Page 31 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

The radical and massive demonstrations found
echoes in the sessions of the parliament, conclud-
ing with an acceptance of the students’ speech in
the 17 October session, declaring their political
demands for the government. After the decla-
ration of independence in 1991, the capital city
Kyiv and the parliament building underwent re-
construction projects – the Soviet symbols on
the facade removed, the interior decoration ren-
ovated, the statues in the front replaced – to so-
lidify the country’s decommunisation politics
that continued until the destructive effects of
the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
31
Minsk and the Workers’ Rally – April 1991
The Government House in Minsk and the for-
mer Lenin Square in front of it, with a monu-
mental statue of the leader (Figure 4), were de- Figure 4: The Government House in Minsk and the for-
signed by Iosif Langbard between 1930 and 1934 mer Lenin Square, axonometric view, authors.
as an exhibition of Soviet topoi. In fact, Minsk
played the role of gate city to the Union, and its On the days of the workers’ rally, 3–4 April,
monumental space was likely to be visited by 1991 – the largest protest in Belarusian history,
Western envoys (Sokolova 2014). It was one of above one hundred thousand people gathered
the biggest public squares in Europe of its time, in Lenin Square, protesting against unsuccess-
occupying an area of seven hectares (Shostak ful policies on agricultural and industrial invest- The Critical Position of Soviet Parliament Buildings Today
2006). The main parades were held in the square, ments that led to an unprecedented econom-
and the building was home to the Politburo and ic crisis, with the Chornobyl catastrophe in the
the Communist Party of the Belarussian SSR background (Vremia 2021). Due to excessive in-
(Kachanova 2023). During the Nazis’ invasion dustrial and technological investments, many
of the city, it underwent many transformations: Belarusians worked in factories producing trac-
the Lenin statue was destroyed, and the build- tors, cars, computers, and more. However, the
ing was transformed into Germany’s official bu- demand of the Union was lower than the sup-
reau (Kachanova 2023). The Government House ply (Vremia 2021). Over the years, the factories
was among the few examples that survived Ger- fired many workers. Another turning point was
many’s Occupation and the Great Patriotic War the Chernobyl disaster, which according to the
(Shostak 2006). Right after the fall of German Belarusian Ministry of Emergency Situations,
rule in Minsk, the Soviet authorities reconstruct- impacted Belarus more than Ukraine and Rus-
ed Lenin Square and re-erected the Lenin statue sia (Vremia 2021). As a result, people could not
in its former location with the same material and work in factories or farms. Moreover, prices in-
form (Kachanova 2023; Aksenova and Noviko- creased, and Gorbachev raised taxes. This led to
va 2022). Until the workers’ rally in April 1991, a large workers’ protest in the capital.
when the anger of mobs accelerated a public and The strike very soon took on a political di-
nationwide demand for the resignation of Soviet mension, requesting the ‘Declaration of State
leader Mikhail Gorbachev and reinforced the an- Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist
ti-Soviet movement (Marples 2004), the square Republic’, supported by the anti-Soviet Popular
preserved its central power status in the city. Front Party. On the 25 August, the government