SUMMARY:

An important feature of the Belarusian national movement at the beginning of the 20th century was the use of two scripts – Cyrillic and Latin – in newspapers and books. The newspapers Naša Dola and Naša Niva, as well as many book editions, were published in both scripts, despite significant financial costs. This situation was rooted in the particular confessional division in Belarusian society – Orthodox Belarusians used Cyrillic and Catholics used the Latin script. In 1912, circumstances compelled Naša Niva to use only one script: the majority of its readers supported the use of Cyrillic. An essential role was played by historical argument – ancient texts in the Belarusian language used Cyrillic. Moreover, a majority of the literate population in Belarus at the beginning of the 20th century used “Russian letters.” But books based on the Latin script also had a reading audience, primarily in Catholic villages. Therefore, the periodicals of the Christian Democrat wing of the national movement continued to use the Latin script.