The Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (Belarusian. Belarusian Savetskaya Satsyyalistychnaya Respublika) is one of the republics of the Soviet Union. It was one of the 4 states that founded the USSR in 1922. It existed from January 1, 1922 to December 10, 1991.

Belarus during the Civil War. Proclamation of the BNR

On March 25, 1918, representatives of national parties and movements under the German occupation announced the creation of an independent Belarusian People's Republic (BPR). After the departure of the Germans, the territory was occupied by the Red Army, the BNR government was forced to emigrate, and on January 1, 1919, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus (later renamed the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic) was proclaimed in Smolensk, which, after a short period of "Litbel" (Lithuanian-Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic; February-August 1919) in December 1922 became part of the USSR.
In February 1919, Polish troops invaded the territory of Belarus. On August 8, Polish troops occupied Minsk, which was recaptured by the Red Army only in July of the following year.
According to the results of the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921, the territories of Western Belarus, located to the east of the Curzon Line, with a predominantly Belarusian population, departed to Poland.

Belarus in the 20-30s

In the 1920-1930s. industrialization processes were actively going on in Soviet Belarus, new industries were formed and Agriculture. At the same time, the policy of Russification continued: in particular, during the language reform of 1933, more than 30 phonetic and morphological features characteristic of the Russian language.

On the territory of Western Belarus, annexed by Poland, the Polish government also did not comply with the provisions of the Riga Treaty on the equality of all ethnic groups. Until March 1923 alone, almost all of the 400 existing Belarusian schools were closed, with the exception of 37. At the same time, 3,380 Polish schools were opened in Western Belarus. In 1938-1939 there were only 5 comprehensive Belarusian schools left. 1,300 Orthodox churches were converted to Catholicism, often with violence. After the establishment of the authoritarian “sanation” regime in Poland, there was an increasing infringement of the cultural rights of national minorities. Since 1934, in the city of Bereza-Kartuzskaya (now the city of Bereza, Brest region), a Polish concentration camp has been operating as a place of extrajudicial internment of opponents of the ruling regime. According to the "Encyclopedia of the History of Belarus", in the period 1921-39, about 300 thousand "siege" colonists, as well as Polish officials of various categories, were resettled from ethnic Polish lands to western Belarus. The osadniks were given estates belonging to persons "hostile to Poland" and state lands.

During the Stalinist repressions, hundreds of thousands of representatives of the intelligentsia, the cultural and creative elite, and simply wealthy peasants were shot, exiled to hard labor in Siberia and Central Asia. Of the 540-570 writers published in Belarus in the 1920s-1930s of the 20th century, at least 440-460 (80%) were repressed, and if we take into account the authors who were forced to leave their homeland, then at least 500 (90%) were repressed, a quarter of the total number of writers (2000) repressed in the USSR. The number of people who passed through the camps is estimated at about 600-700 thousand people, and at least 300 thousand people were shot.

The Second World War

As a result of the invasion of Germany and the Soviet Union into Poland in September 1939, Western Belarus was occupied Soviet troops and annexed to the BSSR.
Repressions immediately began in the occupied territory. Only in the Baranovichi region from October 1939 to June 29, 1940, according to the most conservative estimates, more than 29 thousand people were repressed; about the same number (33 thousand 733 people) during the occupation will be taken out by the Germans for forced labor in Germany.

At the beginning of the war between Germany and the USSR (1941-1945), the territory of Belarus was occupied by German troops. The territory of Belarus was declared a general district within the Reichskommissariat Ostland. In December 1943, the collaborationist government of the Belarusian Central Rada was created, which had mainly advisory functions.

The partisan movement, which was widely developed in Belarus, became an important factor that forced the Nazis to keep a significant contingent here and contributed to the speedy liberation of Belarus. In 1944, in total, there were 373,942 people in partisan detachments on the territory of Belarus. Belarus was liberated by the Red Army during the Belarusian operation.

On the territory of Belarus, the German invaders created 260 concentration camps, in which about 1.4 million civilians and Soviet prisoners of war were destroyed. From the territory of Belarus, the Nazis took 399 thousand 374 people to work in Germany.

According to the data of the Khatyn memorial complex, the Germans and collaborators carried out more than 140 major punitive operations in Belarus; the population of areas suspected of supporting the partisans were exterminated, deported to death camps or for forced labor in Germany. Of the 9200 settlements destroyed and burned by the German invaders and collaborators in Belarus, over 5295 were destroyed along with all or part of the population. According to other data, the number of destroyed settlements during punitive operations - 628.

Some sources also claim that Soviet partisans carried out punitive operations against civilians. In particular, in the course of work on the book-document “I'm from a fiery weight ...”, Belarusian writers and publicists Ales Adamovich, Yanka Bryl and Vladimir Kolesnik during the interrogation received testimonies from Vera Petrovna Sloboda, a teacher from the village of Dubrova near the village of Osveya Vitebskaya region about the punitive action of the partisan detachment under the command of V.P. Kalaidzhan, during which civilians who did not want to leave the village before the arrival of German troops were exterminated. Eighty people were killed, the village was burned. On April 14, 1943, partisans attacked the village of Drazhno in the Starodorozhsky district of Belarus. The village was burned almost completely, most of the inhabitants were brutally tortured.

During the war years, Belarus lost about a third of its population (34% of the pre-war population of the country within its current borders - 3 million people), the country lost more than half of its national wealth. 209 cities, towns, district centers and more than 9 thousand villages and villages were completely or partially destroyed.

After the end of the war, anti-Soviet partisan groups operated on the territory of Belarus for several more years. Western intelligence agencies tried to establish contact with some of them. Detachments of the NKVD staged punitive operations against the anti-Soviet resistance.

post-war period

In 1945, after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was a founder and joined the United Nations as a sovereign state. On June 26, 1945, K. V. Kiselev, at the head of the delegation of the Byelorussian SSR, signed the UN Charter, which was ratified by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR on August 30, 1945. In November-December 1945, the Belarusian delegation took part in the work of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations General Assembly in London, where the head of the delegation of the Byelorussian SSR K.V. Kiselev was elected vice-chairman of the fourth committee.

In the 1950s-1970s. The restoration of the country proceeded rapidly, industry and agriculture developed intensively. The economy of Belarus was a key part of the national economic complex of the USSR, Belarus was called the "assembly shop" of the Soviet economy.

The collapse of the USSR

Political processes of the late 1980s - early 1990s. led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the communist system. On July 27, 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR adopted the Declaration on State Sovereignty. On September 19, 1991, the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) was renamed the Republic of Belarus. It should be noted that on March 17, 1991, at the all-Union referendum on the preservation of the USSR, 82.7% of those who took part in the vote (83.3% of those included in the voting lists took part) spoke in favor of preserving the USSR, which testified to the absence of the desire of the inhabitants of Belarus to secession from the union.

In December 1991, as a result of the Belovezhskaya Accords, Belarus joined the Commonwealth of Independent States.

On March 15, 1994, the Supreme Council adopted the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, according to which it was declared a unitary democratic social rule of law. In accordance with the Constitution, the Republic of Belarus is a presidential republic.

Hymn

We, Belarusians, with brother Russia
Time shukali to shchastsyu dear.
Ў battles for freedom, ў battles for a share
For goodness sake, we have succeeded!

We have been abused by Lenin's name, Party to the next time we are marching. Party glory! Glory to Radzima! Glory to you Belarusian people!

Strength of the guard, people of Belarus
Ў fraternal syuz, ў male sam'i
We will be eternal, free people,
Live on your own, free land!

We have been abused by Lenin's name, Party to the next time we are marching. Party glory! Glory to Radzima! Glory to taba, our free people!

Friendship of the people - the strength of the people,
To the best practice sun paths
Proudly, I am aware of the bright heights,
Stsyag kamunizmu - gladastsі stsyag!

We have been abused by Lenin's name, Party to the next time we are marching. Party glory! Glory to Radzima! Glory to Taba, our Savets people!

Translation

We, Belarusians, with brotherly Russia,
Together we searched fortunately for roads.
In battles for will, in battles for share,
With her, we got the flag of victory.

We were united by Lenin's name. The Party, fortunately, leads us on the march of the Party's glory! Glory to the Motherland! Glory to you, Belarusian people!

Gathering strength, the people of Belarus
In fraternal union, in a powerful family
Forever we will be, free people
Live in a happy, free land

We were united by Lenin's name. The Party, fortunately, leads us on the march of the Party's glory! Glory to the Motherland! Glory to you, our free people!

Friendship of peoples is the strength of peoples,
Happily working sunny way
Proudly rise to the bright heights,
The flag of communism is the flag of joy!

We were united by Lenin's name. The Party, fortunately, leads us on the march of the Party's glory! Glory to the Motherland! Glory to you, our Soviet people!

On March 25, 1918, representatives of national parties and movements announced the creation of an independent Belarusian People's Republic (BPR). After the departure of the German troops, its territory was occupied by the Red Army. On January 1, 1919, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus was proclaimed in Smolensk.

From February 1919, the territory of Belarus became the scene of the Soviet-Polish war, during which Polish troops occupied Minsk in August 1919. The Red Army returned to Minsk in July 1920, and in 1921 a Soviet-Polish peace treaty was signed in Riga, according to which the western part of modern Belarus was ceded to Poland. In its eastern part, Soviet power was established and the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) was formed, which became part of the USSR on December 30, 1922.

In the 1920s-1930s, a policy of industrialization and collectivization was carried out on the territory of Soviet Belarus, new branches of industry and agriculture were formed. The language reform of 1933 strengthened the Russification policy. In the years Stalinist repressions tens of thousands of intellectuals, cultural and creative elite, peasants were shot or exiled to Siberia and Central Asia. Part of the intelligentsia emigrated.

Western Belarus, ceded to Poland Treaty of Riga 1921, was reunited with the BSSR in 1939, after the defeat of Poland.

Already at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the territory of Belarus was occupied by German troops. Partisan struggle was organized in the occupied territories, there was an underground. In 1943, an advisory body was created under the German occupation administration - the Belarusian Central Rada, which was entrusted with propaganda and some police functions. In the summer of 1944 Belarus was liberated by the Red Army.

According to data updated in 2001, every third inhabitant of Belarus died during the war years. In total, during the Great Patriotic War, German troops burned and destroyed 9,200 settlements. Of these, over 5,295 were destroyed along with all or part of the population during the period of punitive operations. The victims of the three-year policy of genocide and "scorched earth" in Belarus were 2.230 million people.

The role of Belarus in the fight against the invaders and the sacrifices made on the altar of victory over fascism gave her the right to take her place among the founding states of the UN.

Which on January 31, 1919 withdrew from the RSFSR, and on February 27 merged with Litbel.

Litbel ceased to exist as a result of the Polish occupation during the Soviet-Polish war. On July 12, 1920, as a result of the Moscow Treaty, concluded between the RSFSR and Lithuania, Litbel was actually liquidated. Litbel legally ceased to exist on July 31, 1920, when the Belarusian Socialist Soviet Republic (Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus) was restored in Minsk, later changing its name to the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. The BSSR, among the 4 Soviet republics, signed the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR on December 30, 1922.

On September 19, 1991, on the basis of the adopted one, the BSSR was renamed the Republic of Belarus, and on December 8, 1991, the Belovezhskaya agreement on the creation of the CIS was signed with the RSFSR and Ukraine.

At the end of 1918 Belarusian political and public structures adhered to different views on the question of the creation of the Belarusian statehood. The regional executive committee of the Western Region and the Front and the North-Western Regional Committee of the RCP (b) were opposed to its creation, while ethnic Belarusian refugees in Petrograd, Moscow and other cities created their own influential socio-political organizations and insisted on self-determination.

Until December 1918, the Soviet party leadership did not have a definite position on the issue of Belarusian Soviet statehood. In December, a telegram was sent from the Obliskomzap to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR containing the following text: . In connection with the change in the military-political situation, the decision is overdue. Although proposals to create a Byelorussian Soviet Republic had been voiced before, the decisions of the conference of the Belarusian sections of the RCP(b), which decided to create a temporary workers' and peasants' government, convene the All-Belarusian Congress of Communists and create a national party center, attracted special attention of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) . On December 24, the issue of creating a Belarusian Soviet statehood was discussed at a meeting of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). On December 25, People's Commissar for Nationalities Joseph Stalin held talks with Dmitry Zhilunovich and Alexander Myasnikov and informed them of the decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) to support the creation of the BSSR. Stalin, however, did not disclose the reasons for this decision, saying only that the Central Committee decided "for many reasons, which now cannot be discussed, to agree with the Belarusian comrades on the formation of the Belarusian Soviet Republic." On December 27, at the last negotiations in Moscow with the participation of Stalin, the territory of the future state was designated (Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev, Smolensk, Vitebsk provinces).

“were raised around the issue of the so-called Belarus, as well as in connection with the vigorous activity of the Rada of the BPR in relation to its international recognition”

The decision on the borders of the new state was adopted on the same day. The territory of the new state was divided into seven districts - Minsk, Smolensk, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Gomel, Grodno and Baranovichi. Minsk, Smolensk, Mogilev, Vitebsk and Grodno provinces, as well as several counties of the Suvalkov, Chernigov, Vilna and Kovno provinces, and with the exception of several counties of the Smolensk and Vitebsk provinces, were recognized as "the main core of the Belarusian Republic".

On December 30-31, a provisional government was being created. These days, a conflict occurred between Zhilunovich and Myasnikov related to Zhilunovich's desire to get the majority of seats in the interim government for representatives of Belnatsk and the Central Bureau of the Belarusian Communist Sections, but the conflict was settled thanks to the intervention of Stalin. As a result, Belnatsky and the Central Bank of the Belarusian sections received 7 seats in the interim government, while representatives of the Regional Executive Committee of the Western Region and the Front and the North-Western Regional Committee - 9. At the same time, Zhilunovich was appointed chairman of the interim government.

On the evening of January 1, 1919, the "Manifesto of the Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Soviet Government of Belarus" was read on the radio. The manifesto was drawn up in a hurry, and only five members of the government (Zhilunovich, Chervyakov, Myasnikov, Ivanov, Reingold) first in Russian with subsequent translation into Belarusian. This date is considered the date of the proclamation of Soviet Belarus.

On January 3, 1919, the regional executive committee of the Western Region and the Front dissolved itself, transferring power to the provisional government of the SSR of Belarus. On January 5, 1919, the government of the SSRB moved from Smolensk to Minsk.

On January 16, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), it was decided to separate "from the Byelorussian Republic the provinces of Vitebsk, Smolensk and Mogilev, leaving two provinces - Minsk and Grodno" as part of Belarus. In addition, there were proposals to begin preparations for unification with Lithuania, and in the long run with Russia and other Soviet republics.

The decision of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) was negatively received by the majority in the Central Executive Committee of the SSR of Belarus, however, in connection with the telegram of the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Ya. at provincial party conferences. In protest against the directive change in the territory of the republic, three people's commissars resigned from the government. In addition, such actions were unpopular on the ground as well - for example, the Nevelsk district conference, by 21 votes against 2, adopted a resolution against the transfer of the Vitebsk province to the direct subordination of the RSFSR.

On January 31, 1919, the independence of the SSR of Belarus was recognized by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR. On February 2, 1919, the First All-Belarusian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Red Army Deputies began its work in Minsk, which adopted the Constitution of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus on February 3. The congress was attended by 230 delegates, including 121 people from the Minsk province, 49 from Smolensk and none from Vitebsk; Y. Sverdlov was also present at the congress. At the congress, the Central Executive Committee of the SSRB was elected, which was headed by Myasnikov and which included only two representatives of Belnatsky. On February 27, 1919, the Byelorussian SSR merged with the Soviet Republic of Lithuania to form Litbel. Litbel ceased to exist due to the occupation of its territory by the troops of the Polish Republic during the Soviet-Polish war.

After the Red Army liberated a significant part of the territory of Belarus, on July 31, 1920, the independence of the republic was restored, and later its name changed to the Belarusian Socialist Soviet Republic. On the same day, the Declaration of Independence of the SSRB was published in the newspaper Sovetskaya Belorussia. The BSSR is one of the four republics that signed an agreement on the creation of the USSR in 1922.

In February 1921, in April 1924 and December 1926, part of the territory of the RSFSR, namely: parts of Vitebsk (with Vitebsk), Smolensk (with Orsha), Gomel (with Gomel) provinces, were transferred to the Byelorussian SSR. Thus, the territory of the BSSR more than doubled, and its eastern border began to generally correspond to eastern border Grand Duchy of Lithuania before the first partition of the Commonwealth [ ] .

On March 15, 1935, she was awarded the Order of Lenin by the BSSR for her achievements in socialist construction and development of the national economy.

Until 1936, the official languages ​​of the republic, along with Belarusian and Russian, were Polish and Yiddish. The slogan "Proletarians of all countries, unite! "was inscribed on the coat of arms of the BSSR in all 4 languages.

October 10, 1939 between the USSR and Republic of Lithuania Together, an agreement was concluded on the transfer of Vilna and part of the Vilna region from the BSSR to it. Representatives of the BSSR did not take part in the discussion of the terms of the agreement, nor in the negotiations, nor in the signing of the agreement.

Joined the BSSR

January 1, 1919 - the day of the proclamation of the BSSR. It is symbolic that this date coincides with the New Year. 95 years ago, a new era in our history really began.

The territory of the republic covered almost all the lands where Belarusians lived at that time, from Bialystok to Smolensk. But only on paper. In reality, everything was more complicated.

Preparations for the proclamation of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus - as the then BSSR was called according to the documents - began in the fall of 1918.

The National Archives of the Republic of Belarus in 2005 published a collection of documents prepared by Vitaly Skalaban and Vyacheslav Selemenev "January 1, 1919: The Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Soviet Government of Belarus." The book analyzes all available materials on the birth of the republic. The scientists came to the conclusion: “The decision to create the Belarusian Soviet government was made by the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). The government was formed in Moscow, and then in Smolensk and Minsk. It included representatives of two groups.

The first group consisted of members of the Belarusian sections of the RCP(b) and the Belarusian National Commissariat, a structural subdivision of the People's Commissariat for Nationalities of the RSFSR. Their leader was Dmitry Zhilunovich, who became chairman of the government.

The other was made up of members of the North-Western Regional Committee of the RCP(b) and the Executive Committee of Soviets of the Western Commune, headed by Alexander Myasnikov, who had previously denied the right of Belarusians to self-determination and fought against Belnatsk and the Belarusian sections of the RCP(b) as hotbeds of nationalism. One of them, Wilhelm Knorin, wrote on October 6, 1918 in the Zvezda newspaper: “We believed that the Belarusians are not a nation and that those ethnographic features that separate them from the rest of the Russians should be eliminated.”

In the “Manihvesets of the Hourly Worker-Peasant Savetskago Government of Belarus”, under which the date is January 1, 1919, both social and national liberation was proclaimed: –памешчыкаў, а потым захопляная пад уцiск расейскаго крываваго самадзяржаўя з яго гэнераламi i самаўладным чыноўнiцтвам, перажыўшая цяжкая ярмо нямецкаго прыгону, цяпер аслабаняяцца ад доўгай вякавой пакуты адважным наступам чырвонае армii, прычашчаяцца да новаго вольнаго жыцьця, якое будуяцца на закладзiнах камунiзму, на фундамянця мiжнароднае zluki pratsonaga people.

Workers, peasants and rednecks of the army of Belarus!

Remembrance of the parental peoples of the Race, Lithuania, Ukraine and Latvia, the hell of this day becomes free and you are free and unpaid gaspadars of the free independent Belarusian Satsyyalistkay Republic!

These words full of revolutionary passion, their author Dmitry Zhilunovich, translated into Russian, had previously given Stalin for approval. It was Iosif Vissarionovich, People's Commissar for Nationalities and a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the RSFSR, who oversaw the creation of our republic. As early as December 25, 1918, he confronted Myasnikov with a fact: “The Central Committee of the Party decided, for many reasons that are now out of the question, to agree with the Belarusian comrades (i.e., the Zhilunovich group. - V.K., V.S.) on formation of the Belarusian Soviet government. This issue has been resolved and no longer needs to be discussed.

On December 29, Stalin again spoke with Myasnikov: “Today Belarusians (Zhilunovich’s group. - V.K., V.S.) are leaving for Smolensk. They bring a manifesto with them. The request of the Central Committee of the Party and Lenin to accept them as younger brothers, perhaps still inexperienced, but ready to give their lives to party and Soviet work.

Stalin in the propaganda materials of the 1930s - 1950s was declared the "founder of the BSSR." During Khrushchev's "thaw", history was corrected: only Lenin was called the creator of the BSSR. However, both were involved in the case. It was the Moscow leaders who were the engineers of the new republic. The “younger brothers” Zhilunovich and Myasnikov were assigned the role of ordinary builders according to the finished project. On January 1, 1919, Iosif Vissarionovich telegraphed Myasnikov: “I must remind you that the government will be in direct contact with the Central Committee of the party and will obey it. Ask Zhilunovich to come to the apparatus today.”

So, on January 1, the republic was proclaimed in Smolensk. Only a day later, the head of the government Zhilunovich with comrades Dylo, Chervyakov and Chernushevich left for Minsk. Osip Dylo later recalled how the first persons of Belarus traveled to their capital: “The pasyaradzine of the prylajan carriage was an extraordinary plaque stove, i, roaring all the way, all night long byazupynna gavaryli members of the rada, abgavarvayuchy their future shtodzen pratsa. Paslya galodny Muskva over the name of savory was bought for the gift of black bread and lard. Adna after another lyatseli stations. At the hellish months, dze, the steam locomotive fluttered, the chigun bosses looked with a dazed gaze, adkul geta took “Members of Belaruskaga Urada”, and adzin adzin adkazny ancestor at the prastatse of the pile of the soul asked tests, qi not ўrad geta Belaruskae (R.R. .K., V.S.)”.

A railway employee confused members of the government of one Belarusian republic with another. This is not a joke. And the contradictory reality of that time. The creators of the BSSR in their "Manihvesets" reckoned with the attempt to create the Belarusian People's Republic and defiantly "overthrew" political competitors:

All the laws, pastan's, riots and orders of the Rada and I are servants, and so the German, Polish and Ukrainian akupatsyyny ulasses themselves are not sapraved.

Certain prominent figures of the intelligentsia considered the creation of the BSSR as a long-awaited embodiment of the "Belarusian dream" of their state. On January 3, 1919, the writer Maxim Goretsky appeared in the Smolensk newspaper Izvestia with the article “Long live communist Belarus.” On January 6, the head of the government and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the BNR, Anton Lutskevich, wrote in his diary: “There was a message that the Savetsky Belarusian Republic was independent of the Mensk Savetska oblast. Geta ўsikh so electrified that everyone, like adzin gatovs, went to Mensk and worked at times for balshaviks. On January 26, Lutskevich was sure that “the idea of ​​the Belarusian Republic can celebrate Christmas with a good party. Ab yoy gavoratsya, for yae byaruzza baroztsa tyya, who is yashche ўchora baroўsya proci yae. I have Balchaviki, coded, I was unraveled by ўBlaruska Z'ydni at the Snezhni in 1917, Ab'yavili Savetskaya Belarus at Fadarazi rye, and yes ўrada yai, the hole, the falsaga, the I. ".

However, Lutskevich hastened to conclusions. He did not know that as early as January 22, 1919, the Moscow envoy in Minsk, Ioffe, at a meeting of the Central Bureau of the CP (b) B, explained the emergence of the BSSR in a completely different way: “After the collapse of German imperialism, a period of nationalist aspirations begins again. The imperialists wanted to take advantage of these aspirations to create republics through which they could influence Soviet Russia in the desired sense. To avoid this, as well as the direct influence of imperialism on Russia, the Central Committee decided to create a number of buffer republics between them and us. In particular, it is necessary to isolate ourselves from Polish and Petliura imperialism. On the basis of these considerations, the Central Committee decided to form the Lithuanian and Byelorussian Republics.

On these grounds, Lenin formed the Byelorussian Republic.

On February 2-3, in Minsk, in the building of the current Kupala Theater, the First Congress of Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Red Army Deputies of Belarus gathered. The deputies approved the decision initiated in Moscow to transfer Smolensk, Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces from the BSSR to the RSFSR. Zhilunovich, Dylo and Falsky were removed from their positions.

On February 8-10, Dylo, Falsky and Shantyr were arrested. The party newspaper "Zvezda" in an editorial of February 5, 1919 "On the results of the Congress of Soviets of Belarus" drew a line: "The congress confirmed that the attempts of the Belarusian nationalist intelligentsia to create "their own" Belarusian language, "their" national culture are in vain. Knorin later described that turning point as follows: “After that, we undertook to carry out the Belarusian policy ourselves, not with the hands of Belarusians, but with international hands. Those were for the wide implementation of the Belarusian language, and Myasnikov had such a policy that we are pursuing a certain line, focusing in the direction of Moscow.”

The fate of most members of the first government of the BSSR is tragic - and members of the group of Zhilunovich and Myasnikov became victims. In 1919, Naidenkov was shot, in 1920 - Shantyr, in the 1930s Zhilunovich, Andreev, Kalmanovich, Pikel, Reingold, Chernushevich, Yarkin were killed during the repressions. In 1937, Chervyakov committed suicide - he could not stand the persecution. Some of the first persons of the first republic did not wait for rehabilitation until the end of the 20th century.

At the aforementioned First Congress of Soviets of Belarus in February 1919, a decision was made to unite Soviet Belarus with Soviet Lithuania into the Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belarus. Her existence was short-lived. During April - August, Poland captured most of these lands, and the remaining territories were annexed to the RSFSR.

Only on July 31, 1920, after the expulsion of the Poles from Minsk, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus was re-proclaimed, which included only 6 districts of the Minsk province with the cities of Minsk, Slutsk, Bobruisk, Borisov, Mozyr, Igumen (Cherven). In 1924, 1926, lands with a Belarusian population were returned from the RSFSR to the BSSR. In 1939, the BSSR grew due to the reunification of Western Belarus.

In 1945, the BSSR became one of the founding states of the United Nations.

On September 19, 1991, the Supreme Council of the BSSR adopted the Law “On the Name of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic”, which proclaimed: “The Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic will henceforth be called the “Republic of Belarus”, and in abbreviated and compound names - “Belarus”.

Viktor KORBUT, SB, Vyacheslav SELEMENEV, chief archivist of the National Archives.

Belarus is a plain descending to the south (Polesskaya lowland) and northwest. Due to this, the Belarusian plain is open to the influence of warm and humid western winds from the Baltic Sea and has a slightly less continental climate compared to other regions of the European part of the USSR: milder winters and less hot summers during the middle years. temperature 5.5 ° and high humidity. The soils of the BSSR are predominantly podzolic, sandy, loamy and waterlogged; there are many lakes and peat bogs in the BSSR. The latter make villages difficult. x-in, but as a source of energy they represent one of the few natural wealth of the BSSR. The main wealth of the BSSR is forest, it occupies more than 1/4 of the entire area (oak, hornbeam), and in Polesie - up to 40% (needles, oak, ash, alder). The main rivers of the BSSR are the Dnieper (with the Berezina, Sozh and Pripyat), the Western Dvina (tributaries - the Drissa, Ulla, connected to the Berezina-Berezina water system).

Population

Area and population on 1/1 1928.

Districts	Square in t. km 2	residents thousand people	Density per 1 km 2
Bobruisk	20,8	751,4	36,1
Vitebsk	11,4	583,2	51,2
Gomel	14,1	638,4	45,3
Minsk	22,5	920,1	40,9
Mogilevsky	18,5	825,0	44,6
Mozyr	17,3	352.6	20,4
Orsha	10,3	536,5	52,1
Polotsk	10,7	371,9	34,7
Total	125,6	4.979,7	39,6

Occupying 0.6% of the area of ​​the Union (equal to 21,352.6 thousand km 2), the BSSR exceeds the Union average by 5.7 times in population density, second only to the Ukrainian SSR of all the Union republics. By national composition: 82.1% - Belarusians living Ch. arr. in the villages, 9.9% - Jews, ch. arr. in small towns, Poles 2.3%, the rest. advantage Russians living Ch. arr. in big cities; urban population - 17%. The main commercial, industrial and cultural centers of the BSSR: Minsk (the capital of the BSSR - 123.6 thousand inhabitants), Gomel (83 thousand inhabitants) and Bobruisk (39.3 thousand inhabitants); factory centers: Vitebsk (98.8 thousand inhabitants) and Borisov (26 thousand inhabitants).

Ways of communication: main f. e.- Moscow-Belarusian-Balt. and Western with large railway. nodes - Gomel, Orsha, Polotsk, etc. The correct shipping communication is carried out along the Dnieper with Pripyat, Berezina and Sozh and Zap. Dvina. Other rivers serve mainly for rafting.

Agriculture

The agriculture of the BSSR is intensive and livestock-breeding; - so, at 2.9 million dess. sown area (approx. 2.9% of the sown area of ​​the USSR), the BSSR has 3.7% of all horses, 4.6% of all cows, 4.6% of the sown area under non-grain crops and 12.2% of all pigs. The BSSR is characterized by a lack of bread and an excess of meat, milk and cattle. Grains are dominated by: rye, oats, barley and buckwheat, among non-grains - potatoes, grasses, flax. The size of a peasant farm in the BSSR (4.04 hectares of crops) is somewhat higher than the average for the consuming zone of the USSR (3.05 hectares). The BSSR is characterized in the USSR by the smallest percentage of farms without sowing, without working livestock and without arable equipment, and by the greatest distribution of arable land cultivation with their own implements and livestock. All this testifies to the lesser stratification of the peasantry in comparison with other parts of the USSR. Areas of industrial forestry in the BSSR are located in the river basins: Zap. Dvina (Polotsk district), Berezina and Drut (Minsk and Bobruisk districts) and Pripyat (Mozyr district). Only half (47%) of organized forests in the BSSR are in the state. lands and ca. 1/4 local forests values. Net income from forestry in the BSSR - approx. 20 million rubles in 1926/27.

Industry

The industry of the BSSR is poorly developed: only 1.35% of the factory-manager is concentrated in the BSSR. workers of the USSR with 3.4% of the population. Production in 1926/27 is 133 million rubles. with 33 thousand workers. The industries that process local raw materials are the most developed: of these, the food industry (distillery, starch-treacle, etc.) produces 24% of the total production of the BSSR, woodworking - 23% and paper - 10%. Yeast production is especially developed, giving approx. 1/4 allied products. 80% of yeast production is sent outside the BSSR. Industrial enterprises in the BSSR they are very small, more than a third of the production falls on private industry (chiefly food industry), while throughout the USSR private industry provides only 2.2% of production.

Budget of the BSSR(state and local) was measured at 80 million rubles. (1926/27), inferior in per capita average (15.8 rubles) to all the union republics, except for the Uzbek SSR.

public education

Public education has made great strides forward during the years of Soviet power. Before the revolution, 39% of school-age children studied in the BSSR, in 1925 - 68%, or 350 tons, children studied in 4,000 schools with a 4-year course and 261 schools with a 7-year course of study; In addition to a much larger network of primary and secondary education, the BSSR has a number of technical schools and four universities: the University in Minsk (2,500 students), S.-kh. academy in Gorki (1,400 students), Veterinary Institute in Vitebsk (350 students) and the Communist University in Minsk (200 students). Before the revolution, there was not a single university in the BSSR. The percentage of literate (conscripted) Belarusians is higher than in the USSR, and amounted to 91.8 in 1925 against the average for the USSR - 87.7. In the BSSR, 19 newspapers are published with a circulation of over 100,000 copies; however, the provision of the population with a newspaper in the BSSR (2 copies per 100 people) is inferior to all the union republics, except for the Central Asian ones. From purely scientific institutions of particular importance are: the Belarusian Academy of Sciences in Minsk (transformed from the Institute of Belarusian Culture) and the Scientific Research Agricultural Institute. institute. Lenin.

Literature:

• Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, edition of the Council of People's Commissars of the BSSR, Minsk, 1927;
• Ignatovich and Smolich A., Belarus, Minsk, 1926.

P. Semenovich.

Trade unions and the Communist Party

Trade unions and the Communist Party. Members of trade unions (on January 1, 1928) 234,193 people, workers - 56%, employees - 44%; on a national basis: Belarusians - 55.6%, Jews - 27.7%, Great Russians - 9.6%, others - 7.1%. Members and Cand. party on 1/IV 1928 - 31.546, members and candidates. Komsomol - 62.892.

History of the formation of the BSSR

Being one of the main theaters of military operations in the war of 1914-18, Belarus in 1915, after the defeat of the Russian armies, was torn into two parts. In Vilna, occupied by the Germans, under the tutelage of the German command, the Lithuanian-Belarusian state was proclaimed, with the Sejm in Vilna. After the February Revolution, in that part of Belarus, which was not occupied by the Germans, a series of congresses of peasants, front-line, and others took place, ending with the election of the Belarusian Central Rada, petty-bourgeois in its composition and counter-revolutionary in essence.

By the end of 1917, the workers and peasant masses of the BSSR, with the friendly support of soldiers Western Front, which were concentrated in Minsk, overthrew the power of the bourgeoisie. Soviet power was declared, headed by the Council of People's Commissars, which included the Bolsheviks represented by Comrades. Lander, Frunze, Myasnikov, Pozern, Knorin and others. On February 25, 1918, after the break in the Brest negotiations, the Germans occupied Minsk and part of Belarus up to Orsha. Power temporarily passed to the people's secretariat, acting on behalf of the Central Rada. In essence, it was the domination of the Germans, who invited counter-revolutionary organizations from the Byelorussian Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Cadets, etc., to their service. With this character of the Byelorussian government, the partisan movement is growing stronger. The partisan detachments were led by the communists, who had grouped the main core in Smolensk. decisive role in this struggle of the Belarusian workers and peasants with the German occupation, the revolution in Germany played, after which the Germans retreated along the entire front. In this regard, the Western Regional Party Committee, with the full support of the Belarusian peasantry, launched an intensified work on the Sovietization of Belarus in that part of it, which was cleared from the German occupation (Borisov, Minsk, Mogilev, etc.). Revolutionary military councils began to work intensively, trade unions began to organize.

Jan 1 , at the Congress of Soviets of Belarus, there was an unification of Belarus with Soviet Lithuania. Polish troops in April 1919 occupied almost the entire territory of the BSSR. The occupation of the BSSR by the Poles again caused an intensified partisan movement. As a result of hard struggle partisan detachments and as a result of the policy of oppression pursued by the Polish bourgeoisie towards the workers and peasants of Byelorussia. During the campaign of the Red Army against Warsaw, the BSSR was liberated from the Poles, and power passed into the hands of the Soviets. A revolutionary was formed. committee composed of Chervyakov, Adamovich and Knorin, which existed until the elections of the Central Executive Committee of the BSSR.

The western part of Belarus, after the conclusion of peace between Soviet Russia and Poland, remained within the borders of the latter. The population of the West Belarus is subjected to national oppression in the same way as other national minorities in Poland. During 1920-22, Soviet Belarus was attacked from Poland by the bandit White Guard detachments of Bulak-Balakhovich