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| Spilka Ukraïns'koï Molodi | |||
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| Country | Ukraine | ||
| Founded | 1925 | ||
| Website cym | |||
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TheUkrainian Youth Association (Ukrainian:Спілка української молоді, transliterated asSpilka Ukraïns'koï Molodi, known by the acronymСУМ,SUM, pronounced "soom", and commonly rendered asCYM) is a youth organization inUkraine,Australia,[1]Belgium,[2]Canada,Estonia,[3]France,[2]Great Britain,[4]Germany,[5] and theUnited States.[6]The organization plans to create units inNew Zealand.[7]
The Ukrainian Youth Association was founded in 1925 inKyiv by a group of former students of the First Ukrainian Gymnasium (founded in 1917 and later named afterTaras Shevchenko), who were led byMykola Pavlushkov, whose father had been the ambassador of theUkrainian People's Republic inGreece. The organization stemmed from the "Unity and Concord Society" founded by the students and teachers of the gymnasium in 1923. According to Pavlushkov, the idea to create the association stemmed from journalist and scientistSerhiy Yefremov.[8]
On 30 May 1926 participants of the organization spread leaflets condemning the murder of exiled Ukrainian leaderSymon Petliura during a memorial service forIvan Franko in Kyiv'sSaint Sophia Cathedral. As a result,Soviet authorities initiated a campaign of persecution against the association and other groups of Ukrainianintelligentsia. In May 1929 Pavlushkov and several other SUM members were arrested by theGPU directed byVsevolod Balitsky. Arrests of other prominent Ukrainian activists connected to the association, including Yefremov, followed, eventually leading to theUnion for the Freedom of Ukraine trial, which took place in 1930 inKharkiv. Leaders of SUM received prison terms of up to 10 years. In November 1937 Pavlushkov was executed by firing squad while in imprisonment. Yefremov died in March 1939 inVladimir Central Prison.[8]
Despite the destruction of the original SUM, its name was adopted by several organizations opposed to the Soviet regime, both in Ukraine and in thediaspora. Soon the branches of the association spread to over 20 countries around the world.[8] In 1972 a chapter of the organization was established inIvano-Frankivsk Oblast, resulting in the imprisonment of its members.[9] In summer of 1989 an organization with the same name was established by members of the Kharkiv department ofUkrainian Helsinki Union (UHS).[10]
On 19 August 1989 a congress of representatives from UHS,Plast and the Ukrainian Student Union gathered at the base ofMakivka mountain and proclaimed the creation of an all-Ukrainian organization known as theUnion of Independent Ukrainian Youth orSNUM (Ukrainian:Спілка Незалежної Української Молоді, СНУМ). The idea of its creation belonged to UHS leaderViacheslav Chornovil. The creation of the union was first publicly proclaimed 4 days later, at a demonstration dedicated to the 50th anniversary of theMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact inLviv. On 1 October a number of SNUM activists were detained by Sovietmilitsiya in Lviv, leading to mass protests. In September a branch of the organization was officially established in Kyiv, and on 27 October a constitutional congress of local SNUM activists took place in Ternopil. OnSoviet Army Day in February 1990 over 10,000 people took part in demonstrations organized by SNUM in Lviv andDrohobych. As a result,KGB employed militarycounterintelligence to supervise the organization.[10]
On 22 April 1990, the birthday ofVladimir Lenin, hundreds of schoolchildren took part in demonstrations organized by SNUM in Kyiv and Lviv, ridiculing thecult of the Soviet leader. In total, over 64,000 people participated in actions organized by SNUM between August 1989 and May 1990. A number of periodicals established by the organization were printed inLithuania. In spring 1990 a number of SNUM members wereelected members of local government and theVerkhovna Rada. On 26-27 May a great congress of SNUM took place inIvano-Frankivsk, during which a split emerged between more moderate members of the organization, who followedUkrainian Republican Party leaderLevko Lukyanenko, and right-wing nationalists, who formed the core of futureUNA-UNSO. In August 1990 members of SNUM established ties with SUM organizations of the diaspora at a world conference of Ukrainian youth inBiały Bór,Poland.[10]
After theproclamation of Ukrainian independence, in December 1991 SNUM renamed itself into SUM, adopting the historical name of the organization. In 1995 the unification of Ukrainian SUM with branches of the organization in the diaspora was finalized.[10]
The process against the organization was described by writer Geliy Snegiryov in his 1977 book, first published in theRussian emigré magazineKontinent and later translated intoUkrainian. Snegiryov's mother had been one of the initiators of the trial against SUM members, sending a report on their actions to theYoung Communist League.[8]
A Ukrainian who attributes themselves to the СУМ organization is namedSumivets.
There is a Canadian Ukrainian Youth Associationfonds atLibrary and Archives Canada.[11] The archival reference number is R3438.[12]
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