Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia;, also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union. It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and afterwards as one of fifteen constituent republics of the USSR from 1922 to 1991, with its own legislation from 1990 to 1991. The republic was ruled by the Communist Party of Byelorussia. It was also known as the White Russian Soviet Socialist Republic. Minsk was the capital and largest city of the republic.
Following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, which ended Russia's involvement in World War I, the Belarusian Democratic Republic was proclaimed under German occupation; however, as German troops left, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia was established in its place by the Bolsheviks in December, and it was later merged with the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1919 to form the Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia, which ceased to exist as a result of the Polish occupation during the Polish–Soviet War. Following a peace treaty with Lithuania, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia was re-founded on 31 July 1920 and later became known as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
The BSSR became one of the four founding members of the Soviet Union in December 1922, together with the republics of Russia, Transcaucasia, and Ukraine. Byelorussia was one of several Soviet republics occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was one of the most developed and prosperous Soviet republics, due to its advanced manufacturing industry and agriculture. The BSSR overall was a net exporter, being a notable producer of consumer electronics, processed agricultural goods, potash, fertilizer, machinery, grain and military equipment. It was also one of the more advanced republics in terms of education and technological expertise. Towards the final years of the Soviet Union's existence, the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty in 1990. In the referendum held on 17th March 1991, nearly 84% of the population voted in favor of preserving the USSR. Despite this, on 25 August 1991, the Byelorussian SSR declared independence, and on 19 September it was renamed the Republic of Belarus. The Soviet Union would eventually be formally dissolved on 26 December 1991.
Geographically, the Byelorussian SSR after 1945 was bordered by Russian SFSR to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. The republic spanned an area of with a population of as of 1989. Belarusians formed the majority of the population, followed by significant minorities of Russians, Poles, Ukrainians and Jews. The official languages of the BSSR were Belarusian and Russian.
Terminology
The term Byelorussia, derives from the term Belaya Rus' , i.e., White Rus'. There are several claims to the origin of the name White Rus'. An ethno-religious theory suggests that the name used to describe the part of old Ruthenian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that had been populated mostly by early Christianized Slavs, as opposed to Black Ruthenia, which was predominantly inhabited by pagan Balts.The latter part similar but spelled and stressed differently from Росси́я, first rose in the days of the Russian Empire, and the Russian Tsar was usually styled "the Tsar of All the Russias", as Russia or the Russian Empire was formed by three parts of Russia—the Great, Little, and White. 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 the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the term "White Russia" caused some confusion as it became the name of the so-called White military force that opposed the Red Bolsheviks. During the period of the Byelorussian SSR, the term Byelorussia was embraced as part of a national consciousness. In western Belarus, under Polish control until World War II, Byelorussia became commonly used in the regions of Białystok and Grodno. Upon the establishment of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1920, the term Byelorussia was only used officially. In 1936, with the proclamation of the 1936 Soviet Constitution, the republic was renamed to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. In English, it was also known as the White Russian Soviet Socialist Republic.
On 19 September 1991 the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR renamed 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 the Constitution of Belarus.
History
Beginning
Prior to the First World War, the territories of modern-day Belarus were part of the Russian Empire, which it gained from the Partitions of Poland more than a century earlier. During the war, the Great Retreat in the Western Front in August–September 1915 ended with the lands of Grodno Governorate and most of Vilna Governorate being occupied 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 the Lake Naroch offensive in late spring 1916, and General Alexei Evert's inconclusive thrust around the city of Baranovichi in the summer of that year, during the Brusilov offensive further south, in western Ukraine.The abdication of Nicholas II in light of the February Revolution in 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 ineffective Russian Provisional Government. The momentum picked up after the incompetent actions of the 10th Army during the ill-fated Kerensky offensive during the summer. Representatives of Belarusian regions and of different newly established political powers, including the Belarusian Socialist Assembly, the Christian democratic movement and the General Jewish Labour Bund, formed a Belarusian Central Council. However, the national parties in Belarus were unable to secure mass support, and the nationalist movement was confined to a small, divided and ineffective intelligentsia.
Towards the autumn, political stability continued to shake, and countering the rising nationalist tendencies, were the soviets led by Bolsheviks when the October Revolution hit Russia; that same day, on 25 October 1917, the Minsk Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies took over the administration of the city. The Bolshevik All-Russian Council of Soviets declared the creation of the Western Oblast, which unified the Vilna, Vitebsk, Mogilev and Minsk governorates that were not occupied by the German army, to administer the Belarusian lands in the frontal zone. On 26 November, the executive committee of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies for the Western Oblast was merged with the Western front's executive committee, creating a single Obliskomzap. During the autumn of 1917 and winter of 1918, the Western Oblast was headed by Aleksandr Myasnikyan as the head of the Western Oblast's Military Revolutionary Committee, who passed this duty on to Kārlis Landers. Myasnikyan took over as chair of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party's committee for the Western Oblast and as the chair of the Obliskomzap.
Countering this, the Belarusian Central Council reorganised itself as the Belarusian National Council, and started working on establishing governmental institutions, and discarded the Obliskomzap as a military formation, rather than governmental. As a result, on 7 December, when the first All-Belarusian Congress convened, the Minsk Bolsheviks commanded the pro-Soviet troops to disbanded it. Following this, they proclaimed the rule of soviets dominated by the Bolsheviks. The first Soviet government in Belarus was established at the end of December by communist organs in Minsk with the support of Russian troops of the Western Front. However, its authority only extended to the regions occupied by pro-communist forces and the major cities, where the local soviets followed Bolshevik leadership.
German involvement
The Russo-German front in Belarus remained static since 1915 and formal negotiations began only on 19 November, when the Soviet delegation traveled to the German-occupied city of Brest-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 the Central Powers, and on 18 February, hostilities resumed. The German Operation Faustschlag was of immediate success, and within 11 days, they were able to make a serious advance eastward, taking over Ukraine, the Baltic region, and occupying eastern Belarus. This forced the Obliskomzap to evacuate to Smolensk. The Smolensk Governorate was passed to the Western Oblast. At the end of February, the Germans entered Minsk, which the Soviet authorities had already cleared a few days prior.
Faced with the German demands, the Bolsheviks accepted their terms at the final Treaty 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 of buffer states, called Mitteleuropa. On the eve of Germany's occupation of Minsk, some members of the disbanded Belarusian National Council emerged from hiding and formed a provisional government, hoping to achieve German recognition. However, the Germans did not recognise it as another assembly in Vilna was created under their auspices. The Minsk and Vilna organisations issued a joint proclamation on 25 March establishing the Belarusian Democratic Republic with German approval. The new government also sought material aid from Germany. The more radical nationalists who disapproved of collaboration with the Germans went to the communists and fled to Russia. The communists who did not escape to the east during the German occupation were driven underground.
In the spring of 1918, the Germans disapproved of the socialist inclinations of the nationalists in the Belarusian government and forced a change in leadership of the puppet government; however, the Germans were also displeased with him and removed him. As a result, the Germans permitted the government less jurisdiction compared to the one in Ukraine. An increase in repression by the Germans also led to an agrarian revolt, although not as violent as the one in Ukraine, which benefitted the communists. The communist underground were directed by the party's Northwestern Regional Committee in Smolensk, which aimed for an alliance with the peasantry.