FACES AND PLACES: The UNA, decade by decade (05/10/98)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

The UNA, decade by decade

Two major institutions were involved in the formation of the Ukrainian community in North America: the Church and the Ukrainian National Association. As we prepare for the 34th regular convention of the UNA, it is important to review the accomplishments of this remarkable organization.

Between 1894, the year of its founding, and 1994, its 100th birthday, the UNA or "Batko Soyuz" as it has been affectionately called, has been involved in every significant event in our community's history.

During the first 16 years of its existence, the UNA worked closely with the Ukrainian Catholic Church, struggling against inroads being made by the Moscow-supported Russian Orthodox Church in America as well as the Budapest-supported Uhro-Rusyn Greek Catholic Church. Leaders of both denominations declared that the Ukrainian people were a mirage, that they didn't exist, that they were either Russian or Rusyn. Working closely with patriot priests, it was the UNA that helped convince some 40 percent of the Rusyn from Ukraine that they were really "Ukrainian." Given the odds, this was no small accomplishment.

It was also at this time that the UNA, again with the assistance of Ukrainian Catholic priests, was able to convince Rome to appoint America's first Ukrainian Catholic bishop. Given the opposition of the powerful Roman Catholic Church in America, this, too, was no small victory.

The decade that began in 1910 and ended in 1919 was a cataclysmic time period during which Ukraine declared its independence and the UNA established the Ukrainian National Federation (later the Ukrainian National Council), which lobbied Congress and the White House on behalf of Ukrainian freedom and published English-language brochures. The UNA and the council fought the powerful Ukrainian Communist bloc in America and funded a delegation to the Versailles peace talks.

Between 1920 and 1929, the UNA continued a strong presence in Washington, lobbying on behalf of an independent Galicia and countering Ukrainian Communist propaganda that Soviet Ukraine was an independent state. The UNA was involved also in the campaign to maintain the integrity of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

During the 1930s, a decade of financial turmoil, the UNA experienced one of its best decades. Membership grew from 21,000 in 1919 to 38,000 in 1941. The UNA helped establish the Ukrainian Youth League of North America, inaugurated publication of The Ukrainian Weekly, sponsored various sports teams for Ukrainian youth, helped finance the Ukrainian Pavilion at the World's Fair in Chicago, continued publishing English-language books about Ukraine, supported the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, and assisted Carpatho-Ukraine in its struggle for independence.

Between 1940 and 1949, the UNA confronted the Soviet-inspired defamation campaign (led by the Popular Front and the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith), played the leading role in the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee, lobbied on behalf of the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 and was intimately involved in the resettlement of Ukrainian refugees. UNA officers personally sponsored hundreds of refugee families and cared for them until they were able to manage on their own.

The 1950s was a decade of publications most of them authored by Prof. Clarence Manning of Columbia University. These included "The Story of Ukraine," "Twentieth Century Ukraine," "Ukraine Under the Soviets," and "Hetman of Ukraine, Ivan Mazeppa." The UNA also purchased Soyuzivka in the Catskill Mountains, established cultural courses at the UNA resort, initiated the campaign for a Shevchenko monument in Washington, and helped establish Captive Nations Week as an annual All-American event.

The Shevchenko monument was unveiled during the 1960s, and the UNA was deeply involved with the establishment of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians and the Harvard Ukrainian Studies Fund. Volume I of Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia was published during this decade.

The 1970s saw the erection of a new 15-story UNA headquarters, publication of Volume II of Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia, UNA involvement with the release of Valentyn Moroz and other Ukrainian dissidents, and passage of the Ethnic Studies Heritage Bill. The UNA made an honest effort to create a meaningful dialogue with the Jewish American community.

During the 1980s, the UNA focused much of its attention fighting the rising tide of defamation emanating from the Jewish nomenklatura. The UNA Heritage Defense Committee was created and quietly, without fanfare, the UNA provided significant support to the Demjanjuk Defense Fund.

When Ukraine became an independent state during the 1990s, the UNA began assisting interested Ukrainian Americans who went to Ukraine to teach English-language classes during the summer months. Even before independence, the UNA opened a press bureau in Kyiv.

Thousands of Ukrainian Americans participated in these accomplishments during the past 104 years. Could any of them have been realized without the UNA? Some, perhaps, but not all. Our community needed an organization that could define issues of concern to mobilize all segments of our society. Our community needed a vehicle that had the vision to develop a plan of action and bring it to fruition. Our people needed an organization that could serve all of them regardless of religious or political persuasion, with the exception, of course, of Ukrainian Communists.

When you think of the UNA what do you think of? Is it insurance premiums, or is it Soyuzivka? Is it your branch secretary, or is it The Ukrainian Weekly? Is it the UNA national executive, or is it Svoboda? How many of you can identify the UNA president by name? The vice-president? Most of us know the UNA by its fraternal benefits - and not by its insurance or the names of its national leadership. Insurance and fraternalism have made the UNA what it is.

Today the UNA is still a vital organization. But it's not invincible. The UNA convention in one week is probably the most important conclave we've had in 20 years. Delegates will make decisions that will decide where the UNA will be in the 21st century. Those decisions may also determine the future of our community.

Myron Kuropas' e-mail address is: mbkuropas@compuserve.com