CONCEPTS OF BELARUS UNTIL 1918 Jerzy Borzecki A thesis submitted in ronformity with tne requiremonts for the degree ~f Mast-r cf Arts Graduate Department of Xistory University of Toronto @ copyright by Jerzy Borzecki 1996 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 ,,nad du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wdîingtori OttawaON KIAW OnawaON K1A OCU4 canada CaMda The author has grmted a non- L'auteur a accordé une Licence non exclusive licence dowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/filrn, de reproduction sur papier ou sur fonnat électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis aor substantial extracts kom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenvise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT Concepts of Belarus until 1918 M.A. Thesis, 1996 Jerzy Borzecki Graduate Department of History University cf Toronto The thesis deals with the kaleidoscopic changes cf the idea of xhat is or what should be Belarus. The term "Belarus" clriginatcd in the 14th century as a purely geographir dosignation. It acquired an ethnic sense as late as the 19th rontury, even though the country was still cjeneraliy c~r~sideredto be part of either Poland or Russia. The idea that Eelarus should becorne an autonomous national entity appeared at the end of the century, gaining sorne recognition oniy after 1905. Th~n,competing concepts of Belarus wsre presented by the budding Belarusian national movement, the party of the Polish landowners in Belarus, the Lithuanian nationai m~vement, the Polish Socialist Party, the P~lish National-Demccrats, and the Russian nationalist movernent. World Wzr 1 brought things to a head, and in 1918 the n~vel idea of Belarus as an independent state was întroduced and partly realized by the Belarusian national movement. CONTENTS PREFACE Pl, ,, ALpc.~ezF . - in fact, Belarusian prirnary sources are n~tth5 ezi~iesf ccd get ncld cf an-phcre in the world. Fer iristanc;~, Fa ?oit3na, whilzh (:an rightiy boast cf king clne r,f tk~efcw :cluntries blssscd with z relative abundance cf Eolaru3izn ce,1-10 library hclds 6 rompicte az~llccti~ncf Nzsha JJI va; iridscd, c~rilyincomplete colicctions of this week1:~~311 ' [an Zaprudmk, "Soviet Documentation of Byelonissia's History (1909-1 Q 19jW7Zapisy [Transactions] ( 17, 1 983 ), pp. 132- 143; Jan Stanlàevic, 'The Soviet Falsiiïcation ofBelamsian History". Beloncssian Review (4, 1957), pp. 56-79;Ia. Zaprudnik "linitalevich: Rozhdenie Belorusskoi Sovetskoi Respublih: Review-, Zaptsy (15, 1977, pp. i 32-136. be found in seven libraries in four Polish citi~s.'The most Important library c~lLectFcnsof Belarusian primary sources are located in Minsk, Hrodna, Vilna, Moscow, Warsaw, London, New York, and San Francisco. Since no research funaing is provided for M-A- stuaents, 1 haci to mako dcv in part with siurces gathered rhrslugh inter-library loans. Later, however, ronsiaering these sources insufficient, I made a painstaking search fcr primary sources cited in various seccndary sources held in T~ronrolibraries. Together with a number of single published priinary sources (mainly rnemoirs) available in Tclronto, these primary sourcqs shculd constitute a sufficient basis for a meaningful discussion ~f concepts of &larus until 1918. An effort has been made thr~ughoutthis papor to use the most recent official place-names, for instance: Eialystok rather than Bclastok, Hrodna rather thm Grodno, Vitsebsk rather thari Vitebsk, and so forth. Exception has ken made, hcwever, for place-names ~f which weil-known and generally accepted in Canada versic~nsexist, for exampie: Erest rather than Berastse, Minsk rather than M~nsk,Vilna rather than Vilnius, and so forth. ' Aleksandra Bergmanowa, "Bialoruski tygodnik 'Nasza Niwa' (10 XI 1906-7 VIX1 19 15)" me Belamsian Weekly 'Nasza Niwanj, Kwarralnik Hisroryczny me Historical Quarterly] (3, 1972), p. 563. In citations, whenever a recognized and accurate English translation of the primary source could be found, the text in the original language has been omitted. When citing Belarusian texts written originally in Latin rharzicters, or in the so-called lacinka, tneir spelling has been preserved. On the other hand, texts written originally in Cirillic hove been transliterated according to the Library of Congress system. This soiution is not without drawbacks, since a duality in spelling has thus been croated; howover, alternative solutions, such as transliterating lacinka into the Congress system, or Cirillir into lacinka, were th~ughttc, be even less aesirable, since they might be founà offensive by the supporters of oither lacinka Dr Cirillic. Finaliy, since there are no official aepartmental requirements on notes and references with regard to MA. theses,3 I have decided to adopt the style usea bÿ Ward in his historiographical survey Stalin's Russia. 1 find it simple and yet elegant- University of Toronto: Graduate Studies in History (My, 1WS), p. 8. The etynal(zqy cbf the nam- "Bslarus" r-mains rathcr ri.Litcr31iyf It means, rtf crlilrsc, "White F;1isfff. Iri Lc3- C ,- ~rijinsl mcaninq, Rus', ~r Rut hcnia, wzs tile patrirn~rii.zi1 I3rid pr,ss?sscci km;/ al1 t ne princes whrl de~ccnaecfrr,rn Ru ri l.:, t_j-,e ,zkiicf r,f the .3nf:icnt F;:;_IS' ri.In the fri_irfe~--,+_f;..2nb f ifroori+h ~zonti~rio~,hr.wever, rhe term Fils' ~2s115e.d ?cl .. cicsl:rlr_lc ,311 the Ea~t-Siavi~r:Lands clf 'ir-hru;3r4:.: ~~i;ri~ri.sni~~.hhnïthe Rusr lana .srclund Crnclensi:, 'Jit~rt~sC, 3rl-j prllat-/: k.sa:.zrrtc ,:&jLe-J ''~~~~~~'*t1z3 nc,~kte-ri -\/ey - .--,n7/ht:izgLy e:.:plain~b.' Hr,wcrier, (25~,IV~ t_h ~;l;>r- y1,3:~sijf.k i:-.,:p~:~~-Res~sis k>.3~&-n rhe r,k,coy:/.3tji:,rl rh.3t in the -- -* , r:.l~-Kil3si,2n SP~~F,"xhit~ l.2nd" rne.ïn+ 11,ns free r,3 - Irid-ed, &,-ne r_hr-e cit-cs, t;rLi,-h FrL ~~7~-L7ic,- - - - ,-.- - - -- -.-. , - 3, 1:nr , .ïrs l:rir:.y8:r, t;:, . t:,cjr;.rlq the 1Jr,3nci ïlil,:hy (:,f Lit hixinia .=lrcady dilrir!g + he rilie c,f Gedyminas (-11 j . The iiihu.2nian r.3i.:s-c;:;er rr,e.znt, f J ti-1~t the lsrid lzczscb p,-;ÿiriq r he ~i31r~err1i13 .Michael Cherniavshy, "Russia", Naiionaf Conscio~tmess.History undPofificalCrtfiure irr Earlv-itfodem Europe. ed. Orest Ranurn ( Baltimore, 1973, p. 1 19. 'JU. K. Begunov: "'Weisse Rus'' und Weksrussen in einer deutschsn Chronik des 15. Jahrhunderts" IbBelarus' and Belamians in a Geman Chronicle of the Fifieenth Century], Forsclmngen ,-Ur Os~crtrropaeisc/renGeschichre (27, 19741, p. 300; Leszek Bednarcnik, "Stosunki eînolingwistyczne na obsmWiekiego biestwa Litewskiego" [The Ethno-luiguistic Relations on the Temtory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania], -4cra Baffico-Slavica(22, 1QW), p. 1 1 3. "u. K. Begunov, p. 300- 'Ju. K. Begunov, pp. 302-305. lu. K. Begunov, pp. 209-300; Jan Zaprudruk, Befnrirs: At n Crossroack in History (Boulder-San Francisco-&forci, 1903), pp. 2-3; Byeionrssia: Historicai Ocdine, ed. Ivan Kasiak ('London, 1989, p. 7. Vc~lhyniaand ~kraine'away from the former and annexod it to ine latter, 10 Belarus becarne one of the throe main regir~ns within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The clther two WS~P Czarnc? Rus [Black Rus' 1, which lay to the south-west r~f Belarus, and Samoqitia, or Zrnudz, a regiori in the north- western pzrt of the Grand Duchy. Up until the nineteenth i7~rit lir'y', Bclarus and Crarna Rus were somecines dsscribed l~~:lllr=ctivelyas Rzs Litswska [Lithuanian Rus' 1 .11 Subs~quently, that term was applied only to the provinces, Cr quberniias, of Vilna and Hrodna- Most importsntly, the whoLe territory of tne Grand Duchy was callod Litwa ilithuania], and al1 its inhabitants, ïegardless of their language and religirin, w-r- known as Li twini, Li t~wcy, Sitwaki, cc Lipki, al1 of xhich means Lithuanians, L i mlhis state of affairs rernained long âfter the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, aiong with the entire Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ceâsed to exist, Fr~rinstance, at kast ilritil rhe end of the nineteonth century, the Taters whc livd in L1-ne ' former Grand Duchy were universally called Lipki (the term Lipka means Lithuania in both Crimean Tatar and -- ' Ukraine was then undentood as the regions of Kiev and Bratslav. W.L., '.Nazwy *Rus' 1 'ühaîna- 1 ich znaczenie historyczne"@e Names 'Rus' and 'ükmhe'and Their Histoncai Meaning], Z &i&w Ukrainy [From the History of ükrainc], ed. Waclaw Lipinski CKiev, 19 12), pp. 47-54. 'O Hany E . Dem bkowski, The Union of Lublin: Poiish Federaiism in the Golden Age New York, 1P82), pp. 160-164. " Leszek a=dnara "Wokol ernogenezy Biaiotusinow" (Onthe Or@motthe Belaiusians],Acfa Bolrico- Slavica (16, 19841, pp. 33-48. l2 Bednarcnik, "Stosunki ...", p. 1 13. Turkish) .I3 Also, the Jews who speak the north-eastern dialect of Yiddish, cnce used in the territory almost identical. with that of the Grand Duchy, are even today known as Litvaks. Moreover, the inhabitants of Podlasie, which used to be part of the Grand Duchy but today is within the Polish border, are still being called "Lithilanians" by the people of Mazovia and of the Lublin region, even though no ethnic Lithuanian is to be found there." AS late 3s the 1960s surnames ending with -icz, typical in Belarus, were still being recognized as "Lithuanianff in the Lublin region.