Events in Minsk (1988)

The rally was initiated by organizations, which at that time were called “informal”. In the wake of " perestroika, " they dealt with the restoration of architectural monuments, literature, and environmental protection, gradually, however, turning to political issues.

The first significant rally to commemorate " Grandfathers " in Belarus took place in 1987 in Minsk in the Yanka Kupala Park , and its youth communities, , organized it. October 29, 1987 marked the 50th anniversary of the execution of a large group of the Belarusian intelligentsia. Therefore, together with the restoration of the folk tradition, the organizers had in mind the anti- Stalinist (and even anti-Soviet ) subtext ^[1] .

The organization of the requiem rally in 1988 was undertaken by the Society of Young Writers at the Union of Writers of Belarus "Tuteyshyya" led by Ales Bialiatski. On October 14-17, 1988, Ales Bialiatski and Anatoly Sys appealed to the executive committees of the district Councils of People’s Deputies and to the Minsk City Executive Committee to get permission to hold a procession and historical and literary Belarusian holiday-meeting "Grandfathers", at which they were going to honor the memory of their ancestors .

The rally was also organized by the newly established Martyrology of Belarus on October 19, 1988 and the organizing committee for the creation of the Belarusian Popular Front under the leadership of Zenon Poznyak. The training took place in a new information atmosphere, after the publication of the text by Zenon Pozniak and Yevgeny Shmygalyov “ Kurapaty is the road of death”. Thus, the main focus of these Grandfathers was to be the celebration of memory and the disclosure of the truth about repression .

On October 24–25, the authorities refused to hold a rally (the official decision of the Minsk City Executive Committee printed “ Evening Minsk ”). The initiators of the rally were summoned to the Minsk prosecutor’s office on October 26, where they were officially warned of a possible violation of the law. The organizers, meanwhile, carried out information about the future campaign, including using the distribution of leaflets (on October 28, Ales Pushkin was detained for such distribution).

The authorities threw great powers to prevent the rally. To serve on October 30, 600 police officers were involved not only in the Minsk garrison, but also cadets of educational institutions of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, 30 police, as well as 2 fire engines.

On the day of the rally, the authorities stopped the movement of the last two metro stations, and its participants were forced to walk this distance.

The culmination of the events of October 30, 1988 occurred after 14 hours in the area of ​​the square along Kalinovsky Street (near the Moscow cemetery ). Citizens who went to the venue for the Day of Remembrance of the Ancestors in the Kuropaty tract were severely dispersed by police officers who used the bird cherry gas and rubber batons . 72 people were detained. The dispersal of the rally was directly supervised by the then Minister of Internal Affairs of the BSSR Viktor Piskaryov ^[2] .

People began to disperse, beat, arrest, poison gas from portable cans. Poison, who stood at the head of the column, was also poisoned. But Poznyak did not yield. He directed the crowd to the outskirts and led to the Kurapaty. However, there the troops blocked the way to the column. Then Poznyak turned everyone in the field. And in a clean field under the snow that was pouring from the cloudy sky, a prayer service passed. A white-red-white flag developed at the top, speakers spoke and among them writer Vladimir Orlov .

Original text (belor.)

People pachali razganyats, bіts, aryshtoўvats, trotіts gases from partataўnyh balenchykaў. Atrucіlі i Paznyak, yakі ішоў on a chalen of a red-hot. Ale Paznyak is not an excuse. Yong Skiravaў natoўp to ўskraіnu i paveў da Kurapataў. Adnak and there are nobles kalene peragaradzіlі troopsі. Tady Paznyak zavyarnuў usіkh at the field. I ў a clean field with a slush, like a rash from the sky, an adamantage. Ugary developed white-chyrvona-white ssyag, performed Pramo and syarod ikh pismennіk Uladzіmer Arloў.

- Vasil Bykov “Reaching the dada to the house”

The initiators of the rally put all the blame for the crackdown on the authorities, calling it a manifestation of Stalinism . Acceleration of the action was negatively perceived by many creative unions, representatives of the intelligentsia. A legal assessment was given to the events of October 30, 1988 by a specially created commission headed by Georgy Tarazevich, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the BSSR. The result of the commission’s activity was a resolution of the Presidium of November 14, 1988, in which the organizers of the rally were accused of wanting to use the procession for purposes that “have nothing to do with the ritual of remembrance” , despite the ban.

It is noted that on October 30, 1988, the first mass rally in the recent history of Belarus was organized, organized “from below” ^[3] . In fact, the first mass rally marking "Grandfathers" in Belarus took place a year before, in 1987 ^[1] . However, events confirmed that the CPSU leadership did not intend to weaken control over society. Relations between the authorities and the informal alternative movement in Belarus have entered a stage of open hostility ^[4] .

• Wandei ў joey: Dzyady-1988 - novychas.by
• Kuznetsov, Igor Forgetting means betraying (unopened) (inaccessible link) . Belarusian Business Newspaper (April 16, 2004). - The author is a member of the Memorial International Historical, Educational, Charitable and Human Rights Society. Date of treatment June 2, 2007 . Archived July 7, 2004.
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