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Why The Americans O f Ukrainian Descent Are Interested In Ukraine By Marie S. Gambol The world today is a small place and whatever happens in one corner of it affects the re«t of it. It is no wonder then that, whereas the inter nationally minded in America once numbered the few who saw life and the human race as a whole, today these numbers are in the tens of mil lions. We are learning that a country, whether America, China Azerbaijan or Ukraine, cannot live apart from the rest of the world. And it is no wonder that many of us in America have some particular spot which because of emotional ties or because of our better knowledge of it has become more real, more vital than any other. An American of French descent wouldn’t be very hu man if alongside of all the other^news of the day he didn’t ferret out the items that told him about /the liberation of his country. The same goes for Americans of Greek, Italian, Lithuan ian or any other national descent. The Americans' of* Ukrainian de scent, being no different from the rest of the human species, anxiously turn from their work, from their bond buy ing and War Relief, from those letters written by sons or brothers or hus bands or friends in some far distant places, to wonder what is happening to the land from which they came and to its people. The idea of a free, democratic, unit ed Ukraine has in the course of the years become, very much a part of their lives. From Ше-days when they began arriving "here," some fifty years ago, to this day of November 19, 1944, they have witnessed many phases in its development: They awaited a wise solution of the problem during the First World War. They saw the rise of the Ukrainian Republic. They pinned their faith to the beautiful garland of ideals, the fourteen points. And they were disillusioned. The war that was to have made the world safe for democracy, the war that was to have ended all wars, and the peace that was to bring about good will among men, faisled. We are in the midst of another war, much more deadly and widespread than the first. And if we don’t relish facile slogans about a war to end all wars, if we don’t sing the hey-hey songs K-k-k-atie and Pack Up Your Trou bles, I think this is due to our having become more thoughtful, more mature than we were during those days of the First World War. We realize to what deadly ends science can be ap plied. We know*theft if inventions in the military field go on improving an other war might be the end of our civilization. W'e have learned that the world is not one or two nations, or the white race alone, or one or two continents. We know that there are numerous sore spots, from India to South America to Iran to China to Spain to Palestine, to name only a few, which if not taken into account during the years to come may become the centers of bloodshed. And so we talk about solutions to the problems, about the Atlantic Charter and about the Dumbarton Oaks proposals and about the use of force and about the meetings of the Big Three and the Big Four and the Big Five. For there is no doubt in our minds that we shall win the wfar over Germany and Japan. We are wondering about фе peace. , , The map has already been redrawn in that corner of the globe about which we know a little more than the average American, and we are won dering how much stability there is in that new map,, whether peace built on * such a foundation can be just and lasting. As the map appears today all of Ukraine with the exception of tiny Carpathian Ukraine, has gone into the making of a larger Union of So viet Socialist Republics whose main spring of action is Moscow. We are told that we should all rejoice at this because we are Americans and the USSR is our ally, because Ukraine is united, and anyway, there’s nothing that we can do about it. True, thaitj thje (USSR, including Soviet Ukraine, is our ally. True, that the Soviet armies, includisg the Uk rainian armies, fought Our common enemy with daring courage and drove them out of Ukraine. True, also, that a lie has been given to all those colum nists, hotoff-the-press writers, who labeled the Ukrainians pro-Nazi. For the Ukrainian people, as many of iis repeated over and over again, wanted none of the super-race, goosestep way of life* Tney produced ncr quisling. True, also," tfiaf the USSR has become a very powerful ally. But it is also true that no amount of glamorizing, white-washing, shush- shush propaganda and -twisting of facts will change the basic fact that the Union of Soviet Socialist Repub lics is ;a totalitarian, state, that it is a dictatorship. Those of us who do not think of “democracy” as a pretty word to be taken out at proper intervals, to be sneered at on the quiet, but a word that has deep, elemental mean ing, cannot very well reconcile our selves to the fable that what has hap pened in Ukraine is the beautiful end ing to a tragic story. As an American, a democratically minded (and not totalitarian minded) American, one who doesn’t think that I civil liberties, the right to speak and to write freely, to discuss and assem ble and worship, are fine gloves to be put on by John and Mary Doe in New York ‘or Kalamazoo, too fine to ~be worn by Ivan Horodenko and Ma ria Kozakevich in Kiev or Lviw; as an American who abhors the idea of censorship and concentration camps and aggressiveness, I don’t see how I can be happy about Ukraine being united within a totalitarian state. When 4n editor writes that' he really has nothing against Ukraine breaking away from Moscow, provided the peo ple there want to break away, I won der whether he’s talking a solo with tongue in cheek or whether he’s speci fying both himself and his readers. For how can these people or any other people now coming under the rule of USSR dictatorship get an opportunity to express themselves? They can’t talk about it. They can’t write about it. They can’t even gather as we are gathered here today within the con fines of this small crowded space, to give expression to what they think about the matter. They can’t argue about it on the radio. Foreign corres pondents can’t ask them what they think about 1st because foreign corres pondents are not free to go here and there as they are, freie to go about in our country. Even if those who think in terms of a democratic way of life, in terms of freedom and separation from Moscow, are mistaken, and the others, those who think in terms of Union with Moscow and unity of Uk raine (regardlessare right — even though we have no way of finding out about it because the people have no way of expressing themselves on the subject. A few weeks ago we were in the midst of a heated political cam paign. In the midst of war, we drag ged through that election campaign two of our outstanding men, one of whom has. already given many years of service to his country. We includ ed even little Fala in the out and out skirmish, and we didn’t pull punches — all because we wanted to find out whom the American people wanted at the head of their country during the next four years Eight o’clock, nine and ten on that Tuesday night and none knew who would be our next President. And only when dhe will of the people was heard, when the votes came tumbling in by the, hundreds of thousands and millions, were we able to go to sleep, if our candidate won, or to console ourselves that — well — maybe it was all for the best, after all (if our candidate lost). It was a costly price to pay in times of war but not too costly to reassure ourselves that we were free men and free women. And so when I’m told that I should rejoice because Western Ukraine is united with Eastern Ukraine under a totalitarian regime. I don’t see how I can if I have faith in the people, as I have, if I believe in the dignity of the individual, as I do, and if I don’t think that democracy is just a word to be tossed around at opportune mo ments. There are many things that I’d rath er hear about the country of my ori- . gin, Ukraine. I’d rather hear that there is some# part of her where men and women are at this very moment organizing a democratic way of life. I’d rather hear that they are free to express themselves through their own choice of newspapers, through peri odicals, through books. I’d rather hear that they are freely discussing the question — whether to remain within the USSR or to break away as a separate entity. I’d rather hear that there are Ukrainian Democrats and Liberals and Socialists and National ists — and yes, Communists, provided they too worked by the rule that civil liberties are the precious heritage of thie human race at all times. I’d rather hear that foreign correspondents are allowed to go about freely, to ask questions, to send news uncensored. I’d rather hear that there are Ukrain ian Town Hall meetings on the radio and Kiev University Round Table dis cussions, where two sides and three and four of a question can be heard. I’d rather hear that the Ukrainians are not living any more in fear of re prisals, arrests,* concentration camps because they dared differ from the way of life superimposed by Moscow. Americans who never lived even in a semi-totalitarian state or in one that practices some of the totalitarian methods have no idea how stultifying such a life can be to a freedom loving soul. I recall visiting Western Uk raine about fifteen years ago. It was under Poland then. Poland was not a totalitarian state. But I recall the day when a group of us sat in a room talking about the USSR and Ukraine and Poland and America, and how suddenly somebody whispered: “Shush-sh, somebody might hear us/’ And I recall going to a little Jew ish shop for my copy of the Ukrain ian daily “Dilo,” and how the shop keeper waited until' all the customers left, and how he then pulled a copy out of a hiding place and said: “Confiscated copy!” I recall walking with a friend one day down a street of Lviw and_ sud denly she pulled me by the sileeve and whispered: “Those two men. They’re go ing to get him after all. Poor boy !” Innocent American abroad that I was, I asked: “Who? Why?” “The police. They’re after one of the students. He is ,one of our youth leaders.” And I recall seeing a long line. of * young girls and boys waiting in the corridor of Lviw’s prison chatting amfc laughing, no different from a group of our young people waiting to hear a crooner or to see a baseball game. Only they were waiting to see their friends in prison, put there because of their political activities. Such were some of the methods in vogue in a country which was not con sidered (total!i'tarian but which em ployed many of the tricks that a dictatorship uses in coercing its citi zens to toe the line. Yes, there are many things I’d ra ther ^hear about Ukraine than that she is united or that Krushcbov or Manu- ilsky visited Lviw. On the contrary, I’m afraid about all those indiscrimin ate glib, ready-made labels — pro- Nazis, fascists, traitors to the Soviet fatherland, Petlurivtsy — pouring forth from Ukraine united as they poured forth 4from Ukraine divided. I don’t like it because I know that there, but for the grace of God, go I who has no liking for any type of totalitarianism, be it of the German brand, the Japanese, the Soviet Com munist, Italian or whatnot. Since the world is becoming small er each year I don’t see how we can keep it one part free and another en slaved., I’m afraid I don’t see how choosing our leaders freely in our own country is most admirable, but not so admirable in the USSR. If the right to choose my own newspaper from the stands, be it the New York Times or the Daily Worker,, is all right in New York, why shouldn’t it be advisable that the Ukrainians over there have the same privilege, to choose their equivalents in Kiev, (Continued on page 10) Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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