LETTER TO THE EDITOR (06/14/98)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Merger should benefit both UNA and UFA

Dear Editor:

The Ukrainian community in the United States and Canada is currently in the midst of the serious process of merging two great fraternals. By the way, merger talks between the Ukrainian National Association and the Ukrainian Fraternal Association, began more than 30 to 35 years ago.

Regarding this union, The Ukrainian Weekly of May 14, 1966 wrote an editorial that stated: ".. the mergers would create a mighty Ukrainian force - organizational, financial, and moral - one that would have to be reckoned with. Such a union would be in the interests of our (UNA) long-range plans and endeavors ... in union is our strength." This was a very profound and noble quote.

Many of us who gave leadership to this movement have tried to adhere to that guiding precept. Today, instead of building blocs of Ukrainian power and strength, both fraternals are caught in a frenzy of arguments, mostly about who has the greatest organization, a name change that already has been rejected at the recent UNA Convention, and how administrative personnel should be apportioned. From what I have been digesting in The Ukrainian Weekly, the merger talks appear to have a unilateral complexion, with the UNA calling all the shots.

One point is certain. The UNA, like the UFA, (and the financially weak Ukrainian National Aid Association of America), is having fiscal difficulties. Millions of reserve dollars have evaporated, dividends have been suspended, Svoboda is no longer the "only" Ukrainian daily in North America, Soyuzivka will now have a limited season, membership is declining at an alarming rate, and so on. Is the UNA's official establishment, which claims "historical Ukrainian greatness," also prepared or willing to assume responsibility for these losses and shortcomings?

I believe the Ukrainian Fraternal Association has failed to properly promote its role within the Ukrainian community. It has a poor image on both the local and national levels. This is their problem. By the same token, I am weary of the redundancy of "major accomplishments," of "Ukrainian power," and other often exaggerated statements about the UNA. There is always a suggestion that the UNA has been the exclusive agent for organizing Ukrainian life in America - "The Great Citadel." By all means, the UNA deserves a lot of credit and applause for its valuable contributions. Most, but not all of it.

I had to chuckle about one letter. A writer to The Weekly wanted to know about "these alphabet soup fraternals." He added: "Why are they looking to merge with the UNA? Financial solvency, I guess." Another writer noted that "he is aware of the UNA name and all these great things the organization has done ... but has not heard much about the UFA." Give me a break. Before these skeptics go on with these preconceived judgments, it would make more sense to learn the ABCs of the Ukrainian fraternal movement in America and Canada that began more than 10 decades ago.

Like the UNA, the UFA was a key player - proud, patriotic and dedicated to the democratic principles that guide fraternal brotherhoods. The UFA's roots run deep. Using only basic hindsight, one can accept the Herculean role that this fraternal played in the development of the Ukrainian community - socially, culturally and politically.

No doubt about it. I believe my fraternal colleagues on both sides of the aisle want an ultimate merger, but not in a "take-over" environment. Not by using negative rhetoric to influence misguided directions. The UFA cannot help but look with some trepidation at what a merger would mean for its own organization. A merger should not mean obliteration. I believe Ukrainians still have a long way to go in appreciating the strengths and weaknesses in our society. Look at the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council, for example.

The UFA has had a remarkable fraternal record in America and Canada. Like the UNA, UFA brethren have distinguished themselves over and over again.

The UFA's focus on youth is well-known through several scholarship programs via which hundreds of thousands of dollars have been awarded toward education. The annual UFA Youth Festival, now in its 22nd consecutive year has become the mecca of Ukrainian entertainment in New York's Catskill Mountains - the only Ukrainian festival listed in travel guides. Other youth programs include the well-known Sitch Sports School at Verkhovyna, and the famous Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky Dance Workshop, a training center for dancers and dance instructors.

The UFA publishes a bilingual weekly newspaper called Narodna Volya and the popular Forum Magazine. On the national front, the UFA must be remembered as one of the "originals" in the establishment of the UCCA in 1940, a cadre organizer of the UACC, a co-founder of the Ukrainian American War Relief Committee, and an executive member of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians. The UFA was on the planning board of the Taras Shevchenko Monument Committee in Washington. Along with other national organizations, the UFA took an active part in mass rallies commemorating the anniversaries of the Great Famine in Ukraine and actions to protest the Russification of Ukraine. Between the world wars, the UFA assisted the victims of Polish terror in western Ukraine, founded numerous libraries in Ukrainian villages, helped in the financing of reading halls, national homes, schools and care for war invalids and on and on. There were literally hundreds of other projects on both the lodge and national levels. Today, the UFA supervises a Hospital Fund that supports many victims of the Chornobyl disaster.

The bottom line: we must challenge the status quo. To make this merger a reality, the UFA and the UNA must be smart, aggressive, and even lucky. There must also be fairness and intelligence, of course. As for me, I'm for the ultimate merger, but with compatible and complementary advantages for both sides.

Stephen M. Wichar Sr.
Clinton Township, Mich.