Development of Parties and Party Systems in ... - lah@sam.sdu.dk
Development of Parties and Party Systems in ... - lah@sam.sdu.dk
Development of Parties and Party Systems in ... - lah@sam.sdu.dk
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such as KSCM <strong>and</strong> KSS <strong>in</strong> The Czech Republic <strong>and</strong> Slovakia. SL <strong>and</strong> its political core SdRPbelonged to the second group.At the first congress about 1.000 <strong>of</strong> the PZPR delegates took the decision to jo<strong>in</strong> the new Republic<strong>of</strong> Pol<strong>and</strong>’s Social Democratic <strong>Party</strong> (SdRP). In spite <strong>of</strong> loss <strong>of</strong> several members the new partySdRP emerged as rather strong <strong>in</strong>stitutionally. Three years after the foundation SLD had 6,000members, <strong>and</strong> 1,500 had jo<strong>in</strong>ed the social democratic youth organization (“SocjaldemokratycznaFrakcja Mlodych”). Tadeusz Fiszbach, the then party secretary <strong>in</strong> Gdánsk, created his own party,Pol<strong>and</strong>’s Social democratic Union (PUS). However, that party ceased to exist before the end <strong>of</strong>expiration <strong>of</strong> the contractual parliament <strong>and</strong> did not run for the election <strong>in</strong> 1991. Many from PUSlater jo<strong>in</strong>ed the new party Union <strong>of</strong> Work (UP). The ma<strong>in</strong> problem was weak organization <strong>and</strong> lack<strong>of</strong> money.After the defeat at the election <strong>in</strong> 1989 noth<strong>in</strong>g suggested that SLD should constitute a any strongfactor <strong>in</strong> Polish politics. However, the “wars <strong>in</strong> the top” <strong>in</strong>side Solidarity <strong>and</strong> the right camp, gaverise to new opportunities. At the 1990 presidential election the SLD’s c<strong>and</strong>idate, WlodzimierzCimoszewicz, ga<strong>in</strong>ed almost 10 pct. <strong>of</strong> the votes, at that time considered as a satisfactory result. Inthe long run SLD could not lean only on the support from the old power elite <strong>and</strong> socially deprived.SLD also had to ga<strong>in</strong> votes from former Solidarity-voters <strong>and</strong> young people who resisted catholicfundamentalism, dem<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g freer access to abortion <strong>and</strong> equal opportunities for men <strong>and</strong> women.The economic policy was less significant, because the socio-economic problems seemed impossibleto solve <strong>and</strong> the differences between the political parties seemed <strong>in</strong>significant <strong>in</strong> the eyes <strong>of</strong> mostpeople.At the time <strong>of</strong> the foundation SLD consisted <strong>of</strong> 33 different political groups. To the most importantbelonged The Republic <strong>of</strong> Pol<strong>and</strong>’s Social Democracy (SdRP), among the other group<strong>in</strong>gs we f<strong>in</strong>d• Piotr Ikonowicz’ Pol<strong>and</strong>’s Socialist <strong>Party</strong> (PPS)• Women’s Democratic Union• Pol<strong>and</strong>’s Green <strong>Party</strong>• The Association Wisla-Oder• New Democracy• The trade union OPZZ <strong>and</strong> some branch trade unionsAlso the Independent European Initiative (NIE) <strong>and</strong> the orthodox political association “Proletariat”jo<strong>in</strong>ed the SLD. It was hoped that the ortodox “Proletaryat” would change pr<strong>of</strong>ile <strong>and</strong> constitute amore politically liberal association <strong>and</strong> thus jo<strong>in</strong> the common party l<strong>in</strong>e. However, that did nothappen <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> 1998 “Proletaryat” took the decision to leave the SLD. In order to broaden the voterappeal also <strong>in</strong>dividuals without formal belong<strong>in</strong>g to SLD was “adopted” <strong>and</strong> somehow attached toparty.86