Highlights from the UNA's 110-year history (05/02/04)

Highlights from the UNA's 110-year history

A special yearlong feature focusing on the history of the Ukrainian National Association.

It was during the Ruskyi Narodnyi Soyuz's 13th convention, held in September 1914, that the name of the organization was changed to Ukrainian National Association. It was also at that time that the fraternal benefit society experienced its greatest crisis, according to former Svoboda Editor-in-Chief Anthony Dragan, writing in his history of the UNA.

What led to the crisis at the convention was the introduction of a modern system of insurance that required members' monthly dues to be based on the mortality tables of the National Fraternal Congress; in other words, dues were to be based on the age of the policyholder. The laws of various states where the organization was active required that the UNA introduce the new system, which guaranteed that an insurer would have sufficient funds to pay death benefits to the beneficiaries of all its policyholders.

Many members were concerned that they would now be paying higher dues, since they would be paying amounts based on their current age rather than the age at which they enrolled in the UNA. At the same time, rival groups attacked the UNA, saying that the reform was unnecessary (though later they, too, were forced to comply with the same requirements). As a result of the controversy, the UNA lost about two-thirds of its membership, with the number of adult members declining to 6,000 by the end of 1914.

The year 1914 was marked also by the outbreak of the first world war, which motivated the Ukrainian people to work toward the realization of the age-old dream of independence. The UNA led Ukrainian Americans in various efforts in support of that cause.

At the 13th convention of the UNA, a new organization was established to represent all Ukrainians in the United States: the Ukrainian National Council. Even though the UNA was the initiator of the council and was solely responsible for its creation, the UNA sought to make the Ukrainian National Council truly representative of all.

The council's first appeal, addressed "to the Ukrainian people in the United States," enumerated the following objectives: political action, assistance to Ukrainian prisoners of war and preparations for the peace conference that inevitably would come at the end of the world war.

Indeed, the Ukrainian National Council was looking ahead, noting in its appeal dated September 10, 1914: "The current war in Europe may lead to a complete overthrow of the existing political order. Nations which until now have been kept in slavery may be called upon to start a new life - the life of freedom and political independence. It is possible that new national states will emerge after the war, and Ukraine may be one of them."

The council went on to appeal for funds: "Why is the Ukrainian National Council appealing today to all our brothers in the United States? We are not calling you to arms, but to a different kind of help that is needed by our fatherland. Since we cannot help with arms, let us help with the fruit of our toil - with money! Every one of us must contribute as much as we can to help Ukraine in this hour of need. We must establish a Fund for the Liberation of Ukraine! And this matter will be in the hands of the Ukrainian National Council as the representative body of all Ukrainians in the United States..."

The Ukrainian National Association, as the founder of the Ukrainian National Council, made the first donation - the 13th convention of the UNA voted a sum of $2,000, half of which was designated for political action and half for assistance to the wounded and POWs.

Source: "Ukrainian National Association: Its Past and Present, (1894-1964)," by Anthony Dragan (translated from the original Ukrainian by Zenon Snylyk). Jersey City, N.J.: Svoboda Press, 1964. The border featured in this special feature is reproduced from a UNA membership certificate dating to 1919.

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