On October 6, The Ukrainian Weekly’s birthday came and went. We didn’t get any birthday cards or greetings for our 83rd anniversary, but we are pleased to note that our efforts appear to be appreciated by our community here in the United States and beyond, judging by the messages and reactions of our devoted readers. Thank you, Dear Readers, for supporting us and encouraging us in our work.
As usual, we take the opportunity offered by the annual anniversary of our founding in 1933 to share some thoughts in this editorial space. This year, we thought it would be appropriate to also note the incredible 123 years of uninterrupted service to our community of our sister publication, Svoboda, founded in 1893. For those unfamiliar with our elder sister, that date – 1893 – seems astounding. And rightly so. How many newspapers can boast of such a history?
And, in this day and age, when we see newspapers dying, or curtailing their publication, left and right, the fact that the Ukrainian National Association continues to publish Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly is not only noteworthy but praiseworthy as well. Clearly, our community still needs these two newspapers that have served Ukrainians for a combined 206 years.
Since its first issue dated September 15, 1893, Svoboda has been, as longtime editor-in-chief Anthony Dragan often underlined, “a crusading newspaper” – “hazeta khrestonosnykh pokhodiv.” Among those crusades was initiating the founding of a national organization, which became the Ukrainian National Association; decades of calling for Ukraine’s freedom and speaking out for the subjugated Ukrainian people; and assisting displaced persons after World War II. Another apt description of Svoboda’s role is the one cited by historian Taras Hunczak, professor emeritus of Rutgers University. Svoboda, he said is the “berehynia,” or protectress, of the Ukrainian identity. That’s something Svoboda always was, something it continues to be.
As for The Ukrainian Weekly – born at the time Svoboda was already 40 years old – it was founded to serve the needs of a new generation of Ukrainian Americans, many of whom could not read the Ukrainian language. The newspaper’s pioneering editor, 25-year-old Stephen Shumeyko, knew that there is a place within our great Ukrainian nation for those sons and daughters who do not know Ukrainian, that what matters is a Ukrainian heart and soul. And, the new publication had an urgent mission: to inform the English-speaking world about the Great Famine in Ukraine – the Holodomor – that had already decimated the populace.
Together with Svoboda, The Weekly embarked on other crusades: promoting the erection a monument to Taras Shevchenko in Washington; supporting the establishment of three chairs of Ukrainian studies and a Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard; and defending national and human rights activists in Soviet-dominated Ukraine. Today, both newspapers speak out in defense of Ukraine’s statehood as its ever-present aggressor, Russia, once again seeks to destroy it.
Of course, Svoboda and The Weekly have always highlighted the work of the Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian communities, and published news about Ukrainians from points around the globe, ranging from Australia and Europe to South America and Asia. Our newspapers are able to do that thanks to the cooperation of their loyal readers, who send in news and photos from their “hromady,” which are then shared with Ukrainian communities around the globe.
With that in mind, we cite a note published in The Ukrainian Weekly on October 27, 1933, titled “U.W. needs cooperation.” Thanking readers for their comments on the first few issues of the new newspaper, The Weekly said it was certain that “we shall have the support and aid of our readers who, realizing that The Weekly is theirs entirely, will not be content merely with reading it, but will make contributions to its columns concerning all of the varied phases of young American-Ukrainian life… Only in this manner will our Weekly become a living organism and a true reflection of the life of our young American-Ukrainians.”
Those words are still relevant today for both The Weekly and Svoboda, though they now strive to serve all generations of Ukrainians no matter where they reside, while staying true to their founding ideals.