Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union

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The Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union (Belarusian: Беларуская Сялянска-Работніцкая Грамада, Lacinka: Biełaruskaja Sialanska-Rabotnickaja Hramada) was a socialist political party in Poland-cotrolled West Belarus that demanded independence of Belarus and social rights for discriminated Belarusian minority in mid-war Poland. Having more than 120 thousands members by late 1926, BRWU is currently the largest political party in Belarusian history.

The BRWU was created in 1925 by a group of Belarusian deputies of the Polish Sejm. The group included Branislaw Tarashkyevich, Symon Rak-Mikhailouski, Piotra Miatla, Paviel Valoshyn.

Main points of BPWU's program were:

Democratic self-governance for West Belarus,

Introduction of an 8-hours labor day,

An official recognition of the Belarusian language in Poland,

Cancellation of Osadnik-colonization of Belarus,

Confiscation of land owned by landlords and its free distribution to peasants.

Despite that, a semi-official goal was to unite all Belarus within one state.

The Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union became active and established several periodicals. By November 1926 the party had more than 120 thousands members.

The BPWU expressed certain sympathy to the Soviet Union and its support for Belarusian national revival that was later brutally ended in the 1930s. The Soviets also tried to gain control over the Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union and to give the Belarusian national liberation movement in Poland a socialist context.

The Polish authorities managed to liquidate the party before it could become a real political player. In January of 1927 the leaders of the Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union were arrested and set to prisons. Some of them were later exchanged for Polish prisoners held in Soviet concentration camps. Soon after that they were mostly killed by the Soviet authorities as "Polish spies".