On January 19, the 112th anniversary of the birth of the long-time head of the revolutionary OUN and the President of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations, Yaroslav Stetsko, passed. The main events on the occasion of the birthday of an outstanding Ukrainian took place in his “small Motherland” — in the city of Ternopil.
The celebrations began with the laying of flowers at the monument to Yaroslav Stetsko in Ternopil, which was attended by representatives of local authorities and public activists. It is symbolic that the current leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Banderites) Oleg Medunytsia and the executive director of the Anti-Imperial Bloc of Nations Oleg Vitvitskyi joined the ceremony of laying flowers.
In the assembly hall of the Museum of the National Liberation Struggle of the Ternopil Region, the book by Hryhoriy Riy “An Outline of the History of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations” was presented. Opening the event, the leader of the OUN (b) Oleh Medunytsia emphasized the importance of continuing the cause of Yaroslav Stetsko and his associates at the current stage. Oleh Medunytsia told the audience that the projects started by Yaroslav Stetsko — the Defence Fund of Ukraine and ABN successfully resumed their work in the throws of a full-scale war.
Hryhoriy Riy introduced the participants to the presentation of his research on the history of the ABN and singled out the special role of Yaroslav Stetsko in the activities of the organization. Hryhoriy Riy characterized the main periods of Stetsko’s activity in ABN — from the stage of formation to the mid-80s of the 20th century. According to the researcher, Yaroslav Stetsko is one of the most enlightening figures of the anti-imperialist and anti-communist movement on a global scale. His personal role in the defence of Ukrainian interests in the international arena is extremely influential, but, unfortunately, it is not yet sufficiently recognized by the Ukrainian public.
Oleg Vitvitskyi presented the main areas of work of the Anti-Imperial Bloc of Nations and drew attention to the current theoretical legacy of the long-time President of the ABN. In particular, in his work “ABN and the European Movement”, written back in 1950, Yaroslav Stetsko clearly defined the anti-imperial basis of the confrontation with Muscovy: “The struggle of all nations enslaved by Russian-Bolshevik imperialism and united in the ABN is aimed at dividing the Russian Empire into individual states, each with its own independent national government and encompassing its own ethnic territory populated by its own citizens. For this reason, the ABN fights not only the Bolshevik Russian Empire but any Russian Empire, be it “democratic”, “totalitarian”, “monarchical” or “socialist”.
The presentation continued with a lively discussion about the place and role of Yaroslav Stetsko in the history of Ukraine, and ended with an autograph session by the author of the “Essay on the History of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations”.
