105 years since the formation of the BSSR

Today marks 105 years since the formation of the BSSR, which existed for almost 73 years.

The formation of Belarusian statehood took place in extremely difficult geopolitical conditions: the First World War, the October Revolution and the Civil War.

A unique starting point for the formation of Belarusian statehood on a Soviet basis is the First All-Belarusian Congress, convened in December 1917 with the financial support of the government of Soviet Russia. In accordance with the agreement concluded, the body elected at this congress was to receive full power on the territory of Belarus. The resolution of the congress noted that the delegates, “consolidating their right to self-determination, won by the Russian Revolution,” decided to “select from their composition a body of regional power in the person of the All-Belarusian Council of Peasants, Soldiers and Workers’ Deputies.” But as a result of the violent dispersal of the First All-Belarusian Congress by the leadership of the Regional Executive Committee of the Western Region and the front, the legitimate process of forming Belarusian statehood was interrupted.

However, this issue was not removed from the agenda. Figures of the left wing of the Belarusian national movement became part of the created Belarusian National Commissariat (Belnatsky), which functioned as a department of the People's Commissariat for Nationalities of the RSFSR.

The created body, Belnatsky, laid the foundations for the future Belarusian Soviet statehood. Together with the Belarusian sections of the RCP(b), Belnatsky carried out political, cultural and educational work among Belarusians on the territory of Soviet Russia. Its representatives took care of refugees, registered Belarusian organizations and institutions evacuated during the First World War, opened Belarusian schools and clubs, and published literature in Belarusian and Russian.