Belarusian Republican Youth Union - Creation

Creation

The BRSM was created on 6 September 2002, after the merger of two Belarusian youth organizations, the Belarusian Youth Union and the Belarusian Patriotic Youth Union. The Belarusian Youth Union had been considered the legal successor of Leninist Communist Youth Union of Belarus (the Komsomol branch in the Byelorussian SSR), and the Belarusian Patriotic Youth Union had been created in 1997 by the president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko not only issued a decree calling for the creation of the BRSM, he also issued decrees that gave the BRSM governmental support, mostly from the ministry of education and the presidential administration. President Lukashenko stated in his 2003 address to the nation the need for the BRSM to play a key role in Belarusian life:

The youth — our major pillar — is at the heart of our plans and targets. We have hardly used its powerful potential yet. We often "brush aside" youth's initiatives. Many managers avoid direct contact with the youth, they are afraid of acute questions. They are incapable of involving young people into useful public activities. We should work in this direction. It will help avoid a number of negative phenomena in the youth environment. This situation calls for a greater role of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union. It should demonstrate its abilities as an organizer, a leader of the national youth movement.