Myroslaw Stechishin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Myroslaw Stechishin | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Stechishin, c. 1909-1912 | |
| Born | July 24, 1883 |
| Died | November 18, 1947 (aged 64) |
| Resting place | All Saints Cemetery, Rivercrest, Manitoba |
| Occupations | Editor, activist, public figure |
Myroslaw Stechishin (Ukrainian: Мирослав Стечишин, July 24, 1883 – November 18, 1947) was a Ukrainian-Canadian editor, political activist, and public figure. After immigrating from Galicia to Canada in 1902, Stechishin worked as a labourer and was socialist activist. Later, he became greatly involved in the Ukrainian community of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Stechishin served as editor for newspapers including Robochyi narod (Winnipeg), Novyny (Edmonton), Narodna volia (Scranton), and most notably Ukraïns’kyi holos (Winnipeg). He was part of the establishment of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party (Canada) in 1910, the Ukrainian Self-Reliance League in 1927, and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in 1940, among other organizations.
Stechishin was born in Hleshchava, Galicia—a village 10 kilometres east of Terebovlia—then part of Austria-Hungary.[1] He is the older brother of Michael and Julian Stechishin, who both would also immigrate to Canada: Michael became an author and district court judge in Saskatchewan, and Julian became an editor, community leader, author, and husband of Savella Stechishin.[2] In Galicia, Stechishin was raised in the Ukrainian Catholic Church and was exposed to the Ukrainian Radical Party and other agrarian left-wing movements.[3][4]
Stechishin immigrated to Canada in 1902, at 19 years old.[2] He arrived initially in Winnipeg, Manitoba before spending his first summer in Canada as a seasonal worker with the Canadian Pacific Railway in Pilot Butte, Saskatchewan.[1][5] While there, Stechishin gained the knowledge and inspiration to later write the short story "Pilot Butte," named for the town, which tells the difficult story of a young Ukrainian immigrant named Pavlo who found work as a labourer at the Pilot Butte CPR station.[3]
Having then moved to California in 1903, Stechishin spent time in Caspar and at Agapius Honcharenko's commune near Hayward.[2] In Caspar in 1903, he wrote "Pilot Butte," which was published one year later in Zhuravli in Scranton, Pennsylvania (where he would later live for a few years).[6]
Socialist activist
Stechishin returned to Canada in 1905, relocating this time to British Columbia. Alongside Pavlo Krat, Toma Tomashevsky, and Wasyl Holowacky, he became a leader of the Ukrainian socialist movement in pre-war Canada.[7] Like the others, Stechishin had been associated with radical and socialist movements in Galicia, including the Ukrainian Radical Party, and was an ethical socialist.[4]
In 1907, Stechishin was part of the organization of the Borotba society in Vancouver, British Columbia.[2] While in British Columbia, Stechishin fostered Ukrainian immigration to the province by writing about it in the Ukrainian press and corresponded interested potential immigrants.[5]
As a socialist activist, he was critical of the church—particularly for the standard of living enjoyed by some of its clergy when compared to the laypeople.[5]
After returning to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Stechishin became the editor of Robochyi narod, a Ukrainian newspaper affiliated with the Socialist Party of Canada in Winnipeg. He held the position from 1909 to 1912 before he quit the organization over alleged financial improprieties.[7][8] In 1910, the Ukrainian socialist movement split from the Socialist Party of Canada and became the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party (Canada); he edited the party's weekly paper, Chervonyi prapor.[9] As a leading member of this new party, Stechishin was critical of the lack of autonomy given by the Socialist Party of Canada to its Ukrainian faction.[4]
