Mojżesz Leybavich Gutman (sometimes spelled Guttmann; ) was a Jewish Belarusian

History of the Jews in Belarus

The Jews in Belarus were the third largest ethnic group in the country in the first half of the 20th century. Before World War II, Jews were the third among the ethnic groups in Belarus, and in cities and towns comprised more than 40% of the population. The population of cities such as Minsk,...

 politician and Bundist activist

General Jewish Labour Bund in Belarus

The Belarusian chapter of the General Jewish Labour Bund was among political parties forming the government and parliament of the Belarusian People's Republic gaining independence in 1918....

 who was a minister without portfolio in the short-lived autonomous Belarusian National Council (1917–1918) and Belarusian People’s Republic (1918–1919).

In 1917 he was elected a member of the Ukrainian Central Rada

Tsentralna Rada

The Tsentralna Rada or Central Rada at first was the All-Ukrainian council that united political, public, cultural, professional organizations. Later after the All-Ukrainian National Congress that council became the revolutionary parliament of Ukraine...

. At the end of 1917 he was elected Member of the Executive Committee of the Belarusian National Council (or quasi-government of Belarus

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 ,...

) as a representative of the Jewish Labour Bund. Following the announcement of Belarus's independence in March 1918 he represented the Jewish minority in the Belarusian government. He also drew the first constitution of the Belarussian People's Republic.