Selianska Kasa

Selianska Kasa (Селянська Каса; Peasant Bank). The central association of Raiffeisen credit co-operatives in Bukovyna, founded by Stepan Smal-Stotsky and Lev Kohut in 1903 in Chernivtsi. By 1912 it represented 159 credit, 11 consumer, 2 dairy, and 2 other co-operatives, with a total membership of almost 20,000. Selianska Kasa provided loans to individuals and co-operatives, helped in the marketing of agricultural produce, organized retail stores, and ran a logging operation. It also served as the central auditing body for all types of Ukrainian co-operatives in Bukovyna. The organization experienced a major crisis after 1911. It had overextended its funds and was placed under the control of the Provincial Bank by the Austrian government and ordered to institute several reforms. It continued to function after Bukovyna was taken over by Romania, but the authorities increasingly limited its autonomy and activities. In 1924 it was reconstituted as the Northern Bukovyna Bank. It lost its Ukrainian character and ceased to play a role in civic life. Selianska Kasa published the organ Vistnyk soiuza (1903–7), Narodne bohatstvo (semimonthly, 1908–10), and brochures and booklets on co-operative and educational topics. Its directors before the First World War were Kohut and Ostap Lutsky.

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