Homeland Patriotic Movement

Homeland Patriotic Movement
Polish: Ruch Patriotyczny „Ojczyzna”
AbbreviationRPO[1]
Leaders
Founded28 July 1998[2]
Dissolved18 November 1998[3][4]
HeadquartersWarsaw[2]
NewspaperOrzeł Biały[5]
Membership (1998)~14000[6]
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing[11]
ReligionRoman Catholic[11]
Members
  • KPN-OP
  • ROP
  • KPEiR RP
  • BdP
  • SND
  • PPE-Z
Colors  Red
  White
  Yellow
SloganFatherland of human affairs
(Polish: Ojczyzna ludzkich spraw)[12]
So much homeland as property and justice
(Polish: Tyle ojczyzny, ile własności i sprawiedliwości)[6]

The Homeland Patriotic Movement (Polish: Ruch Patriotyczny „Ojczyzna”, RPO) was a right-wing electoral coalition created for the 1998 Polish local elections. It was a coalition of numerous right-wing formations as well as an environmentalist party and left-wing trade unions, and sought to present a right-wing alternative to the centre-right Christian-democratic Solidarity Electoral Action. The founding parties of the coalition were a part of the Solidarity Electoral Action in the 1997 Polish parliamentary election, but left it over political and ideological disagreements.[13] The main party in the coalition was the Nonpartisan Bloc for Support of Reforms, renamed to Bloc for Poland (Polish: Blok dla Polski).[8] Despite running an aggressive and dynamic campaign,[14] the coalition finished 6th and won 3.19% of the popular vote, winning 256 council seats in total (out of 63.767), including 2 out of 855 seats in the voivodeship sejmiks.[11] The coalition dissolved shortly after the election, but its members continued their cooperation, founding the Alternative Social Movement for the 2001 Polish parliamentary election.[15]

The coalition presented itself as an anti-establishment, independent force that represented the "true right", contrasting itself with the centre-right Solidarity Electoral Action.[11] It opposed the Polish membership in the European Union as well as NATO, arguing for the need to protect Polish agriculture and production from foreign capital, as well as attacking the European Union for neoliberal economic policy. It represented the Catholic-nationalist and traditional-conservative faction of the Polish post-Solidarity movement opposed to the policies of the moderate centre-right government.[7] Despite being described as "radically right-wing",[11] the coalition presented a left-wing economic program, decrying wealth inequality and poverty. It opposed privatization and market deregulation, and postulated the need to re-nationalize Polish economy along with providing extensive social welfare and subsidies for unprofitable workplaces.[9] It took a hostile stance to private industry, portraying it as unaccountable and arguing that business owners should not be able to earn 10 times more than their employees.[16]

  1. ^ "Prezydent odznaczył pośmiertnie Mariana Jurczyka". dzieje.pl (in Polish). 3 January 2015.
  2. ^ a b Jakubowski, Wincenty (1 October 1998). "Liga Nyska - Gra do jednej bramki" (PDF). Nowiny Nyskie (in Polish) (39): 10. ISSN 1232-0366.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference dzieje1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference dzieje2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference grusz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b "[Pod hasłem "Tyle ojczyzny...]". wyborcza.pl (in Polish). 17 September 1998.
  7. ^ a b c Cordell, Karl (2000). Poland and the European Union. Routledge. pp. 35–36. ISBN 9780415238854.
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference dete was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference goniec was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Paradowska, Janina (24 October 1998). "Długie liczenie". polityka.pl (in Polish).
  11. ^ a b c d e Janicki, Mariusz (7 November 1998). "Bez rodziny i ojczyzny". polityka.pl (in Polish).
  12. ^ Gorzelak, Grzegorz (1999). Decentralizacja terytorialnej organizacji kraju: założenia, przygotowanie, ustawodawstwo (in Polish). Warsaw: CASE - Centrum Analiz Spoleczno-Ekonomicznych. pp. 41–42. ISBN 83-7178-166-0. ISSN 1506-1647.
  13. ^ "Rośnie sojusz wyborczy Słomki i Olszewskiego". rp.pl (in Polish). 8 August 1998.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference prze was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference baranski was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference ludu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).