STRUTYNSKY, IVAN

Born in 1937 in the village of Pidmykhailia, Kalush district, Ivano-Frankivsk region. Died in 19... .

Founding member of the United Party for the Liberation of Ukraine (UPLU).

From a peasant family. He attended a trade school and taught himself music. He was invited to be the artistic director at the Broshniv Woodworking Plant No. 9. In 1958, he met Yarema TKACHUK, who told him about the existence of the United Party for the Liberation of Ukraine.

The goal of the UPLU was to fight for Ukraine’s secession from the USSR and the creation of an independent Ukrainian state. To this end, they established cells in the villages of P’yadyky, Vyhoda, and Broshniv, and in the cities of Kolomyia and Ivano-Frankivsk. They intended to create cells throughout Ukraine and to establish contacts with organizations in other republics to dismantle the USSR together. The UPLU spread its ideology by personal example, conducting agitation, participating in amateur arts, and awakening the national consciousness of the youth.

For two years, the UPLU was engaged exclusively in organizational work. They intended to acquire a typewriter; however, in two years the organization did not issue a single leaflet or carry out any actions. They adhered to conspiratorial methods: Strutynsky used the pseudonym “Shpak” (Starling). In the spring of 1958, in a meadow by the Prut River near Kolomyia, they approved the organization’s program, written by B. TYMKIV, which incorporated suggestions from Strutynsky and V. PLOSHCHAK.

In June 1958, at a meeting in the village of Vyhoda, on the Svicha River, the organization’s members B. HERMANYUK, Ya. TKACHUK, Strutynsky, P. Haiovy, and M. Kozak took an oath, which they signed in blood. P. Haiovy was entrusted with safeguarding the text of the oath.

On December 4, 1958, several members of the UPLU, including Strutynsky, were arrested. The organization’s structural chart was seized from Strutynsky. Twenty-eight individuals were interrogated in the case, and eight were convicted on charges of conducting anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda and creating an anti-Soviet organization (Articles 54-1 “a” and 54-11 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR). It turned out that the organization had been betrayed by P. Haiovy, and investigators learned about all the meetings and activities of the organization from former political prisoner Myron Maslovsky.

At the trial, Prosecutor Antonenko demanded the death penalty for the members of the organization who admitted to authoring its programmatic documents, including Strutynsky, and maximum sentences for the other defendants. However, on March 10, 1959, the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Court handed down its verdict: B. HERMANYUK, M. PLOSHCHAK, Ya. TKACHUK, B. TYMKIV, and Strutynsky received 10 years in strict-regime correctional labor camps with confiscation of property; M. YURCHYK and I. KONEVYCH each received 7 years with confiscation, and V. PLOSHCHAK received 2 years.

He served his sentence in the camps...

Strutynsky was released on December 4, 1968. The authorities denied him a residence permit and employment. After several trips to Kyiv, he finally managed to obtain a residence permit in Kalush. The girl he wanted to marry was intimidated with threats of a bleak life with an “enemy of the people.” He lived in poverty. He worked as a lathe operator at the Kalush motor depot.

Bibliography:

I.

Tkachuk, Yarema. Bureviyi. Knyha pamyati [Hurricanes: A Book of Remembrance]. Lviv: “SPOLOM” Publishing House, 2004, 368 pp.

II.

Mardarovych, Ihor. “Holos pamiati” [The Voice of Memory]. Visnyk Kolomyi [Kolomyia Herald], no. 63 (457), November 10, 1994.

Mardarovych, Ihor. “P’yadytska orhanizatsiya OPVU” [The P’yadyky Organization of the UPLU]. Visnyk Kolomyi [Kolomyia Herald], no. 77 (471), December 28, 1994.

Rusnachenko, Anatoliy. Natsionalno-vyzvolnyi rukh v Ukrayini. Seredyna 1950-kh – pochatok 1990-kh rokiv [The National Liberation Movement in Ukraine: Mid-1950s – Early 1990s]. Kyiv: Olena Teliha Publishing House, 1998, p. 96.