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The article discusses the roots of revolutionary totalitarianism in the thought of Edmund Burke, who is considered to be the founder of Anglo-Saxon conservatism. The author of Reflections on the Revolution in France insightfully outlined the totalitarian implications of the French Revolution at its initial stage. According to the authors, Burke accurately diagnosed the most important elements of the future totalitarian state, affecting not only institutions, but also the overall social relations and the interplay between the authority and the individual. His reflections on revolutionary ideas and revolutionary practice make him a prophet of future totalitarian regimes, which operated according to the paradigm he diagnosed. Although Burke’s theses seem commonly known, a closer analysis shows not only the depth of the inquiry into the French revolution, but also the universality of the argument applicable to other similar social upheavals, a topic the authors of the text would like to present together in a separate form.

The article systematises the previously unknown aspects of the biography of the Russian peasant Ivan Krivozertsev (1915–1947), who was the most important witness of the Katyn massacre after 1945 until the disclosure of this crime in the 1990s. The article presents details of the repression and death of the witness’s father, currently available information about his family, escape from his place of residence, complete testimony to the Polish authorities and writers, and the investigation undertaken after the unexplained death of Ivan Krivozertsev. The article’s subject is also the legal analysis and verification of testimonies made by Ivan Krivozertsev, the assessment of the witness’ motives and the reconstruction of the witness's character in connection with the recently made feature film.

Celem przedstawianego tekstu będzie analiza podejścia do wolności twórcy pierwszego państwa totalitarnego. Państwa, jakiego ludzkość wcześniej w praktyce nie znała1, a które mniej czy bardziej mgliście pojawiało się w doktrynach utopijnych od czasów starożytności. Publikacja dofinansowana ze środków przyznanych w ramach dotacji dla Wydziału Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego na rozwój młodych naukowców i doktorantów

BETWEEN THE RULE OF LAW AND AUTHORITARIANISM.POLISH CONSIDERATIONS ON SEEKING THE OPTIMAL STATE SYSTEM AFTER REGAINING INDEPENDENCE IN THE THIRD REPUBLIC The article presents an analysis of selected considerations of Polish political discussions about the shortcomings of the parliamentary system and their antidote in the form of an authoritarian system. The point of departure is an analysis of the idea of a legal state Rechtsstaat, well known in Congress Kingdom even before Poland regained its independence in 1918. It is also worthwhile to research the attempt of the integration the head of state into the parliamentary system, which was successfully applied between 1918 and 1922 when the Head of State institution was personali­zed by Jozef Pilsudski. The analysis of the authoritarian thinking of Pilsudskis movement between 1926–1939 did not turn out as it had been declared, the sanation of state, and ideologically — also experienced — numerous social failures. Pilsudski’s legacy is present to some extent in contempo­rary Poland, with few exceptions e.g. the concept of the common good, but one cannot speak of the legacy of authoritarianism. The idea of authoritarianism, however, remains less or more attrac­tive as the solution to the social pains of the Third Republic. As between 1918–1922 in Poland, it has now been possible to incorporate the president’s powers into the parliamentary system, where the head of state is not a purely decorative body to a certain extent as a moderator of the empire. The list of constitutional values is also important. The underserved party system before the war and now is undoubtedly a negative political tendency, although such a system is not a developed state legal system. Paradoxically, however, it fosters anti-authoritarian tendencies.

The article presents a reminder and an analysis of the phenomenon of Polish classical liberalism, which is a reception of thoughts of Benjamin Constant de Rebecque. In the so-called Kingdomof Poland, a specific quasi-state organism, founded from the piece of the Russian partition of Polandand created after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Russian Tsar Alexander I gave the Kingdom the constitution, which newly nominated members of parliament demanded to bind. The opposition was mainly headed by the representatives from the provinceof Kalisz(the Kalisians ) under the leadership of Wincenty and Bonaventura Niemojowski. After deposition under house arrest in 1825, Wincenty Niemojowski translated in one volume the basic works of Benjamin Constant, significant from the point of view of the parliamentary struggle, and later armed during the Polish November Uprising 1830-1831. The work contains extensive principle of separation of powers, a very mature concept of freedom, as well as a warranty catalog to public authorities, such as freedom of the press, or the independence of the courts, which Wincenty Niemojowski highlighted in his translation. Paradoxically, it was the widest reception of classical liberalism inPoland, where to this day, trends of modern political thought represented by political parties have not yet developed.