Communist Party of West Belarus
Encyclopedia
The Communist Party of West Belarus was a banned Belarus
ian political party in Poland
-controlled West Belarus
from 1923 until 1939.
The party was founded in 1923 in Wilno by representatives of Belarusian communist circles from Wilno, Białystok and Brest
. In 1924 a youth branch of the party was created.
The party's political program included a socialist revolution in Poland, independence of West Belarus
with a subsequent unification with the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. The party worked undercover, in 1925-1927 partly masked by the activities of the legal Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union
. It received support from the Soviet Union
and was actively involved in the anti-Polish resistance.
In 1938, following a decision by the Comintern
, the KPZB along with the Communist Party of Poland
and the Communist Party of Western Ukraine
was dissolved.
After the annexation of Western Belarus to the Soviet Union in 1939 many former members of the KPZB were repressed, others joined the Communist Party of Byelorussia, the East Belarusian branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
.
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
ian political party in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
-controlled West Belarus
West Belarus
West Belarus is the name used in reference to the territory of modern Belarus which belonged to the Second Polish Republic between 1919 and 1939. The area of West Belarus was annexed into the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic following staged elections soon after the Nazi-Soviet Invasion of...
from 1923 until 1939.
The party was founded in 1923 in Wilno by representatives of Belarusian communist circles from Wilno, Białystok and Brest
Brest, Belarus
Brest , formerly also Brest-on-the-Bug and Brest-Litovsk , is a city in Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the city of Terespol, where the Bug River and Mukhavets rivers meet...
. In 1924 a youth branch of the party was created.
The party's political program included a socialist revolution in Poland, independence of West Belarus
West Belarus
West Belarus is the name used in reference to the territory of modern Belarus which belonged to the Second Polish Republic between 1919 and 1939. The area of West Belarus was annexed into the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic following staged elections soon after the Nazi-Soviet Invasion of...
with a subsequent unification with the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. The party worked undercover, in 1925-1927 partly masked by the activities of the legal Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union
Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union
The Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union was a socialist political party in Poland-controlled West Belarus that demanded independence of Belarus and social rights for the discriminated Belarusian minority in mid-war Poland. The BPWU was created in 1925 by a group of Belarusian deputies of the...
. It received support from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and was actively involved in the anti-Polish resistance.
In 1938, following a decision by the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, the KPZB along with the Communist Party of Poland
Communist Party of Poland
The Communist Party of Poland is a historical communist party in Poland. It was a result of the fusion of Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania and the Polish Socialist Party-Left in the Communist Workers Party of Poland .-1918-1921:The KPRP was founded on 16 December 1918 as...
and the Communist Party of Western Ukraine
Communist Party of Western Ukraine
Communist Party of Western Ukraine was a political party in eastern interbellum Poland. Until 1923 it was known as the Communist Party of Eastern Galicia.Young Communist League of Western Ukraine was the youth league of the party....
was dissolved.
After the annexation of Western Belarus to the Soviet Union in 1939 many former members of the KPZB were repressed, others joined the Communist Party of Byelorussia, the East Belarusian branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
.