League and Self-Defense

League and Self-Defense
Liga i Samoobrona (Polish)
AbbreviationLiS[2] (Fox)[3]
LeaderAndrzej Lepper[4]
Roman Giertych[4]
PresidiumRadosław Parda
Mirosław Orzechowski
Wojciech Wierzejski
Genowefa Wiśniowska
Krzysztof Sikora
Founded16 July 2007[5]
Registered17 July 2007[4]
Dissolved7 September 2007[5]
Headquartersul. Kinowa 19 U1,
04-030 Warsaw[6]
Membership (2007)~100,000[7]
(Samoobrona)
~14,000[8]
(League of Polish Families)
IdeologyNational agrarianism[9]
Catholic nationalism[10]
Left-wing populism[10]
Anti-capitalism[11]
Catholic left[12]
Political positionLeft-wing[13][A]
League of Polish Families:
Far-right[14]
Samoobrona:
Far-left[15]
ReligionRoman Catholic[10]
Colours  Orange[1]
(customary)
  Yellow
(Samoobrona)
  Blue
(League of Polish Families)
SloganStrong as a lion, cunning as a fox
(Polish: Mocny jak lew, chytry jak lis)[16]
^ A: League and Self-Defense was a combination of a far-left and a far-right party, but the dominance of left-wing elements, especially on economic issues, was noted.[11][17] The coalition was also considered "not very right-wing".[18]
The far-left Samoobrona dominated LiS, as it had more recognition, MPs, popularity and was 7 times larger than LPR. Polish media noted that within LiS, the far-right LPR was dependent on Samoobrona.[19] To accentuate it, some referred to LiS as Lepper i Spółka ("Lepper and others").[20] International media also observed that Samoobrona held a hegemonic position in LiS.[21]
Polish commentator Krzysztof Wołodźko described the party as Catholic left, stating that it followed the tradition of "social[ist] left" as its main message, mixing it with religion and moral conservatism.[12]
Logos of LPR and Samoobrona combined together, used by the news channel TVN24 to depict LiS.[22]
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League and Self-Defense (Polish: Liga i Samoobrona, LiS — lis also means fox in Polish) was a short-lived Polish political alliance between the left-wing populist Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland (Samoobrona) and the national conservative Christian right League of Polish Families (LPR) in July 2007. The alliance was directed against right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) that first formed a coalition with both parties, but then gradually marginalized them and shuffled away their ministers.[5] The coalition was marked by mutual distrust as the parties had radically different outlooks, tied together by Euroscepticism, opposition to capitalism and aversion to PiS.[23] The coalition was only polling 6% (below the 8% threshold for coalitions), and was dissolved by September 2007, shortly before the election. In the 2007 Polish parliamentary election, both LPR and Samoobrona failed to reach the 5% electoral threshold, losing all their 92 Sejm and 10 Senate seats.[5] The downfall of both parties is considered to have been caused by PiS appropriating their political rhetoric.[24]

Despite being a coalition of a far-left Samoobrona and a far-right LPR, League and Self-Defense produced a coherent program that emphasized the common points of both parties, such as their opposition to the European Union, NATO, the Iraq War and War in Afghanistan. Both parties also shared a voter base that wished for the return of security of the socialist welfare state and protection from the risks of open markets. This allowed the coalition to position itself as anti-capitalist.[11] The coalition had a basic social program based on "protection of life from the moment of conception until natural death", anti-corruption and "zero tolerance" reforms for schools. Economically, the coalition sought a halt to privatization, empowering trade unions and greatly expanding welfare, social pensions and the minimum wage, as well as tackling foreign capital and big business.[1] Given its higher amount of seats and popular support,[25][26] the left-wing Samoobrona dominated the coalition,[19] which gave League and Self-Defense an ideologically left-wing profile, especially economically.[12]

  1. ^ a b c "LPR i Samoobrona razem jako LiS". wp.pl (in Polish). 16 July 2007.
  2. ^ "Koalicja rządowa trwa, powstaje nowa partia Liga i Samoobrona". parkiet.com (in Polish). 16 July 2007.
  3. ^ Szefs, Slawek (17 July 2007). "LiS – cunning like a fox?". Polskie Radio. Archived from the original on 15 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "Powołano zarząd LiS-u". wprost.pl (in Polish). 17 July 2007.
  5. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference ploski was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Sprawozdanie o źródłach pozyskania środków finansowych, w tym kredytach bankowych i warunkach ich uzyskania oraz o wydatkach poniesionych ze środków Funduszu Wyborczego w poprzednim roku kalendarzowym" (PDF). gov.pl (in Polish). Państwowa Komisja Wyborcza. 2007.
  7. ^ "Lepper czyści partię". wp.pl (in Polish). 8 December 2007.
  8. ^ "Liga Prawicy Rzeczpospolitej". money.pl (in Polish). 2 October 2007.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference inter1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b c Chatzistavrou, Filippa (December 2010). "Early preferences of national political parties in the EU for Turkey's accession". Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. 10 (4). Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP): 403. doi:10.1080/14683857.2010.529991. ISSN 1468-3857.
  11. ^ a b c Pallokat, Jan (16 July 2007). "Polens Politschauspiel". dw.com (in German).
  12. ^ a b c Wołodźko, Krzysztof [in Polish] (18 July 2007). "Porozumienie ponad słabościami". Polskie Radio 24 (in Polish). Polskie Radio.
  13. ^
    • Vlastimil Havlik; Anete Pinkova (2012). Populist Political Parties in East-Central Europe. Masaryk University Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-8021061057.
    • Kolczyński, Mariusz; Mazur, Marek (2009). Broń masowego wrażenia. Kampania wyborcza 2007 r. w Polsce [Weapons of Mass Impression. The 2007 Election Campaign in Poland] (in Polish). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Sejmowe. p. 323. ISBN 978-83-7059-902-7. W kontekście budowania tożsamości partia określa się jako lewica, którą charakteryzuje, podobnie jak cały ruch socjalistyczny, oddolny, społeczny sprzeciw wobec krzywdzicieli. [In terms of identity-building, the party defines itself as a left-wing party characterised, like the socialist movement as a whole, by grassroots, social opposition to wrong-doers.]
    • van Kessel, Stijn (2013). "A Matter of Supply and Demand: The Electoral Performance of Populist Parties in Three European Countries". Government and Opposition. 48 (2). Cambridge University Press: 187. doi:10.1017/gov.2012.14. ISSN 1477-7053. Whereas Self-Defence clearly complied with the characteristics of a populist party, the League of Polish Families was something of a borderline case. Despite the lack of a clearly developed programme, [League and] Self-Defence could be considered to be a left-wing populist party in terms of socioeconomic policies, and the party mainly attracted support in poorer rural areas.
    • Górka, Marek; Magierek, Dariusz (2012). "Partie populistyczne na przykładzie wyborów parlamentarnych w 2007 roku". Wrocławskie Studia Politologiczne (in Polish). 13. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego: 113. Lider LPR robił wszystko, by ocalić koalicję PiS—Samoobrona—LPR. I, jak się wydaje, w tej perspektywie należy postrzegać inicjatywę powołania LiS. [...] Mimo że populistyczne rozwiązania programowe oraz roszczeniowa postawa względem państwa zbliżały do siebie obie partie, to jednak wyrastały z odmiennych ideologii politycznych, dlatego fuzja ultrakatolickiej i narodowej retoryki LPR z lewicową mentalnością Samoobrony stanowiły — mówiąc językiem publicystycznym — „zabieg z zakresu inżynierii genetycznej". [The leader of LPR did everything to save the PiS—Samoobrona—LPR coalition. And, it seems, the initiative to establish LiS should be seen in this perspective. [...] While populist programme solutions and a demanding attitude towards the state brought the two parties closer together, they grew out of different political ideologies, which is why the fusion of the ultra-Catholic and nationalist rhetoric of the LPR with the left-wing mentality of Samoobrona constituted - in the journalistic language - a ‘genetic engineering procedure’.]
  14. ^ "Regierungskrise: Kaczynskis fordern Neuwahlen". fokus.de (in German). 12 November 2007.
  15. ^ Agata Górny; Aleksandra Grzymała-Kazłowska; Piotr Koryś; Agnieszka Weinar (December 2003). "Multiple citizenship in Poland" (PDF). Prace Migracyjne. 53 (1). Institute for Social Studies Warsaw University: 45. We did not consider the populist far-left (Samoobrona) and the nationalistic far right wing (LPR) nor the Polish Peasants' Party: PSL. There were many reasons for such a decision. None of the two extreme parties had representatives in the parliament of the 3rd term, when the debate over citizenship reached its peak.
  16. ^ Szacki, Wojciech; Grochal, Renata (16 July 2007). "Co LiS zrobi PiS?". wyborcza.pl (in Polish).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference rae was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference sal_10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ a b "Bez Samoobrony nie ma LPR". dziennik.pl (in Polish). 13 October 2007.
  20. ^ "Mamba z Ostrołęki rozszyfrowała skrót "LiS"". moja-ostroleka.pl (in Polish). Ostrołęka. 16 July 2007.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference nzz1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ "LiS nie odbiera głosów innym partiom". TVN24 (in Polish). 25 July 2007.
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference pis_172 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference figiel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ "Die polnische Regierungskrise". cosmopolis.ch (in German). 9 August 2007.
  26. ^ Hreczuk, Agnieszka (2 August 2007). "Koalition als Kartenhaus". ostpol.de (in German).