Constitution of the Polish People's Republic

Constitution of the Polish People's Republic
Draft of the Polish constitution, with revisions and annotations hand-written by Joseph Stalin
Overview
Jurisdiction	Poland
Ratified	22 July 1952
Date effective	22 July 1952
System	Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic
Government structure
Branches	3
Head of state	President
Chambers	Unicameral
Federalism	Unitary
Electoral college	No
History
Amendments	24
Author(s)	Joseph Stalin, Bolesław Bierut
Supersedes	Small Constitution of 1947

Part of a series on the politics and government of Poland
Constitutions and major statutes of Poland
Neminem captivabimus acts (1430) Nihil novi act (1505) Henrician Articles (1573) Constitution of 3 May 1791 Warsaw Duchy Constitution (1807) Kingdom of Poland (1815) Organic Statute (1832) Small Constitution (1919) March Constitution (1921) August Novelization (1926) April Constitution (1935) Small Constitution (1947) People's Republic (1952) April Novelization (1989) Small Constitution (1992) Current Constitution (1997)
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The Constitution of the Polish People's Republic (also known as the July Constitution or the Constitution of 1952) was a supreme law passed in communist-ruled Poland on 22 July 1952. It superseded the post-World War II provisional Small Constitution of 1947, which in turn replaced the pre-war April Constitution of 1935.

The 1952 constitution introduced a new name for the Polish state, the Polish People's Republic (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL), replacing the previously used Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska). The communist-led Sejm (legislature) was declared to be the highest state authority. The real source of supreme state power, the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR), was not regulated by the constitution; it was ruled by its own statute. The constitution legalized many practices that had been introduced in Poland, in the wake of the Soviet Red Army and the Polish People's Army defeat of Nazi Germany in 1944–1945, by Polish-communist governmental bodies, including the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN) and its successors.

Instead of the traditional separation of powers, the constitution introduced the Soviet concept of "unity of the state's power".^[1] While the ultimate power was reserved for the dictatorship of the proletariat, expressed as "the working people of towns and villages",^[1] the Sejm was granted on paper the paramount authority in government; it oversaw both the judicial and executive branches.^[1] However, the Sejm in practice exercised little or no real power. Under the constitution, the Polish Council of State replaced the office of the President of Poland as the head of state organ.^[2][3]

The constitution was amended twenty-four times, with the most contentious amendment being that of 10 February 1976. It was significantly amended during the change of system. Successive revisions in 1989 and 1992 pruned out the document's communist character. From 29 December 1989 the document was known as the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.^[4] It was superseded by a new Constitution of Poland on 17 October 1997.