Union Of Russian Workers

The Union of Russian Workers in the United States and Canada, commonly known as the "Union of Russian Workers" (Союз Русских Рабочих, ''Soiuz Russkikh Rabochikh)'' was an anarcho-syndicalist union of Russian emigrants in the United States. The group was established shortly after the failure of the Russian Revolution of 1905 and was essentially annihilated in America by the 1919 Red Scare in which it was targeted by the Bureau of Investigation of the U.S. Department of Justice. Thousands of the group's adherents were arrested and hundreds deported in 1919 and 1920; still more voluntarily returned to Soviet Russia. During its brief existence the organization, which was only loosely affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World, published numerous books and pamphlets in Russian by anarchist writers, operated reading rooms and conducted courses to teach newly arrived Russians English, and fulfilled a social function for emigrants half a world from home.

Organizational history

Formation and development

The Union of Russian Workers (URW) was established in New York City in 1908 by refugees from the defeated Russian Revolution of 1905. By 1917, URW achieved a membership of about 10,000 members in 50 chapters across the United States.Maria Woroby, "Russian Americans," in Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Buhle, and Dan Georgakas (eds.), ''Encyclopedia of the American Left.'' First Edition. New York: Garland Publishing Co., 1990; pp. 661-663.

The URW's declaration of principles called for the unification of Russian workers in the United States and Canada so that they might do battle against capitalism and the forces of authority. The group further declared itself in favor of supporting the struggles of non-Russian workers in America and the struggle for liberation from Tsarism in Russia as well. Although in its initial phase the organization promoted the philosophy of communist anarchism, over time the ideology of the group evolved until in 1912 it declared itself for anarcho-syndicalism.

In large measure through the efforts of Bill Shatoff, a Russian-born anarcho-syndicalist who worked for a time on the staff of the URW's newspaper, ''Golos Truda'' (The Voice of Labor), the URW developed close ties with the Industrial Workers of the World.

In addition to publishing books and pamphlets on anarchist and syndicalist themes, the Union of Russian workers additionally provided and educational and social function, maintaining reading libraries, conducting classes to teach the English language to newcomers from Russia, and providing a setting for socialization of Russian speaking emigrants with their fellows.

Destruction

Political turmoil swept Europe in the years after World War I. The Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia showed every sign of beating the odds and retaining power. Additional communist uprisings dotted the map, including serious efforts in Finland, Hungary, and Germany. In America, the Left wing of the Socialist Party of America began to organize itself, proclaiming the need for revolutionary socialism in the United States. Politicians, press, and citizens on the street alike began to feel concerned about the potential for armed insurrection in America itself.

The Union of Russian Workers, small and isolated though it may have been, was seen by some as a source of the revolutionary contagion. On March 12, 1919, police raided headquarters of the organization, located on the Lower East Side and arrested 162 people.Todd J. Pfannestiel, ''Rethinking the Red Scare: The Lusk Committee and New York's Crusade against Radicalism, 1919-1923.'' New York: Routledge, 2003; pg. 16. Although at the time of the raid Detective Sergeant James Gegan of the New York City police department's "Bomb Squad" labeled the group "a front for alien subversive activity," results of the operation were ultimately rather less definitive, as only four of those arrested were ultimately charged with "criminal anarchy."

Fear still lingered. On June 8, 1919, the influential ''New York Times'' declared in an article spanning four columns that "500 Russian Reds" of the Union of Russian Workers were "agents spreading Bolshevism in the United States." Citing the constitution of the URW at length, the article breathlessly declared"Russian Reds are Busy Here,"
''New York Times,'' June 8, 1919. Retrieved March 4, 2010.

With public opinion thus prepared, Federal authorities headed by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer in an operation conducted by his "special assistant," J. Edgar Hoover, launched a coordinated campaign in over 30 cities across America on the night of November 7/8, 1919 — the second anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. At 8:45 in the evening of November 7, 1919, dozens of plainclothes and uniformed members of the New York Police Department together with Federal law enforcement authorities swept down on the "People's House" located at 133 East 15th Street, headquarters of the Union of Russian Workers, in what one reporter characterized as "one of the most brutal raids ever witnessed in the city.""IWW and Russian People's House Raided,"
''New York Call,'' v. 12, no. 313 (November 8, 1919), pp. 1, 5. A report in the socialist ''New York Call'' melodramatically recounted the violence of the scene:

After taking nearly 100 of those present to police headquarters for questioning, 50 men and 2 women were held for possible deportation as "undesirable aliens."

Deportation via the USAT Buford

According to the report of the head of the Bureau of Immigration, Anthony Caminetti, a total of 351 aliens "of anarchist and kindred classes" were deported from the United States from July 1, 1918, to June 30, 1920. Of these political deportations, the vast majority were made at one time aboard the ''USAT Buford,'' which departed from New York harbor on December 21, 1919, carrying 249 involuntary passengers. Chief among these were members of the Union of Russian Workers arrested in the series of raids conducted in the fall of 1919.

Notable members

* Volin
* Peter Bianki
* Vladimir "Bill" Shatoff

Publications

Newspapers

The URW issued a newspaper called ''Golos Truda'' oice of Laborin New York City beginning in 1911. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, the editors returned home together to begin publishing the paper there. A new official Union of Russian Workers newspaper was launched in New York on February 26, 1919, ''Khleb i volia'' read and Freedom edited by G.V. Karpuk. According to documents seized by the Lusk Committee, the paid circulation of the latter publication was 4,547 in 1919.Joint Legislative Committee Investigating Seditious Activities, New York Legislature
''Revolutionary Radicalism: Its History, Purpose and Tactics: With an Exposition and Discussion of the Steps Being Taken and Required to Curb It.''
ereafter: ''Lusk Committee Report''In four volumes. Albany, NY: J.B. Lyon Co., 1920; vol. 1, pg. 862.

Books and pamphlets

* Errico Malatesta: ''V kafeine.'' t the Cafe.New York: Soiuz Russkikh Rabochikh, 1916.
* ''Tovarishch, ne izmeniai: Uveshchanie shtreikbrekhera.'' omrade, Don't Be Unfaithful: Admonition to a Strikebreaker.New York: Soiuz Russkikh Rabochikh, 1916.
* Sébastien Faure: ''Prestuplenie Boga.'' he Crimes of God.New York: Soiuz Russkikh Rabochikh, 1917.
* Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin: ''Bog i gosudarstvo.'' od and State.New York: Soiuz Russkikh Rabochikh, 1918.
* Grigorii Petrovich Maksimov: ''Sovety rabochikh, soldatskikh, i krest'ianskikh deputatov i nashe k nim otnoshenie.'' he Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies and Our Relations with ThemNew York: Soiuz Russkikh Rabochikh, 1918.
* Paul Bertolet: ''Novoe evengelie.'' he New Evangelism.New York: Soiuz Russkikh Rabochikh, n.d. . 1918
* Petr Alekseevich Kropotkin: Khleb i volia.'' read and Freedom.New York: Soiuz Russkikh Rabochikh, 1919.
* Petr Alekseevich Kropotkin: Nravstvennaia nachala anarchizma. he Moral Origins of Anarchism.New York: Federatsiia Russkikh Rabochikh Soed. Shtatov i Kanady, 1919.
* Novomirskii: ''Manifest anarkhistov-kommunistov.'' anifesto of the Communist-Anarchists.!---term in English is "Communist-Anarchism," not as actually written, so title translation OK as it sits.---> New York: Federatsiia Russkikh Rabochikh Soed. Shtatov i Kanady, 1919.
* Matrena Prisiazhniuk
''Rech' Matreny Prisiazhniuk v Kievskomu Voenno-Okruzhnom sude 19-go iiulia 1908 goda.''
(Speech of Matrena Prisizahniuk in the Kiev Military District Court, July 19th, 1908.) New York: Izdanie Federatsii Soiuzov Russkikh Rabochikh Soed. Shtatov i Kanady, 1919.
* M. Berezin
''Kontr-revoliutsionery li my?''
re We Counter-Revolutionaries?n.c.: A.K., n.d. (c. 1919).
* Pereval
''Bezgosudarstvennyi kommunizm i sindikalizm.''
tateless Communism and Syndicalismn.c.: A.K., n.d. (c. 1919).

Footnotes

Further reading

* George A. Evans
Statement of the Experience of George A. Evans, a Former Teacher at the People’s House, 133 East 15th Street, Telling of the Brutal Treatment of the Police in the Raid Made There November 7, 1919."
DoJ/BoI Investigative Files, NARA M-1085, reel 926. Corvallis, OR: 1000 Flowers Publishing, 2011.
* Edgar B. Speer
"The Union of Russian Workers: What It Is and How It Operates
DoJ/BoI Investigative Files, NARA M-1085, reel 926, file 325570, April 8, 1919. Revised edition. Corvallis, OR: 1000 Flowers Publishing, 2018.
* Anatol L. Rodau
''The Bolsheviki Movement in America: Union of Russian Workers-Anarchists-Communists, First Branch of Socialists-Bolsheviki, etc.: Summary Report.''
US Department of Justice, Bureau of Investigation, report of Aug. 1-5, 1919.

External links

Finding Aid for the Lusk Committee Records
New York State Archives, Albany, NY. —''available on microfilm and including the best archive of Union of Russian Workers publications, many of which have not otherwise survived.''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Union of Russian Workers
Organizations established in 1908
Organizations disestablished in 1919
Industrial Workers of the World in Canada
Defunct anarchist organizations in North America
Syndicalism
Anarchism in New York (state)
Defunct trade unions in the United States
Defunct trade unions in Canada
1908 establishments in New York City
1919 disestablishments in New York (state)
Anarcho-syndicalism
Industrial Workers of the World in the United States
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
Red Scare