The Communist Union of Bielorussia and Lithuania was a short-lived Jewish communist organization in Bielorussia. It was founded as the Jewish Communist Party in Bielorussia on January 19, 1919. The Jewish Communist Party of Bielorussia functioned as an autonomous unit of the Communist Party of Bielorussia. In the wake of the October Revolution, the issue of the integration of the General Jewish Labour Bund into the communist movement was unsolved. The Russian Communist Party opposed the notion of an independent Jewish communist movement, preferring territorial communist organizations. The Bund, on the other hand, demanded to retain an autonomous organization, the same demand it had put forth at the time of its entry into the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. In Bielorussia, however, conditions were somewhat different. Soviet rule was weaker and there was a division within the Communist Party. Thus the Communist Party of Bielorussia was more flexible towards cooperation with Jewish socialist groups than the RCP at large. In December, the Kombund and the Jewish Section of CPB agreed to set up a joint organization and presented this suggestion to the Central Committee of the CPB. They argued that the Jewish proletarians, due to their 'specific conditions', ought to have a Communist Party of its own albeit in union with the RCP. On January 15, 1919, the CPB approved of the merger between Kombund and the CPB Jewish Section. Four days later, the Jewish Communist Party of Bielorussia was founded with representatives from both parties forming the Central Committee. Some 2,000 Bundists joined the new party. Most of the party members were former Bundists. The first party congress was held in Minsk on February 28, 1919. The congress resolved to work for the establishment of an All-Russian Jewish Communist Party, which would function as an autonomous unit of RCP. The name was changed to Komfarband and a new Komfarband Central Committee was elected. Two-thirds of the delegates were former Bundists. Der shtern was the organ of Komfarband. The RCP did not approve of the Komfarband, and instructed the CPB to eliminate it. On June 26, 1919, the CPB Central Committee issued a memorandum announcing the dissolution of Komfarband.
