One hundred twenty-five years ago, on September 15, 1893, the first issue of Svoboda rolled off the presses in Jersey City, N.J. It was then published twice a month (on the 1st and the 15th) and an annual subscription cost $1.50. Its editor was the Rev. Hryhory (Gregory) Hrushka, pastor of the local Ukrainian Catholic parish. Its readers were immigrants from Ukrainian lands who at the time called themselves Rusyns; many of them were poor and uneducated laborers who had settled in the coal mining regions of Pennsylvania. Svoboda sought to be their newspaper, as well as their voice, their protector and their teacher. It sought to raise their national consciousness and to organize them into a community.
That is why in its fourth issue, dated November 1, 1893, Svoboda (Liberty) called for the establishment of a “national organization.” That national organization, founded on February 22, 1894, is the Ukrainian National Association. But not only did Svoboda give birth to this great fraternal benefit organization that cares for its members of all ages, it also became the UNA’s indispensable link to the Ukrainian community it serves.
The Rev. Nestor Dmytriv, one of the first editors of Svoboda (1895-1897), wrote: “Svoboda in those days fulfilled its responsibilities toward Soyuz [UNA] earnestly and conscientiously, and there was hardly an issue that didn’t contain some sort of appeal to the members of Soyuz or [a statement] that refuted all sorts of attacks from the enemies of this national organization.” The near legendary UNA Supreme President Dmytro Halychyn (1895-1961) wrote on the occasion of Svoboda’s 60th anniversary: “Not only could the UNA not develop without Svoboda, but it could not fulfill its obligations; it could not even exist without [the newspaper].”
Svoboda became our community’s “crusading newspaper,” as the tireless Editor-in-Chief Anthony Dragan (1912-1986) oftentimes said. Through the decades, it promoted the independence of Ukraine, spoke out about the Holodomor that killed millions in 1932-1933, discussed the plight of refugees and displaced persons after World War II, spearheaded the campaign to erect a monument in Washington to Taras Shevchenko, gave voice to the national and human rights activists of Ukraine and defended them. Svoboda concerned itself with the lives of Ukrainians throughout the diaspora – whether here in North America, or in South America, Europe, Australia and beyond.
A newspaper whose existence encompasses three centuries – the 19th, the 20th and now the 21st, Svoboda has served four waves of immigration to this country and has touched the lives of six generations. It has undergone various transformations – from a biweekly newspaper, to a weekly, then a daily and today once again a weekly; its format has changed from a tabloid-size paper to a broadsheet and back to tabloid – but its mission has remained the same: “to serve as the people’s newspaper,” as was pledged in its inaugural issue 125 years ago.
Today Svoboda is the oldest continuously published Ukrainian-language newspaper in the world, and The Ukrainian Weekly, its sister publication founded in 1933 by the UNA, sends its enthusiastic congratulations, sincere best wishes and heartfelt thanks. Long may Svoboda continue to proudly serve succeeding generations of Ukrainians. Mnohaya lita!