The October revolution and self-determination of Belarus in 1917

Authors

  • Vadim F. Gigin Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

Keywords:

revolution, political process, statehood of Belarus, Bolsheviks, All-Belarusian Congress, national policy, political transformation, Belarusian national movement

Abstract

The author reveals the essence of the Soviet national policy in Belarus during the political transformation of society in the conditions of the October Revolution of 1917. The ideological view sof the Bolshevik leaders of both the Central Committee and the Northwest Regional Committee of the RSDLP(b) are considered. The history of the convocation, work and dispersal of the All-Belarusian Congress is covered in detail. It points to the ideological and political contradictions that took place in the Bolshevik Party, as well as in the Belarusian national movement. At the same time, the source of the research was the numerous archival documents, including those cited for the first time.

Author Biography

  • Vadim F. Gigin, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

    PhD (history), docent; dean of the faculty of philosophy and social science

References

  1. Ignatenko I. M. Oktyabr'skaya revolyutsiya i samoopredelenie Belorussii [October Revolution and Self-determination of Belarus]. Minsk : Navuka i tjehnika, 1992 (in Russ.).
  2. Stashkevich N. S. [The difficult way of the Belarusian statehood]. Belarus. dumka [Belarusian thought]. 2008. No. 1. P. 28–33 (in Russ.).
  3. Krutalevich V. A. Istoriya Belarusi. Stanovlenie natsional'noi derzhavnosti (1917–1922 gg.) [Belarusian history. Formation of national power (1917–1922)]. Minsk : Pravo i ekonomika, 1999 (in Russ.).
  4. Kozlyakov V. E. Natsional'nyi vopros i neonarodnicheskie partii. Nachalo XX v. – konets 20-kh gg. (Na materialakh Rossii, Belarusi, Ukrainy) [The National Question and Non-human Parties. The Beginning of XX Century – the Late 20s (On the materials of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine)]. Minsk : BSTU, 2001 (in Russ.).
  5. Rudovich S. Chas vybaru: prablema samavyznachjennja Belarusi w 1917 g. [Time to Choose: the Problem of Self-determination of Belarus in 1917]. Minsk : NVK «Tjehnalogija», 2001 (in Belarus.).
  6. Ladysew U. F., Brigadzin P. I. Na peralome jepoh. Stanawlenne belaruskaj dzjarzhawnasci (1917–1920 gg.) [At the Turn of the Eras: the Belarusian Statehood (1917–1920)]. Minsk : BSU, 1999 (in Russ.).
  7. Borisenok U. A. Na krutykh povorotakh belorusskoi istorii. Obshchestvo i gosudarstvo mezhdu Polʼshei i Rossiei v pervoi polovine XX veka [At the sharp turns of Belarusian history. Society and the state between Poland and Russia in the first half of the twentieth century]. Minsk : OOO «Rodina MEDIA», 2013 (in Russ.).
  8. Laz'ko R. R. [Belarusian National Commissioner and People’s Commissariat for Nationalities Affairs: First Unfortunate Experience of Relations (1918)]. Belarus. gistar. chasopis [Belarusian Historical Journal]. 2012. No. 2. P. 4–15 (in Belarus.).
  9. Laz’ko R. R. [Soviet Russia’s Policy Towards Belarus in the Light of the National Program of the Bolshevik Party (1917–1919)]. Belarus. gistar. chasopis [Belarusian Historical Journal]. 2012. No. 7. P. 3–11 (in Belarus.).
  10. Laz’ko R. R. [The beginning of the Bolshevik national policy]. Belarus. gistar. chasopis [Belarusian Historical Journal]. 2013. No. 12. P. 5–10 (in Belarus.).
  11. Kavalenja A. A. (ed.). Gistoryja belaruskaj dzjarzhawnasci w kancy XVIII – pachatku XXI st. [The History of the Belarusian Statehood in the Late XVIII and Early XXI Century]. Minsk : Belaruskaja navuka, 2011 (in Belarus.).
  12. Laz’ko R. R. [Self-determination, Suspended violence (the Question of Overclocking the All-Belarusian Congress in 1917)]. Belarus. gistar. chasopis [Belarusian Historical Journal]. 2016. No. 4. P. 5–10 (in Belarus.).
  13. Stalin I. V. [Marxism and the national question]. Compositions : in 13 vol. Мoscow : Gospolitizdat, 1949–1954. Vol. 2. P. 290–367 (in Russ.).
  14. Stalin I. [Against Federalism]. Compositions : in 13 vols. Moscow : Gospolitizdat, 1949–1954. Vol. 3. P. 23–28 (in Russ.).
  15. Stalin I. [Government policy on the national question]. Compositions : in 3 vols. Moscow : Gospolitizdat, 1949–1954. Vol. 4. P. 225–229 (in Russ.).
  16. Trotskii L. [Compositions]. Moscow : Gosizdat, 1917. Part 2 : From October to Brest.
  17. Lenin V. I. [Appeal «Workers, soldiers and peasants!»]. Complete works : 55 vols. 5th ed. Moscow : Gospolitizdat, 1958–1965. Vol. 35. P. 11 (in Russ.).
  18. Lenin V. I. [Speech at the First All-Russian Congress of the Navy November 22 (December 5), 1917]. Complete works : 55 vols. 5th ed. Moscow : Gospolitizdat, 1958–1965. P. 112–118 (in Russ.).
  19. [Decrees of Soviet power] : in 13 vols. Moscow : Gospolitizdat, 1957–1989. Vol. 1 : 25 October 1917 – 16 March 1918 (in Russ.).
  20. Krupskaya N. K. [On the National and International Culture]. 1927 (in Belarus.).
  21. Knorin V. G. [Selected Articles and Speeches]. Minsk : Belarus, 1990 (in Russ.).
  22. Kirzhinits A. [One Hundred Days of Soviet Power in Belarus]. Proletarskaya revolyutsiya [The Proletarian Revolution]. 1928. No. 3. P. 61–130 (in Russ.).
  23. Bulat B. V. Istoriya vyborov vo Vserossiiskoe Uchreditel'noe Sobranie i Grazhdanskoi voiny v Rossii (1918–1922). Atlas [The History of Elections to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly and the Civil War in Russia (1918–1922). Atlas]. Saint-Petersburg : Nestor-Istoriya, 2016 (in Russ.).
  24. Garjecki M. [Works. Two Souls: story. Stories. Humorous Pisarevich: Play. Literary Criticism and Journalism]. Minsk : Mastackaja litaratura, 1990 (in Russ.).
  25. Kancher E. S. [From the History of the Civil War]. Belaruskaja dumka [Belarusian thought]. 2010. No. 1. P. 92–97 (in Russ.).
  26. [All-Belarusian Congress 1917]. Belarus. gistar. chasopis [Belarusian Historical Journal]. 1993 No. 1. P. 62–69 (in Belarus.).
  27. [All-Belarusian Congress 1917]. Belarus. gistar. chasopis [Belarusian Historical Journal]. 1993. No. 2. P. 46–55 (in Belarus.).
  28. [All-Belarusian Congress 1917]. Belarus. gistar. chasopis [Belarusian Historical Journal]. 1993. No. 3. P. 61–69 (in Belarus.).
  29. [All-Belarusian Congress 1917]. Belarus. gistar. chasopis [Belarusian Historical Journal]. 1993. No. 4. P. 50–62 (in Belarus.).
  30. Kancher E. S. [From the history of public, national and revolutionary movements of Belarusians]. Neman. 1993. No. 1. P. 136–167 (in Russ.).
  31. The Belarusian Parliament. 1917. 3 Dec. P. 1 (in Russ.).
  32. Free Belarus. 1917. 31 Dec. P. 1.
  33. [To the Belorussian Congress]. Sov. pravda [Soviet truth]. 1917. 13 Dec. P. 2 (in Russ.).
  34. Laz’ko R. R. [Self-determination, Suspended Violence: (to the Question of Overclocking the All-Belarusian Congress 1917)]. Belarus. gistar. chasopis [Belarusian Historical Journal]. 2016. No. 3. P. 5–12 (in Belarus.).
  35. [Secret documents]. Belorus. zemlya [The Belarusian Land]. 1918. 1 March. P. 4 (in Russ.).
  36. Skalaban V. [«Let Let It Be Known by Descendants...»: Ales Garun – Delegate, and the All-Belarusian Congress Historian 1917]. Rodnae slova [Native Word]. 1997. No. 8. P. 195–207 (in Belarus.).
  37. Ignatenko I. M. Bedneishee krest'yanstvo – soyuznik proletariata v bor'be za pobedu Oktyabr'skoi sotsialisticheskoi revolyutsii v Belorussii (1917–1918 gg.) [The Poorest Peasantry is an Ally of the Proletariat in the Struggle for the Victory of the October Socialist Revolution in Belarus (1917–1918)]. Minsk : Izd. Ministerstva vysshego, srednego i professional'nogo obrazovaniya BSSR, 1962 (in Russ.).
  38. [Dispersal in the Night of 17 on December 18 the All-Belarusian Congress]. Vol'naya Belarus' [Free Belarus]. 1917. 21 Dec. P. 4 (in Russ.).
  39. [Eight Months of Soviet Belarus]. Zvezda. 1919. 24 Sept. P. 3 (in Russ.).
  40. Lich L. Belaruskaja nacyjanal'naja idjeja: tjearjetychny i praktychny aspekty [Belarusian National Idea: Theoretical and Practical Aspects]. Minsk, 2010 (in Russ.).
  41. [The Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies]. Petrograd, 1918.
  42. Zhylunovich Z. [Belarusian Section of the RCP and the Creation of the Belarusian Soviet Republic]. Polymja. 1928. No. 10. P. 73–93 (in Belarus.).
  43. Margunski S. P. Sozdanie i uprochenie belorusskoi gosudarstvennosti. 1917–1922 [Creation and Consolidation of Belarusian Statehood. 1917–1922]. Minsk : Acad. of Sci. of the BSSR, 1958 (in Russ.).

Downloads

Published

2019-03-12

Issue

No. 4 (2017): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology

Section

Discussion

License

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)

How to Cite

[1]
Gigin, V.F. 2019. The October revolution and self-determination of Belarus in 1917. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology. 4 (Mar. 2019), 87–100.