The Left (Poland)

The Left (Polish: Lewica) is a left-wing[12] to centre-left[13][11] political alliance in Poland, founded to contest the 2019 parliamentary election. The alliance consists of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), Spring and Lewica Razem.[14] It is also externally supported by several small left-wing parties including Your Movement, the Polish Socialist Party, Yes for Łódź,[15] Urban Movement,[16] and the Polish Communist Party.[17] These parties stood candidates under the banner of Lewica, along with several independents. It is described as a big tent for the Polish left,[18] with Lewica itself describing itself as a coalition based on egalitarianism, social justice and secularism.[19]

The Left Lewica
Leader	Włodzimierz Czarzasty Adrian Zandberg Robert Biedroń
Parliamentary Leader	Krzysztof Gawkowski
Founded	August 2019
Ideology	Social democracy[1] Secularism[2][3][4][5][6] Pro-Europeanism[7] Factions: Democratic socialism[8][9] Social liberalism[10]
Political position	Centre-left[11] to left-wing[12]
Member organisations	Democratic Left Alliance Spring The Left Together
Sejm	49 / 460
Senate	2 / 100
European Parliament	7 / 52
Regional assemblies	11 / 552
City Presidents	9 / 107
Politics of Poland Political parties Elections

Voter base

As Lewica is formed as a unification of the Polish left, it has attempted to diversify its platform and appeal to a broader range of voters, rather than relying only on the votes of former officials and civil servants during the PPR period, which had been and continues to be one of the Democratic Left Alliance's largest voting blocs. This attempt, however, was met with limited success by the fact that the coalition's pro-LGBT rights platform failed to appeal to working class and economically left-leaning Poles, which tend to favour a more socially conservative policy (especially as both economically interventionist and social conservative positions were already being provided by the right-wing PiS party). At the same time, the more liberally-oriented city-dwelling population, which could favour the party's proposed socially progressive policies, found little appeal in the party's platform of economic interventionism.[20][21][22]

Despite this, some sociologists deem that the unification of the parties could lead to an overall mobilization of leftist voters,[23] which could now feel that their vote for the coalition wouldn't be wasted.[24] In addition, the party's platform, which differs greatly from the platforms of the other major Polish political parties, has managed to find some support among disillusioned secular voters, which don't identify with any political force or even with the left, but instead desire "something new".[22][25]

Ironically, the party also received a considerable boost in support among older voters after the ruling PiS party passed a "degradation law", which cut retirement pensions and disability benefits for thousands of former bureaucrats during the PPR period, whose main income was now directly threatened by the new government policy. This led to an expansion and consolidation of the otherwise shrinking of the Democratic Left Alliance's previously described voting bloc.[25]

Ideology

The electoral program of the Left includes:[26][19]

• investments in renewable energy sources and energy efficiency,
• rewilding, including reforestation and restoration of wetlands,
• appointment of the Commissioner for Animal Rights, prohibition of fur farming, use of animals in circuses and cage farming,
• universal national crop insurance against drought and flooding,
• cameras on police uniforms recording in continuous mode,
• moving 1/4 of ministries and government agencies outside Warsaw,
• abolishing the Institute of National Remembrance and the National Day of Remembrance of the "cursed soldiers",
• increasing R&D expenditure to 2% of GDP,
• sick leave pay and sickness benefit amounting to 100% of the basic salary plus bonuses and allowances,
• establishing a minimum wage at 60% of the average wage,
• minimum wage of 3500 PLN in the public sector,
• widening the competences of the National Labour Inspectorate,
• a maximum fee for a prescription drug of 5 PLN,
• increasing public healthcare expenditure to 7.2% of GDP in 2024,
• introducing health and sex education in schools,
• extinguishing the reprivatization claims,
• establishing a public enterprise to provide one million flats in the years 2021-2031,
• in vitro fertilization reimbursement,
• fully paid and compulsory leave with a minimum of 12 weeks for both parents of a newborn,
• transparency of church funding and abolishing the Church Fund,
• Separation of Church and State
• liberalising Poland's abortion law,
• gender quotas in the Council of Ministers,
• introducing same-sex marriage and civil partnerships.

Composition

Party		Ideology	Position	Leader	MPs[27]	Senators[28]	MEPs	Sejmiks
	Democratic Left Alliance	Social democracy Pro-Europeanism	Centre-left	Włodzimierz Czarzasty	24 / 460	0 / 100	5 / 51	11 / 552
	Spring	Social democracy Social liberalism Green politics	Centre-left	Robert Biedroń	19 / 460	1 / 100	2 / 51	0 / 552
	The Left Together	Social democracy Democratic socialism Pro-Europeanism	Left-wing	Collective leadership	6 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 51	0 / 552
Affiliate organisations
	Polish Socialist Party	Democratic socialism	Left-wing	Wojciech Konieczny	0 / 460	1 / 100	0 / 51	0 / 552
	Your Movement	Social liberalism Anti-clericalism Pro-Europeanism	Centre to Centre-left	Marzenna Karkoszka Kamil Żebrowski	0 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 51	0 / 552
	Polish Communist Party	Communism Marxism–Leninism	Far-left	Krzysztof Szwej	0 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 51	0 / 552
	Polish Internet Party	Direct Democracy Social liberalism	Centre to Centre-left	Piotr Zemelka	0 / 460	0 / 100	0 / 51	0 / 552

Electoral performance

Sejm

Year	Popular vote	% of vote	Seats	Seat change	Government	Leader
2019	2,319,946	12.56 (#3)	49 / 460	n/a	Opposition	Włodzimierz Czarzasty

Senate

Year	Popular vote	% of vote	Seats	Seat change	Government	Leader
2019	415,745	2.28 (#4)	2 / 100	n/a	Opposition	Włodzimierz Czarzasty

Presidential

Election year	Candidate	1st round		2nd round
		# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall votes	% of overall vote
2020	Robert Biedroń	432,129	2.22 (#6)	---	---

References

1. "Partia Razem. Nowa partia dla prekariuszy" (in Polish). Gazeta Wyborcza. Retrieved 2015-09-26.
2. Syska, Michał. Strengthening Social Democracy in the Visegrad Countries (PDF). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
3. "Interview with Adrian Zandberg, Partia Razem".
4. "POLITICS Spring in Poland: Liberal View on Robert Biedron's New Political Party".
5. "Key election points".
6. "Why vote for the Left?".
7. "Polish conservatives in final push to secure re-election". Irish Times. 11 October 2019. Today’s left-wing Lewica alliance has presented an anti-PiS, pro-EU programme espousing LGBT rights and loosening Poland’s restrictive abortion laws.
8. "Razem's Open Letter to Bernie Sanders".
9. "Poland's election - what you need to know".
10. "„Frühling" macht der linken Mitte Hoffnung".
11. "Poland election: Voters give verdict on four years of right-wing populists". The Independent. 13 October 2019. The latest voting intention poll by Kantar has PiS and its allies on 43 per cent, the centre-right liberal Civic Platform on 28 per cent, and the left-of-centre Lewica on 13 per cent.
12. "Poland ruling conservatives win re-election". 2019-10-14. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
13. "Socialists set to make comeback in Polish elections next month". The Independent. 2019-09-21. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
14. "What's Left in Poland? Can the 'three tenors' led by Adrian Zandberg, take on Poland's duopoly?".
15. "Gill-Piątek: W Sejmie będę głosem skrzywdzonych przez system". KrytykaPolityczna.pl (in Polish). 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
16. User, Super. "Anita Kucharska-Dziedzic". Lewica - Oficjalna strona jedynej postępowej siły w polskiej polityce! (in Polish). Retrieved 2019-10-15.
17. Pisze, Coschess (2019-10-10). "Jedyny komunistyczny kandydat w wyborach". KOMUNISTYCZNA PARTIA POLSKI (in Polish). Retrieved 2019-10-15.
18. "Socialists set to make comeback in Polish elections next month". The Independent. 2019-09-21. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
19. "Why vote for the left?". LEWICA.
20. "Socialists set to make comeback in Polish elections next month". The Independent. 2019-09-21. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
21. "Lewica: a united Polish left". www.ips-journal.eu. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
22. SADURA, Przemysław; SIERAKOWSKI, Sławomir (2019). POLITICAL CYNICISM: The Case of Poland (PDF).
23. "Poland's fragmented opposition coalesces into left, center blocs". Reuters. 2019-07-18. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
24. "Socialists set to make comeback in Polish elections next month". The Independent. 2019-09-21. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
25. Szczerbiak, Aleks (2018-04-30). "What are the prospects for the Polish left?". London School of Economics series on Evidence-based analysis and commentary on European politics. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
26. "Program Wyborczy Lewicy".
27. Sosnowiecki, Robert (2019-10-15). ""PRAWDZIWE" ;) uwzględniające partie wyniki wyborów: PiS - 199 PO - 123 SLD - 24 PSL - 20 Wiosna - 19 Porozumienie - 18 SP ZZ - 18 Nowoczesna - 8 Ruch Narodowy - 6 (w tym G.Braun) Kukiz'15 - 6 Razem - 6 Korwin - 5 "UED" -4 (Biernacki,Lubczyk,Protasiewicz,Tomczak) Zieloni -3 MN -1". @Wad_emecum (in Polish). Retrieved 2019-10-16.
28. Sochan, Jacek. "Senatorowie Lewicy". Lewica - Oficjalna strona jedynej postępowej siły w polskiej polityce! (in Polish). Retrieved 2019-10-15.