Perogies and Politics
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PEROGIES AND POLITICS Canada’s Ukrainian Left, 1891–1991 STUDIES IN GENDER AND HISTORY General Editors: Franca Iacovetta and Karen Dubinsky RHONDA L. HINTHER Perogies and Politics Canada’s Ukrainian Left, 1891–1991 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London © University of Toronto Press 2018 Toronto Buffalo London www.utppublishing.com Printed in Canada ISBN 978-1-4875-0049-8 Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable-based inks. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Hinther, Rhonda L., 1974−, author Perogies and politics : Canada’s Ukrainian left, 1891−1991 / Rhonda L. Hinther. (Studies in gender and history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4875-0049-8 (cloth) 1. Right and left (Political science) – Canada – History − 19th century. 2. Right and left (Political science) – Canada – History − 20th century. 3. Ukrainians – Canada − Politics and government − 19th century. 4. Ukrainians – Canada − Politics and government − 20th century. I. Title. II. Series: Studies in gender and history FC106.U5H56 2018 971.004’91791 C2017-903097-3 This book has been generously supported by the publications program of the Shevchenko Scientific Society of Canada and the Brandon University Research Committee. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. Funded by the Financé par le Government gouvernement of Canada du Canada Contents Acknowledgments vii Note on Transliteration xi Introduction: The Men, Women, and Children of the Ukrainian Labour Temple Movement, 1891–1991 3 1 “‘Sincerest Revolutionary Greetings”: Men and the Interwar Ukrainian Left 17 2 Raising Funds and Class-Consciousness: Women and the Interwar Ukrainian Left 50 3 Junior Participants in the Class Struggle: Children, Youth, and the Interwar Ukrainian Left 75 4 “Dear Kate, I Don’t Know How You Manage!”: The Ukrainian Left and the Second World War 103 5 “If There Had Been a Siberia”: Adults and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians 133 6 “We’re Ukrainian Canadians, Not Ukrainians”: Children, Youth, and the Post-War Ukrainian Left 175 Conclusion: “If I Can’t Dance, It’s Not My Revolution” 205 Appendix: Key Ukrainian Leftist Organizations 215 Notes 217 Bibliography 265 Index 283 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments This project was completed with the support, assistance, and encour- agement of many parties. It began as an oral history project at the Ukrai- nian Labour Temple in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The people there and others tied to the movement across Canada offered an array of assistance with the research. Special thanks go to Zenovy Nykolyshyn, Mary Semano- wich, Myron Shatulsky, Lily Stearns, Brett Stearns, Gloria Gordienko, Orysia Zaporazan, Mary Skrypnyk, and John Boyd. I would also like to express appreciation to those individuals who generously shared their life stories with me by participating in the Ukrainian Labour Temple’s oral history project. Without their contributions this study could never have been as rich in detail as it is. I am also indebted to the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (AUUC) for allowing me access to its fonds at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and to substantial uncata- logued materials housed in Winnipeg and Toronto. At McMaster University, where this book began as my doctoral the- sis, Ruth Frager served as my supervisor. I am grateful for her intel- lectual guidance and support. I would also like to acknowledge the other members of my doctoral supervisory committee – Ken Crui- kshank and Dick Rempel – for their help and encouragement. Oth- ers at McMaster whose support aided in the successful completion of this study include Wendy Benedetti and Rita Maxwell. Two indi- viduals deserve special mention for their friendship and encourage- ment: Wendy Churchill and Erika Hauschild Abbott were especially supportive during my time in the doctoral program. Dan Gorman, Mary Jo Megginson, Jessa Chupik, Greg Stott, Ken MacMillan, Dave Leeson, and Neil White also aided my efforts to complete the thesis. During this time, Myron Momyruk at LAC was extremely helpful, not viii Acknowledgments only directing me to resources useful for my study but also taking the time to translate numerous documents for me. Later, he offered help- ful feedback on various versions of the manuscript. I also appreciate the assistance received from Kim Foreman and Doug Luchak in LAC’s Access to Information and Privacy Division. I would like to recognize Oksana Demkiw and her family for their ongoing friendship and for hosting me when I was Lviv, Ukraine, studying the Ukrainian language. I would also like to extend my appre- ciation to Victor Krevs of the Ivan Franko National University in Lviv for designing an individualized program of Ukrainian language study for me. Thanks also go to my former supervisor, Nolan Reilly of the University of Winnipeg, for drawing the Ukrainian Labour Temple to my attention and for his continued advice, support, and friendship. I would like to express my appreciation to Larissa Stavroff for grant- ing me access to the collection of her father, Peter Krawchuk, at LAC in Ottawa, and for her friendship, research assistance, and time spent tirelessly translating sources crucial to this study. Tannis Waugh also deserves special mention for her continuing friendship and support; I will always be grateful for her willingness to accommodate my unpre- dictable and, at times, trying research schedule by providing me with a place to stay, moral support, and many diversions with which to relieve the stress of research whenever I needed to be at the National Archives in Ottawa. Other friends and colleagues provided me with encourage- ment, engaging conversation, and much-needed distraction during the completion of this project. Among them are Wendy Sawatzky, Jason Hooper, Sabine Hikel, Danishka Esterhazy, Jonathan Esterhazy, Shan- non Slater, Holly Lowe, Joan Trimble, Tamara Biebricht, Mike Car- roll, Kristy Menzies, Leanne Dustan, Kaj Hasselriis, Sharon Reilly, Jim Mochoruk, Heather Bidzinski, Krista Cooke, Jennifer Anderson, Jenni- fer Lonergan, Jars Balan, Dave Cannon, Jillian Wolfe, and John Willis. I am also grateful to my colleagues at Brandon University – especially Lynn MacKay and Jim Naylor – for their words of encouragement as they bore witness to the latter stages of the manuscript’s transition to publication. Many thanks go to Len Husband and Frances Mundy at University of Toronto Press for helping to move this book forward. Thanks go as well to Angela Wingfield for her patient and careful copy-editing of the manuscript. I am also grateful to Franca Iacovetta, as the external reader on the thesis and co-editor of the Studies in Gender and History Series, who has offered much valuable feedback and encouragement Acknowledgments ix along the way. I would also like to offer thanks to the four anonymous peer reviewers for their thoughtful commentary on previous versions of the text. I am fortunate to have a supportive family, and I am especially appre- ciative of the encouragement received from my parents, Evelyn Hinther and the late G. Ronald Hinther. Throughout my academic career they have generously and warmly offered moral and financial support. My mother was exceptionally helpful with this project; she provided critical research assistance by helping me review mountains of organizational newspapers and RCMP surveillance files. Other members of my family whose support sustained me during this project include my grandpar- ents Sophie and the late Fred Skolny; my cousins Lynne Onofreychuk, Peter Onofreychuk, and Keegan Onofreychuk; my aunts Gisele Skolny and Myrna Eng; and my in-laws, Helen Floresco, George Floresco, and Cathy Kennedy. Finally, special thanks must go to my partner, Aaron Floresco, and our son, Sebastian Hinther-Floresco, for their love and unwavering support. This project has benefited from funding by a variety of sources. In addition to my parents, I would also like to thank the Department of History and the Department of Labour Studies at McMaster Univer- sity for their financial assistance. Financial support was also received through the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program and the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies’ Darcovich Doctoral Fellowship. This page intentionally left blank Note on Transliteration The transliteration of Ukrainian in this project is in keeping with the modified Library of Congress system. Proper names of some individu- als are included in their most frequently used spelling (as evidenced in the source materials consulted). Occasionally there may be place names and proper names that have a traditional and recognizable spelling that defies modified Library of Congress convention. These have been left intact for purposes of recognition. This page intentionally left blank PEROGIES AND POLITICS Canada’s Ukrainian Left, 1891–1991 This page intentionally left blank Introduction: The Men, Women, and Children of the Ukrainian Labour Temple Movement, 1891–1991 Myron Shatulsky was born in 1930. His parents, Katherine and Mat- thew, both Ukrainian immigrants who had come to Canada in 1910, were active in the left-wing Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temple Asso- ciation (ULFTA). The organization had developed largely in direct response to the difficult social, economic, and working conditions that most Ukrainians encountered upon coming to Canada. Although some