Opinion: Belarusians didn’t run after the West, but took their own way, preserving memory of the Soviet past
After the collapse of the USSR, Belarusians did not run after the ‘civilised’ West, but went their own way, led by the elected first President, preserving a grateful memory of the Soviet past – as stated by Rector of the Academy of Public Administration under the aegis of the President of the Republic of Belarus, scientist and historian Vyacheslav Danilovich in his talk with ONT TV channel
Speaking about the meaning and significance of the date of September 17th for the history of Belarus, the historian said, “The holiday of September 17th is dedicated to one of the most important events in the Belarusian history: the reunification of Western Belarus with the BSSR in 1939, which was carried out democratically, through a nationwide plebiscite. A witness to those events and an active participant in the underground struggle, People’s Poet of Belarus Maksim Tank, recalled with what enthusiasm and joy the news of reunification was greeted in Western Belarus. However, September 17th – approved back in 1939 as the Day of Liberation of the Workers of Western Belarus from the Polish Landlords – was celebrated for the last time at the all-Union level in 1949. Political expediency came to the forefront, saying that territorial issues should not overshadow the friendly relations between the USSR and the Polish People’s Republic within a single socialist bloc. The situation worsened after the collapse of the Soviet Union. At that time, individual pro-Western, so-called liberal streams merged into a dirty flood of imposing alien, immoral and degenerate Western values on our society.”
According to the historian, it was at that time that the denigration of everything Soviet and the destruction of primordial spiritual and moral traditions began.
“Despite this, throughout the entire post-Soviet space it was the Belarusians who once again showed strength of spirit. They didn’t run after the ‘civilised’ West, but went their own way, led by the elected first President, preserving a grateful memory of the Soviet past. Throughout the history of independent Belarus, there have been initiatives to establish a state holiday in memory of the reunification of the country in 1939. The desire to pay tribute to the aspiration of the Belarusian people to be united, as well as the hybrid aggression of the West, complemented by manifestations of historical revanchism of Poland with its dreams of returning the ‘Kresy Wschodnie’ (Eastern Borderlands), made the President’s decision to recreate this holiday understandable,” underlined Vyacheslav Danilovich.
