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1917 - Soviet Belorussia

The two revolutions of 1917--the February Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution--gave nationally conscious Belorussians an opportunity to advance their political cause. Bolshevism did not have many followers among the natives of Belorussia; instead, local political life was dominated by the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the Mensheviks , the Bund , and various Christian movements in which the clergy of both the Russian Orthodox Church and the Polish Catholic Church played significant roles. The Belorussian political cause was represented by the Belorussian Socialist Party, the Socialist Revolutionary Party, the Leninist Social Democratic Party, and various nationalist groups advocating moderate forms of socialism.

In December 1917, more than 1,900 delegates to the All-Belorussian Congress (Rada) met in Minsk to establish a democratic republican government in Belorussia, but Bolshevik soldiers disbanded the assembly before it had finished its deliberations. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 put most of Belorussia under German control, but on March 25, 1918, the Central Executive Committee of the Rada nullified the treaty and proclaimed the independence of the Belorussian National Republic. Later that year, the German government, which had guaranteed the new state's independence, collapsed, and the new republic was unable to resist Belorussian Bolsheviks supported by the Bolshevik government in Moscow.

On 01 January 1919, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic (the BSSR) was formed by force of arms with its capital in Minsk, in which political and economic life was under control of the central authority. Non-communist parties and organizations were banned, and the administrative functions were performed by the party machinery. At the same time, the Constitution of the BSSR declared that all the power was vested in the Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' deputies.

Setting up of the Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Soviet Government headed by D.Zhilunovich.Adoption of the first BSSR Constitution at the first All-Byelorussian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Red Army Deputies. The congress made an appeal to all the peoples on recognition of independence of Belarus and establishment of diplomatic relations with it. The BSSR Central Executive Committee (CEC) formed. The joint session of the CEC of the Lithuanian SSR and the CEC of the BSSR in Vilnya decided to create the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR that comprised the territories of Minsk and Vilnya provinces. The Declaration of the Independence of the BSSR" was adopted 31 July 1920.

For the next two years, Belorussia was a prize in the Polish-Soviet War, a conflict settled by the Treaty of Riga in March 1921. Under the terms of the treaty, Belorussia was divided into three parts: the western portion, which was absorbed into Poland; central Belorussia, which formed the Belorussian SSR; and the eastern portion, which became part of Russia. The territory of Byelorussia was limited only to 6 povets of Minsk province with the total population of 1,544,000 people.

On 30 December 1922 the 1st Congress of the Soviets of the USSR signed the Declaration of and the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR. The BSSR joined the Union on equal terms with RSFSR (Russia), USSR (Ukraine) and TSSR (Transcaucasian SSR).

The territory of the Belorussian SSR was enlarged in both 1924 and 1926 by the addition of Belorussian ethnographic regions that had become part of Russia under the Treaty of Riga. The area of the republic was expanded from its original post-treaty size of 51,800 square kilometers to 124,320 square kilometers, and the population increased from 1.5 million to almost 5 million persons.

The New Economic Policy (NEP), established by Vladimir I. Lenin in 1921 as a temporary compromise with capitalism, stimulated economic recovery in the Soviet Union, and by the mid-1920s agricultural and industrial output in Belorussia had reached 1913 levels. Historically, Belorussia had been a country of landlords with large holdings, but after the Bolshevik Revolution, these landlords were replaced by middle-class landholders; farm collectives were practically nonexistent. When forced collectivization and confiscations began in 1928, there was strong resistance, for which the peasantry paid a high social price: peasants were allowed to starve in some areas, and so-called troublemakers were deported to Siberia. Because peasants slaughtered their livestock rather than turn it over to collective farms, agriculture suffered serious setbacks. However, the rapid industrialization that accompanied forced collectivization enabled the Moscow government to develop new heavy industry in Belarus quickly.

During the period of the NEP, the Soviet government relaxed its cultural restrictions, and Belorussian language and culture flourished. Belarusian culture enjoyed favorable conditions in the 1920s, at the time of Belarussization policy. Belarusian schools were opened. The Belarusian Culture Institute was established in Belarus, that was transformed into the Belarusian Academy of Sciences in 1929. Pursuing the policy of Belarusization: the Belarusian language was becoming a most important means of communication.

The 14th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) adopted the policy of industrialization. During the pre-war period in Byelorussia, about 1000 enterprises were built and 860 reconstructed. The rate of industrial growth was higher than average in the USSR.

In the 1930s, when Stalin was fully in power, Moscow's attitude changed, and it became important to Moscow to bind both Belorussia and its economy as closely to the Soviet Union as possible. Once again, this meant Russification of the people and the culture. Since the beginning of the 1930s the positive process was put an end to, due to the ideological control in all spheres of cultural life. A lot of Belarusian culture and science activists were subjected to repressions. The Belorussian language was reformed to bring it closer to the Russian language, and history books were rewritten to show that the Belorussian people had strived to be united with Russia throughout their history. Political persecutions in the 1930s reached genocidal proportions, causing population losses as great as would occur during World War II -- more than 2 million persons.