Turning the pages back... April 1, 1984 (03/28/04)

Turning the pages back...

April 1, 1984

Twenty years ago, our editorial was on the topic of a measure that had just been introduced in the U.S. Senate. S 2456, officially labeled a bill, "To establish a commission to study the 1932-1933 famine caused by the Soviet government in Ukraine," had been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.). Three weeks prior to that, we had focused on Rep. James Florio's identical bill, HR 4459. Both measures were aimed at establishing a government-funded congressional commission to investigate the causes and implications of the Great Famine in Ukraine.

Our editorial underlined: "If we coordinate our activities and channel our efforts to see to it that the bill gets passed, then we will show ourselves and our neighbors that we understand and are capable of working within the American government process. If we do nothing, if we fail to deluge our lawmakers with letters and telegrams, if we continue to shun the political mechanism, then we will only succeed in showing that we need not be taken seriously as a voting bloc. And we will continue to be, in large measure, ignored."

The Great Famine in Ukraine, we argued, was not a moot issue simply because its 50th anniversary and our community's observance of it had come and gone. Too few organizations and individuals had spoken out in support of the Famine bill, we noted.

"It is tremendously easy to jump from one anniversary to another, to pick a historical event, concentrate on it for one year, and then off to the next anniversary of yet another event," we argued. "What we need to make our causes better known to the world is staying power, the tenacity to stick with an issue and use every possible means to get that issue across regardless of how long it takes. After all, the Famine - with its 7 to 10 million victims - is our national holocaust. It was mass murder, genocide, one of the greatest atrocities to stain the history of modern man. ... A one-shot rally/demonstration/concert, or a series of local, weekend affairs are not enough."

Our editorial emphasized that "The important thing is to let our legislators know that, in this crucial election year, our vote depends on their support for the Famine legislation. Not only must we vote our self-interest, but we must let our representatives know to vote our interest as well. ..."

Ultimately, the Famine bill was passed by both houses of Congress. Today its report stands as a valuable record of the Famine-Genocide that ravaged Ukraine and killed millions of our kin.

Source: "The Famine bill," (editorial) and text of "Bill to establish a commission to study the 1932-1933 famine caused by the Soviet government in Ukraine," The Ukrainian Weekly, April 1, 1984, Vol. LII, No. 14.

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