First All-Belarusian Congress

The First All-Belarusian Congress (Belarusian: Першы Ўсебеларускі кангрэс/Першая Ўсебеларуская канферэнцыя, romanized: Pieršy Ŭsiebiełaruski kanhres/Pieršaja Ŭsiebiełaruskaja kanferencyja) was a congress of Belarusian political organizations and groups held between 18 and 31 December 1917 (O.S. 5–18 December) in Minsk. The Congress gathered 1872 delegates from all regions of Belarus. It played an important role in the consolidation of the Belarusian national movement after the Bolshevik Revolution in the Russian Republic. The Congress deliberated various proposals, and reached a compromise solution, based oh the right of self-determination: it approved the republican form of governance and opposed any division of Belarus, but also opted against total separation from the Russian democratic federal republic, thus implying Belarusian support for new political solutions, based on principles of democracy, republicanism and federalization. In spite of that, the Congress was violently dispersed in the early hours of 31 December (O.S. 18 December) by the pro-unitarist local Bolshevik authorities of the Western Oblast.

Opposing the dissolution of the Congress, a major group of prominent delegates met in secret by the end of the same day and elected the All-Belarusian Council, as a representative political body that also met in secret on 2 January 1918 (O.S. 20 December 1917) and elected the Executive Committee, that consisted of seventeen members. Various delegates of the Congress and members of the Council also hoped that central authorities in Petrograd would not condone repressive actions of local Bolshevik authorities in Minsk, but it turned out that the central Council of People's Commissars was also not ready to support political solutions based on self-determination and federal status of Belarus.

During January and February 1918, prominent delegates of the Congress who were members of the All-Belarusian Council and the Executive Committee continued to work in secret, until the retreat of Bolshevik authorities from Minsk on 18 February, that was caused by the German invasion of Belarus. During the short provisional Belarusian-Polish administration of Minsk (19-21 February), the All-Belarusian Council transformed into the Rada of the Belarusian People's Republic, that was proclaimed on 21 February 1918.