Former political party in Poland
The
Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union
or the
Hramada
(
Belarusian
:
Беларуская Сялянска-Работн?цкая Грамада
,
romanized
:
Biełaruskaja Sialanska-Rabotnickaja Hramada
,
Polish
:
Białoruska Wło?cia?sko-Robotnicza Hromada
) was a socialist agrarian political party created in 1925 by a group of Belarusian deputies to the
Sejm
of the
Second Polish Republic
that included
Branislaw Tarashkyevich
,
Symon Rak-Michajło?ski
(be)
, Piotra Miatła
(be)
, and the founder of
Hramada
Pavieł Vało?yn
(be)
.
[2]
The group received logistical help from the Soviet Union,
[2]
[3]
[4]
and financial aid from the Comintern.
[4]
[5]
Ideology
[
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]
The main points of BPWU's program were:
[1]
the democratic self-governance for
West Belarus
within Poland, introduction of an eight-hour
working day
, the recognition of the
Belarusian language
in Poland as a second official language, the cancellation of the "colonization of Belarus" by the Polish
Osadniks
, and the free distribution to peasants of land owned by landlords upon its confiscation. There was also a semi-official goal to unite all of Belarusians of
West Belarus
and
East Belarus
within one Soviet state.
[1]
Background
[
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]
Hramada
was formed legally in July 1925.
[2]
Its leaders were among prominent members of the Belarusian national liberation movement of the early 20th century: Symon Rak-Michajlo?ski has previously been a high-ranking diplomat for the
Belarusian Democratic Republic
, Branisła? Tara?kievi? is known as the creator of the first modern Belarusian grammar.
The Polish authorities began to suppress the activities of the Hramada in late 1926 due to its policy coordination with the delegalized
Communist Party of Western Belarus
.
[1]
Belarusian media in Poland faced increased pressure and censorship from the authorities.
[6]
Membership and structure
[
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]
Membership numbers of the Hramada grew on a very fast pace with sometimes entire Belarusian villages becoming members.
[2]
By November 1926 the party has enrolled 120,000 members, which is believed to be the largest political party in Belarusian history today,
[1]
and one of the largest revolutionary-democratic organizations of its time.
[6]
The
Hramada
had party cells in the following
powiats
of the
Nowogrodek Voivodeship
in Second Polish Republic:
Baranovichi
(Baranowicze),
Bielsk
,
Valozhyn
(Woło?yn),
Vawkavysk
(Wołkowysk),
Vileyka
(Wilejka),
Wilno
,
Grodno
,
Dzisna
,
Kosava
,
Lida
,
Maladzyechna
,
Navahrudak
,
Pastavy
,
Pinsk
,
Slonim
,
Stouptsy
and
Sokołka
.
[4]
The Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union
Hramada
established several periodicals devoted not only to politics, but also to culture and business, including
Zyccio bielarusa
,
Bielaruskaja niva
,
Bielaruskaja sprava
,
Narodnaja sprava
, and
Nasa sprava
. The total circulation of publications of the Hramada in early 1927 was above 10,000 copies.
[4]
[6]
Radicalization and dissolution
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]
As the years went on, due to ongoing
polonization
of
West Belarus
(called
Kresy
macroregion
in interwar Poland) and increasingly discriminatory and
nationalistic
policies of the central Polish government, the Belarusian national movement in grew more loyal to the Soviet regime and its communist ideology. The Soviets also gained increasingly more control over the Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union, and gave the Belarusian national liberation movement in Poland a communist context.
[1]
According to Polish sources in Belarus,
[2]
the Hramada received not only logistical, but also physical help from the Soviet Union,
[2]
and financial aid from the Comintern.
[5]
The connection between
Hramada
and the delegalized Communist Party of Western Belarus aided by Moscow was inevitably discovered by the Polish authorities.
[2]
On 15 January 1927 some top activists of
Hramada
were arrested under the charge of subversive anti-Polish activities. The trial of the leaders of
Hramada
became known as the
Trial of the Fifty Six
(
Belarusian
:
Працэс 56-ц?
).
[7]
The leaders including
Branisła? Tara?kievi?
, Symon Rak-Michajło?ski, Piotra Miatła, and Pavieł Vało?yn, were each sentenced to 12 years in prison. The Polish authorities handed them over to the Soviets in 1930 (Rak-Michajło?ski, Vało?yn, Miatła) and 1933 (Tara?kievi?) in exchange for political prisoners held in the USSR (including the West Belarusian journalist and playwright
Franci?ak Alachnovi?
). A few years later, all four former leaders of the
Hramada
were either executed by the Soviet regime as "Polish spies" or sent to perish in the
GULAG
.
[1]
In the aftermath of the party's de-legalisation, on February 3, 1927 a riot erupted in
Kosava
where the Soviet
diversionist
cell was already formed by Moscow with all required help.
[4]
Polish police responded to attacks with fire, killing 6 people and wounding several dozens.
[4]
Historical role, legacy and criticism
[
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]
According to historian Andrew Savchenko, by 1927 the
Hramada
organization was controlled entirely by agents deployed from Moscow, whose aim was to destabilize the region and recruit partisans.
[5]
According to Polish media, the Hramada turned into a cover for infiltration of Poland by the Soviet Union.
[2]
According to Savchenko, BPWU only theoretically demanded independence for Belarus, but in practice promoted only the idea of incorporating the ethnically Belarusian lands into the Soviet Union which meant yet another partition of Poland.
[5]
The Russian agents attempted to isolate the Belarusian ethnic minority in Poland from the political process in the country.
[3]
In turn,
Hramada
leaders did exactly what their Moscow advisers suggested they do, and disseminated Comintern propaganda,
[3]
which resulted in the rapid growth of its rank and file. By March 1927 the party had 120,000 members.
[4]
The membership of the Communist Party decreased at the same time by a thousand.
[5]
In Belarus, the BPWU is viewed positively by both the official regime and the opposition. It is seen as a mass democratic party that emerged in
West Belarus
as a response to harsh ethnic discrimination of the Belarusians in mid-war Poland. It is being pointed out that the Hramada was persecuted by both the Polish regime and by the Stalinist USSR.
[1]
Notable members
[
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]
- Branisła? Tara?kievi?
, linguist, writer, later executed by the Soviets in 1938
- Symon Rak-Michajło?ski
(be-tarask)
, former diplomat of the
Belarusian Democratic Republic
, later executed by the Soviets in 1938
- Micha? Ma?ara
(be-tarask)
, writer and poet
- Piotra Miatła
(be-tarask)
, later sentenced to 10 years in GULAG, died in a concentration camp
- Ryhor ?yrma
(be-tarask)
, musician and composer
- Pavieł Vało?yn
(be-tarask)
, later executed by the Soviets in 1937
- Ludvika Sivickaja
(alias
Zo?ka Vieras
)
(be-tarask)
, poet and writer, former member of the
Rada BNR
and delegate to the
First All-Belarusian Congress
- Radaslau Astrouski
, later President of the
Belarusian Central Rada
and member of the Belarusian community in the
United States
See also
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References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
?ван Саверчанка, Зьм?цер Санько,
150 пытання? ? адказа? з г?сторы? Беларус?
, Менск, 1999: "Чаму была разгромлена Беларуская Сялянска-Работн?цкая Грамада?" (I. Saviercanka and Z. Sanko, "150 Questions and Answers on the History of Belarus: Why Belarusian Peasants 'and Workers' Union was defeated?", Minsk, 1999; in Belarusian language).
[no source of data provided]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Andrzej Poczobut; Joanna Klimowicz (2011).
"Białostocki ulubieniec Stalina"
[Stalin's protege from Białystok]
(PDF)
.
Głos znad Niemna
.
7
(60). Ogolnokrajowy tygodnik SZ ≪Zwi?zek Polakow na Białorusi≫ (Association of Poles in Belarus): 6?7 of current document
. Retrieved
24 May
2014
– via PDF file, direct download 1.79 MB.
[
verification needed
]
[no source of data provided]
- ^
a
b
c
Andrew Savchenko (2009).
Belarus - A Perpetual Borderland
. BRILL. p. 106.
ISBN
978-9047427940
– via Google Books.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Вас?ль Гарбачэ?ск? (September 2, 2002).
"ЗН?ТАВАНЫЯ ЛЁСАМ"
.
Куфэрак В?леншчыны
(in Belarusian). Archived from
the original
on 12 July 2003.
Магчыма, што ? Косаве не дайшло б да расстрэлу м?рнай дэманстрацы?, каб не "памагл?" камун?сты... Хачу прывесц? урывак з таго артыкула без перакладу, каб не парушаць сэнс нап?санага: ≫Засылаемые из СССР начальники "участков" в общем и целом поднимали волну "гнева трудящихся Западной Белоруссии.≪
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Dr Andrew Savchenko (2009).
Belarus: A Perpetual Borderland
. BRILL. pp. 106?107.
ISBN
978-9004174481
.
- ^
a
b
c
Кореневская, О. (2003).
"Особенности Западнобелорусского возрождения (на примере периодической печати)"
(PDF)
.
Białoruskie Zeszyty Historyczne
(20): 69?89.
- ^
Алесь Пашкев?ч. Сымон Рак-М?хайло?ск?: старонк? жыцця ? дзейнасц?.
Archived
2022-01-11 at the
Wayback Machine
(Alie? Pa?kievi?, Symon Rak-Michajlo?ski: staronki ?yccia i dziejnasci.)
External links
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]