The Belarusian Frontier of the 1920s: Did Belarusization Take Place in the Russian-Belarusian Border Area?

Abstract

The paper analyzes the historical circumstances of the 1920s, under which in three regions of the Russian-Belarusian borderland – Pskov, Smolensk and Bryansk governorates – it was necessary to reach the objectives of ‘Belarusization’: the size of the Belarusian population, the state of the school network in the NEP era and staffing for the solution of the “Belarusian question.” Belarusization is regarded as an integral part of the new Soviet national policy based on the resolutions of the 10th and 12th Congresses of the RCP. The purpose of the study is to identify and characterize the basic conditions for carrying out Belarusization in Russian regions with compact residence of the Belarusian population. First, this concerns the size of the Belarusian population in these governorates at the beginning and during the process of Belarusization, and detection of the dynamics and reasons for its significant reduction, starting from the end of the 19th century. Secondly, special attention must be paid to the problems in the school education system during the NEP era (financial, material, personnel), the solution of which was of much higher priority for local authorities in comparison with the objectives of Belarusization. The results of the study show that the policy of Belarusization in the Russian border regions failed to receive the due support either from local authorities overloaded with many other urgent tasks, or from the residents of the above mentioned governorates, including Belarusians. The practice of “self-Russification” became a kind of hidden form of protest among the Belarusian part of the population of the Russian border regions. Conclusions: The policy of Belarusization in the Russian-Belarusian border regions was not carried out in full even in the “minor format” proposed by Moscow, largely due to its artificiality and implementation without taking into account the opinions of the majority of Russian Belarusians themselves. The study is intended for specialists in national and regional politics, and in Russian and Belarusian history.