The study follows the process of the construction of belarussian national identity between the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries in terms of community of name, language, territory and historical memories. This subjective foundation of a nation does not blend in the belarussian case with the civic model. Historical memory of Kalinovski's Uprising demonstrates the dubiousness of using a common historical past which itself corresponds with that of Russia and Poland. On the contrary, the allocating of belarussian national identity according to social demands was convinient. Unsuccesful vindication of the historical legacy of "Litva" and the failure of Belarussian to become the language of bureaucracy caused a decoupling of the genealogical bonds from the national identity. The longing of "tutejshi" for social happiness facilitated the appropriation of national identity as essentially a soviet one. Belarussians are becoming Belarussians as toiling people who are emancipated in a national state, deliniated by the colonial map. Keywords: Belarus, national identity, nationalism, national state, belorussification, «tutejshi»