Украин Пласт: Тарихы мен қазіргі жағдайы

National scout organisation in Ukraine

The Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine (Національна Скаутська Організація України "Пласт"), commonly called Ukrainian Plast or simply Plast, is the largest Scouting organization in Ukraine.

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 a historical name for a Cossack scout and sentry serviceman. The founder of Ukrainian Scouting, 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 Oleksander Tysovsky on 1 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.

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 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 in 1930. However, Plast continued to flourish in Carpathian Ruthenia, the ethnic Ukrainian area within Czechoslovakia, and maintained a close liaison with the underground Scout units in parts of central Ukraine under the Soviet Union until World War II and Western Ukraine under Poland. The Plast groups in Carpathian Ruthenia and Prague were members of the Union of Junak Scouts and Guides of the Republic of Czechoslovakia and through this federation of the two World organizations. A headquarters was opened in Prague.

When the Soviet Union began to crumble, Scouting appeared clandestinely. The first Plast camp was organized in the summer of 1989 and was raided by the Soviet secret police (KGB); several Scouts were beaten and arrested. Nevertheless, Scouting and Plast persisted. Since the end of Soviet communism and the birth of an independent Ukraine in 1991, Ukrainian Plast Scouting has been growing rapidly in every corner of the country. This included units in Kyiv, Lutsk and Donetsk. The most active region, however, was in Lviv, where on 22 February 1990, the town council enacted the Statut Plastovoho Tovarystva. Plast in Exile supported the restart of Plast in Ukraine. At the beginning of 1995, there were 85 local groups and councils, with over 3,500 Scouts. In August 1997, Plast Ukrainian Scouting celebrated the 85th anniversary since the first Scouting units appeared in Ukraine in 1911, with a Plast Jamboree at the renamed Sokil Plast Museum Camp, attended by 700 Scouts from 34 units throughout Ukraine. Highlights of this Jamboree included the inauguration the third Nachalniy Plastun (Chief Scout) in Plast's history, and the first ever inaugurated in Ukraine, Lubomyr Romankiw on 10 August 1997; the opening of the Museum at this historic campsite, donated by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, which had been used by Plast from 1924 to 1944; and the attendance of several Scouts from the First Era of Ukrainian Scouting, including the 93 year old composer Mykola Kolessa. In addition, other Scouting groups have been spontaneously appearing, mostly in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine. Most of them participated, together with Plast, in the Ukrainian delegation to the 18th World Scout Jamboree in the Netherlands in 1995, as well as the First All Ukrainian Scout Jamboree in Nevytske, and the Second Slavic Jamboree in Prague, Czech Republic. 33 Ukrainian Scouts were invited to take part in the 19th World Scout Jamboree in 1999. Plast Publishing largely moved back to Ukraine, with financial and editorial support from international units, and publishes a magazine for both younger Scouts, Hotuys (Be Prepared), and for older Scouts Yunak. As with all Plast publications, these monthly publications are written in Ukrainian. They are also distributed internationally. As of 2006, Plast had over 10,000 members in Ukraine, and an additional 3,000 members in other countries. The 95th anniversary jubilee (ЮМПЗ, YUMPZ) occurred in August 2007, with a Zustrich at the Plastova Sich campsite in Grafton, Ontario, Canada. Over 1200 yunaky attended the camp, from 4 to 19 August. Tabir Pryhylnyky was at Camp Baturyn, just outside Montreal, Quebec. Tabir Uchasnyky was held in Algonquin Provincial Park, in central Ontario. Tabir Rosviduvachi was held in Samuel de Champlain Park, also in Ontario. Tabir Skobiv and Virlits was in Killarney Park, on Lake Huron, in western Ontario.

Plast is working with the various other Ukrainian Scouting organizations to develop a national Scouting federation and to achieve recognition by the World Organization of the Scout Movement. All duties in Ukrainian Scouting, from local to the National Council levels, are performed by a combination of volunteer workers and paid professionals. In 2004, the Ukrainian Scout Youth Public Organization Spilka Pionerskykh Orhanizatzii Kyïva (literally Kyiv Pioneer Movement Organization or SPOK, with a membership of 3,750 in 18 of 26 Ukrainian oblasts) applied for WOSM membership. In January 2005, this motion was recommended by the World Scout Bureau. Since more than 5% of the National Scouting Organizations voted against the application, Germany and the Boy Scouts of America among the opposing votes, SPOK was not admitted to WOSM and withdrew the application. As a result of this, a special mission of the World Scout Committee was sent to Ukraine. Ukrainian Scouting endeavored to set up a new Scouting body unifying Plast and SPOK to satisfy WOSM requirements, to be worked out by 2008, as all parties were motivated to join the international community. Following the recommendations of Resolution 2/05 adopted by the 37th World Scout Conference in Tunisia, the constitutive congress of the National Organization of Scouts of Ukraine (NOSU) was held on 27 March 2007. The congress, which gathered Scout representatives from most regions of Ukraine, approved the Constitution of NOSU and elected its governing bodies. This event was made possible thanks to efforts of three Scout associations (Plast, SPOK and Sich) to work towards unification of Scouting in Ukraine in a new single National Scout Organization so as to be able to join WOSM. The Constitution of NOSU was officially registered by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine in November 2007, thus confirming the creation of a single National Scout Organization in Ukraine. An amended version of this Constitution was received on 4 February 2008 and formally approved by the Constitutions Committee and the World Scout Committee. WOSM Acting Secretary General Luc Panissod visited NOSU in mid March 2008. He had the opportunity to meet and talk with various groups of young people (candidates to join, patrol leaders, summer camp young leaders) and adult leaders responsible of local Scout groups. He also met with the Deputy Minister of Family, Youth and Sports, one of the founding members of one of the Scout associations, who confirmed full support of the authorities to NOSU. He also had several working sessions with leaders of NOSU to assess the level of development of the organization. The organization has a loaned headquarters and several campsites. Elements of a progressive scheme include merit badges, which are illustrated in their handbook and are obtained on a progressive basis. At present, NOSU is a small organization and has only one professional staff regularly employed in application of existing legislation. Being a new organization, NOSU still has to develop an efficient working organization. NOSU membership is open to girls and boys, women and men, in three age sections: Cubs (6–10), Scouts (11–16) and Rovers (16–24). As of 31 December 2007, NOSU comprised 2,475 members including 718 female youth members, 1,546 male youth members, plus some 200 adult leaders and Council members. NOSU membership is made approximately of 40% from Plast, 40% from SPOK and 20% from Sich. The same percentages are reflected at the National Council level. While double membership still exists (one can be member of NOSU and member of one of the three above associations), direct membership for new members is strongly encouraged. It is the objective of NOSU's leadership that NOSU will be successful enough to attract more members from the three associations who are not yet members of NOSU. Further unification of Scouting through integration of other Scout groups in Ukraine is envisaged through the chartering system. The Chairman of the National Council is Lev Zakharchishin, the Deputy Chairman of the National Council is Valeriy Tantsiura and the International Commissioner is Andriy Chesnokov. In becoming a member of WOSM, NOSU will become, as it so desires, a member of the Eurasia Scout Region.

After World War II, a number of independent Plast Ukrainian Scouting organizations were founded in the West by Ukrainians from Western Ukraine (which was under Polish rule until 1939). This era of Plast began in Germany and Austria in 1945 in various Displaced Persons Camps, and as various members of Plast eventually ended up in Canada, the United States, the UK, Australia and elsewhere, various émigré organizations were founded between 1946 and 1951. Until the fall of the Soviet Union, these represented the totality of Plast organizations, and were aligned to a supranational organization called KUPO (Conference of Ukrainian Plast Organizations), which convened every four years and elected an operational "Holovna Plastova Starshyna" (HPB) and a board called "Holovna Plastova Rada" (HPR), and would also name the head Plastun ("Nachalniy Plastun"), typically a long term or lifetime, and somewhat ceremonial position. The current, and third, "Nachalniy Plastun" is US based (originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) Lubomyr Romankiw, his predecessor was US based Yuriy Starosols'kiy, who succeeded Severyn Levytsky ("Siriy Lev"), who was inaugurated in post World War II Germany.