The Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine (), 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. It became the first Ukrainian Scouting organization. In Ukrainian, 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, the Ukrainian Plast came into being to fulfill specific national aims, alike the Sokol movement in Bohemia and Poland and Polish Scouting founded in 1910 in Lwów, but unlike most other Scout organizations. The first Scouting troops were formed in Lviv in 1911 by Petro Franko and Ivan Chmola. Stepan Bandera’s uncle, Osyp Bandera, was an active socio-political figure. He had been a member of Plast since 1912 and led a local scout group.
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 1914, Plast squads existed in all Ukrainian gymnasiums of Galicia. In Bukovyna, Ukrainian school youth organized into a "Plast Regiment" named after Ivan Bohun, which included around 800 participants. In June 1914, Plast members from Galicia and Bukovyna gathered in a congress in Lviv. In the same year, a travelling camp was organized by the Plast in Chornohora.
With the start of the First World War, many members of the Plast enlisted into the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. 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.
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. In 1918 the Supreme Plast Council was created, headed by O. Tysovsky. In Dnieper Ukraine several branches of Plast were organized by activists of Sich and Prosvita societies.
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 of 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 (1921). Plast groups, later transferred into regiments and kurins, appeared in almost all Ukrainian middle schools of Eastern Galicia, and also spread to Volyn, where they were supported by local branches of the Prosvita society.
In 1924, the Supreme Plast Congress elected the executive organ of the movement - the High Plast Command, headed by Severyn Levytskyi. Youth Plast organizations were additionally supported by the creation of Plast squads among university students, adults and younger children. By 1930 Plast had 6000 members in Western Ukraine. 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. Ukrainian Scouts took part in the 3rd World Scout Jamboree at Arrowe Park, England, in 1929, and as part of the Czechoslovak contingent in the 4th Jamboree at Gödöllő, Hungary, in 1933, attempting to make world scouting aware of the suppression of free Scout activities in Ukraine.
Third Era: 1930–1944 In Western Ukraine, Plast, though banned, continued to operate illegally and conspirationally under the auspices of the Plast Center. Plast activities continued to be undertaken, via the Commission of Educational Campsites, the "Ridna Shkola" and published in the journal Vohni.
The Polish leadership pursued this activity and punished such activities with arrests and internment. These actions were opposed through the creation of a secret Plast Centre in 1934. Underground Plast camps during that period were organized by the Ukrainian Hygienic Society and the specially "Commission of Educational Houses and Youth Travel". Publication in the press allowed members of the organization to preserve contact with school students.
In 1939, World War II broke out and membership in Plast saw a resurgence in western Ukraine. Although the occupying German forces again banned Plast, its activity continued. As in the previous war, many plastuny took up arms in various armies that traversed western and eastern Ukraine during the war. Many members of the Plast took part in the activities of the Carpathian Sich, which led to the closure of the organization by Hungarian authorities after the occupation of Carpatho-Ukraine.
During the years under Communism and the Soviet Union, Scouting was banned in Ukraine, but the Plast organization continued to exist in exile around the world.
Fourth Era: 1945–1950
Ukrainian Scouting was hampered by World War II, but Plast managed to survive the war and began to flourish again in the displaced persons camps under the occupation of the Western Powers. The successful commemoration of the 35th Anniversary of the Movement in 1947 was the highlight of Plast activities at that time. Multiple groups of plastuny met at the Holovna Plastova Rada in Munich.
Ukrainian Scouting became a member of the Displaced Persons Division of the Boy Scouts International Bureau. A delegation of over 40 Scouts and Scouters participated in the sixth World Scout Jamboree at Moisson in 1947 and a smaller group in the seventh World Jamboree at Bad Ischl in 1951.
After the mass resettlement of Ukrainians between 1948 and 1950, Plast was reorganized and branches permanently established in a number of western countries with large Ukrainian communities, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Austria, the United Kingdom, Germany and Argentina, where it continues to flourish and expand.
Fifth Era: 1950–1989 Ukrainian Scouting was represented at the ninth World Scout Jamboree at Sutton Coldfield in 1957, at the second and third World Scout Indabas and at the tenth World Scout Jamboree at Makiling Park in 1959. Ukrainian Scouters delegated by the Executive Council participated as observers in the sixteenth and seventeenth International Conferences in 1957 and 1959, respectively.
In 1957, Plast celebrated its 45th anniversary with a national camp in their training and camping centre Plastova Sich in Canada. Oleksander Tysovsky took part in this camp.
In the summer of 1962, Ukrainian Scouting celebrated its 50th anniversary with a national jamboree on its own permanent campsite ("Vovcha Tropa") at East Chatham, New York, in which over 2,000 members, as well as scouts of other national associations participated. Subsequent anniversaries were celebrated in 1967 at Batyrin, South Bolton, Quebec, and participants performed at Expo67 honoring the Canadian Centennial, and 1972 (again in East Chatham, New York), 1978 (Alberta, Canada) and every five years thereafter.
In 1976 Plast was among the founder members of the Associated International Scout and Guide Organizations in 1976. An umbrella organization for Scouts-in-Exile.
The location of Plast's global headquarters would vary based on the leadership elected at each Holovna Plastova Rada, although the centers of administration tended to be New York City and Toronto, Canada.
Plast was quite active in publishing, with the key publications: Hotuis (for novaky or New Scouts) Yunak (for yunaky or Scouts) Plastoviy Shliakj (for starshi plastuny and seniory, that is Older Scouts and Senior Scouts). Vohon' Orlynoyi Rady (for leaders and counselors to novaky) V dorohu z Yunatstvom (for leaders and counselors to yunaky) Av-u and Tam-Tam (for members of the Siromantsi fraternity) OX Kvartal'nyk (for members of the Orden Khrestonostsiv fraternity) And numerous local, regional and fraternal bulletins, publications, journals and handbooks, many of which were published by Plast Publishing.
In addition to creating over a dozen campsites, Plast members built or acquired over 30 facilities or domivky where they could hold activities, generally on a weekly basis. Several stores, including Molode Zhyttia in New York City, provided uniforms, emblems, publications and other goods. Several foundations and organizations provided and continue to provide support.
Sixth Era: 1990 to present
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.