Populism in Central and Eastern Europe – Challenge for the Future?

16 Populism in Central and Eastern Europe – Challenge for the Future
the strengthening of the nation’s sense of identity
and purpose’ (Kochanowicz 2007, 2-3). The
politics of history would restore national prestige
through the exposition of narratives in which
‘Poland and Poles become key players of modern
history’ with due recognition of their contributions
and sufferings (Nijakowski 2008, 198).
In PiS’s interpretation of recent Polish history,
the Warsaw Uprising constituted the moment
at which the Poles of the Home Army (Armia
Krajowa, AK) rose against the German occupier
and in pre-emption of the Soviet incursion, in
a doomed attempt to assert the sovereignty of the
legitimate Polish nation. The division between
a ‘Home-Army Poland’ (Polska AK-owska) and
‘People’s-Republic Poland’ (Polska PRL-owska)
was a key theme of Lech Kaczyński’s 2005 presidential
campaign, and was easily adapted to the
social / liberal divide. Affiliation to the AK was
one term of a binary discourse of martyrological
patriotism versus cynical collaborationism, the
latter term of which could embrace post-communists
(collaboration with the Soviet Union) and
liberals (collaboration with post-communists).
With the post-communist/post-Solidarity divide
still a potent source of emotional responses
but no longer reflective of political divisions,
PiS strove to annex it to the social / liberal divide.
Against the mainstream pantheon of Solidarity
heroes – particularly Wałęsa – PiS promoted dissident
figures such as Anna Walentynowicz and
Andrzej Gwiazda, two Solidarity pioneers who
had long accused Wałęsa of collaboration with
the secret services and who shunned the Round
Table settlement and the politics of liberal transition.
In a controversial speech at the Gdańsk
Shipyard, Jarosław Kaczyński asserted that ‘we’,
those gathered in support of PiS, ‘stand where we
stood back then’ [in 1980 – B.S.]. ‘They’, those opposing
the creation of the Fourth Republic, ‘stand
where the ZOMO stood’ 6 (Kaczyński 2006b). This
schema placed many prominent Solidarity activists
– many of whose involvement with the
Solidarity movement was more substantial than
Kaczyński’s – together with the historical oppressor,
ranged against those whose defence of
Poland’s authentic interests, values and identity
inhered in a refusal to recognise the legitimacy of
post-communists and liberals alike.
PiS rapidly superseded LPR as proprietors of the
Catholic-nationalist narrative of transition politics.
It was Kaczyński, not Giertych, who stood
alongside Father Rydzyk at Jasna Góra, a site of
Catholic pilgrimage, declaring to the throng that
‘[t]oday, Poland is here. I can say that with full
conviction and belief’ (Mamoń 2007). Rydzyk’s
transfer of patronage from LPR to PiS was a boon
for the latter; the Radio Maryja movement providing
organisational resources and disciplined participants
for the large public rallies and marches
that were a hallmark of this period. Protests by
students and teachers were a regular feature
of Giertych’s tenure as Minister of Education;
skinhead and nationalist groups – including the
LPR-affiliated All-Polish Youth (Młodzież Wszechpolska,
MW) – staged counter-demonstrations
against gay pride marches, and pro-choice and
anti-abortion groups clashed over the politics of
life and death (Grzymski 2008, 28). Public sector
workers struck for better pay and conditions on
several occasions, to the evident discomfort of
a nominally social-solidarist government. These
distinct acts of protest coalesced into larger public
movements: on one weekend in October 2006
approximately 20,000 people marched either for
or against the coalition, with all major parties involved
in organising these rallies.
The populist reckoning
and its aftermath, 2007-2012
The high political and emotional temperature of
the 2005-2007 parliamentary term had a significant
impact on the relationships between parties;
both within the coalition and across the opposition
divide. Both the stabilisation pact and coalition
agreement were fragile from the outset. In
part this was due to the headstrong character of
all three party leaders, but structurally the coalition
was always likely to experience problems
due to the nature of its formation and composition.
It became commonplace to refer to SO and
LPR as the ‘appetisers’ (przystawki) vulnerable to
being ‘eaten’ by their larger partner. This vulnerability
was confirmed by the turbulent history of
the coalition, where the minor parties’ attempts
to assert their position in light of the growing radicalism
of PiS resulted in numerous inter-coalition
ructions. The period of coalition government
lasted from 5 May 2006 to 21 October 2007, during
which it saw five changes of government.
6 The ZOMO (Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej; Motorized Reserves of the Citizens’ Militia) was a crack police unit
infamous for repressive policing.