Biography
Ellis Bjorkman was one of the Portland workers charged with criminal syndicalism. In the winter of 1930–31, Portland, Oregon revived its criminal-syndicalism law in a wave of raids on the Communist Party and Young Communist League, prosecuting members for their political affiliation. Ben Boloff was the first tried and drew a ten-year term; a mass defense campaign won acquittals for several of the others.
The Spark and the Flame names Ellis Bjorkman among those arrested at the Communist meeting hall in Portland’s Worcester Building on September 10, 1930 who told police they were United States citizens. The study distinguishes that group from the men threatened with deportation. The later criminal-syndicalism proceedings and established custody information remain separate from this citizenship account. Source: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5665d770df40f3d958f69fd2/t/6362c37535b25e49dee88bf8/1667416949422/03.Thompson%2BElk%2BProtest%2BDraft-final.docx.pdf#page=4
The September 15, 1930 Daily Worker, page 1, names Ellis Bjorkman among sixteen people held after the September 9 raid on Portland’s Workers Center at 312 Worcester Building. The newspaper lists the worker among the other eight held on vagrancy charges. Its September 9 raid date differs from September 10 in other accounts; the release date and total time held are not stated. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1930/v07-n222-Nat-sep-15-1930-DW-LOC.pdf#page=1
The Behind the Bars directory on printed page 4 lists this prisoner under Multnomah County Jail, Portland, Oregon, with criminal syndicalism, 1930. This is an attributed historical directory entry: the year and nominal term do not establish an intake day, uninterrupted imprisonment, completed service or physical release. The substantive article on PDF page 10 separately names the Portland criminal-syndicalism and deportation defendants and attributes the raids to informer M. R. Bacon. The threatened ten years is potential exposure, not a sentence already imposed.
