Hegemons and their law in the time of the Polish communism. An attempt at a constitutional, legal and philosophical analysis

Abstract

The author, developing his theory of hegemony, interprets legal and real actions taken by the Secretaries of the Polish United Workers’ Party: Bierut, Gomułka, Gierek, General Jaruzelski, and by the Party itself. According to the constitutional and legal analysis, the Polish communist Secretaries did not often obey the law which was valid at the time. There are many examples of such actions: from illegal judicial processes „on demand of the authority”, through criminal sanctions as well as civic and real restrictions for members of the political opposition, to unofficial officials’ appointments or political directives/unofficial law of the Party, and marginalization of the due constitutional powers. The most controversial case of the realization of the hegemony law by the Party seems to be the enforcement of the martial law by General Jaruzelski in December 1981.