RULE IN POLAND

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 671, 25 October 1933, Page 7

RULE IN POLAND

I ELECTING SENATE UNDEE l NEWLY DRAFTED CON STITUTION fc s,. 0 1 Ignace Jan Paderewski will not e ! able to vote for members of the Polish j Senate undsr the new Constitution | drafted by the Pilsudski bloc for ac- | tion at the autumn Parliamentary j session, writes Jerzy Szapiro m the 1 New York Times. | He is not among the 30,000 chosen | citizcns, including holders of the Military Cross, Virtue Militari ,and the Independence Cross, who will elect two-thirds of the new Senate's members, the remainder to be appointed by the President. The omission of Mr. Paderewski's name is mentioned by the Opposition ias the most striking example of the absurdity of the proposals tending to create a new aristocracy with exeeptional political privileges. Altogther there are 6000 holders of the Virtui Militari Cross who won decoration in the World War and more than 16,000 offieers holding the Independence Cross who were honoured for services rendered in Poland's strugglos for national freedom as members of revolutionary organisations in pre-war Russia or secret armed forces during the German cccupation. Most of the men on the list ' are between the ages of 30 and 50. These chosen 30,000 will choose most of the first Senate under the new Constitution, a Senate having I equal powtrs with the Sejm, elected hy popular vote. The Senate will then appoint more of the "best citizens" to this moral and spiritual aristocracy. ' Ruled by Soldiers. 1 Poland's present rulers are Marshal Pilsudski's soldiers. His wartime legionnaires have always regarded themselves as the elite of modern Poland, its masters and lears best suited to govern by virtue of their risks and sacrifices in the dark hours of Polish history when an independent Poland seemed a romantie dream. Marshal Pilsudski's coup scven years ago established their factual rule and they now want to be legally and constitutionally acknowledged as the nation's best. This idea of government hy the t chosen is intended as a corrective of democratic rule, and supporters of the prcjected constitntional changes declare that government by the chosen, .be it Fascism, Bolshevism, or Hitlerism, is now almost general in Europe. [ In Poland, however, the idea is ! based not on party rule, and citizens | of high "moral standing," regardless j of race, origin or party membership, 1 will have a chance to belong to the "best citizens." The regime's real objective in making this unique proposal, the Opposi- , tion declares, is to perpetuate itself j forever. Conservative groups in the Pilsudski bloc are also embarrassed ! as most of their members do not be- . long to the chosen categories. j As a two-thirds majority is esseni tial .in the Sejm for constitutional j changes and the Government. bloc j'commands hut little more than half | the votes in the Lower House, it will :'be interesting to see how the new pro- | posal is made into law.