The Third World Forum of Ukrainians where delegates from 43 countries participated ended on August 20. There are about 250 Ukrainian public organizations active abroad. Participation of the world Ukrainian society and, first of all, Western diaspora members in transformation and consolidation of our country is well known. In his article for The Day one of the most outstanding historians studying Ukraine in the second half of XX century, author of the History of Ukraine familiar to all schoolchildren, Orest SUBTELNY speaks on the Euro-Atlantic Ukrainian community, its problems, and its complicated ways toward self-identity.
The tradition of Ukrainians leaving their homeland for a better life abroad is well over a century old. Unfortunately, it is a continuing one. Until very recently those Ukrainians who constituted the so- called Western Diaspora, that is those who moved westward came, as might be expected, from the western regions of Ukraine. The members or the Western diaspora can be divided into two basic varieties: those who emigrated for economic reasons and those who left because of: political considerations. The first great wave of economic emigrants moved westward in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These emigrants were almost exclusively peasants, usually illiterate, and largely from the Austrian-ruled regions of Ukraine. Since the 1880s, the booming-industrial centers of the USA were a favored goal. By 1914, 350,000 Ukrainians emigrated there. In the 1890s the promise of cheap land attracted Ukrainian immigrants to Brazil (50,000) and Canada where, by 1914, 100,000 had arrived. In the interwar period, a much smaller wave of economic emigrants from the western oblasts, by then dominated by Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia, headed for North America (Canada, 70,000 and USA, 10,000) and South America (Argentina, 50,000) as well as Europe, particularly France. And, of course, in the 1990s yet another huge wave of economic emigrants, mostly from Ukraine’s large urban centers and often well-educated, moved west seeking better conditions, or at least better earnings, in North America and especially throughout eastern and western Europe.
It was, however, the smaller but much more dynamic political emigrations that gave the western diaspora many of the features it possesses today, the failure of the struggle for independence in 1917-1920 produced the first wave of political йmigrйs (80-100,000). These were supporters of the UNR and, to a lesser extent, of the West Ukrainian Republic. By and large, they consisted of soldiers of the Ukrainian national armies and members of the various government and political parties. Many of them, especially the supporters of the UNR and Skoropadsky, were members of the Ukrainian intelligentsia. By and large, they settled in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and France. Unfortunately for them, they arrived in Europe during an economically depressed period and many had to live m materially difficult circumstances. Nonetheless, they viewed themselves as the true guardians of the Ukrainian idea and they worked indefatigably to preserve it. One reflection of their efforts were the centers of scholarship and education that they established in Prague, Podebrady, Warsaw and Berlin. Of course, as is typical of all ПmigrПs, unproductive political rivalries and conflicts also consumed much of their energies. As might be expected, the vast majority were strongly anti-Soviet.
The second great wave of political emigrants (220,000) consisted of those who found themselves in Germany or fled there during World War II. For the most part they consisted of forced laborers, usually from the western oblasts (most forced laborers from the eastern regions were repatriated). However, they also included a significant percentage of the western Ukrainian intelligentsia, professionals, and community activists, who, traumatized by the Soviet occupation in 1939-1941, fled before the Soviet armies in 1944, Ukrainian members of various military units in the German army, most notably the Galicia Division, joined this emigration after they were released from internment. East Ukrainians, while a minority, were also numerous. Among them were former forced laborers, nationally-oriented intelligentsia, and those who had been repressed in The USSR. Finally, remnants of the 1917-1920 ПmigrПs joined the flight to the west.
In terms of the western diaspora today, this post-World War II emigration is the most significant. Highly politicized and deeply committed to their “lost” homeland, these DPs (Displaced Persons), as they came to be called, were also exceeding well organized. In part, this was due to the fact that many activists from the highly developed Galician community organizations were among the ПmigrПs. But also important was the period from 1945-1949 that the unemployed emigrants spent living together in the DP camps of Germany and Austria. There they established their own administration in the camps, organized schools, youth organizations, vocational training courses, theaters, newspapers, scholarly institutions, sports teams, and, of course, political parties. Of these the OUN was the strongest although could not claim majority support. Its major problem, was the conflict between the Bandera and. Melnyk factions which reached fever pitch in the camps and complicated the activities of the entire emigration.
When, in 1947, western countries finally agreed to accept the 1.2 million refugees from Eastern Europe, most Ukrainians went to America (80,000), Canada (30,000), Australia (20,000) and Argentina (10,000). A small minority remained in Germany, Britain, Belgium (10,000), and France (10,000). What is especially striking about this wave of Ukrainian, immigrants was their desire and ability to transfer the organizations that had existed in Galicia and had been renewed in the camps to their lands of habitation. Rarely had America, Canada, and Australia seen such a tightly knit, ideologically committed, and well organized wave of newcomers land on their shores. Fortunately for the immigrants, they came to their new homelands at a time of economic boom. By taking advantage of the numerous educational and economic opportunities, they quickly established themselves in the middle class of their host societies. But despite their secure place in the socioeconomic structure of their new homeland, these ПmigrПs and, to a lesser extent, their children retained their commitment to Ukraine and things Ukrainian. It is they who have left the strongest imprint on the entire western diaspora.
Obviously the experience of Ukrainian immigrants varied greatly country by country. In the USA, the classic land of immigrants, the initial wave of Ukrainian economic immigrants were a relatively small part of the huge wave that arrived before World War I to provide cheap labor in country’s booming factories and mines. The earliest members of this wave came from the westernmost Ukrainian lands, from Transcarpathia and the Lemko regions. Somewhat later they were joined by Galicians. Regional distinctions remained strong among these early immigrants, with Transcarpathians and Lemkos continuing to call themselves Rusyns while the more nationally-conscious Galicians adopted the new name of Ukrainians. For the most part, they found work in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and the factories of New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Chicago, the primary institutions established by these immigrants were the same as in their villages, the churches. And priests provided much of the community leadership. Fraternal, self-help organizations also emerged. Poorly educated and lacking coordination, many members of this wave quickly succumbed to the American Melting Pot. Their children quickly forgot Ukrainian and faded into the homogenized urban environment. Although in the 1930s, under influence of events in Ukraine, a small percentage were politicized, few members of this wave are active in the diaspora today.
At the same time, the experience of Ukrainian economic immigrants to Canada was quite different. The “men in. sheepskin coats,” largely from Galicia and Bukovyna, were brought in specifically by the Canadian Anglo-Saxon establishment to colonize the empty prairies of western Canada. In these relatively unpopulated lands, they recreated purely Ukrainian rural communities, centered around their churches, where they retained their native customs and their language. For those who chose to live in an urban setting, Winnipeg became the center. Only after World War II, when their children and grandchildren began to move into cities, did assimilation set in. But the crucial fact is that the Ukrainians in western Canada believed that they helped to create the society in which they lived and, therefore, they had a right to leading positions in it. This explains why, of the entire western diaspora, Ukrainians in western Canada, produced the greatest number of highly placed individuals m the political, cultural and economic establishment of their host country. Indeed, elements of Ukrainian culture, especially food and dance, became an accepted part of west Canadian culture.
Not surprisingly, when the DPs arrived m the USA and Canada tensions between the newcomers and the established immigrants developed in Australia such problems were avoided for the simple reason that the DPs found no predecessors there. The DPs viewed their predecessors as “less Ukrainian” then they and also rejected the Melting Pot concept. In Canada, the newcomers settled in the east in major cities like Toronto, which soon became the center of Ukrainian activity, and Montreal. Dreaming of a return to their homeland, they created Ukrainian so-called ghettos, discouraged intermarriage with non-Ukrainians and were slow to enter Canadian or American political life. But they did take advantage of educational and economic opportunities. Establishing their extensive organizational network in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Toronto, which went far beyond the churches. Of the earlier immigrants, many DPs worked for the liberation of Ukraine — anti-Soviet attitudes were widespread and intense — and the retention of their Ukrainian identity. Preserving the Ukrainian language among their children became a major priority. This explains why the western diaspora is so sensitive about the language issue in Ukraine today.
Today the original DPs are fast disappearing. Their organizations are much weaker than in the golden age of 1950s and 1960s. And their children and grandchildren are slowly succumbing to assimilation. They are no longer Ukrainian political emigrants; they are Americans, Canadians, or Australians of Ukrainian descent. Ironically, after the initial euphoria, the appearance of an independent Ukraine added to their problems, for decades the ultimate goal of their organizational activity was the liberation of Ukraine. Now that this has been achieved, they face the question why and for what should we work now? The temptation is very strong to say that our goal has been achieved, we can now reduce our effort and let Ukraine solve its own problems.
Finally, there is the issue of the so-called “fourth wave”, the most recent immigrants from Ukraine. Clearly, they are economic emigrants and as such are motivated, for obvious reasons, by material concerns. They find it difficult to fit into the organization network of the DP generation. Here a qualification is necessary: Ukrainians from Poland, who were often exposed to national discrimination, have been much quicker to become involved in the organizations of the diaspora. For their part, the members of the DP generation, who put so much effort into retaining their ethnic identity, find the perceived unpatriotic attitudes of newcomers from Ukraine difficult to understand. They are disillusioned by reluctance of new arrivals to join the organizations which the DPs worked so hard create.
To a certain extent, these tensions are very common among all immigrants since each wave reflects different times, values, mentalities, and goals. What is desirable, however, is that each component of the diaspora, each in their own way, be of some benefit to their Ukrainian homeland and that Ukraine, in one form or another, be of some benefit to those who left it but did not forget it.
