Kastuś Kalinoŭski (Кастусь Каліноўскі) (February 2, 1838 - March 22, 1864) (Julian: January 21, 1838 - March 10, 1864)

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Monuments to Kalinoŭski

• At least two plaques on buildings in Vilnius, Lithuania (where he was imprisoned prior to his hanging, and where he was hanged). Note, the streets may have been renamed since the guidebook you are using was printed.

• A memorial plaque near the train station in Hrodna [Grodno], Belarus. A mounument is also planned for that city (with the funds already having been collected some years ago, but "diverted" for other purposes.

From A History of Byelorussian Literature (Die Literatur der Weissrussen): From its Origins to the Present Day, by Arnold B. McMillin; Giessen, W. Germany, 1977; excerpts from pages 87; 88-89:

Historical (Literary) Background

"The period of the early 1860's. . . was one of general political ferment, both on the part of the peasants who were disgusted to find emancipation had left them little or no better off, and also in the part of the Polish and Byelorussian nationalists who blamed the Russians for all their ills and sought independence or, in the case of the Poles, the restoration of the Rzeczpospolita. An important semi-literary genre that flourished at the time was the hutarka, or "'conversation,' a form of quasi-popular, usually anonymous, verse monologues and dialogues on socio-political themes. In the pre-reform period, hutarki had been used to lament the plight of the ill-used peasantry, as in, for example, The Conversation of Danila with Sciapan (Hutarka dvuch Sciapanam), A Conversation between Two Neighbors (Hutarka dvuch sudiedau), and Justice (Prauda)."

"After 1861, however, the genre was exploited first by the Poles to present the nationalist case, and then, in reply, by the government, each side seeking to win the support of the Byelorussian population by the use of the vernacular language. Amongst the more notable hutarki of Polish orientation are An Old Man's Discourse (Hutarka staraha dzieda, 1861), sometimes attributed to Kratynski, and F. Pchycki's Right and Wrong (Kryuda i prauda, 1863). Although in aesthetic terms they are hardly higher than the numerous political pamphlets and tracts which circulated at the time, they nonetheless compare favourably with such official excursions into popular literature as Franc Blus's vapid and prolix verse apology for autocracy, The Village Elder's Speech to the Peasants about Freedom (Pramova Staravojta and Pramova Staravojta da sialan ab svabodzie, 1862)."

" This period of political unrest culminated in the uprising of 1863-64 when, in the words of a revolutionary ditty of the time, A Song for God's Hour (Piesn na bozhy chas), the peasants 'felt equal to the lords, / And took up their scythes in freedom's cause.' This uprising's origins were, in fact, as much political as social, and one of the reasons for its failure to gain the support of the mass of Polish and Byelorussian peasantry, thus having at least some chance of success, was the variety of anti-government interests and the discord between them. On the one hand the Polish 'whites'--landowners who sought only to escape from Russian political domination--had no social programme, whilst on the other the Byelorussian nationalists sought not only independence for their country but wide-changing social reforms including land distribution for the peasants. "

Kastuś Kalinoŭski

"The nationalist leader Kastuś Kalinoŭski (1838-64) came from the Hrodna region, but studied in Moscow and St. Petersburg before returning to Byelorussia in 1860 with the express purpose of fomenting revolution. In 1862-3 he published seven issues of a clandestine political newspaper entitled Peasants' Truth (Muzchychaja prauda) which set out in stirring language the case for revolutionary action. Most of the paper was written by Kalinouski himself, although some of his associates, including V. Urubleuski (1836-1908) and F. Razhanski, also made contributions. The contents of this publication, which was always signed, 'Jaska, a farmer from near Vilna' (Jaśka, haspadar z-pad Vilni), vary from a direct call to arms to a passionate defence of the Uniate faith, and present a full picture of Kalinoŭski's socio-political programme and his views on the past and future of Byelorussia. The style is pungent, direct and colourful, with rich use of folk imagery, lending Peasants' Truth a strikingly individual eloquence."

"The same qualities are also to be found in his Letter from under the Gallows (Pismo z-pad shybienicy) written in prison as he awaited execution after being betrayed to the Russians in January 1864: 'When you see. . . your brothers struggling for truth, do not remain behind, but seizing whatever you can. . . go and fight with your people for human and national rights for your faith, for your native land. For I say to you from under the gallows, my people, you will only live happily when no Russian remains over you!' The Letter also contains a poem by Kalinoŭski, 'Dark-browed Maryshka. . .' ('Maryshka charnabrova. . .'), a deep lament on the loss of Byelorussia's happiness and good fortune, and a call not to 'complain of your sad lot' but to"

Stand up manfully and fight for truth,
For only with the truth in common counsel,
Shall you in freedom live your length in days.

"The ill-fated uprising of 1863-64 marked the end of an era in Byelorussian history. After a series of bloody reprisals the Russian government imposed a vigorously enforced regime of Russification and conversion to Orthodoxy, which together with the total ban on even the concept of a Byelorussian national identity, language and culture, led to more than two decades of stagnation in all fields, not least in that of literature."

From his entry in the Historical Dictionary of Belarus (Zaprudnik, 1998; p. 130):

"Leader of the anti-Russian Uprising of 1863-1864. Kalinoŭski graduated from a school for the gentry in Shvislach (1855) and the University of St. Petersburg (1860). In the Hrodna region, he collaborated with Polish revolutionaries and published the first Belarusan clandestine newspaper, Muzhyskaja Prauda (Peasants' Truth), and two Polish-language newspapers. Kalinoŭski defended the Uniate confession of Belarusans and denounced the exploitation and oppression of the Belarusan people by tsarist bureaucrats. His publications influenced the development of Belarusan language, journalism, and nationalism. . . . He was publicly executed in Vilnia on March 24, 1864."

(Note: In the preceding excerpt, terms in bold refer to other entries in the Historical Dictionary of Belarus. The Historical Dictionary of Belarus is an important summary of the history of Belarus.)

Also refer to the book, The 1863 Uprising in Byelorussia: "Peasants' Truth" and "Letters from Beneath the Gallows," New York, 1980.

Text and commentaries by Jan Zaprudnik and Thomas E. Bird. The book includes a facsimile page of Kalinouski's original writing, plus his texts are included in Belarusian (Cyrillic and Latsinka) and English.

News Articles

Article: One Protestor Detained During a Demonstration Marking Kalinowski's Birthday

"An activist of Malady Front, the youth branch of the Belarusian Popular Front, was arrested in Hrodna [Grodno] on February 2, during a demonstration marking the 162nd birthday of Kastus Kalinowski, the leader of the 1863 anti-Russian uprising in Belarus."

"The demonstrator was released after police drew up a report that he had participated in an unsanctioned protest."

"The demonstrators gathered at the place where the Hrodna authorities had intended to erect a monument to Kalinowski 10 years before. People had donated 10,000 rubels, which was a large sum at that time, for the construction of the monument, but the money were used by local cultural establishments for other purposes. Nevertheless, the authorities' decision to erect a monument to Kalinowski near the house, where Kalinowski met with other leaders of the insurgents, remains in force."

"The uprising had been joined by over 80,000 Belarusians of every class. The commanders of the insurgents fell into Russian hands in the first year of the revolt and Kalinowski was hanged in Vilna [Vilnius] on March 22, 1864."

"Prior to the demonstration, Malady Front activists laid flowers at Kalinowski's memorial plaque near the train station.

Source: BelaPAN, No. 9; Wednesday, February 2, 2000; 5:00 p.m.

See the following examples of his poetry & other writings: Poems: "Марыська чарнабрэва, галубка мая. . ." ("Oh, dark-browed Maryshka, my dove. . . .") Cyrillic Belarusian & English versions Lacinka Belarusian & English versions Other Writings: (under development)