Colonels' Constitution

"Poland is between two strong, non-parliamentary states--Russia and Germany--and is unable to retain her democratic forms. We must adopt a new Constitution, based solely on the President, excluding the party system." Thus read a momentous communique released last week by the "Pilsudski. Colonels," the tight little clique of soldier-statesmen who have ruled Poland for years under the aegis of walrus-mustached Marshal Josef Pilsudski whose whimsy is that he will not be President. For more than two years the Pilsudski Colonels have been drafting Poland's new Constitution, recognizing that Marshal Pilsudski cannot live forever, that Poland cannot always be ruled by an eccentric Dictator who insists on being War Minister and sums up his political credo in such characteristic Pilsudski snorts as "Parliament! What is Parliament? A prostitute!" Parliament, under the Constitution released in draft form by the Pilsudski Colonels last week, will be not a prostitute but a political zero. The President of Poland, now a Pilsudski-picked puppet named Ignacy Mosciclti, will become in effect Dictator, with power to: 1) appoint the Chief Justice, the Premier and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army; 2) dissolve Parliament and veto its acts without recourse; 3) designate one of two candidates to be elected his successor as President.

Another candidate would in theory be chosen by an "Assembly of Electors" who would also be largely under the President's thumb. If they picked the same candidate as the President, no election would be held, the outgoing President's choice simply succeeding him as President.

Who will become Poland's first potent President under the new Constitution was a piquant question in Warsaw last week. Marshal Pilsudski, many Poles thought, would forget his distaste for the Presidency and accept it as soon as the office was endowed with power. To do this job, or refuse to do it, Poland's Parliament meets this week. Said Deputy Speaker Dr. Car, championing the draft Constitution: "Poland will really remain a Democracy, not a weak Parliamentary Democracy, but one with strong institutions."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.