Mike Legeze’s URW membership book. National Archives.
Born: 1890, Ułęż, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Hartford, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. He was arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/384.
Terentius Leonov (a.k.a. Thomas Leonoff)
Terentius Leonov, 1910s. National Archives.
Born: 1885, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Shoemaker Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America; Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Socialist Party of America in 1918 and the Bridgeport, Connecticut branch of the Union of Russian Workers in August 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/377.
Mikail Leshchuk (a.k.a. Michael Lestchuk; Listchuk)
Born: 1891, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined Philadelphia’s URW Branch No. 1 in early 1919 and became its secretary. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/210; FBI file OG 380953.
Arthur Lesiga (or Lessiga)
Born: 1889, Petrograd, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Sailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the International Seamen’s Union and the Union of Russian Workers in New York in 1918. A Justice Department agent claimed he served as treasurer of the URW newspaper Rabochii i Krest’ianin. He lived in a common-law marriage with widow Jennie Garnitz, who had a young son. Arrested in Pittsburgh in July 1919 as a “notorious anarchist,” he was released on bail but rearrested December 3, 1919 and deported aboard the Buford on December 21.
In 1921 he signed a statement of the Union of Russian Anarchist Workers Repatriated from America, which critically supported Bolshevik rule as temporary. He was later arrested by the Soviet government at an unknown date.
Karl Lesse (a.k.a. Carl or Charles Lesse; Oswald Dönitz; Joseph Duncan)
Karl Lesse, 1919. National Archives
Karl Lesse, 1937. National Archives of Britain.
Born: 1894, Hamburg, Germany Nationality: German Ethnicity: Occupation: Sailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: IWW
Left Germany at age fourteen and later joined the Sailor’s Union of the Pacific. In San Francisco in 1916 he joined the IWW and became a delegate. Arrested in February 1919 as “likely to become a public charge,” he was released on bail but rearrested in Arcata, California, in November 1919 for violating the state criminal syndicalism law. Convicted and sentenced to one to fourteen years, he was imprisoned at San Quentin from January 1920 to May 1922, then deported March 4, 1922.
In Germany he briefly joined the syndicalist Freie Arbeiter Union Deutschlands, then joined the Communist Party of German and worked as an underground agent for the Communist International’s Department of International Communications (OMS) in Europe and Shanghai during the 1920s and 1930s.
Sources: INS file 54616/17; Stephen M. Kohn, American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions under the Espionage and Sedition Acts; Brigitte Studer, Travellers of the World Revolution: A Global History of the Communist International; Barry McLoughlin et al., Kommunismus in Österreich, 1918–1938; Security Service: Personal (PF Series) Files, KV2/1399, National Archives, Kew, England.
Daniil Levchuk (a.k.a. Daniel Levozuk)
Born: 1874, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Levchuk, who had a wife and seven children in Russia, joined the Union of Russian Workers in Buffalo in 1918 and was sent as a delegate to its New York conference in January 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Born: 1881, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lived in Fairmont, West Virginia, and was arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Deported as a radical to Austria on May 8, 1920. No additional information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Anton Lichkevich (or Lishkevitch; Litshkevitch; a.k.a. Anton Cotie)
Born: 1887, Kamieniec, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1912; then to US April 1919 Affiliation: Anarchist
Declared, “I have been an Anarchist since 1905.” Arrested in Detroit in January 1920 while traveling to distribute anarchist newspapers, he openly affirmed his anarchism at his immigration hearing and “voluntarily departed” to Russia February 26, 1921.
Russian authorities at Libau refused him and several others entry because of their anarchism. He and other deportees coauthored “An Open Letter to the Russian Premier Lenin” in response.
Sources: INS file 54861/375; FBI file OG 367316; Free Society, October–November 1921.
Tito Ligi (a.k.a. Augusto Vitaletti)
Tito Ligi, c. 1922. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Italy.
Born: 1894, Sassoferrato, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Anarchist
Ligi and his brother Adolfo were already anarchists before emigrating together. In the United States he associated with Luigi Galleani’s circle. In November 1920 he was arrested in Scranton, Pennsylvania, for evading the draft after filing a declaration of intent to naturalize, and he briefly became a leading suspect—almost certainly falsely—in the 1920 Wall Street bombing. Deported on August 3, 1922.
In 1925 he moved to Rome with his wife, Bianchi Angela, where they opened a small shop. He remained under government surveillance until 1940; although he retained anarchist beliefs, authorities recorded no significant political activity. Meanwhile his brother Angelo, living in Jessup, Pennsylvania, adopted Tito’s name and married anarchist Maria Giaconi, who later fought in the Spanish Civil War.
Sources: FBI file BS 25-63-12-1; CPC busta 2786; The Nation, May 18, 1921; Beverly Gage, The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror; Charles H. McCormick, Hopeless Cases: The Hunt for the Red Scare Terrorist Bombers; Kenyon Zimmer, “The Other Volunteers: American Anarchists and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939,” Journal for the Study of Radicalism 10, no. 2 (2016).
Amedeo Lilli
Born: 1894, Acqualagna, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; tailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Anarchist
Arrested in September 1917 after an Italian anarchist “riot” during which he was shot in the shoulder by an undercover policeman. Convicted of assault, he was sentenced to twenty-five years in Wisconsin State Prison. Pardoned in 1922 on condition of deportation, he was deported February 16, 1922.
After returning to Italy he became a tailor and, according to police surveillance extending to 1932, did not resume radical political activity.
Sources: INS file 54235/67; CPC busta 2787; Robert Tanzilo, The Milwaukee Police Station Bomb of 1917; Dean A. Strang, Worse than the Devil: Anarchists, Clarence Darrow, and Justice in a Time of Terror.
Peter Linecky (a.k.a. Pete; Linieski)
Born: 1885, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Linecky had a wife and two children in Russia. While living in Detroit he joined the Communist Party of America. Arrested in January 1920, he was deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/713.
Dora Lipkin
Dora Lipkin, 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1910 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
An anarchist and the common-law wife of URW leader and fellow deportee Hyman Perkus. She lived in New York with the family of fellow URW member Boris Shatz. Arrested in October 1919 for “disturbing the peace,” she was arrested again during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and refused to answer questions while detained. She helped lead a hunger strike on Ellis Island protesting detention conditions and was deported with Perkus aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
After plans to leave Russia in 1924 fell through, she married Hyman Perkus and by 1930 both had joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Sources: INS file 54709/275; New York Tribune, November 30, 1919; Elaine Leeder Collection of Rose Pesotta Papers, 1912–1961, Cornell University Library; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America.
Samuel Lipman (a.k.a. Schaie Lipzcuk)
Samuel Lipman, 1921. Paul Avrich Collection, Library of Congress.
Born: 1888, Pinsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Furrier Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America
Lipman belonged to the Socialist Party of America as well as New York’s anarchist Frayhayt Group, and identified as a leftwing socialist and Marxist rather than an anarchist. A pacifist and vegetarian strongly influenced by Leo Tolstoy, he lived with anarchist Ethel Bernstein, his common-law wife. In 1918 he was arrested with others for distributing leaflets opposing US intervention in the Russian Civil War and sentenced to twenty years under the Espionage Act. While imprisoned he became disillusioned with Tolstoy and falsely claimed anarchist beliefs in hopes of deportation. After losing the landmark Supreme Court free-speech case Abrams v. United States, he was deported November 23, 1921.
In Russia he married Bernstein, studied agronomy, and became chairman of the Department of Economic Geography at the University of the Toilers of the East. In 1928 he applied to join the Communist Party. During Stalin’s purges in the 1930s he was executed.
Sources: INS file 54517/72; Richard Polenberg, Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; Senya Fléchine Papers, International Institute for Social History, The Netherlands.
Anton Lipsky
Born: 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Presser Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lipsky stated that he came to the United States “to learn some profession.” Living in New York, he joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/456.
Demian Lisiuk (a.k.a. Jim; Lisuk)
Born: 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party of America in 1919 and later transferred into Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested in January 1920, he was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/772.
Nikolai Lisiuk (a.k.a. Nicholas; Nick)
Born: 1887, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1911; then to US 1917 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Lisiuk had a wife and two children in Russia. Arrested in Pittsburgh on November 17, 1920, federal agents accused him of owning a trunk full of Communist Party literature. Indicted under the Sedition Act and jailed in Allegheny County, he denied radical affiliations, though a confidential informant identified him as a Communist Party literature agent. He was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54885/71.
Aftanasy Litvakoff
Born: c. 1884, Lopatni, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lived in Homestead, Pennsylvania for six years and joined the URW there in 1917. Arrested for distributing radical handbills, he served twenty days in jail. After moving to Cleveland he was arrested again February 21, 1921. He stated, “I do recognize Anarchism, but I feel that I am not worthy enough to be called such, owing to the fat that I do not understand Anarchy enough to be honored by being called an Anarchist.” Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/22.
Anna Loban
Born: c. 1893, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Housewife Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Married fellow anarchist Konstantin Loban in Akron in 1916 and became a member of the Union of Russian Workers. Deported to Russia with her husband on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/24.
Konstantin Loban (a.k.a. Peter Dedka or Dutka)
Born: 1893, Slutsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Rubber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Worked at the BF Goodrich plant in Akron and married Anna Loban there in 1916. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1915 and became secretary of its Lansing, Michigan branch in 1919. Asked why he had become antagonistic to the US government, he replied “Because I have been working here for eight years and am still doing hard laboring work and have not enough money to return to Russia, whereas the Americans all have much better jobs, have money and have privileges that I do not have and this country does not belong to Americans any more than it belongs to any one…as it was originally owned by the Indians.” Deported to Russia with his wife on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/24.
Michael Lojan
Born: 1897, Austria-Hungary Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: N Occupation: Barber Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Communist Party while living in Milwaukee. Arrested there and deported to Yugoslavia in 1923.
Francisco López García (a.k.a. Frank R. Lopez; José Marinero; Jesus Legendario; Alberto Martín; Albert Martin)
Francisco López c. 1923. Boston Public Library.
Born: 1885, A Coruña, Spain Nationality: Spanish Ethnicity: Galician Occupation: Sailor; carpenter Migration: Immigrated to US 1904 Affiliation: Anarchist
Became one of the most prominent Spanish-speaking anarchists in the United States, contributing to Spanish-language radical newspapers internationally. He collaborated on Cultura Obrera (1911–1925) and helped launch its successor Cultura Proletaria (1927–1953). A photograph seized during his 1918 arrest suggested that he also participated in the Mexican Revolution with the anarchist Partido Liberal Mexicano. In Boston he belonged to the Grupo Rebelión and helped found the Grupo Fraternidad, which corresponded with anarchist groups across Europe and the Americas. In 1912 he married Italian widow Rosa [Rose] De Matteis. Though close to Luigi Galleani’s circle, he rejected advocacy of violence. Arrested February 1918 in a federal raid, agents described him as “practically the only real Spanish anarchist leader in the eastern part of the United States.” Ordered deported in November 1918, he was released on bond while appealing on the grounds that he was a nonviolent “philosophical anarchist.” Joined Boston’s new International Revolutionary Group, which published the Spanish-language single-issue anarchist magazines El Azote (1921) and America (1922). Became secretary of the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee in 1920 and coordinated extensive international propaganda. Separated from his wife around this time. After the Supreme Court ruled against him in 1924, he was deported to Spain on May 25, 1925.
According to different accounts, he either jumped ship and swam ashore with help from anarchist sailors, or returned to North America later in 1925 after arriving in Spain. He lived for several years in Canada with his companion Mary Berkowitz, later returning to New York under the name Alberto Martín. In 1953 he married anarchist organizer Rose Pesotta (as “Albert Martin”); they divorced after two years. He coauthored the book Breve historia del movimiento anarquista en Estados Unidos de América del Norte and died in 1967, leaving $500 in his will to the Mexican anarchist newspaper Tierra y Libertad.
Sources: INS file 54379/511; Bieito Alonso, Inimigos ás portas: Frank López e o anarquismo global; Francis Russell, Tragedy in Dedham: The Story of the Sacco-Vanzetti Case; Elaine J. Leeder, The Gentle General: Rose Pesotta, Anarchist and Labor Organizer; Alberto Martin, Vladimiro Muñoz, and Federica Montseny, Breve historia del movimiento anarquista en Estados Unidos de América del Norte; Tierra y Libertad, June 1967.
Andrew Lopitsky
Born: 1894, Mogilev, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Explained his immigration by saying Russians were “oppressed” and “had heard of better wages and freedom in America”heard of good wages and freedom in America.” He joined the Union of Russian Workers in Downs, West Virginia. Arrested December 2, 1919, in connection with a URW-organized miners’ strike at a Consumers Fuel Company mine, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/591; FBI file OG 380920; Charles H. McCormick, Seeing Reds: Federal Surveillance of Radicals in the Pittsburgh Mill District.
Adolfo Lorenzini (a.k.a. John Lorenzini)
Adolgo Lorenzini, c. 1921. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Italy.
Born: 1887, Modena, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1911 Affiliation: Anarchist
Became an anarchist around 1914 or 1915 while living in Spring Valley, Illinois, and subscribed to the Italian anarchist paper Umanità Nova. Deported March 1, 1921.
Emigrated to Nice, France in 1922 and joined the French Communist Party, though Italian consular surveillance recorded no political activity on his pary.
Sources: INS file 54885/16; CPC busta 2839.
Ivan Loshakov (a.k.a. John Loshakoff)
Born: 1891, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Lumber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Around 1917 Loshakov became an anarchist and joined the URW in Granite Falls, Washington, later serving as secretary of its Seattle branch. Arrested in Seattle in January 1920, he was deported January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/398; FBI file OG 387801.
Prokopy Losiov (or Losioff; Lasioff)
Born: 1891, Chernigov, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
His wife and child remained in Russia. After collapsing from heat while working in a Pittsburgh steel mill, he was confined for nine months in the Woodville Asylum in Allegheny County in 1917. He later moved to Fairmont, West Virginia, joined the United Mine Workers and URW, and participated in the 1919 miners’ strike. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/600.
Anthony Lovenetsky (a.k.a. H. Levinensky)
Born: 1894, Mogilev, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: IWW; Union of Russian Workers
Joined the IWW and in early 1919 became secretary of the URW branch in Monessen, Pennsylvania, where he chaired meetings. Immigration officials described him as “far above the average in intelligence.” Arrested in Pittsburgh in May 1919 and released after four days, he was arrested again during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 while on strike at Page Wire Works. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/474; One Big Union Monthly, May 1920.
Vasily Lukashuk (a.k.a. Wiliam Lukov; Lukow)
Born: 1896, Brest-Litovsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lost three fingers and the use of his left arm in an accident at the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company. He briefly joined the Socialist Party around 1915 and became a member of the URW branch in Youngstown in 1916. Arrested while on strike in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/539; FBI file OG 375161a.
Andrew Lukianow (a.k.a. John Wilichko)
Andrew Lukianow, c. 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1885, Mogilev, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Worked at the Arctic Ice Cream Company in Detroit and had a wife and child in Russia. Arrested November 7, 1919, authorities seized anarchist literature and correspondence with a URW secretary. Detained more than six months before being granted bail, he claimed his name was John Wilichko and Andrew Lukianow was a friend of his, but multiple witnesses identified him as Lukianow. Deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54709/314; FBI file OG 380910.
Chaim Lurie (a.k.a. Michael Loorie)
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Cabinetmaker Migration: Affiliation:
Deported as a radical to Russia February 26, 1921. No further information has been found.
Born: c. 1882, Cape Breton, Canada Nationality: Canadian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; soldier; foreman; journalist; editor Migration: Immigrated to US c. 1901 Affiliation: IWW
Served nine years in the US Army at Vancouver, Washington, before discharge due to tuberculosis contracted during service. He joined the IWW around 1913 in Kansas City and became editor of The Industrial Worker in Seattle in May 1916, actively defending members prosecuted after the Everett Massacre. A defendant in the federal IWW trial (1917–1918), he was sentenced to ten years. His wife Kate (Katherine Beidel), whom he married in 1918, edited the paper during the trial until July 1918. His sentence was commuted in 1923, and he was deported to Canada August 5, 1923.
In Canada he continued organizing for the IWW and writing for its US publications through at least 1926, including organizing agricultural workers alongside fellow deportee Sam Scarlett.
Sources: INS file 54616/145; FBI file OG 8000-41990; Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University; Heather Mayer, Beyond the Rebel Girl: Women and the Industrial Workers of the World in the Pacific Northwest, 1905-1924; James Sullivan, “Reviewing the 1925 Harvest Drive,” Industrial Pioneer, November 1925; J. A. McDonald [sic], “Training for Freedom,” Industrial Pioneer, March 1926; J. A. MacDonald, “The Reforging of Russia,” Industrial Pioneer, May 1925.
Samuel Mackway
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation:
Deported to Russia as a radical on January 22, 1921. No further information has been found.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Victor Macur
Born: 1887, Vilna, Russia (present-day Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined Russian Branch No. 3 of the Socialist Party of America in August 1919, which soon transferred into the Communist Party. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he accepted “voluntary departure” and left for Poland via Canada October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54859/984; FBI file OG 387500.
Nils Madsen
Nils Madsen, 1960s. Arbeiderbladet, July 26, 1965.
Born: 1886, Drammen, Norway Nationality: Norwegian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1904 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the IWW in 1912 and became General Organizer for the Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union No. 500 around 1916, facing repeated arrests for organizing. Arrested March 26, 1918, in St. Maries, Idaho under a criminal syndicalism law, he was deported November 4, 1918.
Back in Norway he lectured widely about US conditions and cofounded a Norwegian-American Defense Committee for imprisoned IWW members. By 1922 he was organizing for the Norwegian Labour Party and led its radical youth scouting organization, the Norges Røde Speiderforbund. After the party split in 1925 he sided with the expelled pro-Communist faction, but then appears to have abandoned Communism. From 1934 to 1955 he was an organizer and official of the Norwegian Union of Hotel and Restaurant Workers (Norsk Hotell-og Restaurantarbeiderforbund). He died in 1965.
Sources: INS file 54379/199; “Norwegian Workers Come to the Aid of the I. W. W.,” One Big Union Monthly, March 1, 1919; Sondre Ljoså, “‘Etter beste evne at alltid være en god kamerat’: Speiderarbeid i arbeiderbevegelsen på 1920-tallet,” Arbeiderhistorie (2007); Harald Berntsen, Alle rettigheter!: hotell- og restaurantarbeiderne i service og strid gjennom 75 år.
Piotr Mager (a.k.a. Peter Magyar)
Born: 1891, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Metalworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Youngstown, Ohio around 1915. Arrested in August 1919 and again during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/498.
Ivan Maiboroda (a.k.a. John Mayborada)
Born: 1885, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: IWW; Union of Russian Workers
Belonged to the Socialist Revolutionary Party in Russia before emigrating.
In the United States he joined the IWW in Butte and later, in 1919, joined the URW in Seattle. Deported to Russia January 22, 1921.
Deported to Croatia as a radical on September 1, 1920. No further information has been found.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
George Makaranko (or Makarenko)
Born: 1893, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Makaranko, who had a wife and children in Russia, belonged to Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party. Arrested January 1920, he was deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/621.
Lavrenti Makarevich (a.k.a. Lawrence Makarvitch)
Born: 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1914; then to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, records state he was deported January 22, 1921. However, a Department of Justice agent reported that he attended a URW conference in New Haven June 4, 1922 as a delegate of that city’s Russian Progressive Organization. His wife Sophie Babitz, living with her parents in Connecticut, reportedly wished no further contact with him. It remains unclear whether he was deported and returned, never deported, or the report of his later return was mistaken.
Makliarchuk’s Communist Party membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1878, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party of America and later the Communist Party of America in Philadelphia. Arrested January 7, 1920, he was deported to Russia February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54811/943.
Ivan Malash (a.k.a. John Malash)
Born: 1891, Aleksandrovka, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Mason; laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Norwich, Connecticut branch of the URW in October 1919 and became its financial secretary. Arrested at his home in Yantic, Connecticut, February 1920, he was deported January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54861/10; FBI file OG 353738.
Vasily Malevsky (a.k.a. Wassily Maliewsky)
Born: 1898, Khomsk, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Newark in April 1919, though evidence suggested he may have been a member as early as 1917. Arrested during a raid on URW headquarters in Akron, Ohio, during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/536.
Dan Malina
Born: 1894, Grodno region, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Metalworker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Worked in New Castle and Elwood, Pennsylvania, and later in Akron for Firestone. Arrested November 1919 for belonging to the URW, he denied radicalism and was released for lack of evidence. Rearrested February 22, 1921, he admitted being an anarchist and was deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/21; FBI file OG 8000-355192.
Karl Malmstrom
Born: 1897, Ystad, Sweden Nationality: Swedish Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1915 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the IWW in Portland, Oregon, December 1916. Arrested February 1917 in San Francisco for distributing IWW literature and sentenced to sixty days, he was arrested again in Seattle in 1918 on the same charge and in Everett, Washington, March 1919, when he was held for deportation. Asked if he wished to become a US citizen, he replied, “Never…I am a citizen of the world,” and stated “that workers should be ready to take up arms for industrial freedom”For the workers to get industrial freedom, I would pick up arms at any time…Just like in Russia—do away with the parasites.” He was deported June 29, 1919 as “likely to become a public charge.”
Sources: INS file 54616/34.
Ustin Manko (a.k.a. Austin; Justyn)
Ustin Manko, c. 1935. Unidentified clipping, INS file 54861/146.
Born: 1894, Kherson, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Bridgeport, Connecticut, May 1919. Arrested February 1920, he married Julia Chervenak while on bail from Ellis Island May 11, 1920. Deported January 22, 1921, accompanied by Julia.
In Ukraine they had a son. Suspected by Bolsheviks of being a spy, he migrated with his family in 1924 to Turkey, then France (where a daughter was born), and in 1927 to Mexico (where another son was born). Julia, a US citizen, returned to the United States in 1932 and brought their children in 1933, but Manko was forced to remain in Mexico City. His attempts to rejoin them failed after a US Public Health inspector deemed him “insane.” Letters to his family became increasingly paranoid and incoherent. He died in Mexico City in 1976. He is the subject (under the name “Austin Voronkov”) of the semi-fictional novel The Invention of Exile (2014) by his granddaughter, Vanessa Manko.
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation:
Deported to Russia as a radical on January 22, 1921. No further information has been found.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Julius Manninger (a.k.a. Julius Pichler; Julian)
Born: 1896, Ponitz, Austria-Hungary (present-day Hungary) Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party and attended a single meeting of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 1920 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he was deported to Austria June 22, 1920 as an alleged Communist Party member.
In February 1921 Assistant Secretary of Labor Louis F. Post concluded that the deportation had been carried out in error due to a misunderstanding of the facts. Manninger returned to the United States in December 1921 under his family name, Pichler, and declared his intention to become a US citizen.
Sources: INS file 54859/122; Hancock Democrat (Greenfield IN), January 26, 1922; Garrett Clipper (Garrett IN), January 30, 1922.
Political cartoon about Mansevich’s case, 1926. Agnes Inglis Papers, Joseph A. Labadie Collection, University of Michigan.
Born: 1886, Biaroza, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Polish Ethnicity: Occupation: Autoworker Migration: Immigrated to US circa 1911 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
An employee of the Ford Motor Company, Mansevich lived in Hamtramck, Michigan with his wife and four American-born daughters. A member of Detroit’s URW Branch No. 3 and distributor of the paper Volna, he was arrested in September 1921. Despite a large national defense campaign and press coverage, he was deported June 7, 1924 to Poland.
Letters he sent his wife in 1926 described “intense suffering,” including frostbitten feet while working in a lumber camp. His wife, meanwhile, was ill and dependent on welfare assistance. At an unknown date (one source suggests around 1940) he migrated to Canada and worked as a farmer. It appears he never reunited with his wife and children, who remained in Detroit. He died in Windsor, Ontario, in 1960.
Sources: INS file 55119/18; Agnes Inglis Papers, Joseph A. Labadie Collection, University of Michigan; The New Republic, September 17, 1924; The Windsor Star, March 10, 1960; Ancestry.com.
Vito Mariani
Vito Mariani, c. 1920. National Archives.Vito Mariani, c. 1950s. Francesco de Rogatis et al., eds., Morra de Sanctis: Tra cronaca e storia ad un anno del terremoto.
Born: 1882, Morra Irpina (present-day Morra De Sanctis), Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US c. 1910 Affiliation: Anarchist
An anarchist from his youth, Mariani became a prominent activist in Lynn, Massachusetts, and later Bridgeport, Connecticut, closely associated with Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva. Arrested May 30, 1914 in El Paso for a radical speech during a lecture tour, he was held for deportation but released. Between about 1917 and 1919 he moved to New York and became editor of Il Refrattario and coeditor of Il Diritto with Raffaele Schiavina. Arrested February 1920 under New York’s criminal anarchy law, he was deported June 29, 1920.
In Italy in 1921 he was sentenced to two years for avoiding the draft. In 1924 he was a subscriber to Errico Malatesta’s anarchist journal Pensiero e Voluntá, and two years later he married. Italian government reports noted “good conduct” and no political activity on his part, and he was removed from the list of subversives in 1932, but in 1936 authorities preventatively detained him while Mussolini visited Morra De Sanctis. Locally, Mariani was remembered as a militant antifascist who lectured peasants outside church and became “unanimously considered the civil and moral point of reference for an entire generation.” In 1946 he was elected to local government and led the creation of the town’s first middle school. He died in 1964.
Sources: INS file 54861/318; FBI file OG 8000-385978; CPC busta 3061; Un trentennio di attività anarchica (1915-1945); Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University; Francesco de Rogatis et al., eds., Morra de Sanctis: Tra cronaca e storia ad un anno del terremoto.
Vakula Markovets
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation:
Deported (“voluntarily departed”) to Russia as a radical in September 26, 1920. No further information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Sam Markowich
Born: 1899, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: wire puncher Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
An employee of the Spring Wire Company in Albion, Michigan, and member of the local branch of the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested November 7, 1919, in a local raid on the URW. Deported to Russia January 22, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54663/276; Jackson Evening News (Jackson MI), November 10, 1919; Detroit Free Press, January 11, 1920.
Ludwig Martens (born Ludwig Christian Alexander Karl Martens; a.k.a. Ludwig Karlovich Martens)
Ludwig Martens, 1920. Wikimedia Commons.
Born: 1874, Bachmut, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: German Occupation: Engineer; diplomat Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: Russian Soviet Government Bureau
The son of a German factory owner, he joined the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class while a university student in Saint Petersburg. Arrested in 1896 and deported to Germany in 1899, he joined the German Social Democratic Party, the emigrated to England.
In the United States he became vice president of a New York engineering firm and joined the editorial board of the Socialist Party’s Russian-language newspaper Novy Mir. 1919 transferred into the Communist Party of America. Returned to Russia in 1917. In January 1919 he was appointed the official representative of the Soviet government in the US and returned to New York, though the United States refused him recognition. That March he established the Russian Soviet Government Bureau to negotiate contracts with American firms. Ordered deported in 1920, he left by “voluntary departure” January 22, 1921.
In the Soviet Union he served in the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy and later headed diesel-engine research and development. He retired with honors in 1941 and died in 1948.
Sources: FBI file OG 8000-377098; Frederick C. Giffin, “The Martens Mission,” International Social Science Review 73, no. 3/4 (1998); Todd J. Pfannestiel, Rethinking the Red Scare: The Lusk Committee and New York’s Crusade Against Radicalism, 1919-1923; G. Evgenev and B. Shapik, Revoliutsioner, diplomat, uchenyi (o L.K. Martens); https://web.archive.org/web/20220808190823/http:/deadlypass.com/wp/martens-ludwig-karlovich/; New York Times, October 22, 1948.
John Martin
John Martin, 1918. National Archives.
Born: 1885, Hørsholm, Denmark Nationality: Danish Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; lumber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1910 Affiliation: Industrial Workers of the World
Joined the IWW in Seattle in 1916, later becoming branch secretary in Raymond, Washington and district secretary for the Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union No. 500. He helped lead the major 1917 lumber strike in the Northwest. A defendant in the federal IWW trial of 1917–1918, he was sentenced to ten years and a $30,000 fine. His sentence was later commuted on condition of deportation, and he was deported December 7, 1922.
Sources: INS file 54616/57; Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University; Stephen M. Kohn, American Political Prisoners: Prosecutions under the Espionage and Sedition Acts.
Tomás Martínez (a.k.a. Thomas Martinez)
Tomás Martínez, 1918. National Archives.Martínez shortly before his death in Mexico, 1921. America: Numero Unico, January 1922.
Born: 1893, Mexico Nationality: Mexican Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Migrated to US c. 1915 Affiliation: IWW
Martínez participated in the Mexican Revolution beginning in 1910, then joined the IWW in Sonora and organized miners in Cananea. In 1914 he was expelled from Sonora as a supposed Huerta supporter, prompting a strike of 2,500–3,000 miners until he was allowed to return.
From 1915 to 1918 he was active in IWW and Partido Liberal Mexicano circles in Arizona and Los Angeles and wrote extensively for the IWW paper El Rebelde. Arrested in Miami, Arizona, in March 1918, he was sentenced under the Espionage Act to two years in Leavenworth and a $500 fine. He contracted tuberculosis in prison, and a botched appendicitis operation caused septicemia. After release he requested permission to depart for a country other than Mexico, fearing execution for his revolutionary past, but the request was denied. Deported in 1921, he was reportedly near death when sent across the border.
He never recovered and died in Guadalajara October 23, 1921. Fellow activists buried him beneath a headstone reading: ¡Nunca olvidamos! (“We never forget!”)
Sources: INS file 54412/47 (missing); FBI file OG 240868; Tucson Citizen, April 15, 1914; Harry Weinberger Papers, Yale University; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society; Erie Labor Press, December 3, 1921; America: Numero Unico (Boston), January 1922.
Ivan Martinovsky (a.k.a. John Martinowski)
Born: 1887, Cherga, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW branch in Rockville, Connecticut, September 1919 and became its secretary. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Born: c. 1898, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Housewife Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
An anarchist and URW member since 1918, Martzin was the wife of fellow deportee Vincent Martzin. She had two children—one aged two years and one six months old—when detained. She was deported to Russia February 26, 1921, taking the children with her.
Sources: INS file 55009/16.
Vincent Martzin
Born: 1893, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Martzin joined the URW in New York in 1916. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919. His pregnant common-law wife Mary and their infant child remained in the United States until Mary’s deportation in 1921.
Sources: INS file 54709/276; FBI file OG 378318.
Pietro Marucco
Pietro Marucco, c. 1918. Il Domani, April 1919.
Born: c. 1885, Maggiora, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1905 Affiliation: Anarchist
Joined a brother in Pennsylvania’s coal mines. Both brothers joined the anarchist Demolizione Group in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and supported Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva. Pietro was arrested May 20, 1918, and deported February 22, 1919.
Though reportedly in perfect health at departure, he died at sea March 8, 1919. The official cause was “pneumonia following influenza,” and he was buried at sea, though comrades believed he had been killed and vowed revenge.
Sources: INS file 54379/378; Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Papers, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives; Il Diritto, April 1919; Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background; Antonio Senta, Luigi Galleani: The Most Dangerous Anarchist in America.
Born: 1894, Kovno, Russia (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Lithuanian Occupation: Lumber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW
Maskalunas joined the URW in 1916 and the IWW in 1917. Arrested January 1918 in Seattle while inquiring at a US immigration office about a detained friend, he was held without hearing for three months and then transferred to jail in Ellensburg, Washington, where he was finally examined. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54379/101.
Bartolomeo Massullo
Bartolomeo Massullo, 1917. Knoxville Sentinel, December 12, 1917.
Born: 1881, Bagnoli, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Anarchist
Already an anarchist before emigrating, Massullo had a wife and three children in Italy. In Seattle he joined the Circolo di Studi Sociali, distributed Luigi Galleani’s Cronaca Sovversiva, and corresponded with the movement’s leading figures. Arrested November 1917, he provided names and addresses of Circolo members under interrogation. Deported July 10, 1919.
Italian authorities later reported no radical activity, though he secretly continued reading and fundraising for anarchist publications. In 1923 he emigrated to Canada, then illegally reentered the United States in 1929 and settled in Hayward, California, where he was no longer politically active.
Sources: INS file 54616/19; CPC busta 3143; Gianfranco Cresciani, “Exploitation, Emigration and Anarchism: the Case of Isidoro Alessandro Bertazzon,” Altreitalie no. 46 (January-June 2013); Giuseppe Galzerano, Andrea Salsedo: vita, galera e morte dell’editore anarchico “suicidato” dalla polizia americana; La Frusta, July 1, 1922; Ancestry.com.
Filimon Matera (a.k.a. William; Molorik)
Born: 1881, Chernihiv Oblast, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW
Active in revolutionary movements in Russia since 1905.
In the United States he joined both the URW and IWW in Seattle. His wife and children remained in Russia. Arrested January 1920, he was deported to Russia February 2, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54860/420.
Pavel Matesky (a.k.a. Paul)
Born: c. 1889, Mogiliev, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Weaver Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW
Joined the URW in Waterbury, Connecticut in October 1917 and later became secretary of the Montville branch. Also an IWW member. He admitted being an anarchist and advocating the overthrow of governments by force and violence. Arrested January 19, 1920, he was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54861/11.
Elia Matuska
Born: 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Matuska joined the Socialist Party and later became a charter member of Chicago’s Karl Marx Branch No. 4 of the Communist Party, serving as branch librarian. He was deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/4.
James Maundeloe
Born: 1895, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; butcher Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Greensburg, Pennsylvania URW branch in 1919 but claimed he was expelled after briefly becoming a butcher-shop owner. He participated in the 1919 strike at the American Sheet and Tinplate Company. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/431.
Donald McPherson (a.k.a. Edgar Dunn)
Born: 1898, Leeds, England Nationality: British Ethnicity: Scottish Occupation: Sailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: IWW
McPherson joined the IWW around 1915. Arrested September 9, 1918 in Seattle, he stated when asked about the Soviet government: “It is all right.” At a later immigration hearing he refused to answer questions. He was deported July 12, 1919.
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation: Communist Party of America
A member of Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America in Detroit. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and “voluntary departed” to Russia via Canada on October 16, 1920.
Sources: FBI file BS 202600-1378-1.
John Meehan (a.k.a. Jack)
Born: 1878, Ireland Nationality: British Ethnicity: Irish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1893 Affiliation: IWW
An IWW member arrested in Everett, Washington, and deported December 6, 1918.
Joined the Merseyside branch of the IWW in Liverpool, then in the 1920s became active in Liverpool in the Communist Party of Great Britain, the Seamen’s Vigilance Committee, and the National Unemployed Workers’ Committee Movement.
Sources:Evening Express (Liverpool), September 14, 1921 and October 10, 1923; Liverpool Echo, September 29, 1921.
Peter Melcishik
Born: Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation:
Deported to Russia as a radical on January 22, 1921. No further information has been found.
Born: 1896, Volhynia, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Janitor Migration: Immigrated to US 1917 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Melnikov was arrested and beaten at the URW’s People’s House in New York City on November 11, 1919. He denied URW membership, but a confidential Department of Justice informant testified that he belonged to the organization. Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/522.
Nikolai Melikov (a.k.a. Nick Melikoff; Melincoff; Melnikov)
Born: c. 1886, Odessa, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Painter Migration: Migrated to US 1917 (via Canada) Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Belonged to URW branches in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and New York, and had previously been fined and imprisoned in Vancouver for serving as an officer of the organization. His wife Olga lived with him in New York. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he testified that he advocated overthrowing government “by mind, never by force…I am against every kind of government…I am opposed to every Government that is based on exploitation of one man by another.” Deported January 22, 1921 aboard theSS Stockholm.
By 1924 he was, like many Russian anarchists, a political prisoner in the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp.
Sources: INS file 54861/306; ational Popular Government League, To the American People: Report Upon the Illegal Practices of the United States Department of Justice; Der Syndikalist (Berlin), no. 17 [May] 1924.
Pavel Melnikov (a.k.a. Paul Melnicoff; Pawel Melnik)
Born: 1886, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Slovenian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Attended gymnasium until age eighteen and worked as a clerk before emigrating.
Around 1918 he joined the URW and became a national organizer and lecturer based in Seattle and San Francisco; he also taught English in the URW school in San Francisco. He was accused, without evidence, of involvement in bomb and assassination plots. Arrested April 23, 1917 in Trenton, New Jersey for allegedly making seditious remarks and again in March 1919 in San Francisco for vagrancy, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54616/123; Lazar Lipotkin, The Russian Anarchist Movement in North America.
Peter Williamson Merta (a.k.a. Peter Williamson)
Born: 1885, Finland Nationality: Finnish Ethnicity: Occupation: Lumber worker; newspaper editor Migration: Immigrated to US 1908 via Canada Affiliation: IWW
Served as secretary-treasurer of the IWW’s Lumber Workers’ Union No. 500 in Raymond, Washington. His 1916 citizenship application was denied because of his IWW membership. Arrested February 1918 while posting IWW stickers, he served fifteen days and was then detained for deportation but released on bail. After relocating to Duluth he became an editor of the Finnish-language IWW paper Industrialisti. Arrested again in December 1918, his lawyer successfully argued he should be deported to Sweden rather than Finland, where anti-socialist Whites had recently won a civil war. His wife Elsie, also an IWW member, initially requested deportation with him but ultimately remained in the United States.
Sources: INS file 54397/134; FBI file OG 8000-382409; Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, Communist and Anarchist Deportation Cases; Frances H. Early, A World Without War: How U.S. Feminists and Pacifists Resisted World War I.
Sam Meskov (a.k.a. Serpion; Meshkov; Miskoff; Meshoff; Moshoff)
Born: 1889, Saratov, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: InWW
Joined the IWW in March 1919 and distributed its literature. Arrested in Van Voorhis, Pennsylvania, he was described by Commissioner-General of Immigration A. Caminetti as “apparently an ignorant harmless fellow, [but] the Bureau [of Immigration] is of the opinion that this type of man is often dangerous because of his ignorance and the fact that he can be easily imposed upon by the shrewder type of radical.” Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Born: 1893, Leeds, England Nationality: British Ethnicity: Englsih Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1906 Affiliation: IWW
Migrated to U.S. with his family in 1906, at age thirteen. Became a “hobo” laborer, telling authorities, “I had a thousand different jobs” in the US and Canada. Joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1916 in Salina, Kansas. He served a year in Pierce County Jail for refusing draft registration, which he described as “an employers’ edict.” Arrested in Tacoma in February 1919 while posting IWW stickers, he was deported June 21, 1919.
After arrival in England he said he would continue IWW propaganda if conditions were similar to America’s, but later observed there was little outlet for such activity. He became an admirer of George Lansbury and worked as a docker in Liverpool.
Sources: INS file 54517/88; FBI file OG 8000-382412.
Nicholas Michels
Born: Austria-Hungary, year unknown Nationality: Hungarian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation: Communist Labor Party
A member of the Communist Labor Party deported to Hungary in 1921. No further information has been found.
Sources: FBI file OG 381688.
Feodor Michkov (a.k.a. Fred Mechcoff; Michcov; Mihaitch)
Born: c. 1888, Moscow, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Previously arrested in Russia for a political offense, Michkov joined the Union of Russian Workers in New York. Arrested February 1920, he admitted anarchist beliefs and opposition to organized government. Deported to Russia January 22, 1921.
Source: INS file 54861/131.
Kalenik Migura (a.k.a. Kalymnyk)
Born: 1885, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW branch in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, became its secretary, and was arrested February 1920. Deported January 22, 1921. His wife and child remained in Russia.
Sources: INS file 54861/75; FBI file OG 381865.
Nikolai Mikhaelov (a.k.a. Nicholas Mihaeloff; Mikeloff; Michaelov; Peter Lund; Fritiak)
Born: 1893, Petrograd, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Sailor; machinist Migration: Immigrated to US 1917 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers; IWW
After fighting in France for the British and Russian armies during the First World War, Mikhaelov migrated across several countries before reaching the US in 1917. (According to another source, however, he was leader of an anarchist gang that took part in “expropriations” in Petrograd in 1916 and fled to the U.S. after two members were killed and he was injured in the hand.) He joined the URW in Newark and also the IWW. Arrested March 1919 and released on bail, he was expelled from the URW after his partner allegedly approached police as an informant. He nonetheless declared his desire to return to Russia to overthrow Lenin and establish “pure anarchy.” Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919. His wife and child remained in the US.
Born: Russia, year unknown Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Member of Russian Branch No. 6 of the Communist Party of America in New York. Deported December 23, 1920. No further information has been found.
Source: INS file 54859/199.
Gavril Mikhnevich (a.k.a. Hawril Michnewitz; Michniewich; Harry Grigory)
Mikhnevich’s URW membership card. National Archives.
Gavril Mikhnevich, c. 1920s. B. Ratner, Istoriia Moskovskogo instrumental’nogo zavoda.
Born: 1886, Kremno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Factory worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
His wife remained in Russia while he emigrated. Joined the URW in Hartford in August 1919 and was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
After arrival in Soviet Russia he was one of six deportees who met Lenin seeking financial support. He later worked at the Russian-American Tool Plant and helped form a factory committee there, and appears to have joined the Russian Communist Party.
Source: INS file 54709/421; B. Ratner, Istoriia Moskovskogo instrumental’nogo zavoda.
Julius Miller
Julius Miller, c. 1920. National Archives.
Born: 1894, Dvinsk, Russia (present-day Latvia) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1915 Affiliation: IWW
An IWW member and delegate, Miller was arrested in Detroit in January 1920. After his release on bail he was arrested again in Cleveland for distributing IWW literature and held for over a year in the county jail, where an immigration inspector reported his health was deteriorating badly. Deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Source: INS file 54860/32.
Samuel Miller (a.k.a. Sholem Melamed; Schulim)
Born: 1897, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: IWW; anarchist
An employee of Sears, Roebuck and Company in Chicago, as well as an IWW member and anarchist, Miller was arrested in July 1917. When asked his nationality, he replied: “I am international.” His attorney, Clarence Darrow, unsuccessfully argued that as a pacifist “philosophical anarchist” Miller should not fall under the anarchist exclusion laws. Deported December 23, 1920.
Born: 1874, Edinburgh, Scotland Nationality: British Ethnicity: Scottish Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to U.S. c. 1901 Affiliation: IWW; anarchist
Migrated to South Africa c. 1900, then to Australia and Mexico, before arriving in the United States around 1901. Worked in mines and acted as an IWW propagandist on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border. Although he filed a declaration of intent to naturalize, he never completed his application for citizenship, explaining, “I traveled all over the country and saw too much.” Arrested in Deming, New Mexico, in September 1919, he was deported April 3, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54709/648; The Deming Headlight (Deming, NM), September 26, 1919.
Anton Minarich (a.k.a. Tony)
Born: 1891, near Fiume, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia) Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to U.S. 1909 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Worked for the Ford Motor Company Hospital in Detroit and joined South Slavic Branch No. 17 of the Communist Party in 1919. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and held at Fort Wayne, he was deported to Yugoslavia on June 19, 1920.
Born: c. 1888, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
His wife and three children remained in Russia. He joined Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America in Rachine, Wisconsin. Arrested January 2, 1920, and deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Source: INS file 54859-167.
Petr Ivanovich Mironovich
Mironovich’s URW membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1900, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1915 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Belonged to the URW in New York and later Hartford, Connecticut. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Source: INS file 54709/527.
______ Mirolyubov
Born: Russia, year unknown Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
A member of the Union of Russian Workers in Akron, Ohio, he was deported to Russia. No further information has been found.
Sources:Probuzhdenie, January 1932.
Simeon Misnik (a.k.a. Semeon; Minnik)
Born: Russia, year unknown Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Affiliation:
Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920 and agreed to “voluntary departure” to Russia October 16, 1920. No further information has been found.
Deported to Hungary as a radical on March 21, 1920. No additional information has been found.
Source: NS file 54325/36G.
Xavier Mitalski (a.k.a. Prostopluk)
Born: 1885, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Carpenter Migration: Migrated to US 1909 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Worked in New York, Chicago, and Detroit and belonged to the URW along with his brothers and cousin. Arrested in Chicago November 14, 1919, he claimed his membership lasted only “a month and a half,” though authorities found URW literature in his apartment. Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54709/434; FBI file OG 8000-385993.
Nicholas Mlaveransky (or Mlaverausky)
Born: 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Machinist Migration: Migrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1918. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Source: INS file 54709/376.
Ketia Fedrovich Molkowsky (a.k.a. L.C. Marten; Leo Martin)
Arrested in Seattle in September 1919 and deported on the Buford on December 21 as a contract laborer and as “likely to become a public charge,” though officials also suspected radicalism.
Source: Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, Communist and Anarchist Deportation Cases.
Aggi Molochko (a.k.a. Mike A. Molaka)
Born: 1889, Starobin, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Millworker Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Norwich, Connecticut, in February 1918. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920, he was deported February 1, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54861/8; FBI file OG 380828.
Peter Moloishik (or Maloishun)
Moloishik’s URW membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1895, Grodna, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Polish Ethnicity: Russian Occupation: Laborer; moulder Migration: Migrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Although he claimed Polish citizenship, authorities listed his “race” as Russian. He joined the URW in May 1919. Arrested in Marshall, Michigan, November 14, 1919, he was deported to Poland January 22, 1921.
