A Historic Motion

Canada has once again demonstrated that Ukraine has no more steadfast friend and that the Ukrainian-Canadian community has done everything in its power to cement that friendship and help the land of the forefathers. The press release from Canadian Senator Raynell Andreychuk that we print here in full is a service not only to historical justice but also a vital step in helping Ukraine to come to grips with its own tragic history. We in Ukraine who are struggling to come to grips with the problems of Ukraine today know that they cannot be separated from the incalculable damage this nation suffered during the Stalinist period. We are grateful for the recognition of the Ukrainian Famine/Genocide of 1932-33 by the Canadian Senate, the great work of Senator Andreychuk, and above all the tireless efforts of the Ukrainian community, which has worked so hard to spur the Upper House of their nation’s Parliament to take this step.

The current campaign to strip New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty of his 1932 Pulitzer Prize also originated in Canada. Professor Lubomyr Luciuk conceived of the campaign and secured the support of various Ukrainian community organizations in the US and Canada, which has flooded the committee awarding the prize with postcards and other messages, saying that leaving intact this award for a journalist long known to have been Stalin’s leading spin-doctor among English language journalists is a betrayal of the ideals the prize is meant to promote and a blemish on the reputation of The New York Times. Thanks to the efforts of Ukrainians abroad, a number of prominent publications in the West have also taken up the cause of stripping Duranty of his prize. The story of perhaps the greatest scoundrel that journalism has ever known will be told more fully in a future issue of The Day. For those who cannot wait, Sally J. Taylor, Stalin’s Apologist: Walter Duranty, The New York Times Man in Moscow (London and New York, Oxford University Press, 1990) is well worth reading.