Belarusian national democratic and polonophilic organizations in interwar Poland

Abstract

The author of the article identifies three trends of the Belarusian national movement in the Western Belarusian lands in Poland during the interwar period: the radical left-wing, the national-democratic, and the polonophilic. The activities of the Belarusian radical left-wing in Western Belarus have been studied in detail in the Soviet historiography. There are still many gaps in the activities of Belarusian national-democratic and polonophilic political structures. Belarusian national democratic organizations in interwar Poland (The Belarusian Christian democracy, The Belarusian Peasant Union, V. Hadleuski’s group “The Belarusian front”, The Orthodox Belarusian democratic association, etc.) used in their activities legal forms of fight for the national rights of Belarusians, sought to unite Belarusian lands and to create an independent Belarusian state following the example of European republics. The polonophiles in the Belarusian movement (The Regional Union, The Temporary Belarusian Rada, The Belarusian Radical People’s Party, the Luckievich-Astrouski group, etc.) adhered to the idea of cooperation with the institutions of the Polish authorities in order to achieve national and cultural concessions for the Belarusian people. The Polonophiles did not enjoy wide support among the population and existed due to the financial help of the Polish authorities.