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Belarus—A Perpetual Borderland Russian History and Culture Belarus—A Perpetual Borderland Russian History and Culture VOLUME 2 Belarus—A Perpetual Borderland By Andrew Savchenko LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 Th is book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Savchenko, Andrew. Belarus : a perpetual borderland / by Andrew Savchenko. p. cm. — (Russian history and culture ; v. 2) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17448-1 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Belarus—History. 2. Belarus—Politics and government. 3. Belarus—Economic conditions. I. Title. II. Series. DK507.54.S3 2009 947.8'084—dc22 2009014372 ISSN 1877-7791 ISBN 978 90 04 17448 1 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to Th e Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands To Tatiana and Alexei, with love CONTENTS Foreword and Acknowledgments ................................................... ix Introduction. Images, Concepts and History of a Borderland 1 Chapter One. Th e Making of a Borderland ................................. 15 1. European neighborhoods and Eurasian borderlands Belarus and the Baltic States .................................................. 15 2. An unfi nished prelude to a modern nation: Belarus and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...................................... 25 3. On the threshold of modernity: Belarus, as defi ned by Poles and Russians ................................................................... 34 Chapter Two. Ex Oriente Lux: the Belarusian National State and the Soviet Union .................................................................... 69 1. A discordant overture to nationhood (1914–1921) ........... 69 2. Soviet Belarus between the wars: birth of a nation ......................................................................................... 77 3. Belarusians in inter-war Poland: hostages to history ........ 96 4. Th e war of 1941–1945 and the consecration of the national myth ............................................................................ 116 5. Th e enduring charm of real socialism: Belarus 1945–1991 .................................................................................. 135 Chapter Th ree. Borderland Forever: Modern Belarus ................ 145 1. See no evil: Belarus in the twilight of the Soviet era ......... 145 2. Paradise lost: Belarus and the disintegration of Soviet economy ......................................................................... 159 3. Back to the future: populist Belarus under Alyaksandar Lukashenka ................................................................................ 171 4. Political economy of institutional symbiosis: Belarus and Russia building the future together ............................... 189 Conclusion. Whither Belarus? ......................................................... 225 Bibliography ........................................................................................ 231 Index .................................................................................................... 237 FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Th is book’s disciplinary affi liation is rather eclectic. It borrows freely from conceptual frameworks of sociology and political science, but does so in a fashion suffi ciently piecemeal and inconsistent to avoid being labeled as a treatise in one of those disciplines. Several clusters of economic analysis scattered throughout the text fail to build a vec- tor that would point the investigation in the direction of economics or political economy. While the narrative is structured in a more or less chronological fashion and includes quite a few historical comparisons, this is not a history book. For all the methodological and theoretical jumble, the book is fairly focused. Its main goal is to investigate Belarus’s propensity to retain the Soviet-era social structures and institutions. I try to explain the current peculiarities of Belarus’s social and political landscape by investigating the country’s long history as a borderland between Russia and Europe. Th eories and conceptual frameworks are selected solely on the basis of their usefulness to this investigation. I would not have started to write this book, much less see it to completion, without a fi rm and friendly encouragement from Patricia Herlihy and Abbott (Tom) Gleason, both professors of history at Brown. It was Patricia who suggested that I should concentrate my eff ort on the borderland aspect of Belarus. Tom was instrumental in keeping me focused on the project by asking hard questions to which I tried as best I could to fi nd satisfactory answers. Both helped me immensely with editing of the manuscript and smoothing out the edges of my writing style. Th e roughness, awkwardness, and excessive use of academic jargon that still more than occasionally dot the pages of this book, despite the best eff orts of Patricia and Tom, are entirely due to my less than stellar command of the English language. Jim Flynn, professor of history at Holy Cross, has been great help in my research of earlier stages of the Belarusian history, especially the role of the Uniate Church in the development of the Belarusian national consciousness. Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) was instrumental in my work on this project. Th e fi rst stages of my research, in 2002 and 2003, were conducted while I was a Eugene and Daymel Shklar Fellow x foreword and acknowledgments at HURI. Th e Shklar fellowship allowed me access to the Widener Library at the crucial time of my research program. I am indebted to Professor Roman Szporluk, then director of the institute, for his gen- erous help and valuable advice. Incessant, tireless organizational work by Ljubomir Hayda, HURI executive director, made it possible for me to present my ideas at the seminars thus availing myself of stimulat- ing criticism and discussion by the faculty and fellows of the institute. Warmth and hospitality, always awaiting a visitor in the old HURI building at 1583 Massachusetts Avenue, will remain a source of fond and enduring memories. Jens Kaalhauge Nielsen, of Aarhus Business School, provided lively discussion, advice and encouragement throughout the project. Th e expression “hostages to history”, which appears in the heading of one of the sections, was suggested by Jens. In Belarus, Vladimir Usoski, department chair at the Belarusian Economic University, explained to me the fi ner points of Belarus’s convoluted and obscure fi nancial system. He also suggested some very useful readings on the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. My parents, Klara and Edouard Savchenko, regularly supplied me with copious amounts of Belarusian newspapers, electoral pamphlets, leafl ets, and other indispensable ephemera. Th eir ongoing help added much depth to my vision of modern Belarus. Last but defi nitely not least, my thanks are due to my wife Tatiana and son Alexei. Both supported me throughout the project and bore my crankiness, absent-mindedness, and occasional irritability with grace and patience. I dedicate this book to them, although I know very well that they deserve something better. Although many people made this book possible, the author alone bears responsibility for all its faults, mistakes, and inconsistencies. INTRODUCTION IMAGES, CONCEPTS AND HISTORY OF A BORDERLAND Th is book focuses on one peculiar aspect of post-Soviet Belarusian soci- ety: its stubborn adherence to the patterns and institutions that hearken back to the Soviet era. Th is phenomenon transcends political structures and encompasses economic system as well as broad patterns of social interaction. It cannot be dismissed as merely a temporary glitch on the road to democracy or explained solely by the effi cient ruthlessness of the current political regime. In this book I try to explain the current peculiarities of Belarus’s social and political landscape by investigating the country’s long history as a borderland between Russia and Poland. Specifi c attention is paid to the impact of the borderland position on Belarus’s development toward modernity. While Europe might think of itself largely in post-modern and post-national terms, for Belarus modernity and nationality still provide the main frame of reference. Th e book is about the Belarusian national idea that found its realization in modern national institutions only from 1920s onwards, as a part of the Soviet project. When the latter unraveled in 1991, Belarus retained the only type of nationhood it was familiar with: a set of national institutions inherited from the Soviet era that could only survive in a symbiosis with Russia. In Belarus, borderland is not an abstract category. At a roadside mar- ketplace, an old peasant selling apples would tell you that his orchard was planted “in Polish times” and lament, albeit not too vociferously, the dispossession of his family “when the Soviets came”. In a large city or a small town, a Russian Orthodox
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