"Ukrainian-American Citadel": from the pages of UNA history (Chapter 2) (03/07/04)

THE UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FORUM

"Ukrainian-American Citadel": from the pages of UNA history

Following is the second in a series of excerpts from "Ukrainian-American Citadel: The First 100 Years of the Ukrainian National Association: by Dr. Myron B. Kuropas, published in 1996 by East European Monographs of Boulder, Colo. The excerpts are reprinted with the permission of the author. (The book is available from the author for $25, plus $2.50 shipping, by writing to: Dr. Myron B. Kuropas, 107 Ilehamwood Drive, DeKalb, IL 60115.)

Chapter 2

Laying the Foundation

The Ukrainian National Association (UNA) was founded by immigrants from Ukraine seeking a better and more fulfilling life in the United States. Although America was not always kind to them, they loved this country and took advantage of the many opportunities life in a free society provided for those willing to work. Long, tedious, dangerous and back-breaking hours in the anthracite coal mines of northeastern Pennsylvania helped the UNA's founders meet their basic needs. But, they wanted more. They yearned for cultural renewal and spiritual graces that could only be satisfied by communion with their own kind. They organized parishes, built churches, established co-ops, and gave birth to the Ukrainian National Association.

Early Rusyn Life in America

Early Rusyn life in the United States was difficult at best, an abomination at worst, especially in the anthracite coal mining regions of Pennsylvania. Having survived an arduous ocean crossing, the unsophisticated Rusyn was easy prey for various con men with promises of fantastic jobs and opportunities to be had for the proper price. If they headed for the coal mines, Rusyns risked being beaten up as strikebreakers. Once they got jobs in the mines, they usually started their career as miners' helpers at a fraction of the salary and longer hours than full-fledged miners. If they survived mine explosions, floods, and other daily dangers, they were still not immune to health hazards such as black lung disease. With no union organization to protect their interests, Rusyn miners were subject to exploitation through unexpected wage cuts and arbitrarily imposed work hours. When Rusyns finally did become active in the labor movement, they faced the problem of job loss, beatings by corporate goons and railroad police, and long weeks on strike with no income. Small wonder that so many Rusyn miners turned to alcohol to forget the dehumanizing conditions they had to endure. As in the old country, the ubiquitous tavern was a social institution that provided companionship and solace. "Saloonkeepers," wrote Bachynskyj, were the "bosses" of the immigrant community and they never complained that "business is bad."

But life was not all gloom and drudgery and Rusyns were not without internal resources. Community visionaries helped establish parishes that provided spiritual and temporal alternatives to the tavern. Priests offered religious renewal, and church societies organized recreational activities such as choirs, dance groups, picnics, dances, balls, reading rooms and a variety of family-oriented activities. ...

Rise of Fraternal Insurance

Having satisfied their spiritual needs with the establishment of local parishes, Rusyns turned their attention to other pressing matters. The most significant of these was the question of family security following the death of the primary breadwinner. The answer was the creation of fraternal insurance and benefit societies. Fraternal insurance societies in the United States have a long, honorable history, dating to the mid-18th century. It was not until the second half of the 19th century, however, that the fraternal insurance movement blossomed. The greatest growth period occurred between 1890 and 1900. The National Fraternal Congress, an umbrella organization that works on behalf of all fraternals in America, was founded in 1886.

The fraternal benefit system in Pennsylvania grew out of a need to provide low-cost life insurance for workers either unable to obtain, or to afford coverage. Coal miners, whose risky occupation prohibited affordable insurance premiums, were especially vulnerable. Survivors, left with no source of income, suffered the most when miners were killed or disabled. Few families were left with much to live on after paying funeral expenses.

Beginning in the late 19th century, groups in Pennsylvania started organizing mutual assistance clubs, initially called "burial societies," for the purpose of establishing survivor's benefits. The plan called for the creation of an insurance fund that a member's beneficiaries received on his death. As membership in the societies grew, they adopted rituals and ceremonies designed to dramatize the concepts of cooperative and exemplary living.

Birth of the Ruskyi Narodnyi Soyuz

Shamokin, birthplace of the Ukrainian National Association, soon replaced Shenandoah as the center of Rusyn-Ukrainian life. Coal was first mined in Shamokin in the 1830s, and by the 1850s the town was well on its way to becoming a significant center of the U.S coal industry. As such, it soon began to attract immigrants from East-Central Europe.

The first Rusyn-Ukrainian in the area was John Hassich. Church records show that there were 25 Rusyn-Ukrainian families in Shamokin and vicinity by 1880. Father Wolansky celebrated the first divine liturgy in December 1884, when the parish of The Transfiguration of Our Lord began. Father Wolansky celebrated divine liturgies in private homes prior to his return to Ukraine. On those Sundays when he was not in Shamokin, parishioners either took the train or walked 22 miles to Shenandoah for religious services. A wooden church was built on Pine and Pearl Streets and dedicated in 1890.

The first full-time pastor was Father Ivan Konstankevych, who arrived in 1893. Under his leadership the Shamokin parish became one of the most dynamic in the country. Konstankevych established a school which offered courses in religion, the Rusyn-Ukrainian rite and language to children of immigrants. He also helped establish a parish choir, orchestra and band. As Shamokin's Rusyn population increased, a new church was constructed on the corner of Shamokin and Clay streets.

Shamokin became the birthplace of the Ruskyi Narodnyi Soyuz (RNS), a Rusyn fraternal insurance company that changed its name to the Ukrainian National Association 20 years later.

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