The Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997 was Poland's first post-communist constitution. It replaced the temporary amendments put into place in 1992 designed to reverse the damages of communism, establishing the nation as a Democratic Republic, and went into effect on 16 October 1997. It was passed by national referendum on 25 May 1997, adopted by the National Assembly of Poland (Zgromadzenie Narodowe of Polish Sejm) on 2 April 1997 and is effective since 17 October 1997.

New Character of the Nation

The five years since 1992 were spent in dialogue about the new character of Poland. The nation had changed significantly since the days of post-Second World War Stalin puppet state, the People's Republic of Poland. New consensus was needed on how to acknowledge the awkward parts of Polish history, the transformations from single party political system into a democratic one, from socialism towards capitalism economic system, and the rise of pluralist and multicultural ideas alongside its historically Roman Catholic culture.

Casting Off the Old

The attitude toward the past was articulated in the preamble, in which the citizens of Poland established a Republic "Recalling the best traditions of the First and the Second Republic, Obliged to bequeath to future generations all that is valuable from our over one thousand years' heritage ... Mindful of the bitter experiences of the times when fundamental freedoms and human rights were violated in our Homeland, ...".

Many articles were written explicitly to rectify the wrongs of previous governments. In response to communist-era collective farming, Article 23 established the family farm as the basis of agricultural economy. Article 74 requires public officials to pursue ecologically sound public policy. Articles 39 and 40 prohibit the practices of forced medical experimentation, forbiding torture and corporal punishment, while Articles 50 and 59 acknowledge the inviolability of the home, the right to form trade unions, and to strike.

Tradition v. Multiculturalism

Those involved in drafting the document were not interested in creating a de facto Catholic Poland. That said, nods were given in the direction of the church, to the effect of protecting common morality. For example, in Article 18, marriage is granted the protection of the state, and in Article 53, freedom of religion, religious education, and religious upbringing is protected.

The religious variety that the nation had taken on was recognized implicitly in the preamble, as it begins: "We, the Polish Nation - all citizens of the Republic, Both those who believe in God as the source of truth, justice, good and beauty, As well as those not sharing such faith but respecting those universal values as arising from other sources...". Article 25 provides a further protection in that realm, that public officials "shall be impartial in matters of personal conviction, whether religious or philosophical, or in relation to outlooks on life, and shall ensure their freedom of expression within public life."

Other more progressive aspects include the affirmation of the political equality of man and woman in Article 32, and the affirmation of freedom of ethnic minorities to advance and develop their culture, in Article 35.

History

Prior to the 1997 Constitution, country was governed by the Small Constitution , which amended the main articles of the Stalinist Polish Constitution of 1952 and formed the legal basis of the Polish State between 1990 and 1997.

See also

• May Constitution, 1791
• March Constitution, 1921
• April Constitution, 1935
• Polish Constitution of 1952

External links

1. English text of the Polish Constitution
2. Overview