Zdrada stanu: działalność Komunistycznej Partii Zachodniej Białorusi w Wilnie w latach 1930-1935

ENThe purpose of this paper is to explain the activities of the Communist Party of Western Belarus in Vilnius during the first half of the 1930s. The author's aim is to show the organizational, theoretical and practical dimensions of the operation of an illegal organization under the Communist archival queries held in II - VI 2011 in the Lithuanian Central State Archives in Vilnius. Furthermore, I intend to present the actions of the police in Vilnius taken towards the sympathizers and activists of the communist groups operating in the city. Founded in 1923 in Vilnius, the Communist Party of Western Belarus was a branch of The Communist Party of Poland. This organization, just like the Polish communist party, was illegal. Its aim was to combat the Polish state and the electioneering for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Although the name of the party could indicate a desire for independence of Belarus, it in practice opted for transferring the north eastern provinces of the Second Republic of Poland to the USRR. CPWB’s activity had a special dimension in Vilnius.As the region's largest city, the former capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and home to many nations, religions and cultures, Vilnius was the strategic area for communist actions. Given the large number of inhabitants and its industrialized multi-ethnic character, the city offered the communists a possibility to develop a wide, subversive and conspiratorial work. In addition, the city was the center for the production and distribution of communist publications, which allowed the spread of propaganda within the city’s administrative boundaries as well as in the neighbourig provinces. The activities of the Vilnius communists evoked response on the part of the State Police in Vilnius. The investigative bodies were determined to eliminate or at least reduce the Communist threat in Vilnius.