The Labour Party (, SP) is a minor political party in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It was formally called the Christian-Democratic Labour Party ''(, ChDSP)'' between 1989 and 2000. The party continued the traditions of the pre-war Labor Party, which ceased its activities in Poland in 1946. This made the party be considered a historical formation, together with the Polish Socialist Party.

History

The party was established in February 1989 as an alternative to the

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party (, ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other legally permitted subordinate minor parti ...

–

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

political duopoly. It had its roots in the Christian Democratic Political Theory Club, which had been established the year before by members of the Association for the Promulgation of Catholic Social Science.Frances Millard (2009) ''Democratic Elections in Poland, 1991-2007'', Routledge, p39 It was initially known as the Christian Democratic Labour Party (''Chrześcijańsko-Demokratyczne Stronnictwo Pracy'', ChDSP), and claimed to be the successor to the Labor Faction that was dissolved after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was initially headed by Władysław Siła-Nowicki, and it was hoped that his prestige would help popularise the party.Tim Bale & Aleks Szczerbiak (2006
Why is there no Christian Democracy in Poland (and why does this matter)?
SEI Working Paper, Sussex European Institute Two members were elected to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

on the

Solidarity Citizens' Committee The Solidarity Citizens' Committee (''Komitet Obywatelski "Solidarność"'', KO "S"), also known as Citizens' Electoral Committee (''Obywatelski Komitet Wyborczy'') and previously named the Citizens' Committee with Lech Wałęsa (''Komitet Obywatel ...

list in the 1989 parliamentary elections;

Marek Rusakiewicz Marek is the West Slavic (Czech, Polish and Slovak) masculine equivalent of Marcus, Marc or Mark. The name may refer to: * Marek (given name) * Marek (surname) * Marek, the pseudonym of Bulgarian communist Stanke Dimitrov (1889–1944) * The tit ...

became a member of the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

and

Walerian Piotrowski Walerian is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with this given name include: * Walerian Borowczyk (1923–2006), Polish film director * Walerian Czuma (1890–1962), Polish general and military commander * Walerian Kalinka (1826–18 ...

was elected to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. It was formally registered as a political party in September 1990, and emerged as one the first parties of the Christian-democratic () tradition in post-communist Poland. As a legal political party, the ChDSP (in the 1980s it functioned as the opposition Labor Party), resumed its activities on February 12, 1989. At the Third Congress in 1990, the name Christian Democratic Labor Party was adopted. It was reactivated on the initiative of former activists from the pre-war party, associated with the Christian-Democratic Political Thought Club () established in 1988. Initially, the prognosis for the party's success was successful. It gathered 3000 members amongst 100 of its national party clubs, and cooperated with academic Catholic circles. Although structures had to be built practically from scratch after 1989, the ChDSP boasted a long tradition, a steadily growing membership, and experienced activists such as Władyslaw Siła-Nowicki. Despite this, the support the party dissipated. Rival Christian Democratic formations were formed, such as Porozumienie Centrum and the Christian Democratic Party. In addition, people that were joining the party often had a communist background. This had a negative impact on the party's cohesion. However, the party failed to gain significant support, and never attracted more than 2,000 members. It split over whether to support Siła-Nowicki or Solidarity leader

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...

in the 1990 presidential elections, with the Wałęsa-supporting faction breaking away to form the Christian Democratic Party "Union". The remaining members of the ChDSP subsequently contested the 1991 parliamentary elections as part of the

Christian Democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

alliance that won five seats. Stefan Pastuszewski was the party's sole MP. Internal heterogeneity affected the party's start in elections. In 1989, the party wanted to run on the lists of the

, but their candidates were not accepted at the provincial and central levels. So they ran independently, and although they did not win any seats, they fared best among opposition parties that fielded candidates on their own. However, they fared more favorably in the 1990 local elections, when they won more than 200 seats. The party joined the

Centre Agreement The Centre Agreement (, PC) was a Christian-democratic political party in Poland. It was established in 1990 and had its roots in the Solidarity trade union and its political arm, the Solidarity Citizens' Committee. Its main leader was Jarosła ...

for the 1993 parliamentary elections. However, the alliance failed to win any seats. In 1994, it merged with the small Christian Democracy party, and was renamed Christian Democracy-Labour Party (''Chrześcijańska Demokracja-Stronnictwo Pracy'', ChD-SP). It was part of the

Solidarity Electoral Action Solidarity Electoral Action (, AWS) was a coalition of political parties in Poland, active from 1996 to 2001. AWS was the political arm of the Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity trade union, whose leader Lech Wałęsa (also an AWS member ...

alliance that won the

1997 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1997. Africa * 1997 Algerian legislative election * 1997 Burkinabé parliamentary election * 1997 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1997 Cameroonian presidential election * 1997 Chadian parliamenta ...

; the ChD-SP held one of its 201 seats in the

, taken by

Witold Nieduszyński Witold is a masculine Polish given name. This name derives from the Lithuanian “Vytautas (disambiguation), Vytautas” composed of two elements: “vyti” (chase) plus “tauta” (the people), but It is also possible that it is a name of Germa ...

. In 2000, the party became the Labour Party. It was part of the

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

list for the

2001 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2001. Africa * 2001 Beninese presidential election * 2001 Cape Verdean parliamentary election * 2001 Cape Verdean presidential election * 2001 Chadian presidential election * 2001 Gabonese legislative ...

, but failed to win a seat. It was part of the All-Poland Citizen Committee for the

2004 European Parliament elections The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elect ...

, but it received 0.6% of the vote and failed to win a seat. Prior to the 2005 elections the party split, with some members leaving to form the All-Poland Civic Coalition and others founded

Ancestral Home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

. The Labour Party contested the elections alone, but received just 1,019 votes and failed to win a seat. The other two parties both received more votes, but also failed to win a seat. In 2000, the party was dissolved to merge with the Conservative People's Party.

Ideology

The Labour Party was Christian democratic. The party believed that the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

should play a major role in shaping Poland's post-

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

identity. Economically, the party believed that the country should relinquish its communist-era

monopolies A monopoly (from Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic competition to produce a particular thing, a lack of viable sub ...

, and state ownership of the means of production or

central planning A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, ...

should be forbidden, with all state-owned properties either

privatized Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved, although di ...

. Despite being a Christian-democratic party, the ChDSP supported the free market and unregulated competition. The party declared its commitment to the Catholic social teaching and adhered to the "Catholic vision of man" and wished to empower Catholic morality in private and social life. In its party program, it declared commitment to the principles of solidarity, social justice, and democracy as the most optimal system. Despite its ideological orientation, the party was lukewarm towards

Solidarność Solidarity (, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" ( , abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”''), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard, Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Polish People's Rep ...

, stating that while it respects its efforts, it is against the "compromise of Magdalenka" which the party saw as a failure to break with the communist past.

References

{{Authority control 1989 establishments in Poland Christian democratic parties in Europe Labour parties Political parties established in 1989 Political parties in Poland