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.

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.

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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. 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