In 1904, Zhylunovich joined the
Belarusian Socialist Assembly and took part in organizing Belarusian workers. He contributed to the newspaper
Nasha Niva and helped in its distribution. In 1910 and 1911 he went to his hometown to
Kapil and participated in the work of local organizations
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, in editions of pamphlets magazines. Zhylunovich became a member of the Belarusian National Committee which organized the
First All-Belarusian Congress. When a split occurred in the Belarusian Socialist Assembly in 1918, he became a member of the Bolshevik Party. He was the first head of a
Soviet government in Belarus, the
Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia. In 1924 he published a book "Slivers on the waves". In 1937, during the
Great Purge in the
Soviet Union, he was arrested as an "
enemy of the Belarusian people" and later killed himself in prison. ==References==