Dyrina Anna Fedorovna – Researcher, INION RAS
The article examines the left-wing political forces in Poland in the chronological framework from 1990 to the present time. First decade of this period can be called a confident march of the Left, Poland took the path of Euro-Atlantic integration, the Left candidate was twice elected president of the country. However, after 2005, the Left not only lost its leadership, but seemed to disappear from the political scene altogether, unable to compete with the growing ‘political giants’ - Civic Platform and Right and Justice. The logical question arises - why did this happen and what factors contributed to it? The paper analyses the activities of Polish left-wing forces in the period from 1990 to 2025, examines different forms of left-wing movement, both moderate, social-democratic and radical and extremist, and examines in detail the programme of the Polish Left Coalition published in 2023. Based on the analyse of some Polish experts, the characteristics of some radical, left-wing, nationalist and extremist groups active in the RP are described. It also analyses the position of Polish left-wing forces in contemporary Polish political life, what place they occupy in parliament, what main ideas they promote, what they base their political campaign on. Over the last decades the percentage of support for the Left among the population has been falling rapidly, despite its broad social agenda, their programme contains many ‘irritants’ for a rather conservative and religious country.
Left, Poland, Lewica, Polish extremism, Coalition Parliamentary Club of Lewica, New Left, Polish Socialist Party, Labour Union.
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