In the end of the WWI, patriotically inspired Belarusian parties convened the All-Belarusian Congress in Meinsk. There were 1, 915 delegates from local governments, social, political and military organizations. According to some historians, there were almost all possible fractions and parties of that time: Mensheviks, Bolsheviks, and Social-Christians and so on and forth. An atmosphere was predominately anti-communist and most delegates shared this feeling.
Although communists who were in charge of White Russia dispersed the convention, the Congress managed to proclaim Belarus a democratic republic while refusing to recognize any other authority on its territory, meaning Bolsheviks. And at the same time, Western media dispatched news cable:

London, December 28:

The establishment of a republic in White Russia has been announced, according to Petrograd advises. A Rada, or legislative body, for the territory has been assembled at Minsk, at which place a degree will be issued proclaiming the independence of the new state.
(The Russians are divided into Great Russians, Little Russians (Ukrainians) and White Russians. According to the latest available statistics, the White Russians number about 5 million, the bulk of them living in Lithuania.)

New York Times, Dec.28, 1917

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