Plast

The Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine ( uk, Пласт Національна Скаутська Організація України, ''Plast Natsionalna Skautska Orhanizatsiia Ukrayiny''), commonly called Ukrainian Plast or simply Plast, is the largest Scouting organization in Ukraine.

History

First Era: 1911–1920

Plast was founded in Lviv (Lwów, Lemberg), Austro-Hungarian Galicia in 1911 as the Ukrainian Scout Organization. Ukrainian Scouting has been known since its inception as "Plast". In Ukrainian a ''plastun'' is an historical name for a Cossack scout and sentry serviceman. The founder of Ukrainian Scouting, Dr. Oleksander Tysovsky, affectionately known as "Drot," adapted the universal Scout principles to the needs and interests of Ukrainian youth.

Born during great social and political upheavals in Europe, Ukrainian Plast came into being to fulfill specific national aims, unlike other Scout organizations. The first Scout troops were formed in Lviv in 1911 by Petro Franko and Ivan Chmola. Plast is generally deemed to have been officially founded by Dr. Oleksander Tysovsky on 12 April 1912, at the Lviv Academic Gymnasium.

Scouting spread rapidly to the other cities and towns, and by 1913 the first Supreme Scout Council had been formed and the first handbook published. The same year, the ''Orhanizatsiyniy Plast Komitet'' was formed in Lviv by Plast groups from different regions, and the first hiking camp was organized.

By 1916, its membership exceeded 10,000, and it was a fully developed and functioning organization, consisting of separate branches of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. Ukrainian Plast held regular camps for Cubs, Scouts and Rovers, training courses for leaders, and produced a variety of Scout publications, including a Ukrainian translation of '' Scouting for Boys''.

Shortly after its founding, World War I brought about the collapse of the two powers occupying ethnic Ukrainian territory, Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire, and the formation of the Ukrainian National Republic in 1918. The subsequent years witnessed a great upswing in Scouting, as it spread into the towns and communities where it had been previously unknown, mainly in the newly freed central provinces of Ukraine. Hundreds, if not thousands, of boys, inspired by the ideals of service to God and Country which Scouting engenders, volunteered to join the armed forces, fighting on several fronts, and many gave their lives.

Second Era: 1920–1930

The Soviet victory in the civil war in 1922 led to an immediate abolition of all non-communist scout activities in this region. In the Romanian area of Bukovina, the development of Plast was likewise hampered. Ukrainian Scouting was among the first to suffer what later became the fate of many Scout Associations throughout the world. In areas later to become western Ukraine, which included parts of Czechoslovakia and Poland, the Scout movement emerged from the ruins of war with renewed vitality. During this period, Ukrainian Scouting first requested international recognition, but was denied on political grounds.

In spite of numerous obstacles, Plast developed rapidly in the Polish areas, with high levels of membership among students, farmers and workers. A key sponsor was Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, the Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (1901–1944), who donated a campsite called "Sokil" in the Carpathian Mountains. A number of publications are introduced, including the official organ ''Molode Zhyttia'' and Dr. Oleksander Tysovsky's seminal handbook, ''Zhyttia v Plasti''.

In the late 1920s, external pressure on the part of the Polish authorities seriously impaired further growth of Plast on its territory, and eventually led to an outright abolition of Ukrainian Scouting in 1928 in the Volyn region, and in Halychyna

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases