[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6493]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  IN RECOGNITION OF THE CELEBRATION OF MAY 3RD POLISH CONSTITUTION DAY

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                           HON. DUNCAN HUNTER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 29, 2014

  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an important 
national holiday that will be celebrated this week by our friends in 
Poland, May 3rd, Polish Constitution Day. On May 3, 1791, Poland 
adopted the first constitution of its kind in Europe and second in the 
world following what had occurred here in America only a few years 
before.
  This new constitution in Poland sought to supplant the prevailing 
anarchy fostered by some of the country's magnates with a more 
democratic constitutional monarchy. It introduced elements of political 
equality between townspeople and nobility and placed people of all 
classes under the protection of the government, thus mitigating the 
worst abuses of serfdom. It banned pernicious parliamentary 
institutions such as the liberum veto, which had put the Sejm (Polish 
Assembly) at the mercy of any deputy who could revoke all the 
legislation that had been passed by that Sejm.
  The citizens of Poland knew this constitution was special and May 3rd 
was declared an official Polish holiday, Constitution Day, two days 
later on May 5, 1791. As with all new efforts toward freedom and 
greater democracy, the Polish Constitution met resistance and was 
banned during the partitions of Poland but eventually reinstated in 
April 1919 under the Second Polish Republic--the first holiday 
officially introduced in the newly independent country. The holiday was 
again outlawed during World War II by both Nazi and Soviet occupiers, 
only to be celebrated in Polish cities in May 1945 in a mostly 
spontaneous manner. The 1946 pro-freedom demonstrators competed for 
attention with the communist-endorsed May 1 Labor Day celebrations in 
the Polish People's Republic. Until 1989, May 3 was a frequent occasion 
for anti-government and anti-communist protests and Polish Constitution 
Day was restored as an official Polish holiday in April 1990 after the 
fall of communism. In 2007, May 3 was declared a Lithuanian national 
holiday and Polish-American pride has been celebrated on the same date 
here in the United States as well. For instance since 1982 in Chicago, 
the Polish-American community have marked May 3rd with festivities and 
the annual Polish Constitution Day Parade, and in my own district, 
Polonia United, San Diego led by its President Zdzislaw (George) Juchum 
and its Vice President Miroslaw Gomy work tirelessly to inform and 
involve the San Diego community of this important event.
  The Constitution of May 3, 1791, is evidence of successful internal 
reform and serves as a symbol of the eventual restoration of Poland's 
sovereignty. Congratulations to our friends and allies in Poland. As 
you celebrate Polish Constitution Day on May 3, please be assured that 
the United States stands beside you as a fellow defender of freedom and 
democracy.

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