the ukrainian weekly 1982-13

8/14/2019 The Ukrainian Weekly 1982-13

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T H E I CBOBOAA^SVOBODA

U k r a i n i a nP U B L IS H E D BY T HE U K R A I N I A N N A T I O N A L A S S O C I A T I O N I N C , A F R A TE R N AL N O N - P RO F IT A S S O C I A T I O NVol . L No. 13 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 2 8 ,1 9 8 2 25 cents

O b i t u a r y o f y o u n g K o m s o m o l m e m b e rr a i s e s m o r e q u e s t i o n s t h a n i t a n s w e r s

by D r. Roman So lchanyk"Where did he die?" This questionmay have occurred to at least some ofthose who read the editorial in the issueof the Ukrainian Ko msom ol newspaperMolod Ukrainy for February 9. Unlikemost editorials in Molod Ukrainy, thisone was partly an obituary. Besidesreporting on such innocuous developments as the latest achievements ofyoung workers at the Rovno nuclearpower plant and the successes of Komsom ol units in the mines of D on bas, theeditorial shared the following information with its readers."Oleksandr Stovba, a product of theDnipropetrovske Oblast Komsomolorganization, was destined to live only22 years of his life. But he traversed thispath with dignity, as a member of the

Komsomol should. Carrying out hisinternational responsibility, Oleksandrd i e d p r o t e c t i n g h i s w a r b u d d i e s(boyovykh pobratymiv). The fatherland rated his feat highly, posthumouslyawarding Oleksandr Stovba the Orderof Lenin."This is still another striking exam pleof the young generation's allegiance to

Rep. Derwinski losesRepublican primary

CH ICA GO - Rep. Edward J. Derwinski, an 11-term congressman fromIllinois' 4th D istrict, lost in the Repub lican primary two weeks ago to Rep.George M. O'Brien, one of his closestfriends in the House of Representatives.The two men were forced to competefor the same seat because of a controversial reapportionment plan orchestrated by Illinois D emo crats after 1980census results reduced the state's congressional seats from 24 to 22.The reapport i onment , which wasupheld by the U.S. Supreme Court,eliminated two seats from the state's 14-man Republican congressional delegation by placing four GO P incumbents intwo districts.Mr. Derwinski, 55, a staunch anti-Communist and frequent backer ofUkrainian causes in the House, was aranking member of the Fo reign A ffairsCommittee and the International Organizations Subcommittee.First elected to the C ongress in 1958,Rep. D erwinski was an early supporterof the Shevchenko Monument in Washington, Captive Nations Week observances and numerous congressionalresolutions co ncerning U krainian dissidents and human rights in EasternEurope. He was a recipient of theShevchenko Freedom Award.

the ideals of the party and the GreatOctober. To always be in the forefront,there where it is most difficult, sparingno efforts - and if need be, one 's life -in the name o f the com mo n task, such isthe great lesson that has been learned bythe young generat ion through theexample of the activity of Communists. The editors of Molod Ukrainy didnot feel compelled to explain furtherabout "the comm on task" for which Mr.Stovba forfeited his Life, nor did theygive even the slightest hint of thewhereabouts of that "most difficultforefront" where all of this came to p ass.For seasoned readers of the Sovietpress, both in the USSR and in theWest, this is n othing exceptiona l. It is a

well-known fact that the mass media inthe USSR are extremely reluctant tocall attention to the less flatteringaspects of Sovietreality in this case, amilitary casualty, perhaps in Afghanistan, perhaps somewhere in Africa.Yet, in its very next issue MolodUkrainy devoted two additional itemsto the young Soviet soldier. 3 On pageone we find three poems by Mr. Stovbathat form part of an anthology issuedposthumously by the Dnipropetrovskepublishing house, Promin. The introduction of the selection states that thepoems were compiled by "the bravelieutenant's comrades."Turning to the last page of thenewspaper, readers wil l discover alyrical but nonetheless informativebiographical sketch of Mr. Stovba. Hewas born on July 19, 1957, in Dnipropetrovske to Ivan Andriyovych Stovba,an engineer, and Lidia Petrivna, aworker; the family lived "near the LeninPalace of Culture of Metallurgists";young Oleksandr attended SecondarySchool No. 24 and "was proud of hisparents"; he graduated from SecondarySchool No.' 20 in D niprodzerzhinsk andfell in love with a girl in P oltava; andafter wo rking for a time as a fire fighter,Oleksandr was admitted to the FrunzeHigher General Mil i tary CommandSchool in Kiev, from which he presumably graduated. The author of thebiographical essay even shares with thereader excerpts from correspondencebetween Mr. Stovba and his parents.

To round out the picture, only onemore detail would have been required:where and under what circumstancesdid Lt. Stovba lose his life? This,however, is something that readers willhave to surmise for themselves.

Convention updateAll systems go in Rochester

1. Molod Ukrainy, February 9.2. Molod Ukrainy, February II.

JERSEY CITY, N .J. - Preparations for the 30th Regular Convention of the Ukrainian N ational A ssociation, which is to take place inRochester the week o f May 24-29 arealready under way with district andconvention committees in Rochestermeei|g` regularly and frequentlyto ensure the success of this convention.Members of the UNA ExecutiveCo m m i t t e e a l s o v i s i t R o c h e s t e rperiodically to help with the planning, preparations and coordinationof programs . Supreme Pres ident. Jo hn O . Flis arrived in Ro chester forthe sixth such .conference which washeld on Sunday, March 7, at theUkrainian Community Center. Hespent the entire day at the meetingswith the district and conventioncommittees, which are headed byWalter Hawrylak.

Mr. Flis and 34 district representat ives and convention committeemembers began their meeting at 3p.m. This meeting was preceeded bya two-hour meeting of the chairmenof various convention committees, atwhich they received instructions andclarifications concerning the quadrennial UN A event.The minutes of the last meeting.which was held January 10, werecompiled and read by secretaryDmytro Prystay and the honorary

chairman of the district committee,Konstantyn Shevchuk, at the beginning of the 3 p.m. meeting.The minutes emphasized the workdone by the Rochester D istrict C ommit t ee including the work Mr.Hawrylak has done in organizing thestatistics and the history of all 10Rochester UN A branches and thelocal Ukrainian community for theconvention book.The meeting also outlined all thework the committees have done. Forexample the basic arrangements wererepeated: the site of the convention isthe Ho liday Inn-Genessee Plaza, 120Main St. E.; the time is from Mon

day, May 24, to Saturday, May 29.The UNA has reserved 200 rooms,of which more than half are fordouble occupancy. The hotel has freeparking for its guests; free transportat ion is also avai lable from theairport to the hotel and back. Manyfine restaurants are available in thehotel and in the area.The menu for the gala conventionbanquet has already been set; theprice of the banquet is S25 perperson. The master of ceremonies at

the convention banquet will be UN AVice President Myron Kuropas.The program for the concert andand other events has also been established, and this will be reported inthe press . Also to be announcedshortly is a list of honorary guestsand speakers, among them, in alll ikel ihood wil l be Vice Pres identGeorge Bush, who eight years ago, ashead of the Republican NationalCommittee, took part in the 28thUNA Convention in Philadelphia.

Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholichierarchs are also expected to participate in the convention ceremonies, asare various well-known Ukrainiansand Americans.C om mit tee members were informed at the meeting that the votingwill be held by secret ballot, usingvoting m achines. The same companythat has provided m achines for o therUNA elections will again be commissioned for the convention.The convention week's agendaincludes tours of Rochester, theUkrainian comm unity and churchesas well as such famed sites as theEastman School of Music, theKodak company and others.Mr. Flis said he was pleasantlysurprised at the pro gress and amountof work that has already been done inpreparation for the 30th convention ,and he said he was happy that theRochester Ukrainians have not beensleeping, but have been busy readying for the convention.A lo n g d i s c u s s i o n f o l l o w e d .Among questions asked were: howmany persons besides the 450 dele-

(Cont inued on page 14 )

Walter Hawrylak


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THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 2 8 ,1 9 8 2 No. 13

fSfner dissidents, government officialsapgnd rally fo r Siberian PentecostalsJ t X ) Ndams /iriexanBcjl(

Former Soviet dissi-ilexander Ginzburg and Yurioined several British and Euro-liticians in calling for (he release^en Siberian Pentecostals andof their families now in the! Union durin g a March 6 rally hereinfr afal gar Square, reported East/WestJ t f f c s . rally was held to coincide withthe 31st birthday of Lidia Vashchenkowho, along with four members of herfamily and Maria Chmykhalov and herson, sought refuge in the U.S. Embassyin Moscow in July 1978. On Janu ary 30embassy officials turned her over to aSoviet hosp ital after she lost 22 poundsduring a hunger strike to protest thefamilies' plight.

She has since returned to her hometown of Chernogorsk, where she hasapplied for exit visas for herself andfamily members there. The six otherPentecostals, including Ms. Vaschen-ko's parents and two sisters, remain inthe embassy.Bri t ish Prime Minister MargaretThatcher, in a letter to rally organizerDanny Smith, expressed concern forthe Siberian Pentecostals and repeatedher offer of asylum for the Vashchenkoand Chmykhalov families."I naturally hope that Lidia Vash-chenko 's application for an exit visa willbe favorably considered by the Sovietauthorities and that this may open theway for the other members of the twofamilies to seek and be given exit visaswithout any more delay," wrote Mrs.Thatcher.

The Soviets are expected to rule onMs. Vashchenko's application by the

end of the month.' In a recent letter toSoviet President Leonid Brezhnev, Ms.Vashchenko wro te that she would begina hunger strike on March 27 if permission to emigrate is not granted.Several dignitaries joined Mrs. Thatcher in supporting the Siberian Pentecostals. French Prime Minister PierreMauroy sent a letter promising to askthe French m inister of foreign affairs toraise the issue with the Soviets.

Messages of supp ort were also sent byauthor Malcom Muggeridge, the Rev.Georgi Vins, a Baptis t leader andformer Soviet political prisoner, andothers.Among those present at the Trafalgarrally were MP s David Atkinson an d D r.George Hobbs, who offered their support .Call ing the case of the "SiberianSeven" a "symbolic one," Mr. Ginzburg, one of the founding members ofthe Moscow Helsinki Group, told theral ly that winning freedom for theSiberian Pentecostals "shall be helpingthe other tens of thousands of Pentecos ta l s and o the r p r i soners o f conscience" in the USSR.Mr. Bellow, who served a total of ISyears in Soviet psychiatric hospitals andprisons, called on people to raise voicesof solidarity o n behalf of the persecutedChristians. This voice, he said, must beheard "all over the world."In a related sto ry, Chapel of the Air, areligious broadcast based in Wheaton,111., and beamed nationally, has calledfor a day of prayer and fasting onMarch 31 for all Soviet Christians and,particularly, the Siberian Seven.

Rumanian religious activist releasedSIGHISO ARA , Rumania - Justhours before the Kentucky State Houseof Representatives voted unanimouslyin mid-February t o r ecommend toPresident R onald Reagan that Rumania's "most-favored nation" tradestatus not be renewed on March 9,officials there released a Christianactivist who was being held on chargesof treason, reported East/ West News.loan Teodo siu, 27, a spokesman forthe Rumanian Christian Committeewho was specifically named in theKentucky resolutio n, was released fromcustody and reportedly arrived unexpectedly at the home of his in-laws at 3a.m.He was arrested on December 16,1981, for his religious activities andautho rities told his wife that a trial wasbeing prepared in the military divisionof the Rumanian Supreme Court oncharges of treason.While in government custody Mr.

Teodosiu was repeatedly beaten, andEast / West News reported that thesecret police forced his friends andrelatives to sign blank pieces of paper,then typed denunciations of the activiston the sheets.Rumania's trade status is reviewedevery year, and a government spokesman in Washington recently said that"there have been repeated expressionsof concern (about Mr. Teodosiu) by theUnited States."Although it could not be confirmed ifthe action of the Kentucky legislaturewas a primary consideration in Rumania's decision to free Mr. Teodosiu,East / West News did repo rt that arelative of the activist said during atelephone interview that prayers in theWest contributed to the release."Without yo ur prayers, we could no thave survived and loan would not befree," the relative said.

Three Baptists sentenced in LeningradO R A N G E , Calif. - Three membersof the unregistered Baptist Church in

Leningrad were tried on February 15-19and received sentences ranging fromfive to three years in labor camps,reported Keston News.Fyodor Makhovitsky and MykhailAzarov were both arrested last Augustand are believed to have been chargedwith illegal religious activities. The thirdman , V lad imi r P ro t se nko , 53 , wasarrested on December 8.Pasto r M akhovitsky, 51, was sentenced to five years in a strict-regimencamp and conf i sca t i on o f pe r sona lproperty. Mr. Azarov, a 44-year-old

evangelist, was sentenced to four yearsin an o rd ina ry - reg imen camp . Hisproperty was also reportedly confiscated.Moreover, both men are said to befacing additional charges of anti-Sovietslander and creating a public disturbance. The latter charge is often used toindict organizers of open-air baptisms.

Mr. Pro tsenko, whose home has beenused for meetings of unregistered Baptists since 1973, was sentenced to threeyears' imprisonment in an ordinary-regimen camp. Keston reported thatunlike the other two men Mr. Protsenko's property was not seized.

He sued th e KGB - a nd lostMOSCOW - When last we wroteabout Viktor Tomachinsky, a 36-year -o ld au to mechan ic , he wassuing the KGB for damages becausethey failed to provide exit visas forhim and his" family. We admired histemerity, but warned that he may endup in the hoosegow for his ratherquixotic litigation.Well, sad to say, we were right. TheNew York Tunes recently reportedthat the budding barrister is now inthe calaboose. On March 10 a Moscow court sentenced Mr. To machinsky to a year in jail for parasitism andforbade him to live in Moscow forfive years after he is released. Oddly, thecourt convened in a basement roomof an apartment block in suburbanMoscow.In his suit, Mr. Tomachinsky saidthat the KGB had reneged on averbal promise to obtain visas forhim and his family to emigrate to the

United State s . He soug ht 13,400rubles (about 519,000) in damages,the sum he said he would have earnedif he had spent nine months workingas an auto mechanic in the UnitedStates. .Shortly after a three-judge panelruled last winter that it had nojurisdiction in that case, Mr. Tomachinsky was arrested in his home.Mr . Tomach insky ' s conv ic t i onseems to bring to an end, at least fora year, his legal manueverings. N ostranger to Soviet courts, Mr. Tom achinsky had broug ht civil suits againstthe. authorities five times in the pastfive years.Somehow we don't think that thebest trial lawyer in the world wouldhave helped Mr. Tomachinsky in hiscase. In M oscow , it seems, you reallycant fight city hall, particularly ifyou choose to squabble with thesecret police.

Bu c h a r est r e g i m e scores pont i f fBERLIN - Pope John Paul II wasthe subject of severe criticism by Rumanian authorities last month when heappointed an exiled Rumanian tp aV a t i c a. i p o s t , r e p o r t e d E a s t / W e s tNews. .Radio Bucharest and the Rumaniannews agency Agerpress lambasted theinvestiture of Traian Crisan as bishop.The appointmen t allows the new bishopa seat on the Roman Curia.Rum ania's press labelled the appointmen t a "d i rec t a t t ack" on the p ro -government Orthodox Church.The Vatican recognizes the independence of the Roman Catholic Church inRumania . However , the Buchares tregime maintains that Joseph Stalin's1948 decree incorpo rating O rthod oxand Roman Catholic congregations stillstands.Greek Catholic parishes in Rumania,

primarily in Transylvania, use Byzantine traditions, but recognize the primacy of the pope. All congregations inUkraine, Hungary and Czechoslovakiawere likewise forcibly incorpo rated intothe Orthodox Church at the end ofWorld War II.Several Catholic bisho ps were secretly ordained in Rumania after the war,but because that violated governmentdecrees, several were caught and servedlong p r i son t e rms . Mos t were no treleased until 1964, when B ucharestannounced a general pardon. TheirChurch, ho wever, has never been allowed to operate as an independent entity.The Orthodox Church in Rumaniausually follows the government line,unlike the severely persecuted Baptis t,Pentecostal and Brethren denominat ions.

B ulgarian off icials to close synagogueSOF IA, Bulgaria - Bulgarian officials seem to have reneged on anearlier promise to finance the renovat ion of Europe 's largest SephardicJewish synagogue, a move first praisedby Jewish leaders in the West, and haveforced Sofia's Jewish leaders to sign a

petition to the government demandingthat the building be closed, reportedEast/ West News.It had earlier been reported from thecountry's capital that under the renovat ion agreement, the Jews would be

permitted to use the building for 15major religious festivals each year andan adjacent area for their regular weeklymeetings.The government would have access tothe historic landm ark at all othertimes, and said it would hold secularconcerts there.

Jewish leaders in New York view thenew reports about the possible closingas a blatant at tempt to contro l theJewish minority in Bulgaria. There aresome 3,000 Jews in Sofia.

U k r a i n i a n W e e lc lFOUNDED 1933

Ukrainian weekly newspaper published b y the Ukrainian National Association Inc., afraternal non-profit association, at 30 Montgomery St., Jersey City, N J 07302(The Ukrainian Weekly - USPS 570-870)The Weekly and Svoboda:(201) 434-0237, 434-0807(212) 227-4125Yearly subscription rate: 58 . UNA members - J5.

UNA: (201) 451-2200(212) 227-5250

Postmaster, send address changes to:THE UKR AINIAN WEEKLYP.O. Box 346Jersey City. NJ 0 7303

Edi to r : Ro m Soc lun Ha dzewy czAssistant edito r : George Bohdan Zarycky


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No. 13 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 2 8 ,1 9 8 2 3

Program marks 43rd anniversaryof Carpatho-Ukraine's independence Vice President Bush holdsmeeting with UN A activistsby Dr. Walter Dushnyck

NEW YORK - The Julian RevayCarpathian Research Center here held acommemorative program dedicated tothe 43rd anniversary of the proclamation of Carpatho-Ukraine's independence on Wednesday, March 17.T h e p r o c l a m a t i o n was issued onMarch 15,1939 in Hust, then the capitalof the tiny country, at the very mo mentthe Hungarian army - with the approval of Hitler and with the enthusiastic support of Poland -wasinvad ingCarpatho-Ukraine.Dr. Wasyl Wcresh, the center's secretary, opened the program and stressedthe impor tance of the ann iversa ry .Despite centuries of foreign oppression,the people of Carpatho-Ukraine clungto their ancestral faith and their national and cultural traditions, all ofwhich were indispensable factors in thenational rebirth of Carpatho-Ukraineand which lead to the proclamation ofindependence, he said.Prof. Peter G. Stercho, president ofthe research center, who came fromPhiladelphia, spoke about the background and historical development ofCarpatho-Ukraine.He said that both national-politicaland cultural centripetal forces werealways present in the people of Carpatho-Ukraine, aimed at unificationwith the rest of the great Ukrainiannation resulting in one independent andsovereign state of the U krainian people.Prof. Stercho also outlined briefly the

coun t ry ' s deve lopment p r io r to theproclamation of independence. Despitethe hos t i l e env i ronment c rea ted byH u n g a r y and P o l a n d , the inimicalattitude of the Prague government and,last but not least, the criminal actions ofHitler and Mussolini, more than 20,000young members of the "CarpathianSich" took up arms and defended thecoun t ry aga ins t the much s t rongerinvaders.

V o l l e y b a l l : r o u n d o net o th e S o v i e t s

WASHINGTON - Last week wewrote about the diplomatic hurly-burly created when George Sajewych,a 36-year-old employee of the Voiceo f Amer ica ' s Ukra in ian Serv ice ,helped the U.S. State Departmentteam beat the Soviet Embassy squadin a volleyball game that was laternullifed because Mr. Sajewych wasnot listed on the U.S. roster.Well, on March 16, the superpowers clashed again, this time withMr. Sajewych officially listed ande l ig ib le , but d e s p i t e his v a l i a n tefforts, the State D epartm ent fell justshort of beating the mighty So viets inthe semifinal round of the D.C.Recreation Department's EmbassyVolleyball League Tournament.With Mr. Sajewych leading theway, the Americans rallied from farbehind (2-10) in the second game tobeat the Soviets 16-14. The Sovietshad won the first game easily. Thethird and deciding game was extremely close, with the Soviets eekingo ut a 15-13 win.'In this round, anyway, it seems thebad guys won. Wait til next year.

Dr. Walter Dushnyck, editor of TheUkrainian Quarterly, related the activities of the Ukrainian American com munity in the years 1938-1939 on behalf ofCarpatho-Ukraine.Mass m eetings were held in all majorcenters of the Ukrainian emigration;such organizations, as the Obied-n?nnia, ODVU, the Ukrainian Nat i ona l Assoc ia t i on , the Prov idenceAssociation of Ukrainian Catholics,and others, had been in the vanguard ofthese activities, he said.Likewise, telegrams, petitions andmemoranda were sent not only to theU.S. government in Washington, but tothe governments of Naz i Germany ,Great Britain, France and Italy, signato r ie s of the i l l - fated Munich pact .Funds and clothing were also collectedfor the people of Carpatho-Ukraine.Dr. Dushnyck also mentioned massive reports by the American press,especially the highly favorable reportages by the roving correspondent ofTheNew Yo rk Times, the late Anne O'HareMcCormick.Ivan Bazarko, president of the WorldCongress of Free Ukrainians (WCFU),spoke briefly on the historical significance of C a r p a t h o - U k r a i n e and itsplace in the genera l h i s t o ry of theUkrainian people.John O. Flis, president of the Ukrainian National Association, expressedgood wishes to the center for its continued work for the preservation ofhistorical documents concerning Carp a t h o - U k r a i n e and its struggle forfreedom and union with all Ukrainianlands.Bohdan Las towecky reca l l ed hismeeting with Prof. Augustin Stefan, thepresident of the Carpatho-UkrainianDiet (Soym), when he came to Lviv inthe early 1920s to purchase Ukrainiantextbooks and primers for Ukrainianschools in Carpatho-Ukraine.The Rev. Sebastian Shevchuk, pastor

(Cont inued on page 6)

L a n g u a g e m e e t in g t o f e a t u r er e c e n t U k r a i n i a n l i t e r a t u r eNEW YORK - A Northeast Modern Language Association session, tobe held during the association's Aprilconvention here at Hunter College, will

feature the most recent literary develo pments in Byelorussia, Latvia, Ukraineand Yugoslavia.The session is titled "Literary Trendsamong Non-Russ ian Na t iona l i t i e s ,"an d it appears under the general topicEast European and Soviet Literature.Prof. Walter Karpinich (Wilkes College)will serve as c h a i r m a n . Prof. OlehMazur (Villanova University), secretary, lists the following scholars on theprogram: Prof. Biruta Cap (AllentownCollege), "Themes and Techniques ofSoviet Latvian Writers of the Pas tDecade"; Prof. Rado Pribic (LafayetteCollege), "Blue Jeans Fiction of Yugos lav ia" ; Prof. E l e o n o r a ,K. A d a m s(Temple Univers i ty ) , "Cul tu ra l andHistorical Elements as Reflected inContemporary Soviet-Ukrainian Literature"; and Prof. Thomas E. Bird(Queens College), "Byelorussian Folklore: Titles and Trends." -

The session is schedu led on thesecond day of the Northeast ModernLanguage Association convention,April 4, from 3:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. atHunte r Co l lege and is o p e n to theacademic community as well as to thegeneral public.

Vice President George Bush with UN A Supreme Advisor Tares Szmagala (center)and Eugene Iwanciw.WASHINGTON - UNA SupremeAdvisor Taras Szmagala and EugeneIwanciw, a former UNA supreme advisor, met with Vice President GeorgeBush in his private Capitol office onMarch 10. The meeting followed theWhite House ceremony commemorating Afghanistan Day. The Ukrainiansthanked the vice president for hisremarks at the signing ceremony, especially those commending the Ukrainians for their struggle against Sovietaggression.Messrs. Szmagala and Iwanciw discussed a number of issues with Vice

President Bush during the brief meet

ing . The vice president recal led hisappearance as chairman of the Republican N ational Comm ittee, beforethe 1974 UNA Convention in Philadelphia.On behalf of UN A Supreme PresidentJohn Flis, Messrs. Szmagala and Iwanciw invited the vice president to onceagain attend the UNA Convention,which will take place in Rochester onMay 24-29.The vice president expressed appreciation for the invitation and stated thathe will make every effort to attend the

convention if his schedule permits.

S ta te m e nto f t h e C o m m it te e fo r L a w a n d O rd e r in the UCCAIn accordance with the resolutionsand recommendations adopted at thecommunity conference in New Yorkon December 19, 1981, the executiveboard of the Comm ittee for Law andOrder in the UCCA and the variouscommittees created at the conferencehave begun preparations for conven

ing and conducting a national Ukrain ian confe rence . The aim of theconfe rence is the f o r m a t i o n of aUkrainian coo rdinating center inAmerica and defining the directionof its activities, the focus of which arelong-range actions that conform tothe ideals of all democratic-mindedo r g a n i z a t i o n s and the f r e e d o m -loving Ukrainian comm unity. Theseactio ns are being planned in po litical,soc ia l and cu l tu ra l spheres , andwill include participation in American political life, establishing relations with non-Ukrainian groups,assisting organizations and individuals in preserving their Ukrainianidentity, offering scholarships foryouth, analyzing the future of ourcommunity, etc.

In connection with this goal theexecutive board of the Committeefo r Law and Order is opening an

office in New York, hiring a paiddirector and planning a series of tripsto forge closer links with individualcommunities and to inform them ofi ts act ivi t ies . To car ry out theseconcre te ac t i ons , the c o m m u n i t yconference allocated a budget ofoverS50,000. Therefore, we are askingour branches, groups and people ofgood will who have supported us inthe past and continue to support ourattempts to bring law and order tocommunity life and strengthen democratic principles, to help us in ourplans through their donations.

We sincerely thank all those whohave already responded to our previous appeals and given contributions, and at the same time we call onthe Ukrainian community to continue to support our work by joiningin the fund-raising drive and donating to the Ukrainian AmericanComm unity Fund. Checks should bemade payable to Ukrainian American Community Fund, No. 1830, an dsent to the Ukra in ian Amer icanCommunity Fund, c/o UkrainianNational Home, 140 Second Ave.,New York, NY. 10003.

Executive BoardCommittee for Law and Order in the UCCA


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4 THE UKRAIN IAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 2 8 , 1 9 8 2 No. 13

U N A d i s t r i c t c o m m i t t e e s m e e t B altimoreJersey City

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - Walter Bilykwas once again elected to head theJersey City UNA District Committeehere on Sunday, March 7.Participants at the annual meeting,which was held in the UNA building,also elected Halyna Hawryluk, first vicepresident; Mykola Sheremeta, secondvice president; Volodymyr Butkowsky,treasurer; Joseph Zubrytsky, secretary;Ivan Svyschuk and Petro Palka, members; Stepan Ostrowsky, head of thea u d i t in g c o m m i t t e e ; M e l an i e nowych and Pauline Balutiansky, members of the auditing comm ittee.

Mr. Bilyk opened and chaired themeeting, which was attended by UNASupreme Secretary Walter Sochan, andthe head of the UNA Passaic DistrictCommittee, John Chomko, both ofwhom he asked to join the presidium.Mr. Zubrytsky was asked to be recording secretary.After greeting representatives fromthe neighboring Passaic District Committee, Vasyl Maruschak and J o h nBurny, Mr. Bilyk asked fora moment ofsilence in memory of deceased districtm e m b e r s , i n c l u d i n g V a s y l V o r o n -kevych, a district officer.The minutes of last year's meetingwere read by Mr. Zubrytsky, and theywere unanimously accepted.Mr. Bilyk then proceeded to read hisannual report, which underlined thesuccess of the organizing campaign in1981. He praised the following branchesfor their work in obtaining new members: Branch 25. (Kvitka Steciuk), 41members; Branch 170 (Mr. Bilyk), ISmembers; Branch 70 (Mr. Sheremeta),10 memb ers; Branch 281 (Myron Siryj),e i g h t m e m b e r s . All met t h e i rquota, he said.

He a l so commended Branch 171(Stella Ryan), 11 members; Branch 287(Bohdan Yas insky) , n ine members ;Branch 270 (Mr. Ost rowsky) , th reemembers and Branch 213 (VolodymyrKozak), one member.Mr. Bilyk also talked about thesuccess of last summer's UNA Daywhich was organized by the four (UN A)districts of New Jersey and headed byMr. Chomko. He thanked all of thebranch representatives for their participation in the June 1981 meeting of all

district committee chairmen held atSoyuzivka, as well as their participatio non the New Jersey district committeeconference held in the UN Am ain office.The reports of the secretary and thetreasurer followed. The^ treasurer reported that the sum in the district's cashaccount is S1.61S.80.All three reports thanked the UNASupreme Executive Co mmittee and thestaffs of Svoboda and The UkrainianWeekly for their help in publicizing theUN A Day held in New Jersey lastAugust.The auditing comm ittee's report wasg iven by Mrs. M i l a n o w y c h , whopraised the work of the district committee and who presented a motion togive the outgo ing executive bo ard a voteof confidence. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Hawrylyk, and it passedu n a n i m o u s l y . It was p r o p o s e d andaccepted that the executive board be re-elected with the addition of two newmembers.

After accepting his post, Mr. Bilykthanked everyone present for faith in hiswork and presented some ideas for theconvention year. He then asked Mr.Sochan to address the meeting.Mr. Sochan proceeded to give overview of the UNA'S general membersh ip campaign , p lans for the 30tha n n u a l c o n v e n t i o n and praised theJersey City and Bayonne branches fortheir work for the UNA. He noted thatthe convention will determine whatdirection the UNA will follow, and willdiscuss the proposed merger of theUN A and the Ukra in ian Fra te rna lAssoc ia t i on . He ended his ta lk bystressing that the UNA's found ingprinciples include respect toward oneanother and geniune fraternalism.Mr. Chomko extended greetings tothe Jersey City District Committee andadded his thanks for the committee'shelp in the UNA Day. He invited all toattend his district's annual meeting inthe near future.After the meeting ended, a generaldiscussion fo l lowed which to uch edupon such topics as Svoboda and therole of the fraternal activities director.Meeting participants also agreed to giveSI20 for a full-page ad in the UNAconvention book; SI00 for the Patriarcha l Fund and S50 to he lp needyUkrainians in Poland.

P r e - c o n v e n t io n U N A a u d i t u n d e r w a y,8M ^f f ^ .^ iW?Wf'^fa'IW ? v, \

Members of the S upreme A uditing C ommittee are (from left): John Teluk, the Rev.Protopresbyter Stephen Bilak, Bohdan Futey, John Hewryk and Dr. BohdanHnarJuk.JERSEY CITY, N.J. - The UNASupreme Auditing Committee began itspre-convention audit of UNA operations here at the UNA main office onMonday, March 22.The committee consists of BohdanFutey of Cleveland, John Hewryk ofWinnipeg, Prof. John Teluk of NewHaven, Conn., the Rev. ProtopresbyterStephan Bilak of South Bound Brook,

N . J . , and Dr. Bohdan Hna t iuk ofPhiladelphia.The audit was scheduled to be completed by March 26, and the committeewill report its findings to the SupremeExecu t ive Commit tee . The aud i t ingcommittee will also submit a report atthe 30th Regular UNA Convention,which will begin on May 24 in Rochester, N.Y.

B A L T I M O R E - The Bal t imoreUNA District Committee held its annual meeting at the Self-Reliance hallon Sunday, February 28.The meeting was called to order bythe district chairman, Bohdan Yasinsky, who extended his greeting to allpresent including Supreme OrganizerWasyl Orichowsky.Fo l l owing the accep tance of themeeting's agenda and a moment ofsilence in hono r of the deceased members of the d is t r i c t commi t tee , thereports of the committee's work in thepast,year were read. First the secretaryof the district Ostap Zyniuk, read theminutes of the last meeting which wereaccepted unanimously.The second report was given by thedistrict treasurer, Ivan Malko. This wasfollowed by the report of the chairman,Mr . Yas insky . He thanked all thesecretaries for their hard work andcooperation which, he said, resulted inthe fact tha t the district reached and wentbeyond its membership qu ota , fulfillingit by 158 percent. All the UNA branchesin the district co ntributed to this success,he stressed.After all the reports were read, ageneral discussion followed.On the proposal of the chairman ofthe nominations co mmittee, Mr. Malko,the entire executive committee was re-elected for yet another term.The newly re -e lec ted c ha i rm anthanked all present for their expressionof faith in him and asked Mr. Orichowsky to speak to the committee.Mr . Or ichowsky ex tended warmgreetings to everyone from the UNASupreme Execu t ive Commit tee and

highly praised the distr ict ' s branchsecretaries for doing such a fine job inthe past year. He particularly praisedthe branch secretaries who, in the pastyear had organized 10 or more newmembers. They are: Emmanuel Prytula(Branch 337), 15 members; I. Malko(Branch 320), 14 members; Lev Blo-narowych (Branch 34), 13 members;Ostap Zyniuk (Branch 15), 12 members;and Adam Cizdyn (Branch 55), 11members.Mr. Orichowsky also spoke about theproblems of organizing members inlight of the country's current economicsituation, competition with large commercial insurance companies and theinternal co nflict in the Ukrainian community.Amid this turmoil, Mr. Orichowskyemphasized what good work the distr ict ' s branch secretar ies have beendoing, always placing the UNA, fraternal harmony and selfhood for Ukrainians in the free world above all else.He called upon the delegates to theupcoming 30th convention to bear inmind the good of the Ukrainian National Association when electing thenew UNAexecutives.After this talk, a general discussion

followed, during which matters such asthe contents of Svoboda, and lack ofcommunication with the main UNAoff ices were raised. Semen shvn called upon the district committeeto take an active part in helping theUkra in ians in P o l a n d . Mr. Cizdynthanked the UNA for giving his son ascholarship.After the meeting ended many of themembers stayed for a snack prepared byOlena Malko and engaged in conversation on UNA and community matters.

P erth AmboyPERTH AMBOY, N.J. - The annual meeting of the Perth Amboy UNADistrict Committee was held here at theUkrainian National Home on Sunday,February 21.Michael Zacharko , district chairman,was re-elected to head the committee.Abo elected were: Komylo Halushka,v ice p res iden t ; Dar ia Or ichowsky ,s e c r e t a r y ; I v a n B a b y n , t r e a s u r e r ;Vo lodym yr Yaniv, social act ivi t iesdirector, Sophia Lbnyshyn and IvanRachynsky, members.Joseph Yarema was elected head ofthe aud i t ing commi t tee , w i th Yur iyLonyshyn and Vasyl Boyko, members.The presidium of the meeting waschaired by Mr. Yaniv, with Mrs. Ori

chowsky assisting as secretary. Theminutes were read by Mr. Rachynsky'and were accepted without changes.A m o n g t h o s e in a t tendance wasUlana Diachuk, UNA supreme treasurer.In his report Mr. Zacharko discussedhis participation in a meeting of UNAdistrict committee chairmen held atSoyuzivka in June 1981. He also talkedabo ut last year's New Jersey UN A Day,which he said netted a profit of SI,685,of which the district got S421.25. Henoted that during a meeting in the fall, itwas decided to donate S100 to TheUkrainian Museum in New York andS200 to Ukrainian refugees from Poland. The latter sum, he said, was turnedover to the United Ukrainian AmericanRelief Committee.Moving on to organizing matters,Mr. Zacharko reported that, unfortunately, the district met only 51percentof its 1981 quota . One contributingfactor , the chairman said, was thatAnne Deisenroth, secretary of Branch26 and a top organizer in 1980, hadmoved out of the area, and her replacement did not brin g in any new members.Mr. Zacharko then read of a list of

branch secretaries and the number ofnew members enrolled: Mrs. Orichowsky (Branch 353), 12 members; Mr.Zacharko (Branch 349) and Mr. Jarema(Branch 372), 11 members each; D.Zadworsky (Branch 342), eight members . In add i t i on , Melan ie Lo renz( B r a n c h 15S) and Ste fan Mat laga(Branch 209), enrolled three new members, while Branches 104, 168, 312 and322 enrolled one new member each.Mrs. Orichowsky reported on heractivities as district secretary, while Mr.Halushka gave the treasurer's report inthe absence of Mr. Babyn. He indicatedtha t the d is t r i c t had an i n c o m e ofS653.54 and expenses totalling S247.50.D i s t r i c t b o o k s s h o w e d a sum ofS2.027.58 at the end of last year.Mr. Yaniv, the social activities director, reported that there were no distrjetsocial events, while Mr. Yarema confirmed that the district's books werekept in good o ther .A brief discussion period followedthe executive committee's reports.Mrs. Diachuk began her address bythanking all branch organizers for theirorganizing efforts, and called on thosepresent to intensify their work in theyear ahead.She added that during 1981 2,368 newmembers were enrolled, with the mostproductive mo nths being No vemberand December, when 333 and 449 newmembers, respectively, were enrolled.Despite the campaign, she hastened toadd, overall membership dropped by1,258. Total insurance in force amounted to S 164,336,257, sheeaid.From a financial standpoint, Mrs.Diachuk continued, the UNA was ingood shape in 1981. Total income was57,889,181, or S786.106 more than theyear before. Membership dues grew byS81.413, totaling 53,023,817. Expensesfo r 1981 t o t a l l ed S6 .476 .799 , Mrs.Diachuk said, noting that in 1980expenses came to 55,950,799.

(Continued on pay


5/16

No. 13 THE UKRAIN IAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 2 8 , 1 9 8 2 5

U.S. a t M a d rid : Soviet psy ch iatry is "instru m ent of repression9'Below is the text of a statement mad eby Max Kampelman, chairman of theUnited States delegation to the M adridConference to review compliance withthe Helsinki Accords. The remarks weremade at the plenary session held onFebruary 24.Since we reconvened these meetingson February 9 many important wordshave been spoken here about the m ostrecent of a continued pattern of Helsinki Accord violations, the violenceagainst the people of Poland. It isimportant to recall, however, that theexcesses that disturb us in Poland arenot only the result of Soviet militaryand political pressure; they reflect apattern of even greater repression inSoviet society.On Human Rights Day, in this hall,the Soviet delegate called our human-rights concerns a "fuss being made overa bunch of dropouts"; he charged uswith using "bare-faced inventions" forthe purpose of "damaging polemics."He obviously co nsiders our expectationthat the Soviet Union will observe its

Helsinki commitments of 1975 to be an"undermining" of his country's "sociopolitical rights."The Polish people understand, as thefinal act clearly directs, that humanrights have directly to do with theindividual's right to live in liberty andwith dignity. Those who would redefinethis concept by referring to economicand social rights of "masses" are attempting to obscure the absence ofhuman rights in their own societies.Large groupings of people consist ofindividuals. Where the integrity of thehuman being is n ot respected, there areno human rights for the many. It is alsonoteworthy that those states who denythe human rights of the individual are

unable to provide for his econom ic andsocial needs as well.Recent news reports illustrate againwith dramatic impact the consequencesfor a society and its people where thereis a lack of concern and sensitivity forindividual human rights. Allow me, Mr.Chairman, to give one vivid illustrationof the extremes to which a failingsociety will go to suppress criticism ofits own deficiencies.In the Soviet Union, psychiatry, ahealing science, has been perverted intoan instrument of cruel political repression. Men and women, sane and exercising their rights as human beingsunder the Helsinki Final A ct, have

been, usually without trial, brutallycondemned to the grotesque world ofpolitically controlled psychiatric institutions, where they have been silencedthrough drugs and violated in a mannerreminiscent of the Middle Ages.The logic of this travesty is cruel andsimple; the authorities can commit adissenter to a mental institution byadministrative action. In the criminalcommitment procedure, the defendantcan be ruled "not acco untable" andordered by the court to receive compulsory psychiatric treatment, without theright to participate in his own defense orbe present at his own trial. The trialitself is closed to the public.Psychiatric incarceration spares theauthorities the embarrassment of staging full-scale trials of political dissidents; a person's views are discredited bycalling them crazy. Indefinite sentenceswithout the de facto right of appeal arethen thrust upon those who se continuedactivity is a nuisance to the state. Oncein an institution, the victim is administered powerful drugs with painful anddebilitating side effects in order toinduce recantation. Others on theoutside are then dissuaded from exercis

ing their rights by the threat of psychiatric institutionalization.N o w onder this practice led the sixthworld congress o f the World PsychiatricAssociation in 1977 unprecedentedly tosingle out the So viet Union for condemnation ! In recent weeks, as a result of yetnew disclosures, the Royal College ofPsychiatrists in England has voted toask the World Psychiatric Associationto expel the S oviet Union when it nextmeets in 1983.We are all here aware that the repression of human rights in the SovietUnion has increased in intensity clearly an act of defiance and disdain forthis meeting and the Helsinki process.A s part of that repression, all of thefounding members of the WorkingCommission for the Investigation of theUse of Psychiatry for Political Purposeshave also been imprisoned or exiled.Let us examine this abnormal pheno menon in human terms, using a fewcurrent examples: ,9 Dr. Anatoly Koryagin, a consultingpsychiatrist with the working commission had examined numerous peopleconfined for alleged psychiatric illnessand found them to be normal, saneindividuals. For such activity he wassentenced last June to seven years instrict-regimen camp plus five years'internal exile. In taking his moral stand,Dr. Koryagin knew that Dr. SemyonGluzman, a young psychiatrist, hadbeen sentenced 10 years earlier forrefusing to cooperate with this abuse ofmedical science. We hope that when Dr.Gluzman's long incarceration and exileis over, he will be permitted to emigrate.

A recent letter of D r. Koryagin's,written in S oviet labor camp N o. 37 inPerm, appeared in a British medicaljournal, Lancet. He writes:"Let there be no doubt that Sovietauthorities have turned our most humane branch of medicine into an instrument for achieving the main aim of theirinternal po licy the suppression ofdissent . . . I appeal to you not for amoment to forget..."

To show that we have not forgotten,let us go on: A leksandr Podrabinek wrote amo nograph , "Punitive Medicine," inwhich he described S ov iet medicalmalpractices against dissidents. He wassentenced this last year to three years ina labor camp.t Felix Serebrov was sentenced lastJuly to a total of nine years in severe-regimen labor camp and internal exilefor, among other things, appealing tothis very CS CE meeting to help stop thepractice of psychiatric abuse in theSoviet Union.

Dur ing the same month , Ir inaGrivnina, mother of a small child, wassentenced to five years in internal exilefor having passed along informationwhich helped to expose the misuse ofpsychiatry." Last February, Yuri Valov, amember of a group formed to defendthe rights of invalids in the SovietUnion, was sentenced to a psychiatrichospital for his samizdat paper, "AnInvalid's Message." This, Mr. Chairman, in the year proclaimed by theUnited Nations as "The Year of theInvalid."' D r. Leonard Ternovsky was sentenced a year ago to three years in laborcamp for having been unafraid to speakup against the political abuse of psychiatry. Dr. Ternovsky's words at histrial are illuminating:"I have felt a particular responsibilityas a doctor for things done in the nameof medicine. I became convinced thatpsychiatry is in fact being misused, andthat it is necessary to oppose such

misuses...I would have been happier ifmy activities and statements were notneeded...I foresaw my arrest and thistrial. That does not mean I wanted to goto prison. I am almost SO, not IS. I nolonger need romantic notions. I wouldmuch prefer to escape years of imprisonment. But I only did what I considered necessary. If I had failed to do so ,,I would have lost my self-respect."D r. Ternovsky and D r. Koryagin are

by no means alone. Other Soviet physicians are now in prison for their defenseof human rights and their protest of theSoviet abuse of medical science. Wehere recognize the heroism of Dr.Mykola Plakhotniuk, Dr. ZinoviyKrasivsky, Dr. Algsrdas Statkevicius.Copious documentation of the tor

ture we have described exists for morethan 500 persons, out of the thousandsso punished. Nor can the existence ofthe inhumane abuse be denied. Theevidence is too great, and it has beenconfirmed by Soviet Ministry of Healthofficials. In a paper prepared under thedirection of the chief psychiatrist at theMinistry o f Health for presentation to acongress of Soviet psychiatrists this pastsummer, we learned officially thatpersons are indeed confined in mentalinstitutions because they made "groundless" and "slanderous" statementsagainst the government.

Keeping pace with the growth of thehuman-rights movement, the government has increases the number of(Continued on ptje IS)Letters to the editorRe: ScrabbleDear Editor:Your publication, as well as otherpublications, have provided addressesof various organizations to which onecan write and express and/or correctpoints of view about Ukrainians andour culture.I would like to submit for yourconsideration yet another company towhich one can write: Selchow A RighterCo. , makers of the Scrabble BrandCrossword Game. As you know, Selchow A Righter makes fo reign editionsof its game, including Russian withCyrillic Letters.I ordered a set of Russian tiles, whichwill be modified to Ukrainian, andexpressed my desire for a ScrabbleBrand Crossword Game in Ukrainian.In its reply, Selchow A, Righter statesthat it does not manufacture a Ukrainian edition and that "until requests fora Ukrainian edition are considerable, itwould n ot be practical for us to producesuch a set." The company closed itsletter by stating that "it is letters such asyours which help us to decide thevalidity of a Ukrainian edition."

I am sure there would be a demandfor a Ukrainian edition of ScrabbleBrand Crossword Game. Players whonow use the English version could alsoplay in Ukrainian.The Ukrainian edition would be veryuseful as a teaching tool at Ukrainianschoo ls, summer camps and homes. TheUkrainian edition would provide anincentive to learn and use the Ukrainian language among our youth. Thisedition would be a new game to play athome for the whole family.While it would be very easy to buy theRussian tiles and modify them toUkrainian, it would be more beneficialto inform Selchow A Righter that thereis a market for a Ukrainian edition andthat one would rather buy a Ukrainianedition. I strongly urge all your readersto write to Selchow A Righter andexpress their views about a Ukrainianedition.The address is: Selchow A RighterC o . , Production Center, Susan A.Maher, Assistant Research Director,

4320 Veterans Memorial Highway,Holbroo k, N .Y. 11741; (516) 588-6200.In closing I would like to add thatthere exists a jigsaw puzzle of Ukrainianpysanky, the Polaroid Corporationused a picture of a Ukrainian Eastersetting to advertise its film, and it is hightime that there was a Ukrainian editiono f the Scrabble Brand CrosswordGame. Dior SlabickyNewport, R.I.

"Uke-eye" pollDear Editor:I found your "Uke-eye" poll "ShouldUkrainians celebrate C hristmas by theOld Julian calendar (January 7) or bythe new Gregorian calendar (D ecember25)?" interesting and surprising. Someof the answers given by my peers, (I ama student of Immaculate ConceptionUkrainian Catholic High School) gaveme a pleasant shock.I thought that most of my generationwould go for comfort and obviouslychoo se D ecember 25, because theirvacations are at this time. In fact mostthought it should be on January 7despite the problems o f getting a day offor a church which holds Christmasservices on the 7th. They have a feelingthat January 7 is a more traditional wayof celebrating, and I find I somewhatagree. I am really glad to see that today'syouths are very concerned about preserving tradition, since they are the oneswho have to carry it on or else thetraditions will cease to exist.There was one reply in particularwhich I found myself agreeing with themost. It was by Roman Wasylyk, ofEllenville, N.Y. He stated that it is notimportant w hich day yo u celebrate, butthat all of the Ukrainian communityshould celebrate on the same day. Whyshould we, Ukrainians, want to divideourselves any more? LetTs stay unitedfor at least one day.

O ksanc HnatczukHamtramck, Mich.

Interesting articlesDear Editor:We, students of the 11th grade ofImmaculate Conception High School,enjoy o ur C urrent A ffairs class becauseof the interesting information from TheUkrainian Weekly newspaper. Thereare very many interesting articles abo utUkrainian society in Ukraine, life inPoland, Solidarity and other seriousmatters.

One of the most interesting andthought-provoking articles was the oneabout intermarriage. The whole classtook part in the discussion because weknew or could relate to this topic.Articles on topics such as humanrights and the Helsinki group in Ukrainemake us understand how difficultand depressing it must be to live inUkraine under Soviet rule. Discussionon this topic makes everybody understand and appreciate the value offreedom in the United States.Because The Ukrainian Weekly is inEnglish it makes it easier to read andunderstand for the American youthwho have not mastered the Ukrainianlanguage. Julian Kozowyk, , , i v Hamtramck, Mich.


6/16

6 THE UKR AINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 28, 1982

U k r a i n i a nThoughts on Shukhevych

There is something innately anomic about a social system that ispathologically terrified by a 14-year-old boy. There is somethingmorally diseased about a system that, in its lily-livered terror, feelscom pelled to arrest and sentence the boy guilty of no crime to 10years' imprisonment under appalling conditions. But there are nowo rds t o describe the bankruptcy o f a system that has kept him in ironsfor three decades.To day, March 28, Yuriy Shu khevych is 48 years old , and he remainsa prisoner because, since he was 14, he has steadfastly refused torenounce the activities of his father, the late Gen. Rom an Sh ukhevy ch,commander-in-chief o f the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UP A ) whowas killed in battle in 1950.Mr. Shukhevych's story is one of true heroism in the face oftenacious and unremitting persecution. It is also a story which reflectsthe fundamental insecurity and paranoia of the Soviet oligarchybecause it raises the question of why one of the world's greatsuperpowers should fear one man so much.Yuriy Shukhevych was first arrested in August 1948 and sentencedto 10 years' imprisonm ent. N o charges were ever filed against theteenager. After serving eight years, he was released in the spring of1956 on the grounds that he was imprisoned while still a minor. Thatfall , Soviet authorit ies changed their minds and forced him tocomplete the sentence because, the prosecutor general argued at thetime, "he is the son of a nationalist leader."The elder S hukhevych's death o n March 5, 1950, in a skirmish withM V D (security po lice) troo ps, did not m ake l ife any easier for his son .It was not enough for Soviet authorities that the great nationalistleader was dead, or that U P A , after years of valiant struggle, was o nthe verge of decimation. They wanted Yuriy Shukhevych to renouncehis father. The young man refused.O n the day o f h i s schedu led re lease in A ugu st 1958 , Mr .Sh ukhevy ch, o nly 24 and already a veteran of the Soviet penal system,was rearrested. This time, ho wever, he was formally charged, accusedof the catch-all "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda." He was foundguilty and sentenced to an other 10-year term. A nd still, he staunchlyrefused to denigrate the name and memory of his father.At age 34, after he was released and exiled from Ukraine, Mr.Shukhevych settled in Nalchyk in the northern Caucasus. In February1972 he was arrested for a third time and sentenced the followingSeptember to five years in prison, five years in a labor camp arid fiveyears' internal exile. The charge? The handy anti-Soviet agitprop.Ironically, in their frenzied haste to break Mr. Shukhevych, theSoviets succeeded in turning a 14-year-old innocent into a courageousand seaso ned patriot a s unyieldingly principled as his late father. Mr.Shukhevych's ordeal only served to educate him, to strengthen hisideals, to stiffen his resolve.While serving his latest term, Mr. Shukhevych not only renouncedhis S ov ie t c i t i zen ship , he i rked Sov ie t o f f i c ia l s by jo in in g theUkrainian Helsinki Group in 1979. What's more, he continues torefuse to repudiate his father.S o why is the So viet regime so afraid of one, so l itary man, a manwho has been in near constant custody since adolescence and who

never even had a chance to take up arms against the state, or writepolitical treatises deno uncing its sterility, or garner a huge p opu larfollowing? Because it stands on the brittle pillar of an arid ideologymortared no t by social ism, but by cynicism and contemptuo usnessheld in force by truncheons rather than ethics or principles. YuriySh ukhevy ch, and others like him, are men of principle and ideals whohave maintained their dignity and hum anity in the face of a society thatrelies almo st exclusively on man's baser instincts for its very survival.We don't need to go to great lengths to lionize Mr. Shukhevych. Hissuffering, and the fact that Sov iet officialdom has hated this man withsuch intensity and for so long, testify to his remarkable courage, andthe pusillanimity and vapidness of the system which continues totormen t him. But we must act no w to draw the world's attention to thisunprecedented case which so clearly exemplifies the Soviet government's limitless capacity for cruelty.

Collectors' cornerT h e r e 's g o l d i n t h o s e m a n u s c r ip t sby Roman A. Juzenlw

Attent ion, students!Throughout the year, Ukrainian student clubs plan and holdactivit ies. The Ukrainian Weekly urges students to let us and theUkrain ian community know about upcoming events.The We ekly wi l l be happy to he lp you publ ic ize them. We will alsob e g l a d to print t imely news stories about events that have alreadytaken place. B lack and white photos (or color with good contrast) w il la lso b e accepted . M AKE YOURSELF HEARD.

In today's edgy economic t imes,"collectibles," i.e. paintings, antiques,` sismps, toiris, old comics and even suchesoteric stuff as Popeye merchandiseare a better bet against inflation andbring a bigger profit than investing instocks and bonds or the gold and silvermarkets.A few shocking examples of highprices recently paid for collectibles: Acopy of B atman Comics No . 1 nowcommands a price of over S3,000!Indian head pennies (minted in the earlypart of the century) now cost hundredsof dollars each. President Eisenhower'sautograph would cost you over S600.In the year that my last article, "Readthis Weekly carefully - it may be worth55,000" appeared, IVe given up thehobby that used to bring me so manyhours of joy collecting old and rarecopies of The Ukrainian Weekly.With the influx of speculators, thepast year has seen prices for rare issues

of The Ukrainian Weekly escalating,and, as a result, the pure hobbyist orcollector (as opposed to investor) is nowunable to purchase, for example, suchrare Weeklies as ihr July 4, 1976, issue(that was the on e that was inadvertantly printed backwards), since it nowregula rly fetches prices o f S I8,000 ormore.This sudden upswing in prices is alsobeginning to affect my other hobby collecting original m anuscripts of storiesand articles that appear in The Ukrainian Weekly.Although the editorial staff of TheUkrainian Weekly does an excellent jobof turning out copy on Ukrainianevents, it nonetheless also relies on bothsolicited and unsolicited articles andstories by numerous correspondents.What determines the worth or valueof an original manuscript? A variety offactors, such as: the author (pieces signed by aWeekly editor are especially valuable); cond ition of the manuscript -mint, good or po or, crumpled paper orneat; number of typos, especially inarticles by well-known and well-respected writers and editors (there's theeditorial which instructed you ng U krainians on their duty to educate thecommunity-at-large about Ukraine, allthe while using "Ukranian" instead of"Ukrainian");e type of manuscript - typewrittenor longhand;" degree of copy editing heavilycorrected or edited manuscripts withlots of m isspellings and typos are worthmore (in this last case, the actual w riterswill offer you a lot of money so as toavoid acute embarrassment).Here are some examples of affordable, yet valuable collectibles.Manuscripts of Roman Lysniak'shumor column once a regular staple

Program...(Cont inued from page 3)of St. George's Ukrainian Catholic

Church in New York, spoke of hisimpressions of Carpatho-Ukraine,which he visited in the 1930s during hisschool years in Rome. He also read apoem, "Memoir," by Zoreslav theRev. Sebastian Sabol - dedicated toCarpatho-Ukraine.During the gathering, telephonegreetings were received from Prof.Stefan, who lives now in Philadelphia,and Dr. Stepan Rosocha, former headof the Office o f the Cabinet of patho-Ukraine's government.

more, since there's a limited number o fthem. Especially valuable are those thatwere actually funny (just kidding, ofcourse).The "Ukrainian Janet Cooke Case":The false Columbia Ukrainian StudentGub story is the most valuable collector's item. Surely you remember thisincident: The Ukrainian Weekly had toprint a retraction when it was laterdiscovered that someone had sent in astory and picture of a mythical Ukrainian student club at Columbia University. The fabricated article, extensivelypored over for fingerprints of thedastardly perpetrators, is a one-of-a-kind oddity and is estimated t o be worthSI 1,600.

There are also several unpublished(for one reason or another) articles,written by former or current Weeklyeditors that are just gathering dust in theeditorial files. These could each easilybring several thousand dollars apiece intoday's volatile Ukrainian Weeklyoriginal manuscript collector's market.How did I get started in this hobby?Well, several years ago, when I workedat the UN A , I would frequent theeditorial offices. The editors thought Iwas just inter ested in the field ofjournalism and never noticed that,when their backs were turned, I wouldrummage through their wastepaper binsin search of rare articles and stories.I know, I know, you're thinking thatnot everyone can afford to go to theUN A and The Ukrainian W eekly officesto search through the editorial waste-baskets. (By the way, you should see allmy UNA memorabilia old UN Abranch assessments, rare dues notices,the official UN A song but that's anarticle for another day).Well, it's not that hard. Here's anexample of how you can start your owncollection. As you may or may notknow, editorial assistant Ma.rta raaye ts is the newest addition to TheWeekly. And now's thetime o get someof her original manuscripts, before shebecomes an assistant editor at TheUkrainian Weekly and the prices for herstuff increase tremendously.

For instance, write to Ms. 0 0-mayets (care of this paper) and tell herhow much you enjoyed her story on"Chicago band plans, ahead" (in theMarch 21 Weekly). Mention how herwriting touched your heart and ask herif you could possibly have the manuscript, since you'd like to be a writersomeday and she's your idol.Good luck and have fun!

Roman Juzeniw's first "April Fool'sDay" story, published in The UkrainianWeekly last year, w as written in long-hand and is appraised at S800 (lots ofmisspellings; written on crumpledpaper).

C o r r e c t i o nThe Immigration History ResearchCenter of the University of Minnesotahas informed us of an error in Sen. PaulYuzyk's review of "Ukrainians in N orthA merica: A S elect Bibliograph" whichwas published in the February 28 issueof The Weekly.The boo k may be purchased for S10(plus S2 postage and handling) from thepublishers in Toro nto o r St . Paul. It cannot be procured gratis as stated in thebook review.

of this fine paper command S500 ormore, since there's a limited number o fthem. Especially valuable are those thatwere actually funny (just kidding, ofcourse).The "Ukrainian Janet Cooke Case":The false Columbia Ukrainian StudentGub story is the most valuable collector's item. Surely you remember thisincident: The Ukrainian Weekly had toprint a retraction when it was laterdiscovered that someone had sent in astory and picture of a mythical Ukrainian student club at Columbia University. The fabricated article, extensivelypored over for fingerprints of thedastardly perpetrators, is a one-of-a-kind oddity and is estimated t o be worthSI 1,600.

There are also several unpublished(for one reason or another) articles,written by former or current Weeklyeditors that are just gathering dust in theeditorial files. These could each easilybring several thousand dollars apiece intoday's volatile Ukrainian Weeklyoriginal manuscript collector's market.How did I get started in this hobby?Well, several years ago, when I workedat the UN A , I would frequent theeditorial offices. The editors thought Iwas just inter ested in the field ofjournalism and never noticed that,when their backs were turned, I wouldrummage through their wastepaper binsin search of rare articles and stories.I know, I know, you're thinking thatnot everyone can afford to go to theUN A and The Ukrainian W eekly officesto search through the editorial waste-baskets. (By the way, you should see allmy UNA memorabilia old UN Abranch assessments, rare dues notices,the official UN A song but that's anarticle for another day).Well, it's not that hard. Here's anexample of how you can start your owncollection. As you may or may notknow, editorial assistant Ma.rta 00-mayets is the newest addition to TheWeekly. And now's thetime o get someof her original manuscripts, before shebecomes an assistant editor at TheUkrainian Weekly and the prices for herstuff increase tremendously.

For instance, write to Ms. 0 0-mayets (care of this paper) and tell herhow much you enjoyed her story on"Chicago band plans, ahead" (in theMarch 21 Weekly). Mention how herwriting touched your heart and ask herif you could possibly have the manuscript, since you'd like to be a writersomeday and she's your idol.Good luck and have fun!


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No. 13 T H E U K R A I N IA N W E EK L Y S U N D A Y, M A R C H 2 8 , 1 9 8 2 7

Towards a united Ukrainian front in AmericaT he story of our congresses, 1 9 02 -8 2

by Dr. Myron B. Kuropas

IIIThe United Ukrainian Organizations of America

(Obiednannia)With the dissolution of the Federation of Ukrainians in the United States late in 1919 and th esubsequent demise of the Ukrainian National Comit-tee in the early 1920s, the Ukrainian Americancommunity was left with no strong and effective all-Ukrainian central organization that could speak on its

behalf. The need for such an organization becamemost a ppa ren t in 1922 when news of the famine inSoviet Ukraine reached America. Having workedtogether on behalf of the Ukrainian Defense Fundearlier, a number of Ukrainian organizational leadersconcluded that the post-war circumstances in bothUkraine and the United States called for yet anotherattempt to create a united Ukrainian front in America.Thus, at the co nvention of the League of AmericanCitizens of Ukrainian Descent, held in W ashington inJune 1922, represe ntat ives of variou s U krainianfraternal, civic and religious organization s convened aspecial conference and decided to hold a formalmeeting later in the month in order to pursue thematter further. On June 30, representatives of theUNA, the Providence Association, the UkrainianNational Aid Association, the Union of Brotherhoods, Sich, the League of American Citizens ofUkrainian Descent and the Ukrainian League ofAmerican Veterans met in Philadelphia and unanimously agreed to begin a nationw ide organizing effortand to establish the United Ukrainian Organizationsof America (UUOA), or, in Ukrainian,Obiednannia.The first congress of the UUOA was held inPhiladelphia on October 26 and 27, 1922, with 130delegates representing 176 Ukrainian organizations inattendance. "The organizers of Obiednannia," statedSemen Yadlovsky at the congress, "are sincerelyconvinced that all U krainians in America want such anorganization ... W hether we speak abou t "agreementamong our leaders' or about the unification of allparties,' or about 4he creation of one party' , . . orabout anything else, it seems obvious that all of thesecomments are the result of one idea. . . Our people,that fertile seed of the nation that has not beencontaminated with personal... and narrow ambition,want to renounce all such infections and to unite..."Commenting on the great "national catastrophe" ofthe Ukrainian people, Dr. Luka Myshuha, then headof the ZOUNR mission in Washington, stressed theneed for action. "It is in times such as these,"he stated,"that those in whose hands the leadership of the people

has been left m ust exercise political wisd om" in orderto turn the tide."It is time for us to realize," concluded Dr. OsypNazaruk, then with the ZOUNR mission in Canada,"that the Ukrainian people cannot be vanquished andonce they have said 4ve will have our own state,'theywill have it."Inspired by the speakers, the delegates turned theirattention to future action. Among other things, thecongress established a national tax of 25 cents a m onthfrom every UUOA member and designated that allfunds collected from Christmas caroling, Easter-eggmaking, Flower Days (June) and Autumn Leaf Days(November) be allocated to the Ridna Shkola inEurope.

A 24-member executive and board of directors wasestablished by the congress consis t ing of threemembers from each of the seven national organizations plus three representatives of local organizations.Elected to the executive were Father Lev Levytsky,chairman: Theodore Hrycey, Dr. Stephen Hrynevet-sky, V. Hryshko and M. Kotsyuk, vice-chairmen; 1.Boryskevych, treasurer; Dr. Volodymyr Koval andMichael Darmopray, secretaries. Included on theboard of advisors were Dr. Simenovych and FatherSpolitakevych, former chairmen, respectively, of thefederation and the committee.

Unlike its predecessors, the UUOA managed tosurvive for 18 years. Co ngresses were held in 1923,1924, 1927, 1930, 1933, 1936 and 1939, and theorganization was headed by four chairmen FatherLevytsky (1923-4), Father Spolitakevych (1924-6),Emil Revyuk (1927-39), and Nich olas M urashk o(1939-40). Dr. Myshuha was elected secretary in 1924and remained at that post until 1940.The organizational character of the UUOAchangedsignificantly during the course of its existence. Someof the founding organizations eventually becameinactive and disappeared. Other organizations left theUUOA for political or religious reasons.The first political defection was that of the HetmanSich which left the UU OA in 1924 when the co ngressrefused to become a monarchist organization and tochange its democratic structure.Ano ther serious defection occurred in 1926 whenthe Providence Association, angered by UNA attackson the religious leadership of Bishop ConstantineBohachevsky, left the U UOA and becam e involved ina long and increasingly bitter polemic battle withSvoboda over the future of the Ukrainian CatholicChurch in America.

While some organizations left the UUOA between1924 and 1940, others, most notably the Cho rno-

morska Sitch, a number of Ukrainian Orthodoxorganizat ions, Organizat ion for the Rebir th ofUkraine (ODV U), and the Ukrainian Youth League ofNorth America (UYL-N A) joined. By the mid-1930s,the UUOA was firmly in the hands of the nationalistcamp with two organizations exerting the greatestinfluences over its direction - the UNA and ODVU.During the course of its 18-year history, the UUOAwas involved in three major kinds of activities -humanitarian, cultural and political. With the helo ofSvoboda, which supported appeals for a variety ofUkrainian causes, the UUOA reportedly collected atotal of 5357,753.83 which was used to help suchcultural and humanitarian organizations in Europe asthe Disabled Veterans, Prosvita, Ridna Shkola, aswell as for cultural and political activities in America.

The UUOA also published English-language booksand pamphle t s such as "Taras Shev chenko" byStephen S humeyk o, "Mos es" by, Ivan Franko (translated by V. Semenyna), "Polish A trocities in Ukraine"(edited by Emil Revyuk), "Ukraine and AmericanDemocracy" by Luka Myshuha, and "The UkrainianNational Movement" by Stephen Shumeyko.Throughout its existence, the UUOA attempted toreflect and to respond to the desires of the UkrainianAmerican community as well as to the needs ofUkrainians in Europe. Topics of discussion at the 1930congress, for example, included the organization off inancial resources in the Ukrainia n Am ericancommunity, the strengthening of Ukrainian culturalactivities such as choirs, drama troup es and danceensembles, and the future of Ukrainian youth inAmerica.

For the first time, two young professionals, Dr.Neonilia Pelechovych and Volodymyr Semenyna, anengineer , add ressed the congress in the Englishlanguage, underscoring the need for a nationwideorgan izat ion for Ukrainian Am erican youth. Inresponding to the needs of the younger generation, theUUOA helped established the Ukrainian YouthLeague of North America (UYL-NA ) in 1933 and, in1935, published "Spirit of Ukraine" in order to provideyoung Ukrainian Americans with a comprehensiveunderstanding of their ethno-national heritage.

The UUOA was also active in the organization ofpoli t ical protests , ral l ies and manifestat ions. InOctober 1930, the UUO A declared the month ofNovember as a month of national mourning forUkrainians suffering under the yoke of the Polishpacification and the Sunday of November 16 a day ofnational p rayer for the Ukrainians in eastern Galicia.Some 160 mass meetings were held in 94 American(Continued on f i f e 8 )

D r. Luka Myshuha Emil Revyuk Nicholas Murashko


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T H E U K R A I N IA N W E EK LY S U N D A Y, M A R C H 2 8 , 1 9 8 2 No. 13Towards a united...

(Continued from page 7)cities and towns during the month of November,bringing out a total estimated attendance of 104,000.In Philadelphia alone, some 15,000 Ukrainiansmarched in silent protest on Novem ber 30, eventuallyoverflowing both the Metropolitan Opera House andthe Ukrainian Hall.According to the Philadelphia Inquirer (December1, 1930), a resolution was adopted by the gatheringwhich "vigorously protested before the civilized worldthe reign of terror instituted by the Polish dictatorialgovernment against the Ukrainian population ofPoland." Commenting on the demonstration, thePhiladelphia Record wrote: "There are in Philadelphia some 20,000 persons of Ukrainian birth orantece dence. Last Sunday , 15,000 of them took part inan impressive demon stration against 4errorism' in theUkraine. , . The Ukrainians who made that orderlydemon stration in this city on Sunday have an attentiveaudience for their protest, their stories of persecution."

Similar demonstrations were organized by theUUOA and other Ukrainian organizations in 1933around the theme "Save Ukraine from Death byStarva tion." N ovember was designated as a month ofprotest against the Soviet regime, while November 19was to be a day of national mourning. This time,however, counterdemonstrations were staged by theCommunists resulting in bloody clashes between thetwo groups in Boston, New York, Chicago, Bridgeportand Detroit.

In Chicago, the encounter was especially brutal."100 Hurt in W. Side Riot," read the ChicagoTribun e's banne r headline on December 18, 1933,"Attack Parade in Protest Against Soviet." Accordingto the Tribune account, several hundred Communistsshowered "bricks, clubs, eggs and other missiles "froman elevated train platform above the parad e route ofsome 3,000 Ukrainian m en, women and children, andthen proceeded to attack the marchers with blackjacks,brass knuckles and lead pipes. The Ukrainians (amongwhom were a contingent of Sich members withunloaded rifles) fought back with fists, rocks and riflebutts, sending a number of the attacking party to thehospital. After the clash, the parade continued to itsdestination for a mass rally.The last nat ionwide poli t ical manifestat ionsorganized by the UUOA were the rallies associatedwith the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine in 1938.Cooperating fully with the UNA, ODVU and theNationalist Front, the UUOA issued an appeal to theUkrainian American community on October 3, 1938,calling for demonstrations and telegrams demandingthe right of C arpatho-Ukrainians "to express their willand to determine their future course."One of the most active members on behalf of theUUOA during the Carpatho-Ukrainian crisis was Dr.Myshuha, editor of the Svoboda. Representing boththe UNA and the UUOA, Dr. Myshuha traveled toLondon, Paris and f inal ly to Vienna where, onOctobe r 14, he delivered a brief radio m essage to thepeople of Carpatho-Ukraine.

Dmytro Halychyn

Tne Communist smearThroughout most of its existence, but especiallyduring the 1930s - a period in American historyEugene Lyons has described as "the Red deca de" -the U UOA and its affiliated organizations were underconstant attack from the Ukrainian Communists. Likeother organizations on the American left during thisera, the Communists enjoyed a period of phenomenalgrowth in both membership and influence.Two major developments contributed to the rebirthof leftist sentiment in America. The first was the

depression which was interpreted as an inevitablebyprod uct of capitalism and the second was the riseof fascism and H it ler ' s Germ any - which wasexplained as capitalism in extremis. In the minds ofmany Americans during this period, capitalism which had w rought the depression, war and fascism had failed.It was precisely at this mom ent in Am erican historythat the Russian Communists took a significant turnin their ideological road and began to organize all ofthe "democracies" including the United States andthe USSR - into the so-called Popular Front. Theshift in party line, articulated at the VHth CominternCong ress in 193S, now defined the major worldstruggle as not that of capitalism vs. communism butrather, democracy vs. fascism. In the words of oneAmerican liberal of this period:"The great cleavage between contemporary societiesis not between capitalism (democratic or fascist) andcommunism but between those (whether in Manchester, Moscow, Marseilles or Minneapolis) whobelieve in the mind and in the government of, by, andfor the people, and those (whether in Munich, Milanor Mukden) who believe in might and in governmentof, by, and for a self-appointed oligarchy of propertyand privilege."Basic to the new app roach was the establishment ofthe rationale that whatever was "anti-Fascist" wasautomatically "democratic."American apo logists for the Soviet regime, many ofwhom called themselves "progressives," responded tothe clarion call of the Popular Front with vigor anddedication.Writing in Soviet Russia Today, a monthly journal,Corliss Lamont, Jerome Davis, Anna Louise Strong

and George Soule praised Soviet planning andprogress, while Upton Sinclair, Harry F. Ward, MaxLerner, and Robert M. Lovett wrote about Russia'sgreat defense of demo cracy. Fo r Louis Fischer, Russiawas the first true democracy and anyone who didn4believe it was "either ignorant or malicious." LewisMum ford, w riting in the National Review, argued thatcomm unism was a "false bogey " while fascism was the"real enemy."From the Soviet Russian perspective, the PopularFront was a resounding success. In the words of EarlBrowder, then the general secretary of the AmericanCommunist Party:"For the American Communist party in 1930 theUSSR began as something to be defended against aworld ho stile to it; by 1936 the U SSR w as beingincreasingly transformed into a potential ally ofAmerica as part of the concerted defense of both

countries against rising fascist powers hostile to both.Then for the first time the agitation of the AmericanCommunist Party began to get a response in depthwhen it spoke of the U SSR ; the special relationship ofthe Com munists to the U SSR for the first time becamea political asset to the party instead of a net liability."By 1938, the Communist Party could count on atleast a million American friends in various frontgroups, exclusive of any trade-union support whichthe party enjoyed.Cooperating with the Popular Front movement,Ukrainian Communists created the so-called TheUkrainian National Front at a congress convened inNew York City on September 5-6,1936. A total of 353delegates , representing some 20,000 UkrainianAmericans, part icipated in the congress whichdeclared:"Let there be unity everywhere under the motto 'Away with fascism, fascism is ou r enemy!... Away withwar, it only hurts the poor... Away with the chains ofnationalism and socialism. We want liberty, bread andp e a c e . ' "The congress turned out to be the beginning of anintensif ied effort by Ukrainian Communists toassociate the equally fast-developing Nation alis tFront in America with the Fascist label. Leading thefight against the U krainian nationalists was UkrainskiShchodenni Visti, the Communist daily.Unceasing and increasingly vitriolic UkrainianComm unist attac ks on the UU OA and its affiliates especially the UNA and OD VU - finally took its toll

when the entire Ukrainian nationalist camp cameunder the investigation of the special House Un-American Activi t ies Committee headed by Rep.Martin Dies (D-Tex.). Called to testify before thecommittee in 1938 was Emil Revyuk, president of theUUOA and an associate editor of Svoboda.During the course of his testimony, Mr. Revyukconfirmed that C olonel Konovalets lived in Germany,that he had been to the United S tates, that other OUNLeadership members had met with UNA, ODVU andUUOA leaders, that ODVU and MUN occasionallywore uniforms, that ODVU owned an airplane, thatDr. Myshuha had been to Vienna during the Nazioccupation, that Svoboda received mail from Germany, and that OUN had been involved with acts ofsabotage in Poland.

Throughout his testimony, Mr. Revyuk consistentlypointed o ut that his answers to leading questions werebased on hearsay and that certain citations fromNationalist, the ODVU gazette, and OUN comm uniques had been either improperly translated or takenout of context. For Rep. Dies, however, anxious toprove the existence of a Fascist conspiracy in theUkrainian American community, the statements ofone, highly questionable witness were sufficient.At the conclusion of Mr. Revyuk's appearancebefore his committee. Rep. Dies declared: "Here areorganizations that have been shown to be nothing butagencies of foreign powers. T hat is all they are undertheir own admission. They provide an elaborateespionage system in this country..."Newspapers in major American cities carried fullaccounts of Mr. Revyuk's test imony along withcommentaries suggesting a lack of commitment todemocratic principles on the part of the UUOA'sleading affiliate organizations. Mr. Revyuk resignedfrom the presidency within a year and the UUOA, itscredibility severely damaged, faded out of existence.As we reflect on the causes behind the riseand fall ofthe UUOA, we must remember that the politicalclimate in America had changed dramatically duringthe Roosevelt era . While i t had been perfect lyacceptable for Masaryk and Paderewski to come tothe United States to lobby on behalf of the dissolutionof the Austro-Hungarian empire during the Wilsonadministration, similar agitation on behalf of thedismemberment of the Soviet Union during the

Roosevelt years was considered "und emo cratic" bysome Americans."Saving the world from fascism" had replaced "self-determination for all nations" as the principal clauseof American foreign policy. The Popu lar Fro nt and itsliberal fellow travelers had won the day and in theprocess, a decade of unabashed American appeasement of Soviet imperialism culminating in the YaltaAgreement which still haunts us today had begun.Th e Ukrainian Congress Committee of AmericaWith American involvement in the war imminent, itwas imperative that the loyalty of the Ukrainiancommunity to American interests be clearly andunequivocably defined. What was needed, UkrainianAmerican leaders concluded, was another beginning.Setting aside their political and religious differences- and they were legion - the UNA, UWA, theProvidence Association, and the UNAA formed aprovisional "congress committee" to represent theUkrainian community in America. Accepting membership on the advisory council were representatives ofODVU, MUN, the United Hetman Organization,UYL-NA, UCYL, UNWLA, Organization for the Defense of Lemkivschyna, Ch ornomorska Sitch, StriletskaHromada, Organization of Ukrainian Professionals,and the Women's League. On May 24, 1940, 805delegates from 168 Ukrainian Am erican communitiesmet in Washington and established the UkrainianCongress Committee of America.The UCCA has survived longer than all of itspredecessors .combined under only four presidents:Nicholas M urashko (1940-4), UN A supreme presidentand last president of the UUOA; Stephen Shumeyko

(1944-9), editor of The Ukrainian W eekly; and Dr. LevDobriansky, a professor of economics at GeorgetownUniversity. Dmytro Halychyn, UNA supreme president, served as UCCA executive vice-president andpresident between 1955 and 1961, while Dr. Dobriansky held the title of chairman.During the first 10 years of its existence, the UC CAwas forced to walk a thin line between supportingAmerica's war on fascism and condemning the SovietUnion, America 's increasingly fr iendly al ly and"democratic partner." On April 7, 1941, for example,a UCCA delegation appeared before the SenateForeign Relations Committee and presented testimony regarding the plight of the enslaved Ukrainian


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No. 13 T H E U K R A I N I A N W E EK LY S U N D A Y . M A R C H 2 8 . 1 9 8 2 9people under Soviet occupation. The Popular Frontlater attacked the UCCA action as one more exampleof the organization's "anti-democratic" tendencies.With the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union (June1941), the declaration of war against Japan by Congress (December 8) and the subsequent declaration ofwar against America by Germ any and Italy (December11), American foreign policy became, for all practicalpurposes, pro-Soviet. The immediate consequencesfor the Ukrainian n ationalist comm unity was arenewed attack on the UCCA by the Popular Front

In 1942, Harper and Brothers published a booktitled "Sabotage: The Secret War Against the UnitedStates." Authored by Michael Sayers and Albert E.Kahn, two pro-Soviet members of the Popular Front,the book presented "evidence" of espionage activitiesby the German, Italian, Japanese and Ukrainiancommuni t i e s in Amer ica . Among the score o foutrageous and totally unfounded allegations of thisscurrilous pu blication w as the following description ofthe UNA daily:

"With Myshuha at its head, Svoboda was convertedinto an organ of Axis propaganda and a medium forconveying instructions to ODVU spies. The Svobodaoffices at 83 Grand Street, Jersey City, became aclearing house for espionage directives coming in fromBerlin, Tokyo and Rome... Liaison officers fromGermany and Japan made their headquarters at 83Grand Street when they visited the United States...Here certain Axis agents paid their last calls beforesailing for Europe, and from here they were accompanied to the pier where last confidential words wereexchanged to remain as sealed secrets until couriersarrived with further orders."The impact of the Sayer and Kahn book on theUkrainian American community was devastating. Theallegations w ere repeated ove r the air by famed radiocomm entator W alter Winchell the Walter Cronkiteof his day an d the UC CA suffered a severe blow inits efforts to combat Communist-inspired disinformat ion. Repo rts that certain OU N contingents hadcooperated with the Germans armies during theirinvasion of the Soviet Union and i ts terr i tor iesprovided additional grist for the Popu lar Frontpropaganda mill.To protect their interests, three of the fdurfraternals the UNA, UWA and the ProvidenceAssociation withdrew their representatives fromthe UCCA and the organization went into politicalhibernation. The UCCA torch, however, while dim,was kept burning by the UNAA and a group ofstalwart believers who met in Detroit in 1943 to formthe Committee for the Council of Ukrainian Americans. Included in the committee were Prof. NicholasChuba ty , John Panchuk , Wasy l Dovhan , JohnEvanchuk, Marcel Wagner, Waszl Onyskiv, NicholasDutkevych and Roman Sm ook. Later, the committeemet with UNA A executives to form a new "p rovisionalUCCA" under the chairmanship of Mr. Shumeykoand to make plans for another UCCA convention.The second UCCA convention was held in Philadelphia in 1944 with 230 delegates in attend ance. Mr.Shumeyko was elected president, the conventioncommitted itself to raising SS million in war bond s an amount subsequently surpassed by the organiza

tion and its members and a new era of politicalactivity was inaugurated.Within a year the UCCA sent a delegation consisting of Mr. Shumeyko, Dr. Alexander Granovsky andBohdan Katamay to the first conference of the UnitedNations held in San Francisc

the ukrainian weekly 1982-13

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