1981: an overview

A community divided

The Ukrainian community continued to be divided over the fateful 13th Congress of the UCCA which took place in October 1980.

Working under the motto "compromise - yes; capitulation - never" the Committee for Law and Order in the UCCA which had been established by the some 130 organizations that had walked out of the congress in protest to by-laws violations and other irregularities, found in 1981 that the UCCA representatives' stand was an intransigent one. The Committee for Law and Order and the UCCA held several negotiation sessions during the year, but the meetings bore no fruit.

If anything, the situation was exacerbated when the present UCCA summarily rejected all four points that had been presented by the Committee for Law and Order as the basis for negotiations toward Ukrainian community unity.

Meanwhile, the Committee for Law and Order established working committees, began its own fund-raising drive, and considered the establishment of a central organization to serve the needs of the Ukrainian community and fill the void left after the 13th Congress.

At the same time, however, the Committee for Law and Order said that it was not closing the door on further negotiations with the UCCA - all that was needed on the part of the present-day UCCA, committee representatives said, was some sign of good will.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, December 27, 1981, No. 52, Vol. LXXXVIII

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