As part of the ongoing research for my book on the global history of immigrant radicals who were deported during America’s First Red Scare, I have posted brief profiles of 835 (and counting) individual deportees I have identified. This list is a work in progress, and entries are being added and updated as I obtain additional information.
Who is included:
This list includes radicals and suspected radicals who were deported between 1917 (following America’s entrance into the First World War) and 1925, when the last of the foreign-born radicals arrested between 1917 and 1920 were expelled, some after serving prison sentences or being interned as “enemy aliens.” It includes both those who were deported by government order and those who were ordered deported but “voluntarily departed” at their own expense with the government’s consent (both categories were included in US government deportation statistics). It does not include those who fled the country to avoid arrest or deportation. It includes both individuals deported for belonging to legally-defined “anarchistic classes,” and others who were suspected of radicalism but deported on other grounds (most commonly for entering the country without inspection or being retroactively deemed “likely to become a public charge” at the time of their entry).
This is not a complete list. In the fiscal years (June-July) 1918-1926, the United States deported 979 aliens as “anarchists,” and an unknown number of additional radical immigrants under other statutes. The largest single group of deportees, composed of 242 alleged radicals (as well as seven unrelated deportees) departed on the USAT Buford on December 21, 1919. However, it appears that no complete list of Red Scare deportees was produced by either the Bureau of Immigration or the Bureau of Investigation. I have instead had to rely on partial lists and mentions of individual cases included in these organizations’ files, congressional testimony, radical publications, newspaper reports, and other sources.
How to use this site:
Profiles have been posted in small batches. They are organized in alphabetical order by last name, followed by alternate spellings and pseudonyms in parentheses. (The Cyrillic spellings of Russian names are generally my best guess; American sources from the era were wildly inconsistent in their spellings of such names. The same is true of the transliteration of Chinese names in the Roman alphabet.) You can also browse the Index of Names.
Birth years are often approximate, usually having been calculated from an individual’s age at the time of their examination by immigration authorities, and some may therefore be off by a year.
You can search by individuals’ nationalities (country of birth and, in some cases, ethnicity [i.e. Jewish, Lithuanian, etc.]) by using the tags above.
Occupations describe the individuals’ employment in the US, not necessarily the work they engaged in before arrival or after their deportation.
Political affiliations represented include the syndicalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the anarcho-syndicalist Union of Russian Workers of the United States and Canada (URW); the anarchist Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM); anarchists unaffiliated with larger organizations; the Communist Party of America (CP); the Communist Labor Party (CLP); the Socialist Party of America (SP); the Socialist Labor Party (SLP); and unaffiliated socialists. You can search by political affiliation by using the tags above.
You may also use the “Search” box at the top of the page to look for individual names, locations, etc.
The main sources used for compiling these profiles are case files from the Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Record Group 85, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC; the Old German Files (OG) and Bureau Section Files (BS) of the Records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Record Group 65, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD (as digitized at fold3.com); and (for Italians) the Casellario Politico Centrale (CPC), Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Rome, Italy.
A special thanks to Molly Thacker, Brooke Thompson, and Nargis Azaryun, who photographed hundreds of INS files for me; Malcolm Archibald, who has translated a number of Russian-language sources; D.J. Alperovitz, who has provided sources on IWW members; and the dozens of other archivists, translators, activists, and colleagues who have helped me locate, acquire, and read material from across the globe while undertaking this research.
Finally, if you have additional information about any of the deportees, or spot an error, please contact me!
Born: 1893, Korets, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the Union of Russian Workers in New Haven in early 1919. Arrested in Hartford, Connecticut, during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. Deported on the Buford under the name Zenov (or Xenov) Bogen on December 21, 1919.
After returning to Ukraine, joined the Nabat Anarchist Federation and observed the partisan army of Nestor Makhno. Arrested in Kharkov around November 1920 and executed by the Cheka around March 1921 (dates differ slightly among sources).
Sources: INS file 54709/207; 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 (or Bolson/Bolsum)
Born: Year unknown, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Member of the Communist Party of America in Plainfield, New Jersey. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids in January 1920. Deported to Russia on December 23, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G; The Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey), December 23, 1920.
Vasily Bondarenko (or Wasiliy Bondarenko; a.k.a. William Bender/Bander)
Born: 1897, Kiev, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Active member of the Union of Russian Workers in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he also lectured for the URW nationally. Arrested repeatedly: in Bridgeport (November 9, 1919), Hartford (November 28, 1919), and New York (January 1920). Deported to Russia January 22, 1921.
Later reported to have been killed executed under Stalin.
Sources: INS file 54709/404; FBI file OG 382161; Lazar Lipotkin, The Russian Anarchist Movement in North America; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America
Samuel Bondarenko (or Bondarewko)
Born: c. 1878, Kyiv region, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Labor Party
Member of the Russian Branch of the Socialist Party of America in Philadelphia, later joining the Communist Labor Party and serving as secretary of the branch. Arrested December 29, 1919. Deported to Russia on February 1, 1921 as an alleged member of the Communist Party of America. (Membership in the CPA rendered immigrants deportable, whereas after 1920 membership in the CLP did not.)
Sources: INS file 54809/871; FBI file OG 267034.
Peter Bonko
Born: Year unknown, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: Communist Party of America?
Arrested in Brooklyn during second Palmer Raids in January 1920. Likely a member of the Communist Party of America. Deported to Russia on December 23, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G; FBI file BS 202600-33; The Morning Post (Camden, New Jersey), December 23, 1920.
Vasily Bootryn
Born: 1888, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Moldmaker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Had a wife and children in Russia. JoJoined the Socialist Party in Detroit in April 1919 and later transferred to Russian Branch No. 3 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested during the second Palmer Raids, in January 1920; held at Fort Wayne. “Voluntarily departed” on October 16, 1920.
Sources: INS file 54859/998; FBI file OG 387334.
Vladimir Borisyuk (or Borisiuk/Borisink; a.k.a. Walter Borisuk)
Vladimir Borisyuk’s Socialist Party membership card. National Archives.
Born: 1893, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Member of the Socialist Party of America who then paid one month’s dues to the Communist Party of America. Authorities also suspected he belonged to the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested in Hartford, Connecticut, in November 1919 during the first Palmer Raids. Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/151.
Borkhak
Born: Year unknown Nationality: Ethnicity: Polish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US year unknown Affiliation: IWW
A Polish member of the Industrial Workers of the World, deported on February 20, 1921.
Source: Golos Truzhenika, March 5, 1921.
Ivan Borovsky (or John Borowsky)
Born: Year unknown, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Barber; railroad worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1908 Affiliation: IWW; Union of Russian Workers?
Member of the Russian branch of the Industrial Workers of the World in Chicago; also suspected of membership in the Union of Russian Workers. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. Deported on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54709/267; FBI file OG 380320.
Boris Borsuk (a.k.a. Boris Boroes/Borores)
Born: Born 1896, Brest, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Belarusian Occupation: Barber; shop owner Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Helped organize the Union of Russian Workers branch in Youngstown, Ohio, and distributed URW literature. Arrested in August 1919 and deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919. His brother Dimitri was also arrested as a suspected anarchist but not deported.
Sources: INS file 54709/500; FBI file OG 380628.
Max Brazeliya (or Brazelia)
Born: Born 1892, Warsaw, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 (via Canada) Affiliation: Unaffiliated socialist
An unaffiliated socialist and reader of the Yiddish socialist Forverts. Arrested in St. Louis in March 1919 after being reported by his employer at the Nelson Pants Manufacturing Company for “spreading Bolshevik propaganda.” His employer, not wanting to see him deported, later defended him as harmless and “a good workingman.” Deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54616/25; FBI file OG 352388; 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, ed. Kenyon Zimmer and Cristina Salinas.
Josef Brencich
Born: Born 1887, Fiume, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia) Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Croatian Occupation: Sailor; painter Migration: Immigrated to US 1911 Affiliation: Anarchist; IWW
An Italian speaker of Slavic background. Arrested in Philadelphia in 1921 along with Erasmo Abate and other members of the IWW-affiliated Union of Italian Workers. Ordered deported to Hungary, then allowed “voluntary departure” on January 8, 1923 because Fiume had become an independent state.
Met up with Erasmo Abate in Italy and France later in the 1920s.
Sources: INS file 55009/82; Hugo Rolland [Erasmo Abate] interviewed by Robert D’Attilio, Paul Avrich Collection, Library of Congress.
Stefen Brezovic (or Vrezovic)
Born: Born 1886, Austro-Hungary Nationality: Austrian Ethnicity: Yugoslavian Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party of America in 1916; in September 1919 he transferred into South Slavic Branch No. 17 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested January 1920, in Detroit. Deported to to Yugoslavia on May 8, 1920.
Born: 1881, Volyn, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Ukrainian Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lived in Fairmont, West Virginia, and was arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919. He was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Deported as a radical to Austria on May 8, 1920. No additional information has been located.
Sources: INS file 54325/36G.
Anton Lichkevich (or Lishkevitch; Litshkevitch; a.k.a. Anton Cotie)
Born: 1887, Kamieniec, Russia (present-day Poland) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1912; then to US April 1919 Affiliation: Anarchist
Declared, “I have been an Anarchist since 1905.” Arrested in Detroit in January 1920 while traveling to distribute anarchist newspapers, he openly affirmed his anarchism at his immigration hearing and “voluntarily departed” to Russia February 26, 1921.
Russian authorities at Libau refused him and several others entry because of their anarchism. He and other deportees coauthored “An Open Letter to the Russian Premier Lenin” in response.
Sources: INS file 54861/375; FBI file OG 367316; Free Society, October–November 1921.
Tito Ligi (a.k.a. Augusto Vitaletti)
Tito Ligi, c. 1922. Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Italy.
Born: 1894, Sassoferrato, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Miner Migration: Immigrated to US 1912 Affiliation: Anarchist
Ligi and his brother Adolfo were already anarchists before emigrating together. In the United States he associated with Luigi Galleani’s circle. In November 1920 he was arrested in Scranton, Pennsylvania, for evading the draft after filing a declaration of intent to naturalize, and he briefly became a leading suspect—almost certainly falsely—in the 1920 Wall Street bombing. Deported on August 3, 1922.
In 1925 he moved to Rome with his wife, Bianchi Angela, where they opened a small shop. He remained under government surveillance until 1940; although he retained anarchist beliefs, authorities recorded no significant political activity. Meanwhile his brother Angelo, living in Jessup, Pennsylvania, adopted Tito’s name and married anarchist Maria Giaconi, who later fought in the Spanish Civil War.
Sources: FBI file BS 25-63-12-1; CPC busta 2786; The Nation, May 18, 1921; Beverly Gage, The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in Its First Age of Terror; Charles H. McCormick, Hopeless Cases: The Hunt for the Red Scare Terrorist Bombers; Kenyon Zimmer, “The Other Volunteers: American Anarchists and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939,” Journal for the Study of Radicalism 10, no. 2 (2016).
Amedeo Lilli
Born: 1894, Acqualagna, Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; tailor Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Anarchist
Arrested in September 1917 after an Italian anarchist “riot” during which he was shot in the shoulder by an undercover policeman. Convicted of assault, he was sentenced to twenty-five years in Wisconsin State Prison. Pardoned in 1922 on condition of deportation, he was deported February 16, 1922.
After returning to Italy he became a tailor and, according to police surveillance extending to 1932, did not resume radical political activity.
Sources: INS file 54235/67; CPC busta 2787; Robert Tanzilo, The Milwaukee Police Station Bomb of 1917; Dean A. Strang, Worse than the Devil: Anarchists, Clarence Darrow, and Justice in a Time of Terror.
Peter Linecky (a.k.a. Pete; Linieski)
Born: 1885, Kyiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1916 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Linecky had a wife and two children in Russia. While living in Detroit he joined the Communist Party of America. Arrested in January 1920, he was deported March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/713.
Dora Lipkin
Dora Lipkin, 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Migration: Immigrated to US 1910 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
An anarchist and the common-law wife of URW leader and fellow deportee Hyman Perkus. She lived in New York with the family of fellow URW member Boris Shatz. Arrested in October 1919 for “disturbing the peace,” she was arrested again during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919 and refused to answer questions while detained. She helped lead a hunger strike on Ellis Island protesting detention conditions and was deported with Perkus aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
After plans to leave Russia in 1924 fell through, she married Hyman Perkus and by 1930 both had joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Sources: INS file 54709/275; New York Tribune, November 30, 1919; Elaine Leeder Collection of Rose Pesotta Papers, 1912–1961, Cornell University Library; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America.
Samuel Lipman (a.k.a. Schaie Lipzcuk)
Samuel Lipman, 1921. Paul Avrich Collection, Library of Congress.
Born: 1888, Pinsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Jewish Occupation: Furrier Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Socialist Party of America
Lipman belonged to the Socialist Party of America as well as New York’s anarchist Frayhayt Group, and identified as a leftwing socialist and Marxist rather than an anarchist. A pacifist and vegetarian strongly influenced by Leo Tolstoy, he lived with anarchist Ethel Bernstein, his common-law wife. In 1918 he was arrested with others for distributing leaflets opposing US intervention in the Russian Civil War and sentenced to twenty years under the Espionage Act. While imprisoned he became disillusioned with Tolstoy and falsely claimed anarchist beliefs in hopes of deportation. After losing the landmark Supreme Court free-speech case Abrams v. United States, he was deported November 23, 1921.
In Russia he married Bernstein, studied agronomy, and became chairman of the Department of Economic Geography at the University of the Toilers of the East. In 1928 he applied to join the Communist Party. During Stalin’s purges in the 1930s he was executed.
Sources: INS file 54517/72; Richard Polenberg, Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech; Paul Avrich, Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America; Senya Fléchine Papers, International Institute for Social History, The Netherlands.
Anton Lipsky
Born: 1895, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Presser Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lipsky stated that he came to the United States “to learn some profession.” Living in New York, he joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1919. Arrested during the first Palmer Raids in November 1919, he was deported aboard the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/456.
Demian Lisiuk (a.k.a. Jim; Lisuk)
Born: 1894, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Canada 1913; then to US 1914 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party of America in 1919 and later transferred into Detroit’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America. Arrested in January 1920, he was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54859/772.
Nikolai Lisiuk (a.k.a. Nicholas; Nick)
Born: 1887, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1911; then to US 1917 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Lisiuk had a wife and two children in Russia. Arrested in Pittsburgh on November 17, 1920, federal agents accused him of owning a trunk full of Communist Party literature. Indicted under the Sedition Act and jailed in Allegheny County, he denied radical affiliations, though a confidential informant identified him as a Communist Party literature agent. He was deported to Russia February 26, 1921.
Sources: INS file 54885/71.
Aftanasy Litvakoff
Born: c. 1884, Lopatni, Chernihiv, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Lived in Homestead, Pennsylvania for six years and joined the URW there in 1917. Arrested for distributing radical handbills, he served twenty days in jail. After moving to Cleveland he was arrested again February 21, 1921. He stated, “I do recognize Anarchism, but I feel that I am not worthy enough to be called such, owing to the fat that I do not understand Anarchy enough to be honored by being called an Anarchist.” Deported to Russia March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/22.
Anna Loban
Born: c. 1893, Minsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Housewife Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Married fellow anarchist Konstantin Loban in Akron in 1916 and became a member of the Union of Russian Workers. Deported to Russia with her husband on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/24.
Konstantin Loban (a.k.a. Peter Dedka or Dutka)
Born: 1893, Slutsk, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Rubber worker Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Worked at the BF Goodrich plant in Akron and married Anna Loban there in 1916. Joined the Union of Russian Workers in 1915 and became secretary of its Lansing, Michigan branch in 1919. Asked why he had become antagonistic to the US government, he replied “Because I have been working here for eight years and am still doing hard laboring work and have not enough money to return to Russia, whereas the Americans all have much better jobs, have money and have privileges that I do not have and this country does not belong to Americans any more than it belongs to any one…as it was originally owned by the Indians.” Deported to Russia with his wife on March 18, 1921.
Sources: INS file 55009/24.
Michael Lojan
Born: 1897, Austria-Hungary Nationality: Yugoslavian Ethnicity: N Occupation: Barber Migration: Immigrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Communist Party while living in Milwaukee. Arrested there and deported to Yugoslavia in 1923.
Born: 1894, Grodno, Russia (present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Machinist Migration: Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Served as secretary of the URW branch in Hartford, Connecticut. He was deported to Russia on January 22, 1921.
Source: INS file 54709/529.
José Nicieza
Members of Spanish-speaking Los Corsarios Group, including Nicieza, 1919. National Archives.
Born: 1899, Oviedo, Spain Nationality: Spanish Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to Cuba 1914; then to US 1917 Affiliation: Anarchist
Stated that he had held anarchist ideas “since my childhood” and sympathized with anarchism while still in Spain, though he did not become active until emigrating. In New York he joined the anarchist Los Corsarios Group, which published El Corsario. He was one of fourteen members arrested in February 1919 by Secret Service agents on unfounded allegations of a plot to assassinate Woodrow Wilson. All charges were dropped, but several members, including Nicieza, were detained for deportation as anarchists. He was deported to Spain May 4, 1919.
Source: INS file 54616/79.
Frank Nikolaev (or Nikolaeff)
Born: 1884, Russia (somewhere in present-day Belarus) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Steelworker Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Union of Russian Workers
Joined the URW in Monessen, Pennsylvania, in 1919. Arrested November 26, 1919, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, he was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54709/520; FBI file OG 381430.
Paul Nikolajchyk (or Nicholachuk; a.k.a. Paul Nicholas)
Paul Nikolajchyk ‘s Communist Party membership card. National Archives.
Born: c. 1888, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Lived in Newark and belonged to New York’s Russian Branch No. 1 of the Communist Party of America. His wife remained in Russia. He was deported there February 1, 1921.
Source: INS file 54859/217.
Anton Nikolaychuk (a.k.a. Nick; Nikolajchuk)
Nikolaychuk’s Communist Party membership card. National Archives.
Born: c. 1894, Kyiv oblast, Russia (present-day Ukraine) Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Migrated to US 1913 Affiliation: Communist Party of America
Joined the Socialist Party in April 1919 and later became a member of Baltimore’s First Russian Branch of the Communist Party. Arrested December 1919, he was deported to Russia February 1, 1921. His wife and child remained in Russia.
Born: 1892, Mordovo, Saratov, Russia Nationality: Russian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer; stock-keeper Migration: Immigrated to Canada 1912; then to US 1916 Affiliation:
Nishancoff attended radical meetings, purchased radical literature, and sympathized with the Bolsheviks but never officially joined any organization. He worked for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, which dismissed him for making “Bolshevik and IWW speeches” and turned him over to federal authorities. He was deported on the Buford on December 21, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54649/62; FBI file OG 379194.
David Nordloff
Nordloff’s IWW credentials. National Archives.
Born: 1889, Gävle, Sweden Nationality: Swedish Ethnicity: Occupation: Metalworker Migration: Migrated to US 1910 Affiliation: IWW
Joined the IWW in 1916 and became a delegate and organizer for its Metal and Machinery Workers’ Industrial Union. Arrested in May 1918 during a raid on IWW members in Seattle, he accepted “voluntary departure” with his wife and four children on June 6, 1919.
Sources: INS file 54379/451; FBI file OG 8000-189115.
Joe Notore (a.k.a. Ioe Notore)
Born: Italy Nationality: Italian Ethnicity: Occupation: Laborer Migration: Immigrated to US 1914 Affiliation: Anarchist
Belonged to the anarchist Circolo di Studi Sociali in Chicago’s Kensington neighborhood. Arrested May 1918, he was deported December 20, 1919.
Italian authorities were unable to locate or surveil him after his return, and his later activities are unknown.
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.
