Westrussianism(zachodnierusizm), a notion among Belarusians, especially in the eastern part of the country during the latter part of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, that Belarus is part of West Russia and the Belarusians are but a branch of the Russian nation. Such an understanding was the result of the Russification that had been intensively conducted during the 19th century. There were two strands of Westrussianism. Conservative "Westrussian" ideologues claimed that the Belarusian national movement was simply a Polish scheme to tear away "part of Russia." "Westrussians" of liberal bent recognized Belarus as a distinct ethnic region, but denied its right to separate national development. In the 1900s and 1910s, "Westrussians" published a number of periodicals propounding their doctrine. Their views and arguments are eloquently presented in Alaksandar Ćvikievič's Russian-language monograph, "Westrussianism": From the History of Social Thought in Belarus in the 19th and the Beginning of the 20th Century (1929).
