Federation of Ukrainian Social Democrats in Canada

Federation of Ukrainian Social Democrats in Canada (Українська федерація соціял-демократів; Ukrainska federatsiia sotsiial-demokrativ). In 1909 Ukrainian branches of the Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) formed the Federation of Ukrainian Social Democrats in Canada (FUSD), seeking autonomous affiliation with the SPC and professing solidarity with Ukrainian social democrats in Europe. Myroslaw Stechishin was elected first secretary. The SPC rejected both autonomy and international ties, and in 1910 the FUSD formally affiliated with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), adopting Robochyi narod as its organ. The election in 1910 of an Alberta-based executive under Roman Kremar precipitated a power struggle with the editorial board of Robochyi narod in Winnipeg and a controversy over the FUSD’s relationship with the SPC and SDP. In 1911 Kremar’s followers formed the Federation of Ukrainian Socialists in Canada, but by the end of 1912 the FUSD, led by Stechishin and V. Holovatsky, was again unrivalled in the Ukrainian socialist movement in Canada. Between 1912 and 1916 control of the movement passed to younger men like Matthew Popovich and Ivan Navizivsky, who were more sympathetic to Marxism. The FUSD propagandized among workers and farmers; at its peak, in mid-1913, 23 branches served 424 members. In January 1914, when the FUSD was renamed the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party of Canada, it had 18 branches with 238 members.

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