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Polish National Districts (called in Russian "полрайоны",polrajony, an abbreviation for "польские национальные районы", "Polish nationalraions") werenational districts of the Soviet Union in theinterbellum period providing national autonomy for Polish minorities in theUkrainian andByelorussianSoviet Socialist Republics of theUSSR. They were created in an attempt to live up to the postulate ofLeninism about the rights of nations forself-determination. Also, creation of these regions served one of purposes of theBolsheviks toexport the revolution since after their defeat in thePolish-Soviet War, the Soviets did not give up their idea of creating a Soviet Republic in Poland. Polish National Districts were supposed to be the origin of future Soviet Poland.[1] They both were disbanded in mid-1930s and a significant part of their populations ("anti-Soviet and unreliable elements") was deported toKazakhstan during theGreat Purge.
The possibility of granting autonomy to Polish-populated areas of the Soviet Union was discussed during the Polish-Soviet war by key persons involved in theProvisional Polish Revolutionary Committee. However, there were no plans to create whole districts; autonomy would be granted to separate villages. In 1925 it was decided that a district would be created inSoviet Ukraine, where, according to the 1926 survey, 476,435 Poles lived. This was 1.6% of the Ukrainian population, but in theZhitomir Oblast, their number reached 10%. Among persons who supported the district were Soviet communists of Polish origin, such asFeliks Kon,Julian Marchlewski,Felix Dzerzhinsky andTomasz Dąbal. Thus Marchlewszczyzna was created, and later Dzierżyńszczyzna.
Marchlewszczyzna was a Polish National District of theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic created as an experiment[2] and as part of the SovietKorenizatsia campaign[3] on 21 July 1925[3] inZhytomyr Okruha [ru] to the west ofZhytomyr on resolution of Little Presidium of theAll-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee.[3] Its capital the town ofDovbysh, later in 1926, was renamed asMarchlewsk.[2][4]
Dzierżyńszczyzna was aPolish National District (Дзержинский польский национальный район, Dzierzhynsky Polish national district) inBelarus, nearMinsk and close to the Soviet-Polish border of the time. It was created on March 15, 1932, with its capital atDzierżyńsk (formerly known asKojdanavaPolish:Kojdanów, so that initially it was established as "Kojdanovsky Polish national district").[5] It was named after theCheka directorFelix Dzerzhinsky.
Similarly to Marchlewszczyzna, limited Polish autonomy in the area was a real fact, with Polish-language schools, libraries and institutions. At the same time, the inhabitants were subject to intensive communist propaganda. Religious life was suppressed, and the campaign of collectivization, carried out in mid-1930s, met resistance of local Polish peasants. Unlike Marchlewszczyzna, which was the real center of Polish cultural life in the Soviet Union, Dzierżyńszczyzna's influence was limited.
Polish districts were among those which resisted Sovietcollectivization andatheization. For political reasons, drastic measures were initially not applied in these areas. Eventually, Marchlewszczyzna was disbanded in 1935 at the onset of theGreat Purge and most of the administration was executed.[citation needed] In the following years a significant part of population was deported toKazakhstan and other remote areas of the Soviet Union.[citation needed]
Dzierżyńszczyzna was disbanded in 1937.[5]
All Polish schools and libraries were closed, Tomasz Dąbal was executed in 1938.
AfterWorld War II, in both Polish and Soviethistoriographies, the existence of the districts was omitted, perhaps because the authorities of both countries wanted to avoid uneasy questions about sudden rejection of the Leninist postulate of the rights of nations forself-determination.
The area of Marchlewszczyzna is still inhabited by the Polish minority, in the town of Dovbysh they make half of the population. There are also Poles in Dzierżyńszczyzna.