Preliminary Detention in November 1922 and was force-fed through a catheter.

Sources: INS file 54709/510; FBI file OG 363519; International Committee for Political Prisoners, Letters from Russian Prisons.

Demian Pruss (or Bruss)

Born: 1895, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Agricultural worker
Migration: Immigrated to US 1912
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Became a member of Philadelphia’s First Russian Branch of the Communist Party. Deported to Russia February 26, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54811/959.

Louis Purtikowsky (a.k.a. Purtik; Pyrtek)

Born: Biata, Russia (present-day Poland)
Nationality: Polish
Ethnicity: Polish
Occupation: Barber; laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation:

Reported to authorities by three US Army recruiters in Indianapolis who claimed he had voiced opposition to the US government and the war, expressed support for revolution, and allegedly said he would throw bombs rather than assist the government. Arrested September 1919. He denied all charges but stated he wished to return to Poland. Deported to Poland May 14, 1920.

Sources: INS file 54709/55.

Kazimir Radkovits (or Radkowicz; Radkovich; Radowiz; a.k.a. John Baron)

Born: c. 1884, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Autoworker
Migration: Immigrated to US 1903
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Joined the Socialist Party around 1910 and later Detroit’s Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920 and deported to Russia February 26, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54859/659.

Pavel Rak (a.k.a. Paul; Rakand)

Born: 1889, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Longshoreman
Migration: Immigrated to US 1914
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

In July 1918 he was illegally drafted into the US Army and, as a conscientious objector, sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment at Fort Douglas, Utah. After his release he joined the Communist Party in Detroit. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and “voluntarily departed” sometime before February 1921.

Sources: FBI file OG 379972; INS file 54325/36G.

Ignaty Ramoroff (a.k.a. Tony Paros)

Born: 1899, Novozybkov, Russia
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Hotel housekeeper
Migration: Immigrated to US 1913
Affiliation: Anarchist

An individualist anarchist and Tolstoyan who did not belong to any organization. Arrested in Cleveland February 23, 1920 and deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

Sources: INS file 55009/20.

Michael Ransc

Born:
Nationality: Yugoslavian
Ethnicity:
Occupation:
Migration:
Affiliation:

Deported to Yugoslavia as a radical June 19, 1920. No further information has been found.

Sources: INS file 54325/36G.

Albert Rasimavicius (a.k.a. Rasimo)

Born: 1899, Vabalninkas, Russia (present-day Lithuania)
Nationality: Russian
Ethnicity:
Occupation: Miner; student
Migration: Immigrated to US 1911
Affiliation: Communist Party of America

Worked as a coal miner from 1913 to 1918 and then attended Valparaiso University. A member of both the United Mine Workers and the Valparaiso branch of the Communist Party, he was arrested January 10, 1920, when a large quantity of revolutionary literature was found in his room. Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54860/712.

Yakim Ravavio (or Ravavoi)

Born: c.1885, Russia
Nationality: .
Ethnicity: .
Occupation: Laborer
Migration: Immigrated to US 1914
Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers

His wife remained in Russia when he emigrated. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1919. Arrested December 12, 1919 and deported to Russia February 26, 1921.

Sources: INS file 54860/600.

Shepelov to Shveykus

Red Scare Deportees, , , , ,

Efrem Shepelov (Ефрем Шепелов; Ephraim)

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

Included in lists of deported radicals in FBI file BS 202600-33 and INS file 54325/36G

See also: Butte Daily Bulletin, December 29, 1920

Anton Sheroff (Antone)

Born 1888, Russia. Migrated to US 1914. Factory worker. January 1919 joined the Socialist Party; tensferred into Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 4, 1920; held at Fort Wayne. Deported March 18, 1921.

INS file 54860/369; FBI file OG 8000-132475

Walter Sherwen (Wherwan; Wladylaw Czerwonajcio)

Born 1892, Suwałki, Russia (present-day Poland). Polish. Migrated to US 1913. Carpenter. Member of Detroit’s Polish Branch No. 37 of the Communist Party. Deported to Russia February 26, 1921.

INS file 54859/785

Mikhail A. Shinkarenko (Михаил А. Шинкаренко; Misha, Michael; Shinkaroff; Shinkerenko)

Shinkarenko

Born c.1888, Stetsovka, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Involved in Russian Revolution of 1905; sentenced to Siberia with his brother; both escaped 1907 to Canada, then biefly migrated to the US. Returned to the US in 1914. Machinist. Attended the founding convention of the Communist Party of America; became secretary of the Russian Branch of the Communist Party in Rockford, Illinois. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 3, 1920. “Voluntarily departed” to Russia, October 30, 1920.

His sister-in-law prevented his letters from Russia from ever reaching his American-born wife; both subsequently remarried. Died 1957.

INS file 54809/94; FBI files OG 370620 and BS 202600-154-1

See also: interview with John Cunningham, April 26, 2021

Trofin Shipuk (Трофин Шипук; Trofim Chepuk)

Born c.1896, Petrograd, Russia. Migrated to US 1913. Tailor. Belonged to the Socialist Party of America for about three years before joining the Communist Party. Arrested January 6, 1920 at the New York offices of the Communist magazine Novy Mir; testified that he was beaten by a Justice Department agent prior to his initial examination. Deported December 23, 1920.

INS file 54860/328; FBI file OG 386641

Alexander Shkilnyuk (Александр Шкильнюк; Shkilnuk; Szkilniuk)

Born 1895, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1912 with father; from there migrated to US 1916. Unaffiliated socialist. Registered for draft in Detroit June 1917, but arrested March 1918 in Elgin, Illinois for not carrying his registration card. Returned to Detroit to claim exemption from the draft as an unnaturalized alien, but was detained and (illegally) conscripted; sent to Camp Custer, Michigan, where arrested by military police June 22, 1918 for “disobedience of orders” and (illegally) court-martialed; sentenced to life imprisonment, subsequently reduced to ten years in Fort Leavenworth disciplinary barracks, then released July 1, 1919 but immediately detained for deportation. His admitted belief in socialism did not meet the legal standard for deportation; instead a warrant was issued on the grounds that he was “likely to become a public charge” at the time of his entry to the US—despite the fact that he claimed to have been carrying $400 at the time—because he had subsequently become a military prisoner, regardless of the illegality of his incarceration. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54616/239

See also: Detroit Free Press, June 27, 1918; Kenyon Zimmer, “The Voyage of the Buford: Political Deportations and the Making and Unmaking of America’s First Red Scare,” in Deportation in the Americas: Histories of Exclusion and Resistance

Andrey Shkuraki (Андрей Шкураки; Andrew Schkuraki; Schkruski)

Laborer. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921. No further information found.

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

Lukoz Shohidko (Lukcz Shoidko; Louis Sedlko; Zhohidko)

Shohidko’s URW membership card

Born 1886, Antosia, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1913; from there migrated to US 1916. Wife and two children in Russia. Joined Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1918. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/381

Fred Sholuh

Born 1897, Vilnius, Russia (present-day Lithuania). To US 1914. Machinist; chauffeur. Member of the Communist Party in Detroit. Arrested January 1920. Deported to Russia February 26, 1921.

INS file 54859/654

John Shumavich

Born 1889, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to Canada around 1910, then to US 1915. Laborer. Member of the Russian Federation of the Socialist Party and then of the Communist Party. Arrested in Detroit October 1, 1919; deported to Russia March 18, 1921.

INS file 54709/83

Mikhail Shveykus (Михаил Швейкус; Mike Shweikus)

Born 1894, Grodno region, Russia (probably in present-day Belarus). Metalworker. Migrated to US 1912. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Ansonia, Connecticut. Participated in 1919 strike at American Brass Company in Ansonia. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/324

Siluch to Sokolovsky

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , , , ,

Ludwig Siluch (Siluh; Siluk)

Born 1897, Dubica, Russia (present-day Poland). Polish. Laborer. Migrated to Canada 1914; from there migrated to US 1918. March 1919 joined Branch 37 of the Polish Section of the Socialist Party of America in Detroit; then branch transferred into the Communist Party of America. Detroit. Hamtramck. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. “Voluntarily departed” via Canada and Germany, October 14, 1920.

INS file 54859/644; FBI files OG 384187 and BS 202600-772-1

Giuseppe Simeone (Joe; Simone)

Born 1888, Caserta, Italy. Tailor. Claimed, “In Italy I was a republican.” Migrated to US circa 1903. Lived with a cousin in Sommerville, Massachusetts, where he became an anarchist and supporter of Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva (from which he won a bicycle in a 1906 raffle!). Returned to Italy circa 1907 due to illness; served in Italian military. Again migrated to US in 1913. Member of the anarchists Circoli di Studi Sociali in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and continued to support the Cronaca Sovversiva. Also a member and one-time local secretary of a garment workers’ union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. Arrested in Boston May, 1918, after his correspondence with Cronaca Sovversiva was confiscated in a federal raid on that newspaper in February 1918. Admitted he was “a socialist anarchist,” but claimed to have only become a radical in 1916. Deported to Italy May 24, 1919.

Upon arrival in Naples June 6 sent to a military prison as a military deserter, then amnestied in 1920. Italian government reported in 1926 that he had “only local influence” in the anarchist movement in Naples, but he also corresponded with Errico Malatesta and subscribed to Malatesta’s Pensiero e Volontà, and visited Malatesta in Elena in July 1925. Placed under surveillance. 1926 emigrated to Canada. 1927-30 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and still active in anarchist movement. 1930s in Brooklyn, subscribing to L’Adunata dei Refrattari. 1935 reported to be living under the name “Gioacchino Simeone” (Gioachino was his middle name).

INS file 54379/316; CPC busta 4815

See also: Cronaca Sovversiva, November 3, 1906

Peter Siniavski (Pete; Siniavsky; Siniawsky)

Born 1897, Chernihiv Oblast, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Migrated to US 1913. Steelworker. Member of the Communist Party of America in Pittsburgh. Arrested in Woodlawn, Pennsylvania, January 1920. Described by an immigration agent as being “of a morose, sullen disposition and is one, who, in my judgement, would be capable of doing harm to this country if the opportunity offered.” Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54860/768

Andrew Sinitza

Born 1895, Minsk region, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1913. Factory worker. Employed as an inspector at Ford Motor Company in Detroit. 1917 joined the Socialist Party; 1919 transferred into Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920; held at Fort Wayne. Deported to Russia, March 18, 1921.

INS file 55009/25

Gabriel Siniza

Deported to Russia, March 18, 1921.

INS file 54860/43

Yakov Sinov (Яков Синов; Jacob Sinoff; Synov; Synoff; Finoff; Zinoff; aka Smith)

Born 1894, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Already a “revolutionist” in Russia. Migrated to US 1915. Carpenter. Member of the Union of Russian Workers branch in Trenton, New Jersey. Roommate of Buford deportee Roman Mosichuk. Deported January 22, 1921.

INS file 54861/255; FBI file OG 379221

Onasin Sivicky (Onasim)

Born 1886, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1910. Laborer. Wife in Russia. Member of the Communist Party in Rockford, Illinois. “Voluntary departure” to Russia, October 16, 1920.

INS file 54709/942

Grigori “Harry” Skochuk (Zjuk)

Born 1893, Grondo region, Russia (probably in present-day Poland). Migrated to US 1912. 1917 joined the Union of Russian Citizens (an umbrella organization for Russian progressives) in Waterbury, Connecticut; circa 1919 joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York City. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/447

Matfey Skorina (Матфей Скорина; Mike Skorena)

Born 1895 in Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1913. Laborer. Wife in Russia. Member of Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party. “Voluntarily departed” to Poland via Canada, October 30, 1920.

INS file 54859/704

Konstantin Skorokod (Константин Скорокод)

Born 1885, Russia. Miner. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Russia. Worked at Jamieson No. 9 mine in Farmington, West Virginia, where he joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. in Fairmont, West Virginia. Arrested December 3, 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/588

Peter Skrigan

Born 1893, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Migrated to US 1912. Laborer. Wife and child in Detroit. Arrested January 1920 while attending a geography class at a Communist-run night school. Denied Communist membership, but admitted to believing specific Communist doctrines. Deported to Russia, March 18, 1921.

INS file 54859/665

Grigori Ivanovich Skrobat (Григорий Иванович Скробат; Gregory; Skrobet)

Born 1895, Osęka, Russia (present-day Poland). Migrated to US 1914. Laborer. Member of the Union of Russian Workers in Waterbury, Connecticut. Arrested March 1920. Deported January 22, 1921.

INS file 54861/374; FBI file OG 385383

Peter Skudney

Born 1891, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1913. Machinist. Employed by Ford Motor Company at Highland Park. Joined the Socialist Party, then Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested Detroit January 1920. Deported to Russia, March 18, 1921.

INS file 54860/57

Nikolai Slyvka (Николай Сливка; Nickoli)

Deported to Austria, May 8, 1919.

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

Andrey Smal (Андрей Смаль; Andy)

Born 1893, Volhynia region, Russia. Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in Youngstown, Ohio in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/512

Abram Snikarenko (Абрам Сникаренко; Snicarenko; Sniewrenko)

Born 1888, Russia. Migrated to US 1913. Laborer. Joined the Socialist Party, then September 1919 joined the Communist Party of America in Pittsburgh. Participated in 1919 steel strike. Arrested January 1920. Deported February 26, 1921.

INS file 54860/645

Malakhiya Sokolovsky (Malachia; Sokolofski; Sokolowski)

Born 1892, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1909. Wife and two children in US. Secretary of Branch No. 2 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Denied being an anarchist; admitted to being a communist. Deportation initially deferred because of his family in the US. Deported February 1, 1921.

INS file 54709/110

Solari to Spisak

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , , , , ,

Giuseppe Solari

Born 1884, Genoa, Italy. Laborer; carpenter. Migrated to US 1905. Joined brother Giovanni in the US, who paid for his passage and his mother’s. Worked his way up from a pick-and-shovel worker to cabinetmaker; financially supported his mother, brother, sister, brother-in-law, and thirteen nieces and nephews. A close associate of Luigi Galleani, a distributor of anarchist literature, and and the secretary and treasurer of the anarchist Gruppo Autonomo in East Boston. Described by the US government as “one of the leading anarchists in New England” and by Italian authorities as “the deus ex machina of many meetings and conferences held among the subversives” of East Boston. Arrested May 17, 1918, for agitating against the military draft; “it required two automobiles to transport to the Federal Building the immense amount of literature and correspondence that was found in the premises” of his home. Deported June 24, 1919, with Galleani and others.

Under surveillance by the Italian government, which noted that he maintained his anarchist ideas but recorded no radical activities on his part. Died 1937 in Genoa.

INS file 54241/22; CPC busta 4857

Rasmus Jacobson Solen (Robert Solen)

Born Manger, Norway in 1885. Migrated to US 1904. Lumber worker. IWW member since June 1917. December 1917 sentenced to one year and a day in McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary for alleged conspiracy “interfering with fire fighters on Government timber lands” while organizing a strike of timber workers in Clallam County, Washington in July 1917. Deported to Norway October 31, 1918 on charges of being “likely to become a public charge,” of entering the US without inspection, and of being convicted of a crime of “moral turpitude.”

INS file 54554/39

See also: Tacoma Daily Ledger, July 26, 1917; Spokesman-Review (Spokane), December 25, 1917

Peter Solocha (Penataley; Solocho)

Born 1893, Chernigov, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Autoworker. Migrated to US 1913. Joined the Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in early 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported January 22, 1921.

INS file 54707/243

Fedor Solenki (Федор Соленки; Fred; Solonika)

Born 1896, Volodymyr-Volynsky, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Laborer. Migrated to US circa 1912. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New London, Connecticut circa 1917. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Claims to be illiterate, but in possession of radical literature. According to the Immigration Inspector, “even though his illiteracy or stupidity [should] be taken into consideration, I believe he is very dangerous, because his evidence shows he is easily led, as he admits attempting to secure members for the Union of Russian Workers.” Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/241; FBI file OG 374549

Mike Ivanovich Solovieve (Mike Solovev)

Born c.1890 Pinsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to Canada 1913, then to US December 1919. Wife in Russia. Laborer. Anarchist. Arrest in Toledo, Ohio, January 1920 after arguing with a Russian Communist speaker at a meeting. At his immigration hearing he declared: “I am a citizen of no country now. I have no country. Well, I am a citizen of Russia because I was born there.” Deported to Russia, January 22, 1921.

INS file 54860/926

Karl W. Sonntag (aka John Fensky)

Song lyrics written by Sonntag during an IWW strike at Potlatch Lumber Company in Potlatch, Idaho, 1917
Cartoon drawn by Sonntag

Born 1886, Breslau, Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland). Polish. Served three years in the German navy. Laborer; machinist. Migrated to US 1908 (deserted ship in Galvaston, Texas). Sonntag was a skilled metalworker who patented a “tire-testing machine” (US patent no. 1068180) in 1913. Joined the IWW in Kansas City, Missouri, 1914; found work as a lumber worker and active in IWW strikes, for which he wrote radical songs. 1917 imprisoned for three months in Idaho for “criminal syndicalism” following his participation in a lumber strike at the Potlatch Lumber Company. Arrested in Walla Walla, Washington, February 8, 1918, after reported by the “Minute Men of Seattle” for unlawfully working within a federally-mandated “prohibited zone” along the waterfront from which Germans and other “enemy aliens” were barred. (Sonntag had secured employment by using the name “John Fesky” and claiming to be Austrian.) Upon discovery of his IWW membership, he was also charged with advocating the unlawful destruction of property, but then interned at Fort Douglas in Utah as an “enemy alien.” There he spent eight months in the disciplinary barracks for singing IWW songs, on what he described as a diet of “bread and water, and finally two leaden bullets in the leg.” Released on the condition that he “voluntarily depart” to Germany, which he did on June 23, 1919.

He expected “to be busy in the so-called German revolution” upon his return, but he “found that I again got badly fooled,” and he subsequently made his way to Soviet Russia. There he found employment at the Felser & Co. factory in Nizhny Novgorod, where his workday was “sixteen hours and more.” After IWW leader William D. Haywood jumped his bail and fled to Russia in 1921, Sonntag, who had known Haywood in the United States, wrote him a letter of welcome, advising, “if this country needs anything it’s organizers and I think you’ll have a hell of a lot of work to do here…Let’s all do your best to make a paradise for workers out of this country.” No further information found.

INS file 54379/116

See also: Lewis S. Gannett, “Americans in Russia,” The Nation, August 17, 1921

Emilio Souto García (Emilio Suoto)

Born Corunna, Spain in 1882. Sailor, carpenter, laborer. An “old time militant of the Spanish labor movement” and twice arrested during strikes in Spain and secretary of the Carpenter’s Union. Wife, Estrella Morales, and five children in Spain. Immigrated to the US in 1916 (jumped ship). Anarchist and IWW member. Arrested in Philadelphia on February 16, 1919 as “one of 11 Spaniards and Mexicans suspected of being radicals and one of 5 later arrested by immigration officials…While admitting that he has friends who are anarchists and socialists, a careful survey of the evidence fails to show that he has in any way been active as a propagandist. He is certified as being afflicted with gonorrhea, a loathsome contagious disease.” He appealed to expedite his deportation, “as my family is without any help in Spain and anxiously waiting for me.” Deportation warrant issued on the basis of being “likely to become a public charge” and entering without inspection. “Reshipped foreign” to Spain September 20, 1919, on the SS Leonora.

INS files 54648/28 and 54648/29

See: New Solidarity, February 14, 1920

Charles Spangberg

Spangberg’s IWW membership card

Born 1887, Sweden. Lumber worker. Migrated to US 1905. Joined the IWW in February 1917. Arrested in Spokane, Washington, April 6, 1918. Deported November 4, 1918. January 1919 wrote to Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson inquiring why he had been deported and when he could be allowed to return to the US; there is no record of a reply being sent.

INS file 54379/235

Andrew Jacob Spisak (aka A.J. Smith)

May Day flier Spisak was posting when arrested

Born 1886, Rozgony, Austria-Hungary (present-day Rozhanovce, Slovakia). Metalworker; sign painter. Migrated to US 1904. 1912 lost his left eye and suffered a skull fracture from a workplace accident. Communist Party of America. Braddock, Pennsylvania. Arrested April 29, 1921 by members of the Edgar Thomson Steel Company’s private police force for posting radical May Day leaflets published by the United Communist Party; convicted of violating Pennsylvania’s sedition law, then turned over to immigration authorities. Released November 1922; detained again June 1923 and held on Ellis Island for seventeen months while awaiting a passport from Czechoslovakia, which was initially denied on the grounds that he had resided outside of Czechoslovakian territory for more than ten years and therefore lost his citizenship. Deported to Czechoslovakia, October 24, 1924.

INS file 54809/601; FBI file BS 202600-1897

See also: Daily Worker, November 15, 1924

Supino to Tabenko

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , ,

Giuseppantonio Supino (Giuseppe Supino; aka Joe Spino)

Born 1892, Provvidenti, Italy. Laborer. Migrated to US 1908; frequently moved between US and Canada as migrant worker. 1915 joined the IWW in North Dakota. Arrested August 2, 1919 in Seattle. Deported December 20, 1919. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54700/28

Michael Surgatanoff (Surgatunoff)

Born c.1893, Tomsk, Russia. Came to the US as a sailor c.1916. Laborer. Member of the Union of Russian Workers in New York. Common-law wife and American-born child in New York. Arrested November 1919 and released, then arrested again February 1920 and testified that he was beaten in police custody. Deported to Russia, January 22, 1921.

INS file 54861/132

Adam Susnowics

Deported to Poland, July 31, 1920. No further information found.

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

Carl Swelgin (Karl)

Born 1884, Germany. Laborer; plumber; rancher; union organizer. Migrated to US 1896. By 1908 he had become a socialist and participated in a public debate on the question of whether “Capitalists be Recompensed for Industries Taken Over By Socialism” in Marshfield, Oregon (he argued in the negative). Joined the IWW in 1911. 1913 became a naturalized US citizen. That same year, illegally “deported” from Coos Bay, Oregon along with other IWW members organizing lumber workers there. 1914 started a 160-acre ranch in Bandon, Oregon, under the Homestead Act, but forced to abandon it. 1917 sentenced to 6 months in prison and $100 fine for “vagrancy” after being arrested while hopping a train to Klamath Falls, Oregon to organize lumber workers. May 23, 1918, denaturalized by the District Court of Oregon for having fraudulently sworn allegiance to the US Constitution while a member of the IWW–the first such denaturalization of the First Red Scare. He then became the first (formerly) naturalized US citizen to be interned as an “enemy alien” during the war, at Fort Douglas, Utah. “Voluntarily departed” June 25, 1919. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54379/525

See also: The World (Coos Bay, OR), February 3, 1908 and August 7, 1917; Evening Herald (Klamath Falls, OR), July 31, 1917; Ancestry.com; Zachary W. Jones, “‘There is No Law Here’: Vigilantism, Militarism, and Metropolitanism in Coos County, Oregon, 1912-1913” (Honors Thesis, Western Oregon University, 2014), https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=honors_theses; Patrick Weil, The Sovereign Citizen: Denaturalization and the Origins of the American Republic

Yustif Svenko (Юстиф Свенко; Estife Swenko)

Born 1895, Chmielewo, Russia (present-day Poland). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Employed at Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. Active member of the Akron branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested September 30, 1918, but released on bail; arrested again during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/225

Alrik Swenson

IWW member. Deported (to Sweden?), October 31, 1919. No further information found.

See: One Big Union Monthly, March 1920

Bronisław Syzmaniak (Bronislas; Synzmaniak)

Born 1883, Russia. Migrated to US 1904. Molder. Member of the Communist Party of America in Milwaukee. Deported (to Poland?) February 1924.

Daily Worker, February 6, 1923; Ancestry.com

Mikhail Szerba (Михаил Щерба; Mike; Shcherba; Szcerba; Szerbo)

Born 1894, Szczerby, Russia (present-day Poland). Auto mechanic. Migrated to US 1915. Wife in Russia. Joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore in early 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/305; FBI file OG 366771

Parfem Tabenko (Парфем Табенко; aka Porify Silkuko; Proify Silnko)

Tabenko’s URW membership card

Born 1886, Russia. Miner. Migrated to US 1912. Organizer and “president” of the Union of Russian Workers branch at the Dakota Mine in Fairmont, West Virginia, formed 1919. Arrested December 1, 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/606

Tadzizieg to Targony

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , , ,

Yefin Tadzizieg (Tadsixieg; aka Podziziej)

Born 1892, Brest-Litovsk, Russia (present-day Brest, Belarus). Belarusian. Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Circa 1918 joined Branch No. 1 of the Union of Russian Workers in Baltimore, then transferred into Branch No. 4; became the brach treasurer. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/328

Hussein Tagiev (Хусейн Тагиев; Kussin; Gusein; Tagieff; aka Alexander Carson; Hussein Caucasian)

Born 1881, Nakhichevan, Russia (present-day Nakhichevan, Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic). Persian. Laborer; carpenter. Migrated to US 1914. Wife and two children in Russia. He was once hospitalized for six weeks in Newport, Kentucky, after he “fell down in some hot water in the Andrew Steel Co.” 1916 moved to Detroit, where employed as an autoworker and briefly opened a soft drink stand at River View Park. September 1917 joined the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested October 14, 1918 for distributing radical literature at an Armenian coffeehouse. The local U.S. Attorney took a special interest in his case; he ordered all of the confiscated literature destroyed, and paroled Tagiev on the condition that he purchase $100 in Liberty Bonds and cease patronizing Detroit’s “Turkish” coffeehouses—although he was told that since he could not speak Greek, he was free to “go to the Greek coffee houses.” Despite Tagieff’s compliance (which required him to borrow $50 from a friend), he was detained again in February 1919 as an alien anarchist and a person “likely to become a public charge” (after being forced to spend $100!). He was held incommunicado for a week, and immigration agents confiscated “a book in Persian that was 500 years old that he had prized” (likely a Quran or other family heirloom). Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/82

See also: Agnes Inglis Papers, Joseph A. Labadie Collection, University of Michigan

George Talas

Deported to Hungary, May 8, 1920. No further information found.

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

William Tanner (Karl William Tanner)

Born 1884, Kuopio, Finland. Mechanic. Migrated to Canada 1911; from there migrated to US in 1912 (though he later mistakenly claimed 1914). Became prominent Finnish member of the IWW; wrote for and edited Finnish-language IWW newspaper. Defendant at the federal IWW trial 1917-18; sentenced to five years in prison. An enthusiastic supporter of the Bolshevik Revolution, he apparently joined the Communist Party of America while in Leavenworth Penitentiary, and by 1919 promoted what he called “Bolshevism-IWWism,” or “industrial communism.” July 1922 his sentence was commuted on the condition of deportation. Because the “Government of Finland may raise objections to receiving this man and might refuse to issue a passport,” he was deported to Russia on the grounds that Finland had been a Russian territory at the time of his birth, and because Russia was willing to issue him a passport. Deported October 31, 1922. Upon his departure Tanner declared: “Deported to Soviet Russia, I will continue fighting under the red flag of the workers’ republic for the crushing of world imperialism and for the building of the republic of work. Long live the class solidarity of the proletariat and the red Internationals.” 1923 migrated to Finland. 1925 became a speaker for the Communist-affiliated Suomen Ammattijärjestö (Finnish Trade Union Confederation) and an organizer for the Communists’ Sosialistinen työväen ja pienviljelijöiden vaalijärjestö (Socialist Electoral Organization of Workers and Smallholders ). 1927-1930 a member of the Finnish Parliament, where he “manifested communist orthodoxy.” In late 1930 he returned to the Soviet Union, where he worked for the Comintern. In 1935 he was a lecturer at the International Lenin School and director of a Moscow watch factory; that same year he was arrested as part of Stalin’s purges and sentenced to five years in the gulag at the White Sea-Baltic Canal for “counter-revolutionary activity”; 1937 transferred to the Ukhta-Izhemsk Camp. Released 1940 and died that same year.

INS file 54616/153

See also: Ancestry.com; Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University; Auvo Kostiainen, The Forging of Finnish-American Communism, 1917-1924: A Study in Ethnic Radicalism; Tommi Kippola, “Transnationell syndikalism i ett lokalt rum: Industrial Workers of the World och finländarna i Duluth 1915–1921” https://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/169623; https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tanner

Vasiliy Ivanovich Tarasyuk (Василий Иванович Тарасюк; Wasily; Tarasiuk; Tarasiak)

Photo of Tarasyuk and two friends

Born 1891, Kobrinsky Uyezd, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1910. Joined the Hartford, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers circa early 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/525

Alex Targony (таргони)

Born 1896, Volhynia region, Russia. Polish. Driver. Migrated to US 1913. Worked as driver for a milk delivery company in Youngstown, Ohio. Political affiliation unknown, but in 1917 he claimed exemption on his draft registration card on the grounds that he would “not fight against brother.” Arrested sometime prior to January 9, 1920. Deported to Russia, January 22, 1921. No further information found.

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

See also: Ancestry.com

Tataranovich to Tori

Red Scare Deportees, , , , , , ,

Victor Tataranovich (Виктор Татаранович)

Born 1889, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer; machinist. Migrated to Argentina 1909, then Panama 1912, then to the US 1913. Employed by the Ford Motor Company. 1918 joined Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party of America, which in September 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, January 1920. “Voluntarily departed” via Canada, October 16, 1920.

INS file 54859/973, FBI files OG 386338 and BS 202600-710-1

Josef Teichman (Joe; Feichman)

Born 1890, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary (present-day Poland). Miner. Migrated to US 1912. Worked in a mine in Vestaburg, Pennsylvania. Joined the Socialist Party of America branch in Vestaburg in 1918; 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America. Pittsburgh. December 1919 became branch secretary. According to Immigration Inspector in Charge W. W. Sibray, “He is a nice clean-cut appearing fellow and does not impress me as being one who would be implicated in a project against the interest of this government. He does, however, belong to the Communist Party of America and is its secretary, and if it is the policy of the Department [of Labor] to deport persons who belong to that organization, then this man should be deported to the country whence he came.” “Voluntarily departed” to Poland, October 20, 1920.

INS file 54809/281; FBI file OG 386882

Nik Telatitski

Telatitski’s URW membership card

Born 1893, Brest-Litovsk, Russia (present-day Brest, Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1913. Wife in Russia. Union of Russian Workers. Youngstown, Ohio. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/541; FBI file OG 8000-379688

Afanasy Timonatnko

Deported to Russia, October 16, 1920. No further information found.

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

Jacob Tiomny

Born c. 1892, Minsk Governorate, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1910. Reamer. 1918 joined Socialist Party of America in Baltimore; transferred into Communist Party of America in 1919. Wife and three US-born children in Baltimore. Deported to Russia, February 1, 1921.

INS file 54809/704

Konrad Tkach (Конрад Ткач; Kondrat; Conrad Kachur)

Born c.1888, Volhynia, Russia (present-day Poland). Migrated to the US 1913. Member of the Communist Party of America in Bayonne, New Jersey. Deported to Russia December 23, 1920.

INS file 54810/946

See also: The Morning Post (Camden NJ), December 12, 1920.

Mike Tkach

Born c.1894, Russia. Migrated to US 1914. Steelworker. Member and financial secretary of Pittsburgh local the Communist Party of America. Arrested February 20, 1920. Married after his arrest and petitioned for his new wife to accompany him to Russia. Deported to Russia February 1, 1921.

FBI file OG 8000-193906; INS file 54861/186

Gerasim Tkachuk (Harry; aka Levchenko)

Tkachuk and his family

Born 1893 in Brest-Litovsk, Russia (present-day Belarus). Migrated to US 1910. Laborer; autoworker. Married wife Maria 1913, had three US-born children. Contracted rheumatism as a tunnel worker. Employed at Ford Motor Company and family lived in Hamtramck. Arrested November 7, 1919 in Detroit. Denied being a member of the Union of Russian Workers, but admitted to attending “over 100” radical meetings in Detroit and “lecturing on socialism.” Deported March 18, 1921.

1922 reported to be in New York, having secretly returned as a representative of the Communist International.

INS files 54709/289 and 54709/447

Benjamin (“Benny”) Tobak (Toback; Tabak; aka Benjamin Pasweg)

Born 1898, Austria-Hungary. Printer. Date of migration to the US unknown. Member of the Communist Party of America in New York. Arrested December 8, 1919, and again in January 1920 and charged with “criminal anarchy.” Refused to answer questions during his immigration hearing. Deported to Austria June 19, 1920.

Illegally returned to the US via Mexico; arrested and in February 1926 sentenced to five months imprisonment in El Paso County Jail. May 1948 the FBI reported that he had been seen in New York City. Further investigation revealed no further information.

INS file 54860/999; FBI file OG 377698

See also: New York Herald, November 3, 1919

Spas Todorov (Спас Тодоров; Sam; Todoroff)

Born 1898, Bulgaria. Construction worker. Migrated to US 1917. 1918 lived in Toledo, Ohio. 1919 joined the Communist Party of America in Buffalo. Arrested December 28, 1919 in Lusk Committee raid on Buffalo’s CP headquarters. Initially indicted for “criminal anarchy,” but then turned over to Immigration authorities for deportation. Deported September 8, 1920.

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

See also: Ancestry.com; Buffalo Courier, December 30, 1919; Buffalo Evening News, January 10, 1920

Nicholas Torbiak (Nick)

Born 1895, Galicia, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Ukrainian. Migrated to the US 1909. Miner. Wife Martha and infant son in Coal Run, Pennsylvania. Member, along with wife, of the Ukrainian Federation Branch No. 59 of the Communist Party, in Coal Run. Involved in 1919 miners’ strike. Martha, pregnant, died in custody along with newborn child. Deported to Russia, March 18, 1921.

INS file 54885/74; FBI file OG 8000-385816

Iacopo Tori (Jacopo; Jacob; aka Louis Tori)

Born 1892, Montecarlo, Lucca, Italy. Laborer. Migrated to US with his father circa 1907; both returned to Italy circa 1908; Tori again migrated to the US 1909. 1913 became an organizer for the IWW and an active member of its Latin Branch in San Francisco. Arrested September 19, 1916 for “disturbing the peace” while protesting the conviction of Warren Billings. Active in anti-conscription agitation during World War I; in 1917 he hand-wrote a placard displayed at the IWW’s headquarters in South San Francisco reading: ” The clergy and the capitalists want war but they are not going to war. Imitate them!” December 20, 1917 arrested in San Francisco for avoiding the draft (for which he was not legally eligible!); he was in possession of a false passport and allegedly planning to make is way to Tijuana. Defendant along with 45 other IWW members in federal trail in Sacramento for violating the Espionage Act; engaged with most of the other defendants in a “silent defense” by refusing to participate in the proceedings. Sentenced to ten years in Leavenworth Penitentiary. In Leavenworth he was repeatedly disciplined for refusing to do work. August 1919 authorities at Leavenworth confiscated a letter from Tori to his older brother in Italy, reading: “The penal institutions of this rotten bawdy-house, American democracy, will never succeed in keeping in chains within the walls of shame the spirit of good men; this rises above the walls and goes where it will. I am sorry to hear that you are still a solider. I understand very well, though I have not tried it myself, that being a soldier in a monarchy is a dog’s life. Military life is a dog’s life anyway.” Sentence commuted December 1923 on condition of deportation. On eve of their deportations, Tori and two other IWW members “asserted that they will carry on the work of the Industrial Workers of the World when they are released, whether it be in this country or in a foreign land.”

Deported March 29, 1924. Imprisoned in Italy upon arrival for avoiding Italian military service and conscripted into the 79th Infantry Regiment until October 1925. Returned to Montecarlo, where authorities in 1936 reported his “good conduct in general, without giving rise to any kind of political remarks”; he was removed from the Italian government’s list of “subversives” that same year. On August 12, 1944, during the German occupation of Italy, he was seized by Nazis and executed for illegal possession of a handgun.

FBI file OG 110181; CPC busta 5160

See also: Kenyon Zimmer, Immigrants Against the State: Yiddish and Italian Anarchism in America; Iacopo Tori, Il processo muto di Sacramento, Cal. (1919); St. Joseph Gazette (St. Joseph MI), December 27, 1923; Vasco Ferretti, La Resistenza nel pistoiese e nell’area Tosco-Emiliana (1943-1945): rivisitazione e compendio di una terribile guerra di liberazione, guerra civile e guerra ai civili.