The Constitution of the People's Republic of Poland (also known as July Constitution or Constitution of 1952) was passed on 22 July 1952. Created by the Polish communists in the People's Republic of Poland, it was based on the 1936 Soviet Constitution (also known as Stalin Constitution), and it superseded the post-war provisional Small Constitution of 1947 which, at its turn, had declared null and void the pre-war April Constitution, defined as fascist. The Russian text of the Constitution was reviewed and corrected by Soviet premier Joseph Stalin and later translated into Polish. It legalized the communist legislature and practices as they had been introduced to Poland with the Polish Committee of National Liberation in the wake of Red Army progress in 1944. With the revolutions of 1989 it was significantly amended between 1989 and 1992 (from 29 December 1989 it was known simply as the Constitution of the Republic of Poland) and was superseded by the new Polish constitution on 2 April 1997.
The constitution was amended 24 times, with the most known amendment being that of 10 February 1976. This amendment declared that Poland was a socialist country, the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) was the leading force in the building of socialism and Poland was an eternal friend of the Soviet Union. This amendment caused the protest resulting in the Letter of 59.
The constitution broke the tradition of separation of powers, and instead introduced the Soviet practice of dictatorship of the proletariat. Thus the legislative branch of the government - (Polish parliament, the Sejm) was to have the highest power as per the 'will of the people', and it would oversee the judiciary and executive branch of the government.
Read more about Constitution Of The People's Republic Of Poland: Sejm, Executive Branch, Judiciary, Amendments, Importance
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