It was 1791 two years after the French Revolution. The power in Poland was officially ruled by King Stanisław August Poniatowski, but in Poland there was anarchy and the power of many parties. In order to regularize the situation in the Polish authorities during the session of the Four-Year Seym, the American model designed its own Constitution as a set of basic organizational rights of the Polish State that guarantee the basic political stability of the state.
The founders of the Constitutions were Freemasons from the Masonic organization (led by Hugo Kollataj). The constitution was underdeveloped, it still maintained the monarchy and gave up the Polish throne to the German Wettin dynasty. Many member of parliament Catholics and patriots and those working on the destabilization of the country at the behest of Russia, Prussia and Austria, opposed the creation of the Constitutional Act in this form. There were no compromises.
May 3, 1791, was an opportunity for the creators and supporters of the Constitution in this form. In the absence of many opponents who had not yet returned from Easter, after a seven-hour session, the Seym approved the constitution, and King Stanislaw August Poniatowski signed it.
The Constitution did not last long. A year later, a confederation of Polish nobility was formed in St. Petersburg, which with the Russian army entered the Polish. This is how Poland’s freedom ended for 100 years sold by its own nobility. Poland was divided into three parts and incorporated into neighboring countries. The country Poland officially ceased to exist.
The establishment of a Constitution in those historical times did not affect the fate of a weakened Poland, but for Europe after the French Revolution it was a signal to create fundamental legal acts for the future democracy that would be a symbol of the freedom of each State.
It is worth taking into account that there were also constitutions imposed on the subordinate states, Poland had to accept the constitutions of submission to the Russian State twice and Napoleon once. So does the Constitution matter?
You have to be aware that the society is completely ignorant of the acts contained in the Constitution of their country, not to mention the European ones. You may conclude that citizens are consciously lulled to sleep so that they forget about their rights, which are inconvenient for the authorities. In Poland, May 3 is a national holiday. It is a day off from work (some say that it is precisely so that nobody goes on strike on these days). Only it is not a celebration of the Constitution, but the historic anniversary of the Constitution. On this day, free time is devoted to walks and watching commercials on TV.
Meanwhile, it should be a day of discussions on the Constitution, how to adjust it, correct it, unify it, how to protect the constitution against breaking it by the authorities? It is asking for an international constitutional day for all countries and a summary of the effectiveness of these acts in each country. Meanwhile, there is no such thing. Nothing happens.
Only 40 years ago, on May 1 and 3, 1982, protests against Wojciech Jaruzelski’s martial law regime took place in many Polish cities. On the 3rd May Constitution Day, not recognized by the communist authorities, violent clashes resulted in the death of two people. This is the only activity in which Poles drew attention to the current state of the Constitution – in this case, they called for a Constitution, which was banned in Poland.
What hypocrisy! Polish President Andrzej Duda likes to break the laws of the Constitution. But as you can see, he likes to show foreign visitors the continuation from 1791 and talk about the values of this legal act. (Photo 2021 Jakub Szymczuk, Kancelaria Prezydenta RP )Today, constitutional rights are violated by the authorities in Poland, modest protests by activists do not gain public support. Maybe because no one believes in the Constitution anymore. The authorities in Poland have achieved their goal. The state is like a fish – it rots from the head. (Brux)
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