Party X () was a 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 ...

. The party was founded shortly after the 1990 presidential elections by Stanisław Tymiński, a dark horse candidate who received the second highest number of votes in the first round, qualifying for the second round and challenging, albeit unsuccessfully, popular trade union activist

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 ...

. Party X was Tymiński's personal party and sought to emulate his

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

rhetoric, presenting itself as an anti-establishment outsider party. The party proposed a new economic system in Poland called "labour capitalism" based on rejecting the influence and capital of both the United States and Russia in favour of reinforcing the 'economic sovereignty' of Poland and turning Poland into a 'utopia of smallholders' through a modernisation program. At the same time, it criticised

neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...

and

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

. Shortly after foundation, the party was accused of being staffed by former communist civil servants, which was aggravated by Tymiński's remarks such as his support for the

martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland () existed between 13 December 1981 and 22 July 1983. The Polish United Workers' Party, government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an a ...

from 1981 to 1983. The party contested the 1991 parliamentary elections, but 90% of the party's electoral lists were rejected by the electoral commission due to procedural irregularities. The party received 0.5% of the popular vote and won three seats in 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' ...

. One of the party's MPs left the party while in office. The party then participated in the 1993 parliamentary elections and received 2.7% of the vote, but failed to win a seat due to the newly-implemented 5%

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ...

. After the election, the party declined and became marginalised. After failing to win enough seats to register his candidacy in the 1995 presidential elections, Tymiński stepped down as the party leader. The party was subsequently dissolved in 1999. Tymiński left Poland after the dissolution of the party, but returned twice to unsuccessfully contest the 2005 presidential election and then the 2023 Senate election.

History

After the

Polish Round Table Agreement The Polish Round Table Talks took place in Warsaw, communist Poland, from 6 February to 5 April 1989. The government initiated talks with the banned trade union ''Solidarity'' and other opposition groups to defuse growing social unrest. Hist ...

in 1989, the Polish-Canadian businessman Stanisław Tymiński moved to Poland and tried to enter Polish politics. He entered the 1990 presidential elections, managing to gather enough signatures to register his candidacy. An outsider without any political background, Tymiński won over a large part of the electorate with his effective criticism of the elite and vague promises. Television played the biggest role in gaining widespread popularity, with political scientist Marek Mazur writing "Tymiński, speaking in the convention of a television psychotherapist, probably on purpose, spread an aura of metaphysical mystery." Using television advertisement and populist rhetoric, Tymiński styled himself as a patriot and a "billionaire who would sacrifice everything for the good of the Fatherland". As a dark horse candidate and a Pole who "made it" abroad, Tymiński appealed to non-voters, young people as well as students, small businessmen and the unemployed. Presenting himself as "out of nowhere", Tymiński became a protest vote in the election, and managed to qualify for the second round by finishing second in the first round, receiving 23% of the popular vote. However, in the second round, Tymiński lost to

in a landslide. Despite ultimately losing the election, the fact that he managed to reach the second round and emerge as the second strongest candidate in the election buoyed Tymiński's popularity. To bring together his supporters, Tymiński founded and registered Party X in December 1990.Piotr Wróbel (2014) ''Historical Dictionary of Poland 1945-1996'', Routledge, pp225–226 Despite attracting significant publicity in its early days, the party's reputation was damaged by numerous splits and several party activists being revealed to be former secret security agents. In May 1991, the party held a national convention, where Tymiński was elected as the party's first president. Józef Ciuruś became vice-president, while Władysław Jarzębiowski became the party's spokesman. The party had a total of 8,000 members at the time, and started preparing for the 1991 elections. However, the National Electoral Commission declared 32 of the party's district lists invalid over procedural errors, which meant that the party was unable to contest the election in 90% of districts. The party was accused of being largely composed of former

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party (, PSL) is a conservative political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although its name was changed to the pre ...

communist activists as well as antisemites. Polish magazine ''

Wprost ''Wprost'' (, meaning "Directly") is a Polish weekly news magazine published in Poznań, Poland. This accusation resurfaced after Tymiński made positive remarks about Polish hardline communist leader

Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski ( ; ; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military general, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party ...

, which made his campaign appear influenced by communist rhetoric. In the 1991 parliamentary elections, the party received 0.5% of the vote, winning three seats in the

. Although its vote share in 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 ...

election was much higher at 3.6%, it failed to win a seat in the upper house.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1511–1513 The three deputies of the party were , and . In 1992, Jędryka defected to social-democratic

Democratic Left Alliance Democratic Left Alliance may refer to: * Democratic Left Alliance (Poland) The Democratic Left Alliance () was a social democracy, social-democratic list of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. It was formed on 9 July 1991 as ...

. Chełstowski and Czajka became unaffiliated. Prior to the 1993 parliamentary elections, Party X presented its programme, the ''Plan X''. In preparation for the election, Tymiński claimed that Party X could count on the support of 75% of voters. Despite increasing its vote share in the 1993 Sejm election to 2.7%, it failed to win a seat, following the introduction of a 5%

. The party failed to collect enough signatures for Tymiński to run in the 1995 presidential elections. In 1995, the former deputy became head of Party X and Tymiński became honorary leader. At that time, a group of activists took the initiative to change the party's name to Party X of Polish Patriots (), but Tyminski was against it. Party X did not participate in the 1997 parliamentary elections or any of the subsequent election campaigns. In 1997, the party was struck off the party register because its statute did not meet the requirements of the new Political Parties Act. It did not take into account field branches and did not specify the size of the quorum necessary to pass resolutions at statutory bodies. However, under the name Party X, the party was registered in the new register and deleted and put into liquidation on 15 February 1999. The Administrative Court upheld this decision on 17 June 1999. Tymiński returned to Canada after the dissolution of the party. He then came back to Poland to contest the 2005 presidential elections, but received only 0.16% of the popular vote. In the 2023 parliamentary elections Tymiński was a candidate for the Senate for a minor party, Slavic Union. He received 18,052 (12.71%) of the vote in his district, failing to win a seat.

Ideology

The ideology of Party X was unclear and the subject of speculation. Tymiński and his party were considered to be "extremely populist" and were thought to lack a concrete program. On the other hand, the political position of the party was considered left-leaning. The main appeal of the Party X and Tymiński was their outsider appeal and being "out of nowhere", far removed from the well-entrenched anti-communist and post-communist dichotomy. The populist rhetoric of the party went as far as arguing that Poland is embroiled in a "civil war" between the enfranchised elites and the public. Despite being considered "pure" populist, some political scientists underpinned ideological currents present in the party. According to Polish political scientist , the party was anti-clerical, as seen by the disdain the party held towards Polish traditionalism and the "God-fearing rhetoric" of mainstream politicians. Party X was also radically nationalist, and spoke of the need to defend Poland from foreign capital, arguing that the economic influence of the United States in Poland would result in the "domination of speculative capital". Similarly, Party X stated that given the strength of the German economy, giving it free access to the Polish one would result in "economical age-old

Drang nach Osten (; 'Drive to the East',Ulrich Best''Transgression as a Rule: German–Polish cross-border cooperation, border discourse and EU-enlargement'' 2008, p. 58, Edmund Jan Osmańczyk, Anthony Mango, ''Encyclopedia of the United Nations and Internati ...

". The party was also accused of antisemitic appeals, most notably through the term "udekomuna" which originated from the Jewish minority in Poland. Emphasizing its populist, anti-establishment and outsider identity, the party described itself as the "third force" that was above the contemporary divides of Polish politics and society. The party was particularly critical of

Leszek Balcerowicz Leszek Henryk Balcerowicz (pronounced ; born 19 January 1947) is a Polish economist, statesman, and Professor at Warsaw School of Economics. He served as Chairman of the National Bank of Poland (2001–2007) and twice as Deputy Prime Minister of ...

and his neoliberal

Balcerowicz Plan The Balcerowicz Plan (), also termed " Shock Therapy", was a method for rapidly transitioning from an economy based on state ownership and central planning, to a capitalist market economy. Named after the Polish minister and economist Leszek Balc ...

that introduced capitalist economy in Poland through harsh privatization and deregulation policies. It emphasised protectionism and criticised the need to trade and integrate Poland into the market of either the West or Russia, proposing the 'third way' of Polish economic independence instead. The party postulated a vision of prosperous Poland through Polish economic sovereignty, which would go hand in hand with the "real enfranchisement of crews in workplaces". The party spoke of "labour capitalism" that would be established through building an economy based solely on small holders. According to Party X, in order to prevent the establishment of "monetarism" and "domination of speculative capital" by the United States and the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

, "Poland needs to be immediately mobilised as a combatant economic unit to fight in the arena of the international economic war". The party argued that in this "international economic war", anti-communist parties were pawns of the USA, whereas the post-communist ones were pawns of Russia. Party X employed the term "pragmatic patriotism" which was to be based on belief that "economic sovereignty is the basis of political sovereignty". The party sought to safeguard the economic sovereignty through the implementation of an alternative economical model which it called "labour capitalism". Clarifying the term, the party declared: "The people must be given a share of the profits earned by themselves and a dominant say in decisions affecting their plant, while at the same time taking responsibility for the consequences of those decisions." Amongst proposed reforms, the party listed: more flexible exchange rate of the dollar, selective privatisation through "employee-owned companies", strategic planning, guided migration from regions with high unemployment, the development of housing, equality of sectors, forcing reinvestment of profits, a tax on bank earnings and the dismantling of the bureaucracy. The party also called for a program of 'modernisation' that was to be carried out through native Polish capital and reject the presence of foreign companies. The party was accused of housing former communist civil servants, with media pressing claims that around one third of Party X consisted of former communist officials. This accusation escalated following Tymiński's controversial remarks, such as his praise for

, the

First Secretary of 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 List of political parties in Poland, two other legall ...

between 1981 and 1989 who imposed a brutal and bloody

between 1981 and 1983. According to ''

the Polish Review ''The Polish Review'' is an English-language academic journal published quarterly in New York City by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America. ''The Polish Review'' was established in 1956, as a successor of the ''PAU Bulletin''. It ...

'', this remark was influenced by the communist wing of Tymiński's party. Tymiński also remarked: "I hope that our country will understand, because many people already understand how much President Jaruzelski accomplished for the country. Because our country was then n 1981particularly threatened, but not from outside - from within. Because the hand that has been hurting us for so many years was always its own." Another part of Tymiński's rhetoric was his seemingly left-wing stance on economy, as he harshly attacked the neoliberal

, claiming that its imposition had worsened Polish economy by 40%, deriding it as "shock without therapy". This was compaigned with the electoral program of Tymiński and his party, which was strongly critical of the West and foreign capital. Tymiński argued that "Independence can only be saved by a war campaign plan that will mobilise Poles for an export invasion of the West" and that "it is necessary to attack in an offensive-partisan manner the weakest points of the Western markets". Combined with his argument that "there is an economic war going on, the country is under threat from outside and from within", Tymiński guided his party towards a strongly populist, economically left-wing rhetoric.

Election results

Sejm

Senate

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in Poland Political parties established in 1990 Political parties disestablished in 1999 1990 establishments in Poland 1999 disestablishments in Poland Economic nationalism Nationalist parties in Poland Polish nationalist parties