Tag Archives: Socialist Party

Bogush to Brezovic

______ Bogush (Богуш)

Born Russia (probably in present-day Ukraine). Member of the Union of Russian Workers. Multiple sources claim Bogush was deported on the Buford; however his name is not on the ship’s manifest (though it is possible that Bogush or the name he was deported under was a pseudonym). In Ukraine, joined anarchist Nabat Federation and observed Nestor Makhno’s partisan army. Arrested Kharkov circa November 1920 and executed by Checka circa March 1921 (Voline and Maximoff give slightly different dates).

See: Senya Fleshin Papers, International Institute for Social History; http://socialist.memo.ru/lists/bio/l3.htm#n814; Voline, The Unknown Revolution, 1917-1921; G. P. Maximoff, The Guillotine at Work: Twenty Years of Terror in Russia (Data and Documents)

Nikolai Bolsun (Bolson, Bolsum)

Member of the Communist Party of America in Plainfield, New Jersey. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported to Russia December 23, 1920. Nor further information found.

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

See also: The Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey), December 23, 1920

Vasiliy Bondarenko (Васи́лий Бондаренко, Wasiliy Bondarenko, aka William Bender/Bander)

Born 1897, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Wife and two children in US. “Very active” member of Union of Russian Workers branch in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and lectured for the URW nationally. Arrested Bridgeport, Connecticut November 9, 1919, again in Hartford, Connecticut, November 28, 1919, and then in New York during second the Palmer Raids, January 1920. Deported January 22, 1921. Subsequent activities unknown, but likely the same Bondarenko mentioned by anarchist Clara Larsen as having been “killed by Stalin.”

INS file 54709/404; FBI file OG 382161

See also Lazar Lipotkin, The Russian Anarchist Movement in North America; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America

Samuel Bondarenko (Самуил Бондаренко; Sam Bondarenko; Bondarewko)

Born state of Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine), c.1878. Migrated to US 1913. Laborer. Wife in Russia. Member of the Philadelphia’s Russian Branch of the Socialist Party, then joined the Communist Labor Party ; secretary of the city’s Russian Branch. Arrested December 29, 1919. Deported to Russia February 1921, as an alleged member of the Communist Party of America (which was incorrect).

INS file 54809/871; see also FBI file OG 267034

Peter Bonko

Arrested in Brooklyn during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Probably Communist Party of America member. Deported to Russia December 23, 1920. No further information found.

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

See also: The Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey), December 23, 1920

Vasiliy Bootryn

Born 1888, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Molder. Migrated to US 1913. Wife and children in Russia. Joined the Socialist Party of America in Detroit, April 1919; transferred to Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America later that year. Arrested during second Palmer Raids, January 1920. Held at Fort Wayne. “Voluntarily departed” 1920. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54859/998; FBI file OG 387334

Vladimir Borisyuk (Владимир Борисюк, Vladimir Borisiuk/Borisink, Walter Borisuk)

Vladimir Borisyuk’s Socialist Party membership card

Born 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to US 1914. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November, 1919, Hartford, Connecticut. Member of the Socialist Party (not a deportable offense), but had paid one month’s dues to Communist Party, and authorities suspected he belonged to Union of Russian Workers. Also accused of making revolutionary statements. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/151

____ Borkhak

Polish IWW member deported February 20, 1921. No further information found.

See Golos Truzhenika, March 5, 1921.

Ivan Borovsky (Боровский; John; Borowsky)

Born 1878, Ventspils, Russia (present-day Latvia). Barber, railroad worker. Migrated to US 1908. Married; wife in Chicago. Member of IWW’s Russian Branch in Chicago; also suspected of belonging to URW. Arrested Chicago during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported March 1921. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/267; FBI file OG 380320

Boris Borsuk (Борис Борсук, Boroes/Borores Borsuk)

Born 1896, Brest, Russia (present-day Belarus). Barber. Migrated to US 1912. Owned barbershop at 70 Robinson Rd., Youngstown, Ohio. Helped organize Youngstown branch of the Union of Russian Workers and distributed URW literature. Arrested Youngstown in August 1919. His brother, Dimitri, arrested after visiting him in jail and again in 1920 on suspicion of belonging to the URW, although he denied this and does not appear to have been deported. Boris meanwhile was deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54709/500

See also: FBI file OG 380628

Max Brazeliya (Макс Бразелия or Бразилия, Brazelia)

Born 1892, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland). Jewish; laborer. Migrated to US 1913 (via Canada). Unaffiliated socialist; subscribed to the Forverts. Arrested March 1919, St. Louis after employer at Nelson Pants Manufacturing Company reported him for “spreading Bolsheviki propaganda in the workroom.” His employer, not actually wanting to see him deported, later defended him as harmless and “a good workingman.” Deported on the Buford. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 54616/25; FBI file OG 352388

See also: 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, edited by Kenyon Zimmer and Cristina Salinas

Josef Brencich

Born 1887, Fiume, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia). Sailor; painter. Italian-speaker, member of “the Slavish Race.” Migrated to US 1911. Anarchist, member of Philadelphia’s Union of Italian Workers. Arrested April, 1921, with Erasmo Abate and other members. Ordered deported to Hungary, but in 1921 Fiume had become an independent state, so allowed “voluntary departure” as a sailor “direct for Mediterranean ports,” January 1923. Subsequent activities unknown.

INS file 55009/82

Stefen Brezovic (Vrezovic; Steve)

Born 1886, Austro-Hungarian Empire (somewhere that later became part of Yugoslavia). Laborer. Migrated to US 1912. Joined Socialist Party of America 1916; September 1919 transferred to the South Slavic Branch No. 17 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 1920, Detroit. Deported May 1920 to Yugoslavia. Subsequent activities unknown.

FBI file OG 387297

Galeotti to Gazeyog

Alba Galeotti (born Giuseppina Genisio; Galleoti)

Born 1867, Canischio, Italy. Housewife; laborer. Migrated to US circa 1902. April 1902 married coal miner Killo Gotti in Lafayette, Missouri. She adopted the common anarchist name Alba (“Dawn”), and named her children Idea (i.e. “L’Idea” of anarchism) and Ravachol (after the French anarchist of the same name). By 1908 she was contributing funds and writings to the Italian-American anarchist newspapers Cronaca Sovversiva and La Questione Sociale. Also in contact with anarchists in Italy, including Aldino Felicani (future treasurer of the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee), and raised funs for the antimilitarist anarchist newspaper Rompete le file! (Break Ranks!) in Milan. Separated from Gotti (who died in 1913); in 1909 married anarchist coal miner Guglielmo Galeotti (“William Galleoti”). Lived in various mining towns in Kansas and Illinois. Named their children Ferrer (after martyred Spanish anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer) and Germinal (after Émile Zola’s radical novel about French coal miners, Germinal). Unconfirmed reports claim she was deported as an anarchist in 1916 but returned illegally to the US. Arrested 1920 with Guglielmo Galeotti; she escaped custody while he was deported. 1921 she collected money for the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee. Arrested 1923 in Schulter, Oklahoma. Ill and fasting when detained, she refused to eat for 33 days and was declared “insane” and force-fed. Deported January 10, 1924. Her youngest two children were left in the care of their sister, Ida (Idea) Gotti, now age 21 and a teacher.

Died 1940 in Turin.

See also: Ancestry.com; Cronaca Sovversiva, May 31, 1913; Financial Report of the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee (1925); Jennifer Guglielmo, Living the Revolution: Italian Women’s Resistance and Radicalism in New York City, 1880-1945; Caroline Waldron Merithew, “Anarchist Motherhood: Toward the Making of a Revolutionary Proletariat in Illinois Coal Towns,” in Women, Gender, and Transnational Lives: Italian Workers of the World; Henryetta Daily Stanard (Henryetta OK), January 1 and 2, 1924; Henryetta Standard (Henryetta OK), January 3 and January 7, 1924

Guglielmo Galeotti (aka William Galleoti)

Born 1871, Santa Sofia, Italy. Miner. Anarchist by late 1880s. Considered by Italian authorities to be “extremely dangerous” and “one of the most actives subversives of S. Sofia, capable of fomenting disorder.” Arrested and imprisoned repeatedly between 1888 and 1902. 1898 fled to Switzerland, but deported in 1901 and arrested on (unfounded) suspicion of being an accomplice to the assassination of King Umberto I. Briefly emigrated to Trieste, but expelled. Migrated to US 1902. Lived in various mining towns in Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Illinois; leading figure in Kansas anarchist Gruppo 11 Novembre. 1909 married fellow anarchist and deportee Alba Genisio, with whom he had two children named Ferrer (after martyred Spanish anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer) and Germinal (after Émile Zola’s radical novel about French coal miners, Germinal). 1911 left with other members of the Gruppo 11 Novembre to join forces of the anarchist Partido Liberal Mexicano in the Mexican Revolution, but quickly disillusioned with the PLM and returned to US. Deported February 19, 1920.

Under surveillance in Italy, but in 1935 reported to have “left politics” and “oriented himself towards the regime for which he now shows sympathy.”

CPC busta 2236

See also: Ancestry.com; Michele Presutto, La rivoluzione dietro l’angolo: Gli anarchici italiani e la Rivoluzione messicana, 1910-1914; Henryetta Daily Stanard (Henryetta OK), January 1, 1924

Luigi Galleani

Born 1861, Vercelli, Italy. Editor. Became anarchist while studying law at the University of Turin; left before finishing degree. Fled police to France in 1880; migrated to Switzerland where worked for anarchist geographer Élisée Reclus on his La Nouvelle Géographie universelle. Arrested and expelled; returned to France; deported to Italy. 1894 arrested for anarchist activities and served five years in prison and internal exile. While confined to island of Pantelleria met his wife, Maria. Escaped Pantellaria in 1900 and fled to Egypt, then England. Migrated to US in 1901 with an invitation to edit the anarchist newspaper La Questione Sociale in Paterson, New Jersey. Leader of 1902 general strike of silk workers in Paterson, where indicted for inciting riot and fled to Canada, then Barre, Vermont, where founded newspaper Cronaca Sovversiva. Moved paper to Lynn, Massachusetts; Galleani became the leading Italian anarchist proponent of violent acts of insurrection and revolt. Deported June 1919, leaving wife and six children in the US (only his daughter Cossyra would later rejoin him in Italy).

Immediately arrested upon arrival in Italy, but released a day later after maritime workers’ union threatened to strike on his behalf. Relaunched Cronaca Sovversiva in Turin in 1920. Involved in armed resistance movement and evaded warrant for his arrest for two years; turned himself in 1922 and sentenced to 14 months imprisonment for sedition. Maintained contact with comrades in US and fellow deportees, but suffered increasingly from diabetes. 1926 arrested again and sentenced to two years in prison, followed by two years of internal exile. Allowed to return to mainland, but under surveillance until his death in 1931.

INS file 54235/33; CPC busta 2241

See also: Ugo Fedeli, Luigi Galleani: quarant’anni di lotte rivoluzionarie (1891 –1931); Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background; Roberto Gremmo, “La ‘Cronaca Sovversiva’ di Galleani, le ‘bande armate’ di Raffaele Schiavina e la bomba del giovane anarchico Musso,” Storia ribelle 18 (2005): 1657-67; Antonio Senta, Luigi Galleani: The Most Dangerous Anarchist in America

Alexander Gallod (Alex; Golod)

Gallod’s Communist Party membership card

Born 1888, Grodno region, Russia (present-day Belarus). Polish. Migrated to US 1914. Machinist. Wife in Russia. Joined the Socialist Party, then “a very active member of the United Communist Party” in Camden, New Jersey, and Phildelphia. Arrested Philadelphia, January 7, 1920. Deported to Russia, February 26, 1921.

INS file 54811/973

Laureano García

Born Spain. In the United States, became miner. Anarchist and IWW member. Arrested in Jerome, Arizona, February 1919, and deported.

1931 still donating funds to Cultura Proletaria from Spain (see issue of April 18, 1931).

Regelio García (Roglio)

Members of Spanish-speaking Los Corsarios Group, including Garcia, 1919

Born 1894, Quibicano, Cuba. Cigar maker. Migrated to US 1903; became anarchist circa 1917. Member of Los Corsarios Group which published anarchist paper El Corsario. One of 14 members arrested in New York, February 1919, by Secret Service on baseless allegations of plotting to assassinate President Wilson. All charges dropped, but several members, including García, held for deportation as anarchists. When asked why he had failed to apply for naturalization in the US, he replied, “I do not even believe in my own country.” US-born wife, Blanca Fernandez, and 9-month-old child. Deported April 1919.

INS file 54616/79

Isso Gartner (aka Imre Geery or Geerry)

Born 1895, Kassa, Hungary (present-day Košice, Slovakia). Jewish. Jeweler. Migrated to US 1911. A socialist in Hungary, he joined the Socialist Party of America in Baltimore; did not align with either side in 1919 split between Left and Right. Conscientious objector and opposed WWI draft. Attempted to unionize Baltimore jewelry workers in International Jewelry Workers Union (AFL), then arrested May 1918 for allegedly “stealing a number of gold rings” from a former employer and sentenced to six months imprisonment. Subsequently Interned at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, as an “enemy alien.” Suffered from “tuberculosis of the hip and is on crutches.” Deported May 1920 upon release of internees on basis “That he believes in the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States” (a patently unsubstantiated charge).

INS file 54709/38

See also: Baltimore Sun, May 23, 1918; Jewelers’ Circular-Weekly, July 10, 1918

Jack Gaveel (J. G. Gaveel; aka Jackotonsky, Jacknowsky, Jakov Zukatansky)

Born 1889, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Migrated to England 1905; returned to Netherlands 1910 and migrated to Canada that same year. Joined IWW 1913 in Canada. 1914 secretary of IWW Local no. 339, Edmonton, Canada. Migrated to US 1915. 1917 included in federal indictment of IWW leaders, but dropped before case went to trial. IWW delegate in Los Angeles, where “active in organizing the Austrian and Croatian fishermen.” Arrested April 1921 and sentenced to 1-4 years under California’s criminal syndicalism law. In San Quentin, refused to work in prison jute mill, declaring: “I have never scabbed on my class outside of prison, and I won’t do it inside.” Sent to solitary confinement, sparking sympathy strike of thirteen other imprisoned IWW members. Deported to The Netherlands 1924.

1925 in Hamburg, Germany, where supported IWW affiliation with the Red International of Labor Unions (RILU). Living in Amsterdam in 1926. After WWII worked for Stichting Pelita, a foundation dedicated to aiding Indos (mixed-race Dutch-Indonesians) from the former Dutch East Indies in The Netherlands. In 1951, receiving IWW literature from US and supporting the Dutch anarchist movement. 1960 (at age 71) wrote to the Industrial Worker and recalled he could still sing most of the songs from the union’s Little Red Song Book; also wrote: “I wish I were in America. I’d join you in the fight then.”

FBI file BS 186701-240

See also: Industrial Worker, June 11, 1921 and August 5, 1922; San Francisco Examiner, August 2, 1922; Daily Worker, February 23, 1925; Daily Worker (special magazine supplement), February 28, 1925; http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/rapportencentraleinlichtingendienst/data/IndexResultaten/IndexVensterResultaat?persoon=Gaveel%2C+J.G.; Jack Gaveel Correspondence, Industrial Workers of the World Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.

Fred Gazeyog (Gazeyek, Gazeycg)

Born 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus). Laborer. Migrated to the US 1911. Employee at B. F. Goodrich. Joined Union of Russian Workers in Akron in 1916; became secretary of that branch. Arrested during first Palmer Raids, November 1919. Deported on the Buford.

INS file 54709/535