PREFACE
To truly see what is possible we must look past the comfortable and into the unsaid. Now more than any other time in the past century is the right time to move forward and progress our interests past merely keeping Rusyn culture alive. In saying this I mean the development of political thought and intellectual sovereignty. It is through these means that not only will we be better connected with one another, but also be ready to face any challenges that lay waiting in our future.
This work is what one could describe as thoughts from the diaspora. I am to the core someone who grew up in America. There is no denying my ideas, attitudes, and outlook are all shaped by having grown up in the tundra that is Minnesota. Some might view this as a weakness when talking about what is best or smart for the Rusyn nation, however I see this as an overwhelmingly positive thing in this realm.
While I may not know each and every village well or speak our language like a native, this also means I am not blinded from the tortures that those in the homeland have endured or the political taboos that would stop another from voicing unorthodox opinions. While our people’s culture has many strengths, non-conformity is not generally one of them.
It is also true that because of my western experience I most certainly value different things to different degrees than those in the homeland. Freedom and sovereignty are above all others are the most important to me. This is not to say that other Rusyns do not, but that I see these through the lens of an American perspective. Because of this there is no doubt that I will have an inherent bias towards the perspective of those living in Carpathian Rus’. However, I have tried my hardest to dampen this and with it combine ideas from both sides to build a model for a way forward.
The title Duty and Sovereignty was chosen because it is the two ideas that run through every chapter and paragraph within this book. They are above all else what I find to be the most important parts of any society. While duty to the family, nation, and one another is somewhat self-explanatory in what it entails, the idea of sovereignty is harder to fully explain. I view this word in its most basic form as the ability to think and act without having to conform to another’s vision. In other words, power for self-determination. Without it a person or people is not truly “free” in the sense of controlling their own destiny.
It seems to me as someone on the inside but not having been so my whole life that this is something we have never been able to truly achieve. Whether it be because of our own failings or from the actions of powers stronger than us we were never able to develop this to where it needed to be.
Our “nation” in a philosophical sense has yet to be fully formed. Even without going into detail on what the following chapters contain, we can see this by the inability to answer the simple questions of who is and isn’t a Rusyn and what we want as people. It is in these alone that it is no wonder why we have continued to have to look towards the minor details rather than the greater picture.
While I think these questions should be sorted out at quickest we reasonably can, part of the reason why we have continued to not be at the nationhood of other ethnicities is because of the lack of the political. Forgetting the need to combat assimilation for the moment, the act of political representation and centralized goals is a unifier above almost all others. For an ethnicity to be a nation it must develop the characteristics of one. This theme will come up again and again throughout the book, so I will let my other words do the convincing.
Perhaps you will take this as the ramblings of an American who knows too little to dream of what is best but think about what you would want in a perfect world. Do we desire the things we do because that is all that feels possible? Is it the ideas of our own minds or those that have for a century tried to tell us what is right to want?
These questions have no easy answers, and the problem might be that we actually don’t have one yet. What is important at this moment is not to come up with one but begin the formation of thought around them. Nothing can be solved in a year or three, but the process of one foot in front of will eventually provide what we are looking for.
With this spirit I encourage you to not look at this writing as a means to satisfy every problem that we face to the finest detail. It is at the most basic level an attempt to formulate what a path forward would look like in a Rusyn context.
INTELLECTUAL SOVEREIGNTY
For a nation to become intellectually sovereign, or put more bluntly, develop its ability for self-determination it must foster not just its ethnic culture but political desires as well. It is in this act of asserting a groups needs over others that a people begin to develop the consciousness of nationhood. And with it the formation of an agreed upon greater purpose.
Without both, it is merely an ethnic group that holds a collection of villages. The question of what purpose a nation has will always be fraught with tension between the group and the individual. In North America the meaning of the self is almost always put above all else. This in turn provides a situation where the common person views the attainment of wealth and status as the ultimate goal.
While this has its benefits, it also makes the formation and continuation of a nation harder to maintain. Further to the east of Europe this is almost the opposite, though with the influence of an international economy this is changing. Generally speaking, the fate of the group matters more than any one individual. The major positive benefit of this development of a high trust society where the consequence of uncovered deception is massive.
What is right however, for the Rusyn nation and its people should not be bound to that of countries and their cultures around us. We must instead construct our own way forward. For too many centuries those that ruled our lands were able to influence what we believed and how we governed ourselves.
Our lack of political desire or capability shows that to all. These historical precedents cannot be fully erased from the national consciousness, but we can and ideally should begin to remove them piece by piece. For a people who do not have intellectual sovereignty will soon enough lose their spirituality and physical territory.
The words I have written above may sound cliché at first glance but think of the ramifications of such a process. A people not allowed to think for themselves will slowly lose the ability to do so. Much like a muscle in the arm, if it is no longer used then it will continue to shrink until it eventually shrivels away. This is the way of almost all peoples that were assimilated throughout history. Some may see this as an inevitable conclusion to our current situation, but I beg to differ. We only need to look at our fellow Slavs from the south to see an example of changing a dire situation.
Before their national awakening in the 1800s, the ethnicity of the Bulgarians like other South Slavs was slowly fading away under the rule of the Ottomans. By most metrics they were probably even worse off than we are now. Many had converted to Islam to avoid the jizya or assimilated into an ethnicity seen as higher status. This was particularly common among the higher classes within Bulgarian society. They would learn the Greek language and attempt to transform their clothing style to that of their Hellenic neighbors. With it gradually overtime the once mighty Bulgarians lost knowledge of their former empire and ethnicity. It was the gradual erasure of intellectual and spiritual sovereignty pushed along by outsides forces.
This however began to change with the publication of Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya in 1762 by a priest named Saint Paisiy of Hilendar. It was an extensive work on the history of Bulgarians with some not-so-subtle political overtones. In other words, it was a call for independent thought and pride in one’s native culture.
“Oh, you unwise moron! Why are you ashamed to call yourself a Bulgarian and why don’t you read and speak in your native language? Weren’t Bulgarians powerful and glorious once? Didn’t they take taxes from strong Romans and wise Greeks? Out of all the Slavic nations they were the bravest one. Our rulers were the first ones to call themselves kings, the first ones to have patriarchs, the first ones to baptise their people.(…) Why are you ashamed of your great history and your great language and why do you leave it to turn yourselves into Greeks? Why do you think they are any better than you? Well, here you’re right because did you see a Greek leave his country and ancestry like you do?” – Свети Паисий Хилендарски
It is through these writings and the later actions of others that the Bulgarians were able to recover from the precarious position they were in. It was not first through the sword that their situation was able to change, but the cultivation of intellectual sovereignty through written text, the church, and ethnic organizations. Only after these things were established were they able to move on to the matter of autonomy. On a more fundamental level, the act of saying it should exist began the creation of it.
How do we achieve this “intellectual sovereignty” for ourselves? The Bulgarians story is different from ours after all in a number of ways. The simple version is it that we must cultivate pride and unique thought from our own people while also shutting out any others who wish to have a say. This is drawing a line in the sand, but anything less and what we create will be tainted by the ambitions and desires of others. What this misses is the “how” and the “danger” associated with it. Though I would argue the “how” is much easier thing to deal with than the other in terms of strategy.
The way to achieve the first part of the question of “how” is to foster an environment where national interests can be discussed openly. Where we decide as a community what is needed regardless of what others would think. It will be like riding a bike in that it will be slow to start and sometimes someone will fall, but eventually it becomes easier.
With this environment we must continue to amplify great writers and works from our past to further instill a feeling of national pride. We in fact already have something of our own national awakening document in Vruchanie by Alexander Dukhnovych. Though you would be hard pressed to find many who have read the full thing instead of the famous “I was, am, and will remain Rusyn”. Just like how Kobzar was in almost every Ukrainian household in the twentieth century, we must also make these texts as readily available as getting groceries.
A people without knowledgeable intellectuals and elders to lead them is like a chicken with its head cut off. Because of this we must also begin to foster the development of young and ambitious people to fill these roles. Take these paragraphs in a philosophical sense as well as literal. The actual approach for bringing this to the real world will be a complicated act in itself.
In practice this separation from other peoples has been done astonishingly well in a physical sense. Our cultural organizations are almost purely populated and run at the top levels by Rusyns. In fact I have never met someone who wasn’t at least somewhat Rusyn in heritage within any position of power. My concern with our organizations is not that of our bodies, but minds. Our almost complete extermination and the ethnocide of our culture with it since 1867 leaves an incredible scar in the Rusyn national consciousness. Whether we agree on the values of our former intellectuals like Maxim Sandovych or Alexander Dukhnovych, the fact remains that our former rulers have attempted to assimilate our people and erase our history.
These are serious words that you may believe to be hyperbole but think of what we have gone through. We were one of the first people in all of Europe to be put into concentration camps. The majority of our Lemko-Rusyn intellectuals were killed or starved to death at Thalerhof. This is not even mentioning the execution of Sandovych or the attempts of Magyarization of the Rusyns in the south that our intelligentsia were even warning about in 1851.
All of this is excluding everything past 1945, which in itself is a whole other complex issue to deal with. It is my belief that from these things we live in state of low-level fear of reprisal should we step outside of what is now considered “acceptable” discourse. Throwing aside our late start to a national awakening or inherent issues being a mountainous nation, this is above all the number one reason we have been unable to move forward as fast as many would have wanted in my opinion.
We know inherently nobody cares about our culture or issues to the same level as ourselves, but then leave it up for others to manage. One would think after all these years and horrid experiences Rusyns would go out of their way to make sure their political and cultural interests are met, but still we play the part of a toothless dog, afraid to give someone the slightest discomfort. It is pathetic, but understandable.
Not a single nation around us has ever once cared about our needs and desires to any real degree. Why should we bow down to that of theirs? Even our trusted “friends” in the Slovaks had not cared an ounce about us before their ascension to the EU. Now we gather a rather paltry sum of money from the cen-
tral government. This, when speaking with honesty, only divides our organizations more than it does unifying our people together. If we do not begin to assert ourselves now than when? The European Union may survive for another century or longer, but we cannot count on them forever. Empires rise and fall, nations form and disappear off the map, the key is to be strong enough to survive the worst of the cycle. While not the only way, the most reliable is through the strength of nationhood as it is institutional in nature.
Even as I write this, almost completely removed from that of our ancestors struggles, the fear of another Thalerhof, Soviet policy, or ethnic cleansing still remains in my outlook. It is almost without possibility to conceive a worldview that does not include it. Instead of cowering behind the guise of being apolitical, we can use this to our advantage. We know what being a minority is like and how bad it can get if things go awry. All of our choices have led up to now, let us use the knowledge from it to plan ahead. This does not need to, nor should it, be on a level of full-scale political revolution or any drastic matters such as that right now. Even small tweaks at first to our psyche can lead to great changes.
In this matter I encourage you to read the following chapters as a mind which is open to possibility. Plans and ideas seemingly inconceivable now may one day prove to be approachable. In comparison to the times of the Soviet Union our people and culture are much better off, but how good are they actually? The majority of our people still live in abject poverty, not to mention our greatest region of all by population, Transcarpathia, still under the thumb of ethnic suppression.
It is obvious to those in the know of Rusyn internal affairs that at the moment we do not wish for autonomy or political power. In fact it is almost a social taboo to bring up such ideas in a public space. However the purpose of this text is to not illustrate what we believe at the moment, but rather what we can become if we choose to. Whether I represent other Rusyns does not change the validity of my arguments.
Let us dream of a future where we are strong and respected people whose demands are taken seriously. Now more than any other recent era is the time to develop not just our culture, but our intellectual and political ambitions. Only when this is taken seriously will we be able to fully develop the consciousness of Rusyn nationhood.
POLITICAL REALITY
In geopolitics the only thing that truly matters is that of nations interests. Any sense of honor or morality is of lesser importance if even applicable at all. Importing any expectations of these when understanding a country’s actions is a recipe for disaster. Once this has been blasted into the ears of every Rusyn in the world we will be better off for it. Most of us know this from our own tumultuous history but somehow still act as non-political as we have ever been.
Even in the present day, over thirty years after the collapse of communism there are still no legitimate Rusyn political parties within any region of our homeland. This is in many ways unsurprising given our history. While all other nations around us in the 19th century began forming intellectual sovereignty and political organizations, we were far behind even with the work of Dukhnovych, Dobriansky, and many others.
It must also be noted here that even our national awakeners were on a fundamental level advocating for the unification or at least identification with a larger nation. This area is of course convoluted for a variety reasons, but it is a difference that sets the Slovak and Ukrainians national movements apart from ours.
As for the Lemkos in the north they were much more politically apt before Thalerhof and Akcja Wisla [Lemko Ethnocide] just thirty years later. Even after the first of the two events they still formed the Lemko Rusyn Republic with the eventual goal in mind to unite with Sub-Carpathian Rus’.
In the end all these other peoples around us were eventually able to secure independent states of their own while we have nothing except for our villages split among four different countries. We were too unorganized, underdeveloped, and unprepared for what the world would hit us with and it showed in the results.
The situation was of course more complicated than the few simple sentences above as all complex situations are. An interweaving mess of different reasons made a Rusyn awakening especially hard compared to those around us, but in the end this does not change the outcome. We were unable to secure any of our interests and because of it our people were wide open for the attacks and suppression that followed. All that is left to do is learn from the mistakes of those that came before us.
Sacrificing practicality for ideology in international politics is an easy way to destroy your intellectual and physical sovereignty. It is like a thick mist which covers your every move and touch, clouding the road ahead. The altruist will not see what something is, but for what he wants it to be. Most countries are driven by pragmatism rather than a fundamental philosophy in dealing with other nations, otherwise they will quickly fall behind the rest in power. Even ones with a strong ideological current in national politics fold when it suits their survival and strategic goals.
This does not mean countries are devoid of different desires and needs, but that they are pragmatists in achieving them. We have the Arabian gulf states to see this happen in real life. For decades they pushed back against Israel publicly, calling out to the Palestinian people and pretending or sometimes genuinely trying to be the champions of their cause.
There is almost no doubt on a public level that the Arab populations of these countries did and still do believe in that cause, however they are not the most important group in this situation. It is a nation’s leadership that actually makes decisions, not the general population.
While the public persona of the Gulf countries was one of complete uncompromising aggression, these governments were sharing intelligence and working strategically with Israel behind the scenes against what they saw as their biggest enemy in Iran. For many, the official announcements earlier this year were just a formality. Now with the normalization of relations between them it seems all too likely that an Arab state’s hand in helping Palestinians is slowly trickling away. For the people that relied on Pan-Arab ideology for support, in the end the reality of geopolitics reared its ugly head. I say this as a warning to us as we move forward into an era in which we are finally able to bring our own desires to the table.
We do not even need all of these other examples, Rusyn history reveals it easily to us. Whether it be Russia’s backstabbing in 1945, Poland’s expulsion of Lemkos from Lemkovyna, or the Austrian mass murder of our intelligentsia at Thalerhof, not one state has proved to be reliable. It is with this mindset that we must begin to look inwards to establishing our own political thought.
There is one place where ideology and morality can work on a large scale, the nation. While international relations is molded by chaos and desire the inner workings of a people is substantially more stable and with it, malleable. It is only because of this shared future, culture, and identity that morality and ideology can creep into the collective consciousness. Without it the landscape again forms to a lower level of anarchy and desire. Any balkanization of a country is an easy example of such a process on a smaller scale.
To have a strong nation internally there must therefore be a powerful ideology or way of being that binds each other together. Think of it as like the metaphysical foundation of a building keeping catastrophe at bay. A healthy one can survive the earthquakes and heavy storms that will eventually come, while a weak one will be blown away.
Because of this it is of the highest importance that leaders do not only minimize the concealment of truth to their own people than what is absolutely necessary, but also form an ideology that can continue to bind people together. Each successive scandal or strategic misstep when combined with incompetency chips away at that foundation until there is enough anger and resentment to warrant actions such as revolution and division. So the question then becomes, how do you balance between the two arenas?
It is essential to realize that you can never be truly honest with your intentions except for those that you trust completely or if it serves a useful purpose. This in practice means obfuscation to outsiders, or simply called lying. While obviously not right in a moral sense if one is to play the game and have a chance at winning then this is what must be done. Every single government obfuscates their intentions on the international stage for a myriad of reasons, however instead of blindly following the lead of others we must ask why.
If another nation knows your intentions then they will be able to plan against you effectively. Take the situation of Ukraine and Rusyns as a prime example. Though activists usually do not like to think of it in such a way, we are fighting an ideological conflict for survival while they are up against a geopolitical problem. In this I mean there can only be one winner, either Rusyns will exist with some level of autonomy or eventually become Ukrainians.
Because of these high stakes neither side will play by the rules as there is too much to lose. If the Ukrainian government knew our strategy and objectives they could theoretically counter us with their hundreds of times amount of resources before we even had a chance to act. This is then effectively a strategic loss for us as there is no chance of being able to match their funding and manpower. In this case one could argue if obfuscating your intentions is morally justifiable or not, but that isn’t the point of politics or conflict. What matters first and above all else is the ability to attain and sustain strategic goals. There is no consolation prize for the nation that is the most morally upright. Generally the people that would get such a thing would also be the ones to get their heads chopped off first.
How all of this relates to Rusyns is this, we must grow and practice wielding political power. It is because of the very nature of the international world and the respect we must give ourselves that this must be done. Otherwise once again we will be at the mercy of another people’s interests that may not always turn in our favor.
Another central question needed to be asked is if we respect ourselves enough to play the game of politics. Not doing so is essentially stating at a subconscious level that our people and culture are less important than others. Stepping up to the plate may cause a stir and concern by our neighbors, but this I believe is a necessary step to be taken seriously. Nothing ever gained in life is without conflict in some way. Only once we are at the negotiating table will Rusyns be respected, until then we will continue to be viewed as an interesting doormat.
We must also ask ourselves why policies of suppression were enacted upon us. Whether it be Austria in 1916 or Ukraine today I believe it is because of the threat that is posed to their interests if we gather a stronger national consciousness. Whether it be because of the fear of Russian annexation and dissolution in the case of the Austrians or the need to keep a fragile state together in both ideology and geography with Ukraine, it has always followed the same pattern. Being non-political does not merely limit our potential, but in fact has and will continue to help those that are working against us. The time for others to control our destiny needs to be over.
How this happens in real world is by a process of baby steps over the next decade at the very least. Because of our historical suppression careening off towards something like the autonomous vote in 1991 without actual political power will only end up in disaster. Rusyn political consciousness is weak, so it must be fostered through the lower levels first before moving on to bigger fish.
On the top of the list is actually informing our general population through a network of patriots throughout the different areas of the homeland. As many political parties as we want can be formed, but if there is no supporting base then it is a pointless endeavor. They must be taught the value of being intellectually and politically sovereign, and once that is learned it must be fostered so that it can further take root. The second most important thing is the formation of political parties by ethnic lines. Only the majority has the ability to form parties based on ideological grounds, doing so in the case of a minority will only split the little influence they actually have, rendering them even weaker. From these party formations our goal is not to influence government on a national level, but regional. This is because of two reasons, by the grace of god we still remain the majority within the areas of our homeland so the need to advocate to a central authority is not as important, and because we will never have the strength to effect national policy decisions on any serious level.
A congressman or two in a national assembly is a valuable asset, but the regional parliament, mayor seats, and low-level government positions is where a true power base can be formed. First we must capture the minds of those within our ethnic borders before moving out and making demands outside of it. Once these regional powerbases have been established they are now able to be used to push the agenda of the Rusyn people that before wasn’t even possible in the wildest of dreams.
This of course requires an actual plan and formation of goals that most can agree on, but in all honesty this is the easy part. Because we are so behind those around us the blueprint has already been laid out. Greater use of the Rusyn language, protection of historical ethnic territory, minimum ability for self- government, and many others are all basic things that can be agreed upon quickly. How to accomplish them with newly created power is a different story.
Not a single nation in which we reside will be excited about our political development. Let them be concerned and question our motives. If nobody is opposed to you then that means what is being fought for is not of real consequence. Going down this path will be uncomfortable and at some steps dangerous, but the alternative of being powerless and unable to defend ourselves from whatever challenges lay ahead is a far worse fate.
FUNDING SOVEREIGNTY
No people is truly free in thought or action if they are funded at any level by another nation or interest group. This is because of the simple fact that once you become reliant on another’s money to fund your institutions then their voice matters. In other words, one is no longer able to be free to govern themselves as they choose without fear of having the cash flow being pulled. Reliance on foreign capital also opens the door to foreign influence on not just the political level but cultural as well.
When one is at the mercy of another’s support do they feel that they can risk angering the person who is giving them money? Of course not, doing so would result in near certain economic suicide. Instead they probably bite their tongue and grind their teeth until their reliance on the other is over.
In international politics this unbalanced relationship is enacted frequently between the first and developing worlds. Though it is also not uncommon to happen between a majority and minority within a country. It takes many forms and is almost always disguised in a layer of bureaucratic fakeness by the party with the upper hand. No amount of paperwork and propaganda however can hide the real results of such schemes. The strategy is simple, a first world country will give military, foreign aid, or both to a poor country generally in Africa or Latin America. On the surface this looks wonderful and makes everyone want to sing kumbaya with each other, but in reality this money is not given out of the goodness of people’s hearts. Nothing in politics ever is.
In exchange for the money given these governments are supposed to do what the powerful country wants. This could mean a variety of areas ranging from voting at the United Nations, civil rights, allowing foreign companies to mine minerals at no cost, to changing national and local government policies.
If the poor nation does not follow their lead then serious consequences could happen even besides the pulling of that oh so sweet money. If you won’t play by the rules, then they will go fund your opposition or insurgency group that will.
To be clear, not all of these rather transactional relationships are inherently subverting in nature. A good example of an actually well-intentioned deal was Norway’s payments to Brazil to stop deforestation of the Amazon rainforest before they suspended payments in 2019. In all they had donated over 1.2 billion US dollars’ worth of money for the cause.
There were probably even more strings than what we know of attached behind the scenes, but this was what one could say was a real humanitarian deal. What must be realized as a caveat to this deal though, is that Brazil never needed to rely on this money for stability. If the average 33 million dollars a year payment evaporated it would have been like losing a ten-dollar bill, it hurts but not life threatening. To give a better picture of what the funding’s relation was to the general economy, Brazil’s total Gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 was 1.84 trillion US dollars. In economic and world influence terms, the two countries were closer to being equal in nature even if the average Brazilian is poorer.
Where this relates to Rusyns is in a few different ways. The first is the funding of our organizations by the government of Slovakia. As for knowing the internal politics on that matter within various organizations I will admit my knowledge is limited, and because of it this chapter will be approaching the topic from a more psychological perspective instead of the current scene. Before you continue reading ask yourself two questions. What do you believe the reason is for Slovakia funding minority organizations? Second, what power does this funding give the Slovak government over us?
The truth is that we cannot bite the hand that feeds us. A large part of the reason why we even have Rusyn schools or any larger funding at all is because of government funding. Not one of our organizations would be able to replace them, even if they wanted to. Should we choose to step outside the Overton window at any point they can in theory pull any money directed towards us. This would probably cause a stir within the European community and Rusyns alike but from a legal point of view it is not hard to label an organization separatist, terrorist, etc. Slovakia has already disregarded a number of so called “official” EU laws without almost any consequences. Whether they value their own laws more remains to be seen.
We are kept in a narrow box of what is best for the Slovak government because the management of our institutions relies on it. How supportive the average Slovak is to our cause means little in comparison. It can also be said that this has created a dichotomy where what many of us think is not the same as what can be said out loud. Politics has always come with obfuscation and lies but many times at least each player generally has an idea of what the other wants. Right now our problem is that we have even let the public discussion become the private discussion where nobody really has any idea what we move forward on. This is without even mentioning how the desire for funding pits different Rusyn organizations against each other. Another game that only divides all of us further.
Outsider funding also hampers the ability to learn as a culture to be self-sufficient. It should be our job and ours alone to raise money for the projects we want, the organizations we support, and buildings needed to be built. I must admit this is a philosophical point and not economic, however there are beneficial reasons to have such a belief.
Funding community projects and to a wider extent each other is a valuable community builder. The library in Medzilaborce funded by diaspora and built-in connection with those still in the homeland will always win out over the church in Tichý Potok built from Slovak funding in sentimentality and community engagement. This all goes without even mentioning the undercurrent of pride that comes with doing everything by yourself.
We must ask ourselves how reliant on others we want to be. I am of the belief that at some point in the near future we should be fully independent of all monetary aid and pathetic lump sums from governments to fund institutions. This would mean a drastic overhaul of how we see ourselves as community, however it is a necessary step if we desire to grow stronger as a community. We cannot simply turn into a powerful diaspora and self-funding culture like the Armenians or Israel and the rest of the Jewish world have, but this does not mean there aren’t steps to take.
The first change is capitalizing on the wealth of the Rusyn diaspora. It is already done to some extent but in comparison to what it could be is a numerically pathetic amount. The way to do this is so easy in theory yet almost never done.
We must develop real tangible projects that have results that can be seen to people. These must be very precise and measurable so that people feel confident in sending money. Otherwise like random pleas of foreign aid to Africa or others in the same vein, they will be seen as a corrupt money pit.
Funding cultural activity centers, children’s camps, and scholarships are a few of the many things that can be done that have real world results. Aside from a few past projects such as the Rusyn language schools in Transcarpathia until they closed, there are almost no tangible ways to donate towards some worthwhile in the homeland. If we are able to slowly improve upon this, then it would open doors that we don’t even have knowledge of right now.
There must also be the development of a better entrepreneurial culture within the homeland and diaspora. Rusyns are on the whole a relatively poor ethnic group in comparison to our neighbors. This is understandable given our history and native terrain, but it isn’t conducive to being economically or political sovereign in this era.
A people that has wealth has a voice, no matter how much other groups wish to silence them. We may never get to the wealth levels of the Poles or Slovaks as they have real states behind their people, but there is much room to grow from where we are sitting. It is a long multi-generational timeline, but if provided the effort and strategy needed there could be success for us. This means in practice teaching the younger generations the value and how-to of business and economics. Just like learning a new language, these things will not simply appear out of nowhere, it must be studied and practiced.
Whether this be through programs, various courses, business training centers, or other ways it is up to the local Rusyns of that area to decide what fits best for them and with it the support of not only other native communities but also the diaspora as well. It is also important to put a higher value on business skills within our community. We should be pushing kids and young adults who have the skills to aim for their own business or a technical career.
The danger with this however is the possibility of an even more rapid depopulation of our ethnic villages as people seek greener pastures in the cities. Because of this we must aim to change the angle from moving away to creating something at home. Instead of opening up a business in Bratislava or Kosice, encourage people to do it in their hometown or at least somewhere that is close by. There is no doubt that this must be done through not just culture incentives, but monetary ones as well.
It is a fine balance between retaining our culture and adapting to the current day, but what can be said is that what has worked in the past isn’t working well today and probably won’t in the future. Should we apply these changes to ourselves, there is no doubt we will move closer to financial independence and with it, intellectual sovereignty.
LEMKOVYNA
There can be no greater wound to a nation than being removed from their homeland. Without the soil that was tended to by their ancestors they become ungrounded and unable to close the gash through the heart no matter how many bandages are placed over it. It passes on through one generation to the next like a genetic disease unable to be fully removed or cured.
Unlike the Rusyns of Subcarpathia our Lemko brothers and sisters have experienced such a fate themselves. For the past seventy years Lemkovyna has been essentially wiped from the map. Though a paltry sum of Rusyns returned a decade after the 1947 ethnic cleansing codenamed Operation Wisla, they are still a minority in their old homeland or scattered about western Poland. Barely any villages actually remain Lemko at all, with the majority being either eradicated or replaced by Poles.
In a larger picture this is also just another example of realpolitik in action. The Polish will deny their involvement and place the blame squarely on the Russians; however we all know there was no widespread resistance or outcry by them for it to be stopped. Even today they do not go out of their way to apologize for such actions, instead calling it an unfortunate incident of the time.
It is also another dagger through the heart that it was ordered by Russia in the first place. For so long we had looked up to them, even had our leaders like Sandovych and others interned in Thalerhof die for their closeness to the Russian Empire, only to be stabbed in the back when it was politically beneficial. I have already discussed the question of Lemkos as Rusyns in Our Vision and how in reality they are in the end of overall less strategic importance than Subcarpathian Rus’. However, if they should continue to be thought of as an integral part of our people and culture then it is worth discussing what can be done to make their situation more viable.
Even if it is politically out of touch to ask, why should we not try to repopulate Lemkovyna? Aside from the obvious financial and technical difficulties what philosophical reasons is there to not try an attempt to do so? There is no political law or gun at our heads forcing us to turn back and away towards a foreign place. It is not an act of conquest either, but a reclaiming of what is rightly ours. In fact, I am of the opinion that if we do not attempt to repopulate the homeland then we are almost certainly guaranteed a long death from assimilation.
For every Lemko house in Silesia or western Poland there are five Polish houses around it. In school everyone speaks Polish and a child will learn Polish history and culture. While the grandparent may remember what set themselves apart what will the grandchild know besides stories of that time?
This is the way of most small displaced ethnic groups throughout time. For a few generations afterwards the elders and activists will try to keep the language and traditions alive, but they will get smaller before finally fading away. It only hurts us being around other Slavs as that makes it easier to be assimilated than if we were for example around the French or Spaniards. The further away you are from the culture, the more you realize how different you are.
Lemkos could one day be known as a historical footnote like the Kipchaks, Lipka Tatars, and other tribes that are nearly lost to history. We won’t go out with a bang like Wisla, but a quiet whimper as the last who care die off. It will be this way if our ways aren’t changed. For those that care enough to continue on there is only one question that still remains. What is to be done?
A reality that a Rusyn patriot must come to grips with is that the masses will not move somewhere due to pure nationalism alone. Even groups much stronger in ethnic identity than us such as the Armenians are unable to capitalize on this pride and have diaspora move back to their homeland in large numbers. This is to say that while this call to a form of patriotism may work on the most strident Rusyn nationalists there must be different strategy for the non-political individual.
To be proven successful two things must be focused on above all others, economic and social viability. The reality is that a Lemko in Silesia with a nice house and decent wage will be unlikely to move their family back to Lemkovyna if it economically disadvantageous to do so. If life is good then there is little reason to change things if ethnic identity is not something that is overly important to a person. Another factor they will also ponder on is the knowledge that it will be in essence a foreign land where there is no one that knows them.
Leaving all friends and family behind is not a small decision to make for any average person. As people are inherently cautious in spirit when it comes to these matters, in order for a complete move to be attractive there must be one of two choices that is fulfilled. The first is for the potential to be so great that it outweighs the risks, and the second is to have such a safety net in place that it is hard to fail.
Unless we have unlimited gold in our mountains or develop the next Silicon Valley then the first option is likely out of the question. This leaves the second as our only clear way to develop a strategy at the moment. On a basic level this plan would include job placement, cheap land acquisition, Rusyn language courses, and well-mannered individuals designated as community connections for people to talk to and ask for help.
Though not directly stating no others are allowed to apply, these services would be available to Lemko-Rusyns in Poland and the United States only. Including others would philosophically go against our entire mission. The path is simple in theory, not unlike that of the Israeli law of return. How to setup and maintain an operation of such size is another matter entirely.
The factor of cost is something that cannot be easily solved. Even a basic program would probably run at the level of 15 million USD or more for five hundred to one thousand returnees per year. It is not a question of what funding source should be chosen, but what ratios it should be. The most beneficial but unstable avenue is wealthy donors.
They can make a world of difference but be gone in the time of a phone call. Because of this we must have diversified sources of income and donations. The North American diaspora populations, wealthy Rusyn businessmen, crowdfunding, are all suitable for this. Not only funding should be diversified, but also at the organization level as well. More than one group should be attempting to accomplish these goals so that if one falls then everything doesn’t collapse. It should only be a contest in the meaning of who can attract more people and do a better job supporting them.
At the end of the day we are all one people and in this together until the bitter end if it should come. If this is accomplished in an efficient and productive way then there is little doubt we will see Lemkos returning and drastically changing the political landscape of the area.
Having a sizeable population return is only the first step in a long process. Once our people have come back the next question becomes how to keep them there and further solidify a cohesive culture. Another unfortunate truth is that the older someone is the less likely they are able to be convinced of something new. The end goal of the first step is not to have the adults return, but to bring their family with them. While the past few generations have experienced life outside of Lemkovyna, this would be the first generation to be raised away from it. They are the minds we must try and influence the most. To teach them their heritage in an almost entirely Lemko-Rusyn environment will forever cement the pride of their history and culture in a way no once a week Saturday class or Vatra can.
Only once this first generation has grown up together are we able to take our foot off the pedal an ounce. Until then the mindset must be that of being endangered and at risk of complete assimilation. We cannot rest until this have been achieved because the longer it has been since 1947 the harder it will be to do.
At this moment one may ask questions of national or regional autonomy however this is like putting the cart before the horse. Such questions must be asked from a position of strength, and we are certainly in no position to ask at the moment or even within the next decade or two. Whether Lemkos actually want to attempt such a project is an entirely other question in itself and up to them to decide. But like almost everything in the Rusyn world, sometimes desires need to be projected onto a wider scale than what they are now. I can think of no greater and more honorable mission than returning and caring for the home of your ancestors .
It takes only a small percentage of a people to change the world to how they want it. The road to a favorable outcome is long and fraught with danger and chance for failure. Always remember the reasons why we must embark on such a treacherous journey. Remind yourself of what could be if we succeed. The generations afterwards that will know no nothing of the feeling of being removed from their homeland. That is a dream that should be made into reality.
DEFINING DUTY
What “duty” means in relation to a nation is always a tricky subject to discuss. The balance between the individual and collective is many times in direct competition with one another. Helping a neighbor build a house or feeding a family out of work may not be in the best interest of yourself.
After all, that time could be better spent having fun or whatever other endeavors sound more appealing. I believe this view is at best shortsighted. When the hyper-individualist dies there will be nothing left truly memorable of their life, and no one will likely remember them once they are gone. This may be fine to some, but the question becomes then, what was the point of doing anything at all? Only when a person bears the shared responsibility of their community that their life transcends that of pure greed and desire. With it they become part of an idea bigger than themselves and something that can survive the test of time. We intrinsically know this desire for connection with something greater than ourselves is beneficial from a biological level too.
Since the dawn of humanity we have formed groups, and from that eventually tribes and nations. If one was without a community then it meant almost certain death for them at worst, or a hard ragged life at best. This is not a moral justification but one of survival.
In the present day one does not need to be worried about being ostracized in the village as they can move to a different one. Bandits will not attack you as you sleep in the forest alone anymore. There must also be a deeper meaning for us to still hold it to that same high value.
Finding our culture and history valuable is an important part of the puzzle, but this skips over the most basic and strongest justification there is. No one can choose their own family but in the end they are the ones who are with you until the very end. Regardless of if wanted or not, they will also experience the same discrimination, hardships, and challenges from others that you do.
Hopefully they have also taken the time and resources to give you the knowledge and tools to succeed with the hope that one day you will do the same to them and their descendants. A social contract intended to life everyone up higher than they would be otherwise. It is then not just the struggle of the individual but of society as well. Looking at it from this angle it can be seen as not a duty to strangers, but that of distant cousins.
My definition of what duty means in relationship to the average man and woman is as follows:
The duty of a Rusyn is to advance their culture and nation’s future the best they reasonably can.
The culture part of this statement is the easiest of the two to define. Examples of an individual advancing a culture is funding literature, media, organizations, making your own art, and a host of other activities. However the second part of the statement in regard to the duty towards the future is one that must be examined in greater depth.
The benefits and privilege of being a Rusyn comes at a great responsibility. Not only the weight of our generation but all future ones are metaphorically on our backs. This sounds hyperbole at first glance, but whose actual responsibility is it then? Surely the Poles couldn’t care less about us or our future, and I doubt the Slovaks do either in any real regard. If not them, then who?
There is only one true answer to this question. We must acknowledge that there is a common duty that lies squarely on our shoulders and ours alone. Everything can be alright now when things are peaceful, but as soon as the sound of war drums hit the eardrums then it is every nation for themselves. It is much easier to feign care of something when you have no problems at home to grab your attention.
I believe we also have a greater responsibility as a nation that must always be put to the forefront of everyone’s minds. It is our duty to the future generations and ourselves to never allow another disaster twentieth century to ever happen to us again. What this means in practice is that we must be proactive rather than reactive. In other words, plan for the expected and be ready to survive the unexpected.
We cannot sit back and watch the seasons go by as happened in the past. Instead our duty is to plan ahead for the future should instability or danger come to our lands. This means planting the seeds of the apple tree now, so when the famine comes there is still something to eat. Ask yourself this question, without the EU where would we be today? By my estimation probably not extinct, but considerably less protected or culturally active than now. While no one sees the disintegration of the EU on the horizon it could happen someday, and we must be prepared for it. Crazier things in history have happened, we only need to look at the Soviet Union in 1989 to see evidence of that. However the collapse of the EU is not the only problem to worry about for the long-term future. In ten years if Ukraine implements an even stricter policy towards Rusynophiles what would be our action plan? The fact is we have none at the moment. It is these two questions themselves that should be enough to understand the importance of protecting the future, never mind the duty that I would argue needs to be associated with it.
Without question this is the path we have continued walking down at our own risk. If nothing is done then we will have failed the duty that has been placed upon us. The question that now needs to be asked, is how much pain we are willing to endure to fulfill it.
PRIDE IN YOUR SOCIETY
Pride and respect of a culture is essential to the continuation of it. This may read as obvious at first glance, but an important question arises when the statement is fully thought through. Why should one be prideful of something they have not actually done themselves?
A person’s first thought about what it means to be proud of something is usually towards a personal accomplishment. This is almost completely opposite when it relates to culture as most things people are prideful of happened before they were born. Without an obvious answer this reverence towards the past is often represented as a tribalistic impulse. In other words, a primitive and uncivilized part of the brain that should be solved or eradicated. There are, however, tangible answers that rise far above the animalistic nature within all of us. The first is that of familial connection and connected with it the collective ownership of a people’s culture and history.
Everything that has come out of a culture has been influenced by the people who lived inside it. Therefore at a fundamental level the individual and society are inseparable from each other. While every individual is unique, they are still a product of their time and place. This can be understood because of the relationship between upbringing, thought, and action. Someone raised in America from the time they were born until the age of eighteen will have its social norms, views, and memories ingrained into their minds for the rest of their life. Every single action will therefore be based on them in some way.
Think of a child who has only experienced war and conflict throughout his life versus someone who has never seen a bloodied sword or gun. Without ever experiencing anything else he will see this as the natural state of the world. From this he might save extra food, be more distrusting of others, and see violence as a more acceptable way to end a dispute, while the other kid has the complete opposite actions and beliefs. Does this mean they are incapable of self-autonomy or that what they have done is not a product of their own work? No, but it does mean that their environment permanently molded them and gave a rubric to follow.
A society’s history, expectations, and morals all have an effect on what the individual is allowed to do. Since a society is made up of a collection of people, on a more basic level each person changes the lives of others as well. It is not a top to bottom system, but in fact the opposite.
This process of culture to action can be seen at the macro level between countries as well. Some may value advancement over tradition more than others, freedom over security, it can be a host of any number of combinations. Some zip codes within California have eclipsed the Arab world by a factor of 10x in terms of technological inventions, but when it comes to Islamic philosophy there is no more productive place than Arabia. This is not stated as a judgement of what each society values, but to show how it can steer its most capable people in specific directions. One person might become a Bishop in a certain place but an Imam in the other depending on the society. If any two nations are compared these differences can be seen no matter the combination. To fully grasp the connection this has in regard to pride we must go from the esoteric to a more relatable example.
Think of being proud of your people’s history and culture as akin to being proud of one’s brother or sister achieving something truly profound. In a general sense you are not necessarily proud of yourself but of those that are connected to you. It is also true in an ancestral sense (if not literal as well in some cases) that everyone of us is a cousin to one another. Would one criticize an individual for being proud of their families’ accomplishments?
Perhaps, but I would argue being proud of something someone else has done that you have a connection to isn’t wrong but instead a healthy sign of a family. Though at this stage if someone were to argue against such a thing of fundamental importance then it is unlikely the person would have any interest in this book or its ideas at all.
When we understand that a nation is just a larger scale family it is not hard to follow to where a sense of pride comes from. I will go so far as to say that a lack of pride of one’s history and culture indicates something extremely wrong in a society. If someone sees nothing to be prideful about their nation then why would they continue it into the future? The answer is that they would not. This explanation may work for some already, but the second part of its importance must be understood as well to have the full picture.
The ownership of a culture and the responsibility that comes with is essential to understanding not just the reason, but utility in being proud of it. In contrast to the first argument for the positivity of pride which is from a more sociological mindset, there is a more pragmatic argument. Think of the collective ownership of a culture as akin to a family run art gallery and museum. This is to say that you were born into it with the expectation to one day run it yourself, similar to being born into a society that you didn’t choose.
Within each room of the museum is artwork and writings on display from your ancestors. As for the art gallery, this space is work you or others in your family have created. You could always hang paintings in the art gallery, but once the keys to the museum are given to you when the older caretaker retires it is now the responsibility of your generation to care for the place and decide when to replace a historical artwork in the museum with something newer and better of yours. Too much change however and nobody will be interested in a collection of purely new artwork. If someone wanted that they would go to the art gallery instead. Regardless of those choices it is also still your job to take care of the place and pieces even if they are in the backroom.
If one is not careful then cobwebs will start to grow and water may leak through the backdoors, damaging the artwork and manor inside. A few generations of neglect and the whole place will crumble and destroy what rests inside. You have probably guessed by now the connection that this example has with real life.
A younger generation’s responsibility for their nations culture is much like that of a family owned and produced art gallery and museum. Deciding what stays and goes in a culture is akin to deciding what sculpture should be on display, and with it the need to make sure things do not slip into chaos. An individual should also take pride in their stewardship if they want their own artwork to be hanging on the wall once they are gone. One day our grandchildren will look back on our work and put it in the same category with things that are archaic even to us now. In other words, much like our predecessors what we do will also fall into the background of Rusyn history. We are not simply islands floating in space, but another link in a chain of generations stretching back a thousand years.
It is only when this is understood that the knowledge of ownership can be fully realized. Without it not only the past, but the future too will crumble away.
WESTERNIZATION OF THE HOME
What can be described as the central building block of any nation is the health of the home. In saying this I mean the standard definition of parents, kids, and possibly their grandparents, though other family dynamics could apply as well. To be more specific, the psychological representation of those within your immediate family or private domain.
Think of a nation as that of a pyramid built from various levels. The lowest being the most foundational, and the top only able to be achieved through what lies below it. Should any level be halfway out then the structure will be crooked and unable to reach the height that it once had. This in effect is the same as a society that is missing a core element to their pyramid. And with that comes instability and a breeding ground for disaster. To move from the figurative to the real world let us take an example of a ruined and dysfunctional family.
For the sake of ease imagine three young children and two parents within the home. Now take whatever representation of the father you had and add persistent drug abuse and neglect of his spouse and offspring. This can happen with the mother, but since I am a male I better understand the scenario from this perspective.
In the case of the wife she will be emotionally scarred from the abuse, and though in most cases undeservedly, will also likely feel guilty on some level for damage inflicted on her children. When we turn specifically to the three young kids then the outcomes can become much more severe.
Having a connection so archaic and vital as that between a parent and child severely damaged at such a young age changes an individual for the rest of their life. Those that experience such a thing by all metrics have lower life expectancy, higher chance of mental illness, higher chance of alcoholism, and many more harrowing predictions. Not to mention the effect it will have on any future relationships.
To any onlooker this is obviously something that will have long ranging negative impacts on society at large. Besides the trauma itself it also creates a collection of broken people who are in all likelihood not able to contribute to their nation as best as they could have otherwise. With this the real question becomes, if someone does not have a stable and loving home setting, then why would they have the time or energy to care about society at large?
Even though it is not the wider publics job in a literal sense to protect someone in this position, there is a shared responsibility for producing a healthy environment for the next generation. In this way a society has truly failed someone.
Following this thread of thought, we can also see the breakdown of cultural transfer from one generation to the next. Parents are by far the most effective transfers of societal knowledge that any child will have in their life. Neither school nor any other social setting has the same level of potential if parenting is done in an effective way. Without this element the wisdom and tradition of previous iterations is lost in the process. When that has occurred over a long time the chance of regaining it once again is impossible in its truest form.
These things can be learned through a person’s own search for knowledge, but the authenticity of it has been in a way broken. Like reviving an extinct language, the standard book version may remain, but the accents and quirks of native speakers is gone. It is also true that people who have no knowledge of their history are ripe to believe anything because they have nothing to base themselves on.
Think of a nation’s culture and history as akin to that of a lie detector. Someone without any knowledge of pyramid schemes may get sucked into one assuming the best intentions of the scammer. Now on the other hand you are not so easily suspectable because your grandfather got fooled fifty years ago by the same guys and has talked about it many times. Now move from the pyramid scheme to awful political ideas and you can understand how this works on the national level.
A healthy family will do nothing but raise a country upwards. When the home is quiet then the loud struggles of the outside world can begin to be faced. This should become apparent to those that look within our own history. Ask yourself this question before continuing on to the rest of this chapter. How did the Rusyn identity survive through the communist period and now propaganda from the Ukrainian state?
Those that were able to keep our nation alive did so through the only place that was safe, the home. When a child had to act as though they were Ukrainian at school, their parents were there to tell them what a Rusyn was. They were there to help them learn our language, food, and customs so that the next generation would know.
It was only through this foundation when all else had been eradicated that we were able to grow through grassroots activism and be where we are today. By and large, those that did not have this believed what the state told them and think of themselves as Ukrainian today. There is no reason they would think anything else because they had nothing else to compare it to.
It is because of this very reason that those that aim to oppress a nation target the family. As a real-world example this can be clearly seen in the Native American minorities within the United States. First they were killed and displaced from their homeland and sent across the country to remote areas completely foreign. This effectively cut the physical ties that they had with their ancestors.
If the first part weren’t already horrific enough, native children were also sent to what could be essentially described as reeducation camps under the guise of the name “residential schools” far away from their parents or relatives. They were old enough to learn but not knowledgeable or wise enough to know the ethnocide happening right in front of them.
We may lose all else, but if this one foundation layer of family survives then there is always a chance to build the floors above it. Think of it as akin to a plant being cut down. As long as the roots still remain the plant may be able to grow back. It is in this context that we can now begin to talk about the duty that each individual has to the family.
A Rusyn’s primary duty above all other social responsibilities should be that of the family and home if they care about the propagation of Rusyn culture. Taking on this responsibility shows in itself an incredible love for one’s people and culture. It is neither that easy nor a particularly glorified responsibility but absolutely essential. We can look at this area in a traditional sense of four separate roles that must be played. The relationship with elders, children, spouse, and siblings.
Respecting one’s elders or in a more general sense those older than you, is at this point a cliché of any conservative society (which Carpatho-Rusyn culture undoubtedly still is), however this point rings true for a reason. While one could argue that old age does not indicate wisdom, you can only find it in those that have made it that far.
There is weight in the argument of merely following the tradition of those that came before you. Even if the act itself is not true in a literal sense, it still grounds you within your historical past. This again limits the chance of drastic social and political change which almost always results in bloodshed and social decay.
This angle is not the one I personally see as the best way to frame the argument. The relationship with one’s elders should not be seen on an individual level but that of ones connection to their heritage itself. From this slight change of thought it can begin to become understood that it is the importance of the act itself that matters the most rather than the person it is directed towards. In the Anglosphere and the rest of the western world this has been lost to a great degree. We can see this because of the way they treat their parents and grandparents.
Once someone enters old age and becomes a so called “burden” most of the time these individuals are shipped off to an elderly care center or retirement home. Not to mention general disdain for the baby boomers from the younger populations we can begin to see a trend. On a metaphysical level this illuminates the care of the average person towards their culture and history.
In essence the previous generation is locked away and unable to continue to pass on knowledge to not just their children, but grandchildren as well. This can also further be linked to the idea of liberalism and social progress within western societies where an ever-shrinking importance is placed on the history and culture and decades past.
This dynamic like all relationships is not a one-way street. It is not purely the younger generation’s fault for this decline in value of tradition. In fact, most of the blame can be placed squarely on that of the older generation’s shoulders. We must not forget it was under their watch that we saw the collapse of many of these core attributes to traditional American society. The respect for Christianity was severely weakened and replaced with nothing to fill the vacuum. They failed as both elders and parents.
It is also true that in almost every statistical category their offspring are worse off while still having the same expectations as their predecessors. This is not even mentioning the so-called “gig economy” which has led to many being underemployed even if they have college degrees. A cultural analysis of this older generation’s incompetency could be a whole chapter on itself, but this is not the purpose of this book. What should be taken from this scenario is the failure of not just one, but two roles within the home. That of the elders and children.
My reason for bringing up this western example is a simple one. With the ascension of a large part of our population to the EU, and their involvement within Ukraine the powerful forces of westernization will become stronger over time. They will undoubtedly continue to push their values on to us until it will be too hard to decline, whether it be for political or economic reasons. This can be easily seen in its treatment of the Visegrad group and their opposing ideologies.
Having knowledge of the outcome regarding such policies in their own societies we must fight against this ideological enemy at all costs. The time to plan is before it truly has its talons in our society, otherwise it will be substantially harder to turn back the clock when these ideas are ingrained and supported by a state that is not run by our own.
In doing so we will not only ensure the building block of our nation remains strong, but also the continuation of our intellectual sovereignty.
DUTY TO THE BRAINWASHED
An individual’s first reaction when confronted with a Ukrainophile Rusyn is usually a mix of frustration and rage. They are in essence denying that we our own people by holding such of view after all. It is as preposterous as saying Ukrainians are Russians, an irony usually lost on these same people.
At first glance their statements are untenable and when further examining them they are even less noteworthy. However debunking these pitiful arguments is not the reason of why I am dedicating this chapter to them. It is about something deeper than countering theories or arguments. I believe even though these individuals may have in one way turned their backs on us, it is not as simple as it would appear, and we still have a sacred duty to help enlighten them to the truth.
When it comes to Rusyns who grew up within the homeland, it should be assumed such inaccurate views regarding us is residue from brainwashing rather than an inherent flaw or traitorous nature of the person in question. This is not to say that we should allow insults and derision of our identity, but it is important to also view our recent history in regard to these situations.
It can be said without question that we endured a half-century long state sanctioned campaign that desired to eradicate the Rusyn identity completely. To know who you are but have no government institution recognize it is akin to a societal version of schizophrenia. Being able to juggle these things could drive anyone to insanity if pushed far enough.
Acts such as these by foreign actors are not easily forgotten. For a small mountainous people fighting against an overwhelming force it is a miracle there is a single Rusyn still walking the earth today and shows the tenacity of our people. We must use this knowledge of the past to reach out from a place of compassion rather than disgust and anger. Some of our felly countrymen have not been as lucky as we have. For their entire lives these people have been lied to and removed from their heritage by every institution that has ruled over them.
Whether it be because of true betrayal by a relative or another long list of reasons the truth was unable to stay visible. This fact alone makes the situation a horrible tragedy in itself. To think of how much history and culture has been lost could make even the hardest of men shed a tear.
Like guiding a person by the hand who is lost in the woods it is the duty of each of us to help them not go further astray. This is because if one believes they have a duty to the Rusyn nation then from it a responsibility to each other must follow as well, even if the other does not believe they are one. How to go about this duty must be handled delicately if it has any chance of succeeding.
Like illuminating the truth to a friend who has been lied to by a cheating spouse, the first emotion will be that of anger or denial. If you are to help the individual you cannot take their outward anger as a personal attack. It is in fact the psychological manifestation of what you have said that the person is rageful towards.
They may be angry with you in a general sense, but it is the actual idea that causes them so much turmoil and frustration. Not the person that first gave it life. While the phrase “tough love” does not exactly fit with this situation, think of it as a wider love and desire for each person to know the truth.
It is probable someone close to you or even yourself had not known they were Rusyn until recently. Thinking from where you are now, are you glad that you found out? Is the person who discovered their heritage resentful to have been able to? Now apply that to the hypothetical individual that needs to be told the same answers that you discovered. It is not in spite of the struggle with the truth but because of it that lets someone connect closer to their ancestors and true identity.
An obvious point that must be unfortunately stated is that not all will listen. No matter what one’s efforts may be some will be unable to cope with the truth or simply not care. It is important in this spot to realize when your time can be better spent elsewhere. As long as the seed of doubt has been planted your minimum duty has been fulfilled. It may take someone months, years, or even a decade to finally accept what you have told them.
I will speak of my own situation in saying that even with the correct information handed to me on a silver platter it still took years to finally confront it and accept that as my ancestor’s identity. Old beliefs die hard, and this is of course without even having to deal with state suppression as my family came over during the time that Austria-Hungary was still around.
To have such an important part of one’s identity shifted to something completely different is no small thing. The individual must be of sound emotional health to be able to fully accept this conversion of sorts. Whether it be an addict father, the death of a loved one, or any other emotionally turmoil inducing event this can railroad someone from caring or being able to change something like ethnic identity. If you put yourself out to them with open arms and only the best intentions then that is all that can be done.
Likewise how to treat an outsider who was vehemently on the other side before moving to ours must be thought through carefully. If handled badly events such as this good greatly damage the Rusyn awakening movement. Though I am of the opinion that unless someone’s actions are truly egregious in nature, there should be a path for an individual to be accepted as part of the Rusyn community. This does not mean automatic trust or respect and such people should be viewed with extreme suspicion at first, but a person can change their views. Only the most incurious individuals are unable to do so.
What should be looked for instead is the nature of one’s actions over ethnic beliefs. If the individual is righteous in character and conducts their actions with us in honor and integrity then they should be viewed with respect even if their past was against our interests. On the other side if one handles themselves in a dishonorable manner such as lies, threats, and other actions then even if their opinion is switched we know the core of the person. No manner of identity shift will change that. For such people there should be little time devoted to them even if their intentions are true.
It is important to know that this issue of lost Rusyns will not be a short-term struggle, but that of our entire lifetime. Because of the harassment and crimes our people have endured this problem cannot be solved easily or quickly as one would like to think. Simply announcing to the world the truth will not make it well known, it must continue to be said and amplified so many times it almost becomes tiring to hear. Framing the situation is half the battle. This struggle of reversing what has been done is a marathon that is won with a single step and conversation at a time.
It will not always be rewarding and sometimes even dangerous, but nothing worth anything ever comes so easy. As life is a constant battle for survival so is the continuation of what it means to be Rusyn. Some days your mind and body will feel weak like a man trekking against a snowstorm. That is okay as long as it is pushed through until the next.
It is not through motivation that battles are won, but through planning, discipline, and acknowledgment of the duty ahead. We do not have the resources or manpower that our opponents possess. Because of that fact we must not only work harder, but smarter too. The road to eventual victory and full restoration of our people is in sight, even if it is just barely able to be seen far off in the distance.
One day when this struggle is over we will look back upon these times with pride and the knowledge that through the sometimes-overwhelming odds we truly accomplished something great. This chance is more than what anyone would have thought possible in the times of our parents and those before them.
Now it is time for us to make the most of it. Lead with compassion and not anger. Not doing so will only to further alienation of our lost brothers and sisters. In the end they are still one of us, even if they do not realize it yet.
FINAL THOUGHTS
What freedom is and why someone would want it is a difficult question to answer. Not freedom on a territorial or legal level but on a spiritual one. The soul of the individual and nation can survive through almost any tragedy or obstacle if the spirit and pride in themselves is still alive.
Many times I have asked myself throughout writing this book on why I personally want the changes brought up in these chapters to be realized. On one level it may be from pure tribalistic nature, but I believe there is a deeper reason too. When I gaze upon our nation I see a strong and proud people that has been beaten down and maimed for so long that they are unsure of what they should even dream of. We in fact have probably never been in the situation where it was possible to do so. However we can become a people that can be so much more than what others have allowed us to be. A nation that strives to be sovereign in thought and action.
You may call me an American that has little authority to speak on what he is talking about, and that is well within your right, but think on what it would mean to strive for the things I have written on the previous pages. Nothing about our situation is optimal or good no matter how much we lie to ourselves. We are split up from one another among a group of separate countries that couldn’t care less about our villages or even still actively work against us in the case of Ukraine. Does that not make one sour even a little bit? Is it wrong to feel anger at such injustice and wish to change it? Should we not take pride in our ancestors and right our situation?
Perhaps I am not respecting our culture or the opinion of other Rusyns enough. Forcing ideas somewhere where they do not want to be had because of my own fantasies. It could go so far as possibly even to the extent of ignoring the best qualities of our culture. This may be true, but to those that have made it this far and still disagree with me I leave you with one last ramble for thought.
Is this all that you actually want for us? Token recognition that we exist and a small pittance from the government to barely keep our organizations and tiny festivals alive until the next boulder comes that finally kills us for good? Because make no mistake, it does not matter how distant it feels, trouble will come again, and we will be just as unprepared as the last time if nothing is changed.
We can continue to live in a fantasy land where power and politics do not matter, but nothing will truly change until reality finally hits. Perhaps they will give us some inconsequential concessions or a pat on the back, but thirty years from now we will still be a collection of poor villages and a minority barely anyone has heard of being ruled over by someone else. Or we can further assert what is best for us and finally achieve the freedom and intellectual sovereignty that our people deserve. The choice is yours to make.