The Labour Union (UP), Democratic Union (UD) <strong>and</strong> the left-w<strong>in</strong>g SLD appealed to almost thesame social groups. At the 1993 election UP surpris<strong>in</strong>gly ga<strong>in</strong>ed 7,3 pct. <strong>of</strong> the votes <strong>and</strong> 41 seats <strong>in</strong>parliament, more than first expected. The party received some electoral support due to its oppositionto the restrictive abortion laws <strong>and</strong> the <strong>in</strong>terference <strong>of</strong> the church <strong>in</strong> politics. UP mostly appealed toworkers <strong>and</strong> low educated groups, but obta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g considerable support also from better educated,similar to SLD, UD <strong>and</strong> KL-D. Surpris<strong>in</strong>gly more farmers than workers voted on the party(Knuzewski:153).Later, at the 1997 election the Labour Union (UP) lost the representation <strong>in</strong> parliament. Thus UPdid not benefit from four years <strong>in</strong> opposition to the government. Before the election the party aimedto ga<strong>in</strong> more electoral support by criticiz<strong>in</strong>g the privatization policy <strong>and</strong> SLDs generallytechnocratic <strong>and</strong> power-focus<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>in</strong>e. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Bugaj SLD did not express “authentic” leftvalues as SLD impeded the formation <strong>of</strong> a democratic, forward look<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> authentic left policy.At the 1998 election to regions <strong>and</strong> municipalities the election result was better for UP. Before thatelection formed an election alliance (“Przymierze Spoleczne”) with the PSL that <strong>in</strong> the end showedto be most beneficial for the better organised Peasamts <strong>Party</strong> (PSL). At the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> 1998several from Bugajs faction left UP <strong>and</strong> jo<strong>in</strong>ed the Freedom Union (UW), <strong>in</strong> some cases withoutformally leav<strong>in</strong>g UP. Before the 1997 election the representation <strong>in</strong> parliament was reduced to 36seats, as former UP members jo<strong>in</strong>ed the new political <strong>in</strong>dependent association “Nowa Demokracja”.As said, the crucial po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong> disagreement was the attitudes to the past. The pr<strong>in</strong>cipal aim <strong>of</strong> UP wasto appear to the electorate as an authentic left w<strong>in</strong>g party without roots <strong>in</strong> the old system. Thatpr<strong>of</strong>ile, it was argued, might be lost by jo<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g a SLD led government. As regards the attitudes tothe time before 1989 the party took a centrist position. On the one side the radical anticommunismon the Right was rejected, on the other side the party tried to move Polish society away from the oldsystem. The first party leader Ryszard Bugaj expressed the op<strong>in</strong>ion that those who wanted decommunisation(“dekomunizacja”), had to prove that the new system that they aimed to build up,correspond with the aims <strong>of</strong> the majority <strong>of</strong> the people <strong>and</strong> besides that also enhanced consolidation<strong>of</strong> democracy. Those dem<strong>and</strong>s, he said, has clearly not been fulfilled <strong>in</strong> case <strong>of</strong> the right w<strong>in</strong>gparties 94 .The disagreement about the right policy l<strong>in</strong>e resulted, as noted above, <strong>in</strong> several defections from theUP. December 1998 eight members from Bugajs group left the party agu<strong>in</strong>g that the electionalliance “Przymierze Spoleczne” <strong>and</strong> the appo<strong>in</strong>tments that took place after the regional <strong>and</strong> localelections <strong>in</strong> October 1998 turned out to be most beneficial not to UP, but to the “post-communists”.They refused to support re-election <strong>of</strong> the president (Kwasniewski) <strong>and</strong> accused UP <strong>of</strong> re<strong>in</strong>forc<strong>in</strong>gthe divide <strong>of</strong> the political scene <strong>in</strong> “post-Solidarity” <strong>and</strong> a “post-communist” groups. The leadership<strong>of</strong> the Labour Union (UP) rejected accusations about be<strong>in</strong>g just an “appendage” to the much betterorganised peasant party (PSL). That PSL pr<strong>of</strong>ited most from the cooperation could not be denied 95 .The policy differences became <strong>in</strong>surmountable. Rychard Bugaj was not even <strong>in</strong>vited as a guest atthe UP congress <strong>in</strong> February 2000, at which several other guests from group<strong>in</strong>gs on the Polish Leftwere <strong>in</strong>vited.94 Rychard Bugaj, “Fundament niezupelnie etyczny”, Rzeczpospolita 12.11., 1999:A1.95 The struggle <strong>in</strong>side UP after the 1998 local elections is analysed e.g. <strong>in</strong> Gazeta Wyborcza 15.12. 1998 (“Partia Bugajabez Bugaja”).100
After the defection Bugaj formed a new political club 96 . Bugaj spoke about the need <strong>of</strong> a new Left,a “third way” without close cooperation with the “post-communists”. Furthermore, he argued thatPol<strong>and</strong> was <strong>in</strong> need <strong>of</strong> a new authentic left party be<strong>in</strong>g able to appeal to those voters that did notsupport SLD. Thus, Bugajs group mostly consisted <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>tellectuals <strong>in</strong> opposition to “postcommunists”.A “dismissive” policy l<strong>in</strong>e aga<strong>in</strong>st SLD would <strong>in</strong>evitably lead to close cooperationwith the right-traditionalist AWS <strong>and</strong> the right-liberal Freedom Union (UW). Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Bugajcooperat<strong>in</strong>g with SLD might give more space for formation <strong>of</strong> a “fourth element” <strong>in</strong> Polish politics– outside the three exist<strong>in</strong>g ones, AWS, SLD <strong>and</strong> UP-PSL. Later Bugaj jo<strong>in</strong>ed the Peasant <strong>Party</strong>(PSL) express<strong>in</strong>g dist<strong>in</strong>ct eurosceptical views as regards the negotiations with the EU <strong>and</strong> the future<strong>of</strong> EU <strong>in</strong>tegration.Aleks<strong>and</strong>er Malachowski, one <strong>of</strong> the other founders <strong>of</strong> the Labour Union (UP), did not share Bugajsrejection <strong>of</strong> cooperation with the “post-communists”. Also the majority <strong>in</strong> UP did not seem to rejectfurther cooperation with SLD <strong>and</strong> PSL, clearly manifested at the 1998 local election <strong>and</strong> theproposal about establishment <strong>of</strong> a Left “round table”. Marek Pol, the UPs leader <strong>in</strong> 1999, repeatedlyexpressed the op<strong>in</strong>ion that the Polish Left needed only one s<strong>in</strong>gle block <strong>and</strong> a common electionprogramme. Such a political block should be withou the “baggage <strong>of</strong> the past” <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> the forefrontwhen fight<strong>in</strong>g aga<strong>in</strong>st political right <strong>and</strong> catholic fundamentalism 97 . Therefore the majority <strong>in</strong> theUP leadership accepted cooperation with SLD at the 2001 election with the aim to rega<strong>in</strong>representation <strong>in</strong> the parliament.Another dilemma was the choice <strong>of</strong> strategy lead<strong>in</strong>g to the presidential election year 2000. Theparty was not able to put forward its own presidential c<strong>and</strong>idate, argu<strong>in</strong>g that tak<strong>in</strong>g part <strong>in</strong>presidential election was too expensive for the party. On the other h<strong>and</strong> it was not easy to supportSLDs Aleks<strong>and</strong>er Kwasniewski unconditionally. The party leadership did not dare to take the f<strong>in</strong>aldecision <strong>and</strong> let the members take the choice through a party referendum, which gave Kwasniewskia clear majority.As noted above, an election agreement between UP <strong>and</strong> SLD was established <strong>in</strong> October 2000, oneyear before next ord<strong>in</strong>ary election. After the 2001 election SLD-UP established a majoritygovernment together with the peasant party (PSL). The electoral alliance with SLD secured someseats <strong>in</strong> parliament, but for the the heavy price <strong>of</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g dependent on Leszek Miller <strong>and</strong> SLD.Accord<strong>in</strong>g to the op<strong>in</strong>ion polls carried out after the 2001 election, at a new election UP would notpass the threshold by “go<strong>in</strong>g alone”. The chairman Marek Pol did badly accord<strong>in</strong>g to op<strong>in</strong>ion polls<strong>and</strong> later, <strong>in</strong> spr<strong>in</strong>g 2004 he had to resign as party chairman. For tactical reasons UP could not breakthe cooperation with SLD <strong>in</strong> spite <strong>of</strong> low electoral support <strong>and</strong> modest <strong>in</strong>fluence <strong>in</strong> the government,e.g. i the case <strong>of</strong> Polish participation <strong>in</strong> the war <strong>in</strong> Iraq, the economic policy <strong>and</strong> the “Hausner-plan”for restructur<strong>in</strong>g public f<strong>in</strong>ances, that <strong>in</strong>cluded several unpopular social cuts on the the state budget.Dem<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> reconstruction <strong>of</strong> the cab<strong>in</strong>et was put forward <strong>in</strong> March 2004 by some politicians fromthe Labour Union (UP), but those dem<strong>and</strong>s were rejected by Prime M<strong>in</strong>ister Leszek Miller. Afterthe resignation <strong>of</strong> Leszek Miller <strong>and</strong> formation <strong>of</strong> a new transitory government led by Marek Belkaa fundamentally new situation emerged. Thus, the close bonds to SLD were broken <strong>and</strong> soon plansabout establish<strong>in</strong>g a new more authetic left alliance without the participation <strong>of</strong> SLD <strong>and</strong> the newsocial democratic party (SDLP) <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g some small groups from the Left, e.g. Polish Socialist<strong>Party</strong> (PPS), the Greens <strong>and</strong> Polish Labour Part (PPP) <strong>and</strong> the anticlerical group (“Racja”) came up.96 “Stowarzyszenie Studiów i Inicjiatyw Spolecznych”.97 Eliza Olczyk, „Socjaldemokratyczna wydmuszka“, Rzeczpospolita 27-28 March, 1999:3.101
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marketisation and privatisationshor
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purposes, are channels for “expre
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presidentialism gave rise to “flo
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In the late 1990’s elections most
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Anti-communism has been defined in
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Cartel agreementsbetter representat
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Basically the absence of clear cons
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After 1989 different types of polit
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complex project for transition unde
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window of opportunity in spite of s
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analyses of party institutionalizat
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political messages and slogans. Thu
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well established party culture may
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expected, much due to the many spli
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Furthermore, the polarisation on el
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Finally, Solidarity can also be con
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