Sunday marks Poland's May 3rd Constitution Day, a national holiday commemorating the adoption of the country's 1791 Constitution. It was the first legal act of its kind in Europe and the second in the world, preceded only by the United States. This groundbreaking achievement in political and social thought was an ambitious attempt to save and strengthen the then-withering state through a radical reform.
Numerous events across Poland and abroad have been scheduled to commemorate the 1791 Constitution adoption 235th anniversary - with main celebrations taking place in Warsaw.
The 34th edition of the annual May 3rd Constitution Run is taking place in the center of Warsaw on the day. Meanwhile, at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, the original May 3rd Constitution is on display for the public.
President Karol Nawrocki and the First Lady attended a Mass for the homeland in the morning. Afterwards, the President presented state decorations at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Andrzej Poczobut, a Polish-Belarusian journalist and activist imprisoned by the Minsk regime in 2021 and recently freed from a Belarusian gulag, received his Order of the White Eagle on the occasion, with which he was honored in absentia on last year's Polish Independence Day.
In the U.S., the 135th annual May 3rd Parade passed through the heart of Chicago, where the Polish diaspora is particularly numerous. It is the largest annual Polish event of its kind in the United States - and the largest Polish parade abroad. Senate Speaker Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska was the honorary guest of the event, in which hundreds of Polish organizations took part. The parade has been held in the Windy City annually since 1891.
Poland's May 3rd Constitution adoption anniversary was established as a national holiday in 1919. During the post-war period of Moscow-steered communist rule, its public celebration was prohibited though - as the 1791 Constitution served as a symbol of the pursuit of national rebirth. May 3rd only became a public holiday again in 1990, following Poland's democratic transformation.
The Constitution adopted in 1791 was in force for only 14 months. The Russian Empire, which had been disintegrating the Polish state for years, viewed any attempt to strengthen the country and reform it as a threat. Therefore, Moscow led the formation of a pseudo-patriotic Polish resistance movement against the reforms - the Targowica Confederation.
Soon after, under the pretense of "defending persecuted Russians abroad", Moscow brought its troops into Poland. The Polish-Russian War in Defense of the Constitution of May 3rd began, which Poland lost - and the 2nd and 3rd partitions of the country followed in 1793 and 1795, through which Russia aided by Prussia and Austria erased Poland from the map for more than a 100 years.
(mm)
Source: IAR, PAP