The End of Belarusization in the Russian-Belarusian Borderlands in the 1930s

Abstract

The article examines the final stages of the Belarusization policy in the Russian regions bordering the BSSR, which in 1929 became part of the Western Oblast (the Smolensk, Bryansk, and much of the Pskov governorates). The de-belarusization process was largely triggered by the March 2, 1933, resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) “On the Distortion of the National Policy of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in Belorussia”, though some signs of this shift, also initiated by Moscow, appeared earlier. Notably, throughout the 1920s, local authorities generally resisted Belarusization, which was implemented primarily under constant pressure and oversight from Moscow. However, once the central government ceased to enforce these policies, local structures did not immediately move to curtail the “korenizatsiia” (indigenization) efforts. The reversal of Belarusization in the Russian border regions was neither sudden nor instantaneous; the conversion of Belarusian schools into Russian ones spanned several years. The final decision by the Presidium of the Regional Executive Committee on this matter — within the borders of the then-independent Smolensk Oblast — was issued on August 31, 1938, when the last remaining national schools (Jewish, Belarusian, and Romani) were reorganized into Russian-language institutions.

Acknowledgements
The study was prepared with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project No. 24-28-00859 “Belarusization in the Russian-Belarusian border region in the 1920s and 1930s: the practice of nation-building”, https://rscf.ru/project/24-28-00859/.

Received: 06.09.2025.
Revised: 17.02.2026.
Accepted: 17.03.2026.

Citation
Kobets O. V. The End of Belarusization in the Russian-Belarusian Borderlands in the 1930s // Slavic Almanac. 2026. No 1–2. P. 159–177 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31168/2073-5731.2026.1-2.07