Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic

Not to be confused with theSocialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussiathat existed in 1919.

Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка(Belarusian) Белорусская Советская Социалистическая Республика(Russian)
1920–1991 1941–1944:German occupation
Flag (1951–1991) State emblem (1981–1991)
Motto:Пралетарыі ўсіх краін, яднайцеся!(Belarusian) Pralyetaryi wsikh krain, yadnaytsyesya!(transliteration) "Workers of the world, unite!"
Anthem:Дзяржаўны гімн Беларускай Савецкай Сацыялiстычнай Рэспублiкi Dzyarzhawny himn Byelaruskay Savyetskay Satsyyalistychnay Respubliki "Anthem of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic" (1955–1991)
Location of Byelorussia (red) within theSoviet Union(red and white) between 1956 and 1991
Status	1920–1922: Nominally independent state 1922–1990: Union Republic 1990–1991: Union Republic with priority ofByelorussian legislation
Capital	Smolensk(1—6 January 1919), Minsk(since 7 January 1919)
Official languages	Belarusian Russian
Recognised languages	Polish Ukrainian Yiddish
Religion	State atheism
Demonym(s)	Byelorussian,Soviet
Government	1920–1990: UnitaryMarxist-Leninistone-partySoviet-stylesocialist republic 1990–1991: Unitaryparliamentary republic
First Secretary
• 1920–1923(first)	Vilgelm Knorin
• 1988–1990(last)	Yefrem Sokolov
Head of state
• 1920–1937(first)	Alexander Chervyakov
• 1991(last)	Stanislav Shushkevich
Head of government
• 1920–1924(first)	Alexander Chervyakov
• 1990–1991(last)	Vyacheslav Kebich
Legislature	Congress of Soviets (1920–1938) Supreme Soviet(1938–1991)
History
•First Soviet republicdeclared	1 January 1919
• Second Soviet republic proclaimed	31 July 1920
•Admitted to Soviet Union	30 December 1922
•Annexation of Western Belarus	15 November 1939
•UN membership	24 October 1945
•Sovereignty declared,partial cancellation of theSoviet form of government	27 July 1990
• Independence declared	25 August 1991
• RenamedRepublic of Belarus	19 September 1991
•Belovezha Accords	10 December 1991
• Internationally recognized (Dissolution of the Soviet Union)	26 December 1991
•Complete cancellationof theSoviet form of government	15 March 1994
Area
• Total	207,600 km2(80,200 sq mi)
Population
•1989 census	10,199,709
Currency	Soviet rouble(Rbl) (SUR)
Calling code	+7015/016/017/02
Preceded by Succeeded by Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia Second Polish Republic Reichskommissariat Ostland Bezirk Bialystok Reichskommissariat Ukraine Republic of Belarus
Today part of	Belarus Lithuania Poland Russia

TheByelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic(BSSR,orByelorussian SSR;Belarusian:Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка;Russian:Белорусская Советская Социалистическая Республика),also known asByelorussia,Belorussia,TheBelarusian SSR,Soviet Belarus,or simplyBelarus,was arepublicof theSoviet Union(USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1991 as one offifteen constituent republicsof the USSR, with its legislation from 1990 to 1991. The republic was ruled by theCommunist Party of Byelorussiaand was also referred to as Soviet Byelorussia or Soviet Belarus by some historians.Other names for Byelorussia includedWhite RussiaorWhite Russian Soviet Socialist RepublicandBelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

To the west it borderedPoland.Within the Soviet Union, it bordered theLithuanian SSRand theLatvian SSRto the north, theRussian SFSRto the east, and theUkrainian SSRto the south.

TheSocialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia(SSRB) was declared by theBolshevikson 1 January 1919 following the declaration of independence by theBelarusian Democratic Republicin March 1918.In 1922, the BSSR was one of the four founding members of the Soviet Union, together with theUkrainian SSR,theTranscaucasian SFSR,and theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic(RSFSR). Byelorussia was one of several Soviet republics occupied byNazi GermanyduringWorld War II.

Towards the final years of the Soviet Union's existence, the Supreme Soviet of Byelorussian SSR adopted theDeclaration of State Sovereigntyin 1990. On 25 August 1991, the Byelorussian SSR declared independence, and on 19 September it was renamed theRepublic of Belarus.The Soviet Union wasdissolvedon 26 December 1991.

Terminology

The termByelorussia(Russian:Белору́ссия), derives from the termBelaya Rus',i.e.,White Rus'.There are several claims to the origin of the nameWhite Rus'.An ethno-religious theory suggests that the name used to describe the part of oldRuthenianlands within theGrand Duchy of Lithuaniathat had been populated mostly by early ChristianizedSlavs,as opposed toBlack Ruthenia,which was predominantly inhabited by pagan Balts.

The latter part similar but spelled and stressed differently from Росси́я (Russia), first rose in the days of theRussian Empire,and the Russian Tsar was usually styled "the Tsar of All the Russias", asRussiaor theRussian Empirewas formed by three parts of Russia—theGreat,Little,andWhite.This asserted that the territories are all Russian and all the peoples are also Russian; in the case of the Belarusians, that they were variants of the Russian people.

Following theBolshevik Revolutionin 1917, the term "White Russia" caused some confusion as it became the name of the so-calledWhite military forcethat opposed the Red Bolsheviks.During the period of the Byelorussian SSR, the termByelorussiawas embraced as part of a national consciousness. Inwestern Belarus,under Polish control until World War II,Byelorussiabecame commonly used in the regions ofBiałystokandGrodno.Upon the establishment of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1920, the termByelorussia(its names in other languages such as English being based on the Russian form) was only used officially. In 1936, with the proclamation of the1936 Soviet Constitution,the republic was renamed to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

On 19 September 1991 theSupreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSRrenamed the Soviet republic to the Republic of Belarus, with the short form "Belarus". Conservative forces in the newly independent Belarus did not support the name change and opposed its inclusion in the 1991 draft of theConstitution of Belarus.

History

A 2019 stamp dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the BSSR

See also:History of Belarus

Beginning

Main article:Western Oblast (1917–18)

Prior to theFirst World War,Belarusian lands were a part of theRussian Empire,which it gained from thePartitions of Polandmore than a century earlier. During the War, theRussian Western Front'sGreat retreatin August/September 1915 ended with the lands ofGrodno Governorateand most ofVilna Governorateoccupied by Germany. The resulting front, passing at 100 kilometres to the west of Minsk remained static towards the end of the conflict, despite Russian attempts to break it at theLake Naroch offensivein late spring 1916 and GeneralAlexei Evert's inconclusive thrust around the city ofBaranavichyin summer of that year, during theBrusilov offensivefurther south, in Western Ukraine.

The abdication ofTsar Nicholas IIin light of theFebruary Revolutionin Russia in February 1917, activated a rather dormant political life in Belarus. As central authority waned, different political and ethnic groups strived for greater self-determination and even secession from the increasingly ineffectiveRussian Provisional Government.The momentum picked up after the incompetent actions of the 10th Army during the ill-fatedKerensky offensiveduring the summer. Representatives of Belarusian regions and of different (mostly left-wing) newly established political powers, including theBelarusian Socialist Assembly,theChristian democratic movementand theGeneral Jewish Labour Bund,formed a Belarusian Central Council.

Towards the autumn political stability continued to shake, and countering the rising nationalist tendencies were the BolshevikSoviets,when theOctober Revolutionhit Russia, that same day, on 25 October (7 November) 1917, the MinskSovietof workers and soldiers deputies took over the administration of the city. TheBolshevikAll-Russian council of Soviets declared the creation of theWestern Oblastwhich unified the Vilna,Vitebsk,MogilevandMinskgovernorates that were not occupied by the German army, to administer the Belarusian lands in the frontal zone. On 26 November (6 December), the executive committee of workers, peasants and soldiers deputies for the Western Oblast was merged with the Western front's executive committee, creating a singleObliskomzap.During the autumn 1917/winter of 1918, the Western Oblast was headed byAleksandr Myasnikyanas head of the Western Oblast'sMilitary Revolutionary Committee,who passed this duty on toKārlis Landers.Myasnikyan took over as chair of theRussian Social Democratic Labour Party's (RSDRP(b)) committee for Western Oblast andMoses Kalmanovichas chair of the Obliskomzap.

Countering this the Belarusian Central Council reorganised itself as a Belarusian National Council (Rada), started working on establishing governmental institutions, and discarded the Obliskomzap as a military formation, rather than governmental. As a result, on 7th (20th) of December, when the first All-Belarusian congress convened, the Bolsheviks forcibly disbanded it.

German involvement

The Russo-German front in Belarus remained static since 1915 and formal negotiations began only on 19 November (2 December N.S.), when the Soviet delegation traveled to the German-occupied Belarusian city ofBrest-Litovsk.A cease-fire was quickly agreed and proper peace negotiations began in December.

However, the German party soon went back on its word and took full advantage of the situation, and the Bolsheviks' demand of a treaty "without annexations or indemnities" was unacceptable to theCentral Powers,and on 18 February hostilities resumed. The GermanOperation Faustschlagwas of immediate success and within 11 days, they were able to make a serious advance eastward, taking over Ukraine, the Baltic states and occupying Eastern Belarus. This forced the Obliskomzap to evacuate toSmolensk.TheSmolensk Governoratewas passed to the Western Oblast.

Faced with the German demands, the Bolsheviks accepted their terms at the finalTreaty of Brest-Litovsk,which was signed on 3 March 1918. For the German Empire, Operation Faustschlag achieved one of their strategic plans for World War I, to create a German-centered hegemony ofbuffer states,calledMitteleuropa.Support of local nationalist groups alienated by Bolsheviks was key, thus, when four days after Minsk was occupied by the German Army, the disbanded Belarusian National Council declared itself as the sole authority in Belarus, the Germans stood by, and recognised the declaredBelarusian Democratic Republicon 25 March.

Creation

The initial and provisional borders of the SSRB (dark green)

Main article:Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia

After Germany was defeated in the First World War, it announced its evacuation from the occupied territories of Belarus and Ukraine. As the Germans were preparing to depart, the Bolsheviks were keen to enter the territory to re-claim Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltics to realise Soviet premierVladimir Lenin's advocacy to seize the territories of the former Russian Empire and advance theworld revolution.

On 11 September 1918, theRevolutionary Military Councilordered the creation of the Western Defence region in the Western Oblast out ofCurtain forceswhich were stationed there. Simultaneously the Council reorganised the Western Oblast as aWestern Commune.On 13 November, Moscow annulled theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk.Two days later it transformed the Defence region into aWestern army.It began an initiallybloodless advance westwardon the 17th. The Belarusian National Republic barely resisted, evacuating Minsk on 3 December. The Soviets maintained a distance of about 10–15 kilometres (6.2–9.3 mi) between the two armies,and took Minsk on the 10th.

Encouraged by their success, in Smolensk on 30–31 December 1918, the Sixth Western Oblast Party conference met and announced its split from the Russian Communist Party, proclaiming itself as the first congress of the Communist Party of Byelorussia (CPB(b)). The next day, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia was proclaimed in Smolensk, terminating the Western Commune, and on 7 January it was moved to Minsk.Aleksandr Myasnikyanemerged as head of the All-Byelorussian Central Executive Committee andZmicier Zhylunovichas head of the provisional government.

The new Soviet republic initially consisted of seven districts:Baranavichy,Vitebsk,Gomel,Grodno,MogilevandSmolensk.On 30 January, the republic announced its separation from theRussian SFSRand renaming as theSoviet SocialistRepublic of Byelorussia (SSRB). This was conferred by the First Congress of deputies, composed of workers, soldiers and Red Army men, which met on 2–3 February 1919, to adopt a new Socialist constitution. The Red Army continued its westward advance, capturing the city of Grodno on New Year's Day 1919,Pinskon 21 January, and Baranovichi on 6 February 1919, thereby enlarging the SSRB.

Litbel

The Litbel was a Soviet attempt to justify itsirredentistambition by drawing on ahistoric parallel.

Main article:Lithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic

Thewestern winter offensivedescribed above was not limited to Byelorussia; Soviet forces similarly moved to the north intoLithuania.On 16 December theLithuanian Socialist Soviet Republic(LSSR) was proclaimed inVilnius.

TheLithuanian operationand continuing conquest of Byelorussia were threatened by the rise of theSecond Polish Republicafter the withdrawal of German forces. However theconflict with Polanddid not break out and the Soviet High Command's 12 January directive was to cease advance on theNeman-Bugrivers. However, the region to the east of those lines was historically mixed among a population of Belarusians, Poles and Lithuanians, with a sizeable Jewish minority. The local communities of each respective group wanted to be part of the respective states that were establishing themselves.

After their1918–1919 winter conquest of Byelorussia, Ukraine and Lithuania,Soviet forces faced Poland as a competing power in the region.

In theKresy( "Borderland" ) areas of Lithuania, Belarus and western Ukraine, self-organized militias, theSamoobrona Litwy i Białorusinumbering approximately 2,000 soldiers under General Wejtko, began to fight against the local communist and advancing Bolshevik forces. Each side was trying to secure the territories for its own government. The newly formed Polish Army began sending its organised units to reinforce the militias. On 14 February, thefirst clashbetween regular armies took place and a front emerged.

Eager to win support, the Bolshevik government decided to restore theGreat Duchy of Lithuaniaby merging the Lithuanian and Byelorussian republics into theLithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic,orLitbelon 28 February 1919. Its capital was proclaimed asVilnius,with fiveguberniyas:Vilno,Grodno,Kovno,SuwalkiandMinsk.The Vitebsk and Mogilev guberniyas were transferred to the Russian SFSR, and were soon joined by theGomel Governorate,which was created on 26 April.

The operations in Lithuania brought the front close toEast Prussia,and the German units that had withdrawn there began to assist the Lithuanian forces to defeat the Soviets; they repelled the Red offensive againstKaunasin February 1919.

In March 1919, Polish units opened an offensive: forces under GeneralStanisław Szeptyckicaptured the city ofSlonim(2 March) and crossed the Neman, whilst Lithuanian advances forced the Soviets out ofPanevėžys.A final Soviet counter-offensive retookPanevėžysandGrodnoin early April, but the Western Army was too thinly spread to fight both the Polish and Lithuanian troops, and the German units assisting them. The Polish offensive quickly gained momentum, andVilna offensivein April 1919, forced Litbel to evacuate the capital first toDvinsk(28 April), then to Minsk (28 April), then toBobruysk(19 May). As the Litbel lost territory, its powers were quickly stripped by Moscow. For example, on 1 JuneVtsik's decree put all of Litbel's armed forces under the command of the Red Army. On 17 July, the Defence Soviet was liquidated, and its function was passed to Minsk'sMilrevcom.When on 8 August Polish forcescaptured Minsk,that same day the capital was evacuated toSmolensk.On 28 August Lithuanian forces tookZarasai(the last Lithuanian town held by Litbel) and the same dayBobruyskfell to the Poles.

By late summer of 1919, the Polish advance was also exhausted. The defeat of the Red Army allowed the outbreak of another historic disagreement over territory between Poland and Lithuania; their competition to control the city of Vilnius soon erupted into amilitary conflict,with Poland winning. Facing Denikin and Kolchak, Soviet Russia could not spare men for the western front. A stalemate with localised skirmishes developed between Poland and Lithuania.

Pawn on a chessboard

The stalemate and the occasional (though fruitless) negotiations gave Russia a much needed pause to concentrate on other regions. During the latter half of 1919 the Red Army successfully defeated Denikin in the South, taking over the Don, North Caucasus and Eastern Ukraine, pushed Kolchak from the Volga, beyond the Ural mountains intoSiberia.In autumn of 1919,Nikolai Yudenich's advance onPetrogradwas checked, whilst in the far north theEvgeny Miller's army was pushed into the Arctic. On the diplomatic front, on 11 September 1919, thePeople's Commissarof Foreign Affairs of Soviet Russia,Georgy Chicherin,sent a note to Lithuania with a proposal for apeace treaty.It was ade factorecognition of the Lithuanian state.Similar negotiations withEstoniaandLatvia,gave way for a peace treaty with the former on 2 February 1920 and a cease-fire agreement with the latter a day earlier.

Having secured several frontiers and breaking the "Ring of Fronts" the Soviet government began building up its forces for the massive offensive westwards, bringing theWorld Revolutionto Europe. However the Polish role of preventing this and creating a "buffer zone" at the expense of Belarus was not its sole goal. The new leaderJózef Piłsudskirallied the Poles under a nationalist rhetoric to re-create the historicPolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,theMiędzymorze,which would include Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and push the eastern border as far as possible into Russia.

War continues

After the decisive Polish victory in Warsaw, the Red Army was forced to retreat from Polish territories, but attempts to holdWestern Belaruswere lost after thePolish victoryon theNieman River.

In April 1920, Poland initiated itsmajor offensive.However the Soviet Red Army was much more organised than it was a year earlier, and though Polish troops managed to make several gains in Ukraine, notably the capture ofKiev,in Byelorussia, both of its offensives towardsZhlobinandOrshawere thrown back in May.

In June, the RSFSR was finally ready to open its major Western advance. To preserve the neutrality of Lithuania (though the peace treaty was still being negotiated), on 6 June the exiled government of Litbel was disbanded. Within a few days, the 3rd Cavalry Corps under command ofHayk Bzhishkyanbroke the Polish front, causing a collapse and a retreat. On 11 July Minsk was re-taken, and on 31 July 1920 once again the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belorussia was re-established in Minsk.

As the front moved west, and more Belarusian lands were adjoined to the new republic, the first administrative decrees were issued. The entity was divided into sevenuyezds:Bobruysk,Borisov,Igumen,Minsk,MozyrandSlutsk.(Vitebsk, Gomel and Mogilev remained part of the RSFSR.) This time the leaders wereAleksandr Chervyakov(head of Minsk's milrevcom) andWilhelm Knorin(as chairmen of the Central Committee of the Belarusian Communist Party). The SSRB sought to join further territories, as the Red Army crossed into Poland, but the decisive Polish victory at theBattle of Warsawin August ended these ambitions. Once again, the Red Army found itself on the defensive in Belorussia. The Poles were able to successfully break the Russian lines at theBattle of the Niemen Riverin September 1920. As a result, the Soviets were not only forced to abandon theirWorld Revolutiontargets, butWestern Belarustoo. However early autumn rains halted the Polish advance, which exhausted itself by October. A cease-fire agreed on 12 October, came into effect on 18 October.

Slutsk uprising

A Belarusian caricature showing the division of their country by Poles and Bolsheviks.

Main article:Slutsk Defence Action

As the negotiations between the Polish Republic and the Russian Bolshevik government took place inRiga,the Soviet side saw the armistice as only a temporary setback in its western advance. Seeing the failure of overcoming the Polish nationalist rhetoric with Communist propaganda, the Soviet government chose a different tactic, by appealing to the minorities of the Polish state, creating afifth columnelement out ofBelarusiansandUkrainians.During the negotiations, RSFSR offered all of BSSR to Poland in return for concessions in Ukraine, which were rejected by the Polish side. Eventually a compromising armistice line was agreed, which would see the Belarusian city ofSlutskhanded over to the Bolsheviks.

News of Belarus' upcoming permanent division angered the population, and using the town's Polish occupation, the local population began self-organising into a militia and associating itself with theBelarusian Democratic Republic.On 24 November the Polish units left the town, and for nearly a month the Slutsk partisans resisted Soviet attempts to re-gain control of the area. Eventually the Red Army had to mobilise two divisions to overcome the resistance, when the last units of Slutsk militia crossed the Moroch River and interned by the Polish border guards.

Early Soviet years

BSSR between the two World Wars

In February 1921, the delegations of the Second Polish Republic and the Russian SFSR finally signed theTreaty of Rigaputting an end of hostilities in Europe, and Belarus in particular. Six years of war had left the land neglected and looted, and the endless change of occupying regimes, each worse than the previous, left their mark on the Belarusian people, who were now divided. Almost half (Western Belarus) now belonged to Poland. Eastern Belarus (Gomel, Vitebsk and parts of Smolensk guberniyas) were administered by the RSFSR. The rest was the SSRB, a republic with 52,400 square kilometres and a population of a mere 1.544 million people.

An interesting paradox arose in the status of SSRB within the future Bolshevik state. On one hand its small geographic, population and almost negligent economic indicators did not warrant it much political weight on Soviet affairs. In fact the leader of the Communist Party of Byelorussia (Bolshevik),Alexander Chervyakovwould represent Byelorussian communists at seven party congresses in Moscow, but not once be elected into the party'sCentral Committee.Moreover, the weak national sentiment of the Belarusian people would easily have allowed SSRB to be disbanded and annexed to the RSFSR, unlike for example Ukraine.

On the other hand, the region's strategic role decided its fate, as a fullUnion republicwithin the negotiations upon forming the future state. For oneLeon Trotskyand his supporters within the Soviet leadership still supported itsWorld Revolutionconcept, and as said above, viewed the Treaty of Riga as only a temporary setback to the process, and a future advance would require a prepared bridgehead. This justified giving the SSRB the status of a full union republic within theTreaty on the Creation of the USSRthat was signed on 30 December 1922. SSR Byelorussia became a founding member of the Soviet Union in 1922 and became known as BSSR.

However the politics in Moscow took a different course of events, and eventually the accession ofJoseph Stalinsaw a new policy adopted:Socialism in One Country.In accordance with which, expansionist and irredentist claims were removed from Soviet ideology, which instead would focus on making regions economically viable. Thus in March 1924, by decree of theAll-Russian Central Executive Committee,Russia returned most of territories that made up the Vitebsk and Mogilev Governorates, as well as parts of Smolensk. The passing of land that largely survived the destruction of war not only doubled the SSRB's area to 110,600 square kilometres, but also raised the population to 4.2 million people.

SSRB in the mid-1920s

Minsk Railway Station (1926), with the city's name given in Belarusian, Russian, Polish and Yiddish (or interwar Belarus's 4 official languages)

According to its entry in theGreat Soviet Encyclopedia,in 1925 SSRB was a largely rural country. Out of the 4,342,800 people that inhabited it, only 14.5% lived in urban areas. Administratively it was split into tenokrugs:Bobruysk,Borisov,Vitebsk,Kalinin,Minsk,Mogilev,Mozyr,Orsha,PolotskandSlutsk;all of which contained a total of 100raionsand 1,229selsoviets.Only 25 towns and cities and an additional 49 urban settlements.

Trotsky's plan for the SSRB to act as a future magnet for the minorities in theSecond Polish Republicis clearly evidenced in the national policies. The republic initially had four official languages:Belarusian,Russian,Yiddish,andPolish,despite the fact that theRussiansand thePolesmade up only around 2% of the total population (most of the latter lived next to the state border in the Minsk and Borisov districts). The most important minority was theJewish population of Belarus,which had a long history of targeted oppression under the Tsars, and in 1925 made up almost 44% of the urban population and began to be aided byaffirmative actionprogrammes. In 1924 the government created a committee –Belkomzet– to allocate land to Jewish families, in 1926 a total of 32,700 hectares were given for 6,860 Jewish families. Jews would continue to play a major role in Byelorussian politics, society and economy right up to theSecond World War;in fact, between 1928 and 1930, the first secretary of theCommunist Party of Byelorussia,Yakov Gamarnik,was a Jew.

Yet, the titular nation of the SSRB were theBelarusians,which made up 82% of the rural population, but less than half of the urban one (40.1%). The Belarusian national sentiment was a lot weaker than that of neighbouring Ukraine, this was greatly exploited by the Bolshevik-Polish power struggle in thePolish–Soviet War.(In fact to avoid being annexed to Poland, at the census of 1920, many chose to be label themselves asRussians.). To appeal to theBelarusiansofWestern Belarusand also to prevent the nationalist element of the exiledBelarusian Democratic Republicfrom having any influence on the population (i.e. to avoid another Slutsk uprising), a policy ofKorenizatsiyawas widely implemented. Belarusian language, folklore and culture was put at front of everything else. This went on par with the Soviet policy of liquidation of illiteracy (likbez).

Economically the republic remained largely self-centred, and most of the effort was put into restoring and repairing the war-damaged industry (if in 1923 there was only 226 different fabrics and factories, then by 1926 the number climbed to 246. However, the employed manpower jumped from 14 thousand to 21.3 thousand workers). The majority was food industry followed by metal and wood working combines. A lot more was centred in local and private sector, as allowed by theNew Economic Policyof the USSR, in 1925 these number 38.5 thousand who employed almost 50 thousand people. Most being textile workshops and lumber yards and blacksmiths.

On 6 December 1926, the SSRB was once again enlarged, in order to make the republic prosperous and continue thecreating of well-defined national territorial units.This time, parts of RSFSR'sGomel Governoratewere added, including the cities ofGomelandRechytsa.This increased the area to 126,300 square kilometres and the1926 Soviet censusthat was held at the same time reported a population of 4,982,623. Of the latter 83% was rural, and Belarusians made up 80.6% (though only 39.2% of urban, yet 89% of rural).

On 11 April 1927, the republic adopted its newConstitution,bringing its laws in tie with those of the USSR and changing the name from theSoviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussiato theByelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.The head of government (chairman of the Soviet of People's Commissars) was by now then newly appointedNikolay Goloded,whilstVilhelm Knorinremained the first secretary of the Communist Party.

Stalinist years

The Byelorussian SSR prior to theinvasion of Poland

The Byelorussian SSR after the invasion of Poland

The 1930s marked the peak ofSoviet repressions in Belarus.According to incomplete calculations, about 600,000 people fell victim to Soviet repressions in Belarus between 1917 and 1953.Other estimates put the number at higher than 1.4 million persons.,of which 250,000 were sentenced by judicial or executed by extrajudicial bodies (dvoikas,troikas,special commissions of theOGPU,NKVD,MGB). Excluding those sentenced in the 1920s–1930s, over 250,000 Belarusians were deported askulaksor kulak family members to regions outside the Belarusian Soviet Republic. The scale of Soviet terror in Belarus was higher than in Russia or Ukraine which resulted in a much stronger extent ofRussificationin the republic.

APolish Autonomous Districtwas founded in 1932 and disbanded in 1935.

In September 1939, the Soviet Union, following theMolotov–Ribbentrop PactwithNazi Germany,occupied eastern Poland after the1939 invasion of Poland.The former Polish territories referred to asWest Belaruswere incorporated into the Belarusian SSR, with an exception of the city ofVilniusand its surroundings that were transferred toLithuania.The annexation was internationally recognized after the end of World War II.

Nazi German occupation

See also:The Holocaust in Belarus,Belarusian resistance during World War II,andKhatyn massacre

In the summer of 1941, Belarus was occupied by Nazi Germany. A large part of the territory of Belarus became theGeneral District Belaruswithin theReichskommissariat Ostland.

Nazi Germanyimposed a brutal regime, deporting some 380,000 people forslave labour,and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians more. 800,000Belarusian Jews(about 90 percent of the Jewish population) were killed duringthe Holocaust.At least 5,295 Belarusian settlements were destroyed by the Germans and some or all their inhabitants killed (out of 9,200 settlements that were burned or otherwise destroyed in Belarus duringWorld War II).More than 600 villages likeKhatynwere totally annihilated.Altogether, over 2,000,000 people were killed in Belarus during the three years ofGerman occupation,almost a quarter of the region's population.

Belarus-bornAndrei Gromyko(right) served as Soviet foreign minister (1957–1985) and asChairmanof thePresidium of the Supreme Soviet(1985–1988)

After World War II, the Byelorussian SSR was given a seat in the United NationsGeneral Assemblytogether with the Soviet Union and Ukrainian SSR, becoming one of the founding members of the UN. This was part of a deal with the United States to ensure a degree of balance in theGeneral Assembly,which, the USSR opined, was unbalanced in favor of the Western Bloc.A Byelorussian, G.G. Chernushchenko, served asPresident of the United Nations Security Councilfrom January–February 1975.

Dissolution

In its last years duringperestroikaunderMikhail Gorbachev,the Supreme Soviet of Byelorussian SSR declared sovereignty on 27 July 1990 over Soviet laws.

On 25 August 1991, after thefailure of the coup in Moscow,the republic proclaimed its political and economic independence from the Soviet Union,however, continued to consider herself part of the USSR.On 19 September the republic was renamed theRepublic of Belarus.On 8 December 1991 it was a signatory, along with Russia andUkraine,of theBelovezha Accords,which replaced the Soviet Union with theCommonwealth of Independent States.Belarus received independence on 25 December 1991. A day later the Soviet Union ceased to exist. However, the Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the Republic of Belarus of 1978, was retained after independence.

Politics and government

Main article:Politics of the Soviet Union

See also:Politics of Belarus

The Supreme Soviet of Byelorussia met for its legislative sessions in Minsk.

Until 1990, Byelorussia was aone-partysocialist republic,governed by theCommunist Party of Byelorussia,a branch within theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union(CPSU/KPSS).Like all other Soviet republics, it was one of the 15 constituent republics composing the Soviet Union from its entry into the union in 1922 until its dissolution in 1991.Executive powerwas exercised by the Byelorussian Communist Party authorities, at its top sits the Chairman of the Council of Ministers.Legislative powerwas vested in the unicameral parliament, theSupreme Soviet of Byelorussia,also dominated by the Communist Party.

Belarus is the legal successor of the Byelorussian SSR and in itsConstitutionit states, "Laws, decrees and other acts which were applied in the territory of the Republic of Belarus prior to the entry into force of the present Constitution shall apply in the particular parts thereof that are not contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus."

Foreign relations

See also:Foreign relations of Belarus

On the international stage, Byelorussia (along with Ukraine) was one of only tworepublics of the Soviet Unionto be separate members of the United Nations. Both republics and theSoviet Unionjoined the UN when the organization was founded with the other 50 states on 24 October 1945. In effect, this provided the Soviet Union (a permanentSecurity Councilmember with veto powers) with another 2 votes in theGeneral Assembly.

Apart from the UN, the Byelorussian SSR was a member of theUN Economic and Social Council,UNICEF,International Labour Organization,Universal Postal Union,World Health Organization,UNESCO,International Telecommunication Union,United Nations Economic Commission for Europe,World Intellectual Property Organizationand theInternational Atomic Energy Agency.Byelorussia was excluded separately from theWarsaw Pact,Comecon,theWorld Federation of Trade Unionsand theWorld Federation of Democratic Youth.In 1949, it joined theInternational Olympic Committeeas a Union Republic.

Demographics

According to the1959 Soviet Census,the population of the republic were made up as follows:

Ethnicities (1959):

• Belarusians– 81%
• Poles– 16%
• Lithuanians– 5%
• Ukrainians– about 1%
• Jews – about 1%
• Russians– <1%

The largest cities were:

• Minsk
• Brest
• Gomel
• Grodno
• Mogilev
• Vitebsk
• Bobruisk

Culture

Main articles:Culture of BelarusandCulture of the Soviet Union

Cuisine

Main articles:Soviet cuisineandBelarusian cuisine

Draniki,the national dish

Whilst part of the Union, thecuisine of Byelorussiaconsisted mainly of vegetables, meat (particularly pork), and bread. Foods are usually either slowly cooked orstewed.Typically, Byelorussians eat a light breakfast and two hearty meals, with dinner being the largest meal of the day. Wheat andryebreads are consumed in Belarus, but rye is more plentiful because conditions are too harsh for growing wheat. Many of the cuisines within Byelorussia also shared its cuisine withRussiaandPoland.

See also

• Captive Nations
• Belarusization
• Russification of Belarus

Further reading

• Baranova, Olga (2008). "Nationalism, anti-Bolshevism or the will to survive? Collaboration in Belarus under the Nazi occupation of 1941–1944".European Review of History.15(2): 113–128.doi:10.1080/13507480801931044.S2CID144785016.
• Bekus, Nelly.Struggle over Identity: The Official and the Alternative "Belarussianness"(Budapest: Central European University Press, 2010);
• Bemporad, Elissa.Becoming Soviet Jews: The Bolshevik Experiment in Minsk(Indiana UP, 2013).
• Epstein, Barbara.The Minsk Ghetto 1941–1943: Jewish Resistance and Soviet Internationalism(U of California Press, 2008).
• Guthier, Steven L. (1977). "The Belorussians: National identification and assimilation, 1897–1970: Part 1, 1897–1939".Soviet Studies.29(1): 37–61.doi:10.1080/09668137708411105.
• Horak, Stephan M. (1974). "Belorussia: Modernization, Human Rights, Nationalism".Canadian Slavonic Papers.16(3): 403–423.doi:10.1080/00085006.1974.11091370.
• Lubachko, Ivan (1972).Belorussia under Soviet Rule, 1917–1957.University Press of Kentucky.
• Marples, David R. (1985)."Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia Under Soviet Occupation: The Development of Socialist Farming, 1939–1941"(PDF).Canadian Slavonic Papers.27(2): 158–177.doi:10.1080/00085006.1985.11091799.
• Marples, David (2014).'Our Glorious Past': Lukashenka's Belarus and the Great Patriotic War.Columbia University Press.ISBN978-3838205748.
• Olson, James Stuart; Pappas, Lee Brigance; Pappas, Nicholas C.J. (1994).Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires.Greenwood Press.ISBN0-313-27497-5.
• Plokhy, Serhii (2001).The Cossacks and Religion in Early Modern Ukraine.Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-924739-0.
• Richmond, Yale (1995).From Da to Yes: Understanding the East Europeans.Intercultural Press.ISBN1-877864-30-7.
• Rudling, Pers Anders.The Rise and Fall of Belarusian Nationalism, 1906–1931(University of Pittsburgh Press; 2014) 436pponline review
• Silitski, Vitali & Jan Zaprudnik (2010).The A to Z of Belarus.Scarecrow Press.ISBN9781461731740.
• Smilovitsky, Leonid (1997). "Righteous Gentiles, the Partisans, and Jewish Survival in Belorussia, 1941–1944".Holocaust and Genocide Studies.11(3): 301–329.doi:10.1093/hgs/11.3.301.
• Snyder, Timothy (1 December 2004).The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999(1 ed.). Yale University Press.ISBN978-0300105865.
• Szporluk, Roman (1979)."West Ukraine and west Belorussia: Historical tradition, social communication, and linguistic assimilation"(PDF).Soviet Studies.31(1): 76–98.doi:10.1080/09668137908411225.
• Szporluk, Roman (1967). "The press in Belorussia, 1955–65".Soviet Studies.18(4): 482–493.doi:10.1080/09668136708410553.
• Urban, Michael E. (1989).An Algebra of Soviet Power: Elite Circulation in the Belorussian Republic 1966-86.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0521372565.
• Vakar, Nicholas Platonovich.Belorussia: the making of a nation: a case study(Harvard UP, 1956).
• Vakar, Nicholas Platonovich.A bibliographical guide to Belorussia(Harvard UP, 1956).
• Wexler, Paul (1985). "Belorussification, Russification and Polonization Trends in the Belorussian Language 1890–1982". In Kreindler, Isabelle T. (ed.).Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Soviet National Languages: Their Past, Present and Future.De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 37–56.doi:10.1515/9783110864380.ISBN9783110864380.
• Zaprudnik, Jan (1993).Belarus: At A Crossroads In History.Westview Press.ISBN0-8133-1794-0.Archived fromthe originalon 2 May 2016.
• Zejmis, Jakub (1997). "Belarus in the 1920s: Ambiguities of National Formation".Nationalities Papers.25(2): 243–254.doi:10.1080/00905999708408501.S2CID153635749.

External links

• Byelorussia: speeding towards abundancebyTikhon Kiselev.