The Slovene National Benefit Society, known in Slovenian as Slovenska narodna podporna jednota, and by its Slovene initials S.N.P.J. is an

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

fraternal benefit and social organization for Slovene immigrants and their descendants in the

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. Founded in 1904, it is headquartered in suburban

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

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near Imperial. SNPJ publishes a newspaper, ''Prosveta''.

Formation and growth

The SNPJ was formed in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

on April 6, 1904, and held its first convention on April 9. The society was organized the result of a call in a Slovenian language newspaper for a new Slovenian benefit society. The founding twelve delegates represented nine independent Slovene groups with a total membership of 276. The organization was incorporated on June 17, 1907. The incorporation was delayed over a year because of an Illinois law which required fraternal benefit groups to have at least 500 members. In 1905 membership had grown to over 1,500 in 27 lodges. By only 1907 there were almost 4,300 members in 60 lodges. In 1917 the SNPJ, with 16,700 members in 360 lodges, had become the largest Slovene fraternal benefit society in the United States. In the late 1960s the Society had 68,000 members. In 1979 it had 56,000 members in 350 lodges in twenty states. In 1921, the SNPJ merged with the Slovene Workmen's Benefit Society, or SDPZ, (which had previously absorbed the St. Barbara Lodge and the Slovene Labor Benefit and Pension Union). This merger gave the SNPJ over 36,000 members in 374 lodges. In 1941 the Slovenian Progressive Benefit Society (SSPZ) merged with the SNPJ. The Lily Alliance merged with SNPJ in 1947. Just over twenty years later, in 1969, the Slovene Independent Benefit Society merged with SNPJ. Thirty-two years after that merger, in 2001, the Workingmen's Beneficial Society of Pittsburgh merged with SNPJ. The first English speaking lodge, Pioneer Lodge 559 of Chicago, was chartered in 1925. In 1961, all

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members were consolidated into a single lodge; in 1971 this lodge was transferred to the

Croatian Fraternal Union The Croatian Fraternal Union ( hr, Hrvatska bratska zajednica) (CFU), the oldest and largest Croatian organization in North America, is a fraternal benefit society of the Croatian diaspora based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. History and ...

. The high point of individual memberships appears to have been in 1950, when SNPJ had 71,554 members. The high point of lodge membership appears to have been in 1946, when SNPJ was composed of 614 active lodges. In 1995 the SNPJ had 47,764 members. As of 2002 there were 42,299 members in 170 lodges. The Society was founded on a " freethought" basis. This was because many of the founders felt that existing Slovene organizations were too closely tied to the church.

Organization

The local chapters of the Society are called "Lodges" and the supreme authority is the "National Legislative Body", which meets quadrennially. Between conventions the Society is run by a "National Board". In 1979 it was headquartered in

Burr Ridge, Illinois Burr Ridge (formerly Harvester) is a village in Cook and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it is among the wealthiest towns in Illinois and is locally known for its large, elegant mansions and luxury lifestyles. ...

, but now appears to have its central office in

Imperial, Pennsylvania Imperial is a census-designated place (CDP) in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States and part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The community was formerly part of the Imperial-Enlow CDP before splitting into two separate CDP's. The po ...

. The Lodges appear to be organized into numbered regions as well as local federations.

Benefits

Originally the Society offered a death benefit of $500 to males, with a $1 flat rate assessment. However, by the 1970s, the Society was a legal reserve fund insurance group. The Society sponsors scholarships and operates a recreation center for its members, among other activities.

Ritual

The Society has a ritual, but is not secret about it. The ritual included initiation rites, installation ceremonies for officers, an organizational pledge and burial rites. A prospective member must promise to be faithful to the Society's constitution, defend the reputation of the lodges, and bring no harm to the organization.Schmidt p.316

References

External links

SNPJ HomepageSNPJ Recreation Center, PennsylvaniaSNPJ Farm, Kirtland, Ohio
{{Authority control Slovene-American history Organizations established in 1904 Ethnic fraternal orders in the United States