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Litvinism, West-Russism and the Belarusian Idea. The XIXth – the Beginning of the XXth Century
larus and Lithuania, a certain type of public workers (Adam Kirkor, Eustachy Tyszkiewicz,
etc.) was formed. After the revolt legal opportunities for such work disappeared. The ma-
jority of representatives of local Polonized elite directed their efforts toward Poland and
its cultural needs. The Litvin tradition was also weakened by full Russification of the of-
ficial education system and the interdiction to use the Latin alphabet for publications in
the Polish, Lithuanian and Belarusian (1859) languages.
Meanwhile Russian authorities actively played “the Belarusian card”. Governmental
statistics and maps alongside with the names “Great Russians” and “Little Russians” used
the term “Byelorussians” („Belarusians”)
10
. The use of the term “Byelorussia” was extended.
In 1869 authorities allowed to print ethnographic collections in the Belarusian language
using “grazhdanka” (the Cyrillic alphabet). In the 60s – 70s of the XIXth century the so
called “theory of West-Russism” was developed with the active participation of official cir-
cles. According to it, Belarus was a cultural and state part of Russia, and Belarusians were
a branch of the Russian ethnos. Historian M. Kojalovich in his
works proved that Ukraine
and Belarus historically are an integral part of Russia both territorially and ethnically. Eth-
nographic features of Belarusian lands were predetermined by the Polish influence and
were to be liquidated. This particular feature made the theory essentially different from
the West-Russian cultural tradition.
West-Russism was to be strengthened by numerous scientific studies of the national
culture of Belarusians widely spread in the 60s – 70s of the XIXth century due to the
support of the government. Scientists (I. Nosovich, M. Dmitriev, J. Krachkovsky, A. Se-
mentovsky, etc.) really aspired to it. However, in reality their research only confirmed the
existence of an independent Belarus ethnos.
Raskazy na belorusskom narechii (1863) merits special attention. Oleg Latyshonok,
the author of the full publication
of “Raskazy” in the modern Belarusian press and com-
ments to the book believes that it was the first attempt “to set out the national Belarusian
idea in the textbook which had to pass the Russian censorship”
11
. Historian emphasized
that the Polotsk state is treated as independent of the Kiev Rus’, that the author
12
practi-
cally does not mention the Moscow state, and that the text proclaims the independence
of the Belarusian people (“ … we ourselves are a very special people: Byelorussians”
13
). Be-
sides it was the first historical sketch written in the Belarusian language. Probably,
Raskazy
was also one of the first documents that witnessed to the gradual registration
of the Be-
larusian cultural tradition
. The process of the Belarusian cultural accumulation that
was happening within the limits of the Litvin and West-Russian cultural traditions laid the
foundation for the Belarusian cultural tradition which in a certain sense was a combina-
tion of Litvinism and the West-Russian tradition.
The birth of the Belarusian cultural tradition was accompanied by its attempt to break
into “the political territory”. At the end of the 70s – the beginning of the 80s of the XIXth
centuries Belarus narodniks (populists) for the first time introduced their theoretical sub-
stantiation of the existence of Belarusians as “a separate branch of a Slavonic tribe”. Key
parameters of Belarusianness consisted of climate, geography, economy, ethnography and
102
Ales’ Smolenchuk
the Belarusian language which was believed to be the purest Slavonic dialect. Narodniks
claimed that the Belarusian people feels its organic cultural unity and distinguishes its
interests from Polish
and Great Russian interests
14
.
The authors of publications in the legal newspaper “Minsky Listok” (“The Minsk Leaf”)
which was the center of the grouping of Belarusian moderate liberals also defended the
idea of Belarusians’ independence. This newspaper published articles devoted to the Be-
larusian ethnography, archeology, language and history. For instance, M. Dovnar-Zapolsky
in a series of articles “Belorusskoe Proshloe” (1888) proved the existence of the Belarusian
nation emphasizing the uniqueness of the Belarusian history and language. The Belaru-
sian language was frequently used in literary publications
15
. Ì. Dovnar-Zapolsky later also
marked “the national spirit”
16
of numerous publications of “Vitebskie Vedomosti” (“The
Vitebsk Bulletin”) (the 80s–90s of the XIXth century).
The formation of the Belarusian cultural tradition was greatly influenced by the lit-
erary activity of Francishak Bahushevish (1840 – 1900). In the foreword to the collec-
tion
Dudka Belaruskaya (Krakow, 1891) the poet proclaimed the existence of the in-
dependent and high-grade Belarusian language, outlined the territory of its distribution,
and warned, that the loss of the native language will lead to the disappearance of the
Belarusian ethnos. The poet proudly spoke about the past of Belarus when it together
with Lithuania fought against crusaders’ invasions, and after the formation of Gedymin
empire Belarus found itself in the middle of Lithuania like “a grain in a nut”
17
. For the first
time this foreword named all ethnic Belarusian lands “Belarus”. There are all reasons to
consider Belarusians narodniks and F. Bahushevich “pioneers” of the Belarusian national-
cultural Revival
18
. The latter can rightfully be named one of those “philological instigators”
whose role in national processes was highly estimated by B.
Anderson
19
.
Characteristic features of the Belarusian tradition include original religious indiffer-
ence of its representatives which bypassed the problem of the confessional split of the Be-
larusian ethnos and addressed all Belarusians irrespective of their religious beliefs. Repre-
sentatives of the Belarusian tradition belonged both to the Catholic gentry-peasant and to
Orthodox intellectual-peasant environment. Texts were written mainly in the Belarusian
language both in the Cyrillic (“grazhdanka”) and Latin alphabets. Vilno was the first center
of this tradition but already at the beginning of the XXth century it was joined by Minsk.
The Belarusian national idea
20
was bein
g
de
veloped
as early as the XXth century. Sev-
eral variants of this idea existed at the beginning of the century. A significant role in it
was played by first Belarusian political organizations, namely the Belarusian Revolutionary
Party founded by Vaclav Ivanovsky and the Belarusian Revolutionary Hramada. However,
Jury Turonak expressed an opinion that both these organizations were more like an intel-
lectual club rather than a political organization
21
. The formation of the first Belarusian
political party was encouraged by the revolution of 1905–1907. The name of this party
was the Belarusian Socialist Hramada. It was a socialist party of the left-narodnik type. At
the second congress (January 1906) it proclaimed itself the party of “the working poor
of the Belarusian land without the distinction of nationalities”. The narodnik appeal “The