Chernetsky, Antin

Chernetsky, Antin [Чернецький, Антін; Černec'kyj], b 8 April 1887 in Berezhany, Galicia, d 15 February 1963 in Zurich, Switzerland. Civic and political leader, trade unionist, noted member of the Ukrainian Social Democratic party (USDP), journalist. Chernetsky fought for the autonomy of Ukrainian workers in the Austrian central trade-union organizations. He set up separate Ukrainian sections with their own secretariat, which he headed, and organized Ukrainian railway workers. He was a member of the Ukrainian National Rada of the Western Ukrainian National Republic and secretary of labor and social security in the State Secretariat of the Western Ukrainian National Republic. In 1924 he became the president of the Union of Ukrainian Private Office Employees, and in 1925–8 he served as director of the Pension Institute of Private Employees in Lviv. He edited and co-edited the periodicals of USDP: Zemlia i volia (1908), the weekly (1911) and daily (1919) Vpered (Lviv), and Profesional’nyi vistnyk (1920–1). After emigrating to Germany and Switzerland, he wrote brochures on the history of the workers’ and professionals’ movement. In 1964 his Spomyny z moho zhyttia (Memoirs from My Life) was published.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]