BPF Party - Early History of The Belarusian Popular Front

Early History of The Belarusian Popular Front

The Belarusian Popular Front was established in 1988 as both a political party and a cultural movement, following the examples of Popular Front of Estonia, Popular Front of Latvia and the Lithuanian pro-democracy movement Sąjūdis. Membership was declared open to all Belarusian citizens as well as any democratic organization.

Its goals are democracy and independence through national rebirth and rebuilding after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The main idea of the Front was the revival of the national idea, including the rebirth of the Belarusian language. Initially, its orientation was pro-Western with a great deal of scepticism towards Russia. At one moment they propagated the idea of the union from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea that would involve Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Lithuania, similar to Józef Piłsudski's "Międzymorze".

Among the significant achievements of the Front was uncovering of the burial site of Kurapaty near Minsk. The Front claims that the NKVD performed there its secret killings.

Initially, the Front had significant visibility because of its numerous active public actions that almost always ended in clashes with police and KGB. It was the BPF's parliamentarians who made the Parliament restore the historical Belarusian symbols: white-red-white flag and the Pahonia coat of arms. At some time people were arrested in the streets for wearing a white-red-white scarf in Belarus.

In 1994 the BPF formed a so-called "shadow" cabinet consisting of 100 BPF intellectuals. Its first Prime Minister was Uładzimir Zabłocki. It originally contained 18 commissions that published ideas and proposed laws and plans for restructuring the government and economy. Its last economic reform proposal was published in 1999. In opposition to the Alexander Lukashenko's government, the party supports Belarus' entry into NATO and European Union. It is an observer member of the European People's Party (EPP) and an associate member of the International Democrat Union(IDU).