Patrons of Agricultural Associations

Patrons of Agricultural Associations (Патронат хліборобських спілок; Patronat khliborobskykh spilok). A body created in 1899 to organize and oversee Raiffeisen credit co-operatives in Galicia. The body was established by the Galician Diet, which provided credit from government funds. The main organizer of the association was a Pole, F. Stefczyk. Ukrainian leaders, such as Demian Savchak, Kost Levytsky, and Kost Pankivsky, initially supported it. Under Stefczyk, however, the Patrons favored the development of credit co-operatives in Polish localities and encouraged Polish control of co-operatives in Ukrainian localities. Ukrainians reacted to that policy by establishing the Audit Union of Ukrainian Co-operatives to promote an independent Ukrainian co-operative movement. In 1912 there were 1,575 Raiffeisen co-operatives in Galicia, some 400 of which were Ukrainian. The Patrons published Chasopys dlia spilok ril'nychykh (1904–21) for Ukrainians. The Raiffeisen co-operatives continued to operate through the interwar period, but their role was limited to offering long-term farm credit.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]