Taniachkevych, Danylo

Taniachkevych, Danylo [Танячкевич, Данило; Tanjačkevyč], b 18 November 1842 in Didyliv, Kaminka-Strumylova county, Galicia, d 1906 in Zakomaria, Zolochiv county, Galicia. Greek Catholic priest, publicist, and civic and political leader; honorary member of the Prosvita society. After completing his theological studies in Lviv (1867) he was appointed pastor of Zakomaria parish. He was one of the leading early populist leaders in Galicia: he organized clandestine student circles in gymnasiums, wrote numerous political pamphlets, and contributed to populist papers, such as the weekly Vechernytsi, , the monthly Meta (1865), and the journal Pravda. His protest letter from Ruthenian populists to the editor of the newspaper Rus’ (1867) was the first manifesto of the Galician populist movement (see Western Ukrainian Populism). His work in establishing Ukrainian economic institutions was pioneering: he set up Pravda credit unions in Zolochiv and Brody counties as well as the first Silskyi Hospodar society in Zolochiv. In 1897–1900 he served as deputy to the Austrian parliament.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]