Historian: "In the 1863 year, Belarusians supported not Poland and Kalinovsky, but Russia and the sovereign"
"History the 1863 uprising of the year has been falsified, ”Belarusian historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Yevgeny Novik told 22 on January 24 to a REGNUM correspondent.In 2013, Poland celebrates the anniversary of the January uprising, 1863, when part of the nobility of the Polish Kingdom called for secession from the Russian Empire and the restoration of the independence of the Polish state - Rzecz Pospolita within the boundaries of 1772, i.e. including the lands of modern Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. On the territory of the North-Western region of the empire (modern Belarus and Lithuania), Polish gentry troops were led by Vikenty Kalinovsky, better known in Belarusian fiction as “Kastus Kalinovsky”. The Belarusian peasantry did not support the Polish insurrection, actively supporting the legal authorities, which did not prevent Soviet historians from declaring the Polish nobility to be a "peasant" uprising, a "national liberation" and almost separate from the Warsaw leadership center. Lithuanian Seimas declared 2013 the year as the year of the anniversary of the "national liberation uprising" of 1863. The authorities of Belarus defiantly do not hold any events - just like last year, when the anniversary of the Patriotic War 1812 was celebrated.
According to Novik, 1863 events of the year are interpreted differently in Poland and Belarus. The jubilee date is politicized, and the most important issues of this period require study.
"The uprising of 1863-1864 in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus was aimed at restoring the Commonwealth within 1772 of the year. This uprising can be called a gentry, because the gentry was the main driving force of the uprising," Novik said. "The gentry wanted to regain" golden gentry liberties ", which had in the Commonwealth. Peasants, Belarusian peasants for the most part did not support the uprising, but supported the legitimate power of the Russian sovereign, for which they had trouble from the rebels and gratitude from the Russian tsar."
In Russian pre-revolutionary historiography, these events were called the "Polish insurgency." In Belarusian historiography and contemporary journalism, the events of 1863 of the year are interpreted as “the national liberation uprising of 1863-1864”, “the uprising in Lithuania-Belarus”, “the national liberation uprising”, “Kastus Kalinousky's uprising”. Novik believes that the naming of 1863 events dominating in modern Belarusian historiography do not reflect the fullness of the phenomenon and are wrongfully narrowed, in particular, to focus on the personality of Vikenty Konstantin Kalinovsky.
“The insurrection was not led by Kalinowski, but by the Central National Committee in Warsaw. Kalinowski led the uprising in Belarus and Lithuania. He was entrusted with leadership when it became clear that the insurrection would not succeed when the Russian army began to smash the troops of the Polish rebels. Kalinowski took on leadership of the uprising and put his head on the block, "said the historian.
“Modern Belarusian historiography inherited terminology from Soviet historiography, which emphasized the national democratic, national liberation character of the 1863 uprising of the year, the revolutionary character,” the professor pointed out. According to him, Soviet historiography was largely ideologized, which is also characteristic of post-Soviet historiography interpreting the 1863 events of the year - especially for publicists belonging to the camp of the pro-Western opposition or the “fifth column”, as Alexander Lukashenko calls them.
“Their desire is understandable: to show that the 1863 uprising of the year was anti-Russian and national liberation for the Belarusian people. Such authors, using the work of Soviet scientists, fall into another extreme,” Novik continued. “Actually, the speeches were organized by the Polish gentry, supported by the Polish nobility in Belarus and Lithuania. The Polish National National Committee led the uprising. The gentry came out against the power of the Russian Tsar, against Russian statehood, for the creation of an independent Polish state. "
“As for the Belarusians: in 1863, the Belarusians supported the tsar, Russia. And then the Belarusians - Belarusian peasants - were for the Russian people, and still are. For Belarusians, there are no closer people, and now. Therefore, now between Belarus and Russia has such close ties, ”Novik noted.“ In the 19th century, the Belarusian people did not support the Polish insurgents, but supported the Russian government, the Russian authorities. This is also indicated by the percentage of peasants, not only Belarusian, in the Polish gentry units: around 20-30% western provinces and around 5-7% east full-time lands of modern Belarus. Local peasants refused to fight for the "Polish right."
In Poland and Lithuania, the year 2013 is declared to commemorate the "national liberation" uprising of the year 1863. A complex of ceremonial events is being implemented. One of them was held on January 22 in the Belarusian city of Svisloch, Grodno region: the Polish ambassador, as well as representatives of the Lithuanian and Latvian embassies laid flowers at the monument to the leaders of the Polish gentry troops who were hanged in Vilna and Warsaw after the uprising was suppressed. Mourning events were held in churches and at the monuments to the Polish insurgents in other settlements of Belarus. At the same time, nobody remembered those who died at the hands of the insurgents of the Belarusian peasants. Russian diplomats did not consider it necessary to visit the graves of Russian soldiers who died during the suppression of the Polish insurrection of 1863.
“It’s not known how many Belarusian peasants died from the rebels. It’s really a serious problem that had to be solved long ago,” the professor said. “With regard to events in Poland and Lithuania, as well as publications in the local opposition press:“ The cuckoo praises the rooster for that he praises the cuckoo "- remember these lines from the fable? Today, the politicians of these countries, some local oppositionists see an opportunity to benefit from the celebration of the anti-Russian uprising. Unfortunately, this is so."
"In Belarus, the anniversary of 1863 is not celebrated. There are some news on this topic in the press - about some events of pro-Polish politicians and individual historians, but on the whole everything is somehow passive and bleak. Today Moscow is much closer to us than Warsaw, ”added the Belarusian scientist.
As REGNUM reported earlier, on January 20 a scientific conference "Polish gentry uprising 1863 was held in Minsk. A look at the events of 150 years later," organized by the Western Russia educational project and the Eurasian Research Center of the Minsk branch of the Russian State Social University (RGSU). "The conference was timed to the 150 anniversary of the beginning of the uprising of the Polish gentry in the Kingdom of Poland and the Western Territory of the Russian Empire for the purpose of modern and impartial consideration of events whose meaning has undergone significant distortion, and the facts of which continue to be falsified by individual political forces in the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, in Ukraine and in foreign countries ", - informed the website of the organizer zapadrus.su. Participants of the event heard reports and took part in discussions with guests - representatives of NGOs.
The Polish Embassy in Belarus on January 21 informed that high-ranking representatives of official Warsaw will take part in events dedicated to the 150 anniversary of the Polish 1863-1864 uprising, known in Polish historiography as the "January Uprising". Polish Ambassador to Belarus Leszek Szerepka will take part in the events. They will be held throughout the 2013 year, incl. in the territory of Belarus and Lithuania. "President of the Republic of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski received honorary patronage over the events related to the celebration of this important historical event, the opening ceremony took place on January 16 2013 in the presidential palace in Warsaw," the embassy staff said.
Diplomats of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia on January 22 visited the Svisloch district center in the Grodno region of Belarus, where they honored the “victims of the 1863-1864 uprising” - that is, Polish rebels fighting with weapons in the hands against Russia. According to the Lithuanian embassy, "the diplomats laid flowers to the freedom fighters" and observed a minute of silence for the two leaders of the anti-Russian "national liberation uprising".
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