Biography
Mike Kulikoff was an eighteen-year-old Portland high-school student and Young Communist League member who was confined in the Oregon State Hospital in Salem after efforts to deport him to the Soviet Union failed. He entered the hospital on November 8, 1930. His father, Alex, sought his release through a habeas corpus proceeding, and both his father and brother William joined the International Labor Defense. Kulikoff remained confined in February 1931 while an appeal was pending before the Oregon Supreme Court. He was later paroled following a protest campaign.
Paul Munter’s account places Kulikoff’s arrest and confinement in an insane asylum within coordinated immigration and state repression of the Portland Communist movement. It criticizes immigration evidence-sharing, John Doe warrants and press use of informers. This is attributed contemporary context for the existing involuntary confinement; it does not supply another admission, release or diagnosis. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1931/v08-n052-NY-sect-one-feb-28-1931-DW-LOC.pdf#page=3
The February 17 report confirms Kulikoff was still confined after his November 8, 1930 commitment, with an appeal pending in the Oregon Supreme Court. It identifies his father Alex and brother William as newly joining the International Labor Defense in support of his release, and describes Kulikoff as eighteen and a Young Communist League member. Neither relative is reported arrested; the article supplies no discharge day.
The Portland report identifies Kulikoff as an eighteen-year-old Washington High School student seized after playing piano while companions sang revolutionary songs, then confined at Salem after attempted deportation failed. The article criticizes an official finding linking his politics to alleged mental unsoundness; it is not an independent clinical diagnosis. Its individually captioned portrait identifies Mike Kulikoff. The roster also lists Salem confinement, without exact release.
