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containedintheConstitutionofthePeople’sRepublicofPo-
land.Whilepreviouslegalregulationsdidnotreferdirectlyto
thisidea,someoftheelementsofitcouldbefoundinsome
ofthem.Inessence,itwasmoststronglyemphasizedinthe
March1921constitutionalresolutions,inparticularinarticle3.
Thisreferredtotheroleofthelawinthestate,theprinciples
ofself-government,andtheprotectionofindividualrightsand
freedoms,whilearticle2setforththeideaofthesovereigntyof
thepeople(theNation)andthedivisionsofpower.TheConsti-
tutionofApril1935wasquitedifierentinthatitdeviatednot
onlyfromdemocraticvaluesandtheseparationofpowers,but
alsoestablishedtheprincipleofelitismandlimitedtheimpor-
tanceofthelawwithregardtopresidentialdecrees.
Likewise,itisimpossibletodiscusstheruleoflaworademocratic
stateintheperiodofrealsocialism.WhiletheConstitutionofthe
People’sRepublicofPolandstatesinarticle1paragraph1that
thePeople’sRepublicofPolandisastateofthepeople’sdemoc-
racyandinarticle4paragraph3thatallorgansofgovernmentand
stateadministrationoperateaccordingtothelaw,decodingthe
contentoftheserulescannottobeidentifiedwiththeconceptsof
ademocraticstateortheruleoflaw.Democracyassumedaclass-
basedcharacter,andauthoritywastobeexercisedbyasubject
consistingonlyofpeoplelivingthroughtheirownwork.Thiswas
connectedwiththeprincipleoftheleadingroleoftheworker’s
party,andthisledtopartystructureshavingadecisiveinuence
onthefunctioningofthestate.Theprincipleoftheruleoflawalso
cannotbeequatedwiththeconceptofastategovernedbythe
ruleoflaw.WiesławSkrzydłoaddsthatwhileitistruethat,regard-
ingthelaw,apartfromaformalassociationwiththelaw,material
elementscanbefoundheresuchasthenecessityoffulfillingthe
willoftheworkingpeople(Skrzydło,1994,p.112),butinthiscase
hisdecodingmustagainbelinkedtothewilloftheworkingparty
astherepresentativeofthedominantsocialclass.
DespiteconstitutionalreformsduringthePeople’sRepublicof
Polandperiod,particularlythoseinthe1980s,thetransforma-
tionofthesystemwasnotachieveduntiltherealsocialiststate
CHAPTER1.DEMOCRATICRULEOFLAW
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