Yulian Bachynsky

Yulian Bachynsky combined socialist politics with an early argument for Ukrainian independence. Born in Galicia in 1870, he studied law in Lviv and Berlin and became active in the Ukrainian Radical Party. His book Ukraina Irredenta linked national independence to economic development. He helped found the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party in 1899 and edited socialist newspapers. A visit to North America in 1905–1906 led to his study of Ukrainian immigration to the United States, published in 1914. ^{1, 2}

Bachynsky represented the Ukrainian National Republic in Washington from 1919 to 1921, seeking American recognition during the struggle over Ukraine's independence. The mission did not secure recognition, and he returned to Vienna in 1921. ²

After years in Central Europe, Bachynsky moved to Soviet Ukraine in 1933 and worked on a Ukrainian encyclopedia in Kharkiv. Soviet authorities arrested him in November 1934 and sentenced him to ten years in a labor camp the following March. He died in the Gulag in 1940. His conviction was overturned in 1957; the circumstances of his death remain uncertain. ^{1, 2}