Konstanty Kalinowski languages spoken, written or signed Belarusian
Wincenty Konstanty Kalinowski, also known as Kastuś Kalinoŭski (Belarusian: Касту́сь Каліно́ўскі also Belarusian: Вінцэ́нт Канстанці́н Каліно́ўскі, lit. 'Vincent Kanstancin Kalinoŭski', Lithuanian: Konstantinas Kalinauskas) (2 February [O.S. 21 January] 1838 – 22 March [O.S. 10 March] 1864), was a Belarusian and Polish writer, journalist, lawyer and revolutionary. He was one of the leaders of the Polish Lithuanian and Belarusian national revival and the leader of the January Uprising in lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
One of several participants in the failed January Uprisings, Kalinowski is especially revered in Belarus where he is seen as a forefather and icon of Belarusian nationalism.Career
Literary work
Konstanty then returned to the Grodno area in 1861. Konstanty started publishing Mużyckaja prauda (Peasants' Truth), the first newspaper in Belarusian, written in Łacinka, first published in June 1862. The Peasants' Truth was issued seven times until 1863. Konstanty also published two other Polish language newspapers. Konstanty was more aligned with the Reds which represented a democratic movement uniting peasants, workers, and some clergy rather than the more moderate Whites.In his literary work, Kalinoŭski underlined the need to liberate all people of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from Russia's occupation and to conserve and promote the Greek-Catholic faith and Belarusian language. He also promoted the idea of activisation of peasants for the cause of national liberation, the idea that was until then dominated by the gentry. He favored the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's traditions of democracy, tolerance and freedom, as opposed to national oppression of cultures dominated by Imperial Russia:
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