Sixty years ago, on September 15, 1958, the Ukrainian National Association Supreme Executive Committee – Dmytro Halychyn (supreme president), Joseph Lesawyer (supreme vice-president), Anne Herman (supreme vice-president) and Roman Slobodian (supreme treasurer) – issued a statement on the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Svoboda newspaper.
Svoboda’s inaugural issue was printed on September 15, 1893, and this year marks the 125th anniversary of the newspaper – the oldest continuously published Ukrainian-language newspaper in the world.
The statement noted: “Exactly one half year after the first appearance of Svoboda, there came into being, as an offspring of its creative spirit, the Ukrainian National Association, the first national Ukrainian organization on this continent, and Svoboda became its official organ. The decisive role played by the UNA and its organ Svoboda in the development and progress of Ukrainian American life, the Ukrainian American contributions to the American way of life and of the great aid Ukrainian Americans have given to the fight for freedom of the Ukrainian people in their enslaved native land Ukraine, all this and more are vouched for by historical facts, which have brought great honor and prestige to the Ukrainian name.”
The UNA Supreme Executive Committee called on all Ukrainians: “To constantly make stronger their original native institutions, to keep themselves united in Ukrainian organizations, and, first of all, in the ranks of the great UNA because mainly on that account and mainly through them can we perpetuate ourselves here on this continent and continue to make progress; Cultivate and develop to the highest degree our Ukrainian press, especially Svoboda, together with its various publications, for, after all – Svoboda is the best means of attaining our aspirations and is good for our common weal.”
Svoboda’s sister publication in the English language, The Ukrainian Weekly, was founded on October 6, 1933, and is marking its 85th anniversary this year. Svoboda’s archives, as noted in the September 20, 1958, editorial of The Ukrainian Weekly, continue to be revered as a historical record of the various doings in the Ukrainian American communities. “…For example, what the Newark, N.J., Ukrainians did to commemorate back in 1916 the death of Ivan Franko, the great Ukrainian poet, writer and national inspirer, in the form of a huge parade along Broad Street; the rally held in a dinky Broome Street hall, where in the space of two hours of speeches and discussions at this ‘viche’ in 1932 more than $2,500 was raised for the victims of the Polish ‘pacification,’ of the Western Ukrainians; and jumping to New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Svoboda gave great coverage to the manifestations, in protest against the Soviet Russian instigated and premeditated famine in Ukraine, the toll of which was over 6 million Ukrainians.”
The editorial reminded: “Read the Svoboda, broaden your horizons and knowledge, re-learn what you know of the Ukrainian language, history, culture, and fight for national freedom, and thereby ‘keep the faith.’ ”
Sources: “The 65th anniversary of the founding of ‘Svoboda,’ announcement of the Supreme Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Association,” “Thoughts on the 65th anniversary of the founding of Svoboda,” The Ukrainian Weekly, September 20, 1958.