Przestępstwo zdrady ojczyzny jako problem kodyfikacji prawa karnego materialnego Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej

Abstract

The paper presents the background to the introduction of the crime of betrayal of the Fatherland to the Penal Code of 1969. Due to the Soviet models and Article 79, paragraph 2 of the Constitution of the Polish People’s Republic of 1952, this issue was one of the main themes of considerations on the socialist criminal material law of the second half of the twentieth century. The presented evolution of views in this area shows that they changed with the subsequent political upheavals of 1950—1969. The cases of Józef Światło and Paweł Monat posed a real threat to the communist authorities; therefore, counteracting them — also on a legislative basis — was one of the priorities of the codification of the criminal law of the Polish People’s Republic.