Left or Right?

Fighting & In-fighting

Picture the scene: a country on the verge of complete decay. People with no money, no food; social unrest in the streets, freedom of speech does not exist and Big Brother has such power that people cannot trust their own neighbours. This is a state in collapse, ready to implode and disappear.

Birth of Peace
Then, just as this nation is about to evaporate into nothingness a group of people appear who are ready to fight for survival, fight for freedom and fight for the right to speak out. The non-violent Solidarność is born and with it one of the most famous figures of the 20th century, Lech Wałęsa. Solidarity manages to negotiate  a level of cooperation with the communist authorities and set in motion a remarkable turn of events which, domino-like, bring about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism in Eastern Europe.

Beginning of the End
After the incredible success of the Round Table Talks which sees Solidarność sit down with their adversaries the communists, Solidarity remarkably gain a foothold in government and soon the right-wing, with Solidarity as its chief flag-bearer, becomes a real force to be reckoned with. Poland’s future looks bright and its political system seems to be reaching an equilibrium of sorts. However, with power comes intoxication and Poland’s right-wing begins to bicker, quarrel and eventually fragment. Factions appear and the unity of Solidarity crashes to an unceremonious end.

When Right is Left
A united right-wing is no more. In fact, the idea that the right-wing was ever unified was simply illusory and at most pie-in-the-sky. Solidarity was a trade union. Its doctrine of workers’ rights and equality was socialist in nature, not right-wing. The leaders of Law and Justice (PiS) and Civic Platform (PO) may share a common heritage (in Solidarity) but neither would dream of being called socialist. In reality, the closest Poland has to a Solidarity-like party is the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), the offspring of the communist Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR), sworn enemies of Solidarność.

PiS vs. PO
Polish politics is a strange beast. PiS claims to be right-wing, although at times it appears to be socialist (worker rights, pensioner rights and social hand-outs), whereas at other times it verges on fascist extremism. PO, also claiming to be right-wing, is often seen to be ultra-liberal, at times dangerously (for them) conservative. Anyone who did not know that they shared a common heritage would be most surprised. It might prove useful to finally do away with this leftist-rightest distinction as it does justice neither to Poland’s parties nor does it help in categorising them.

The Church
The terms left and right do not seem to mean anything anymore. They have become worn-out and arbitrary. In fact, the closest we can get in describing them is through the dichotomy: pro-church/anti-church, or to be more specific, pro-Catholic/anti-Catholic. In other words, in Poland, a right-wing party is (generally) a pro-Catholic party whereas a left-wing party is an anti-Catholic party. If this is the case, does this make Poland a secular or a religious state?

Round Table Anniversary

Foreground (l-r): Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Lech Wałęsa. Background (l-r): Kuroń, Geremek, Kwaśniewski.

Today is a wonderful day. The 6th February 2009 is the 20th anniversary of one of the most important moments in European history. On the 6th February 1989, twenty years ago, the so-called ‘Round Table’ talks kicked off in Warsaw and so began the dismantling of the totalitarian regime in Poland.

Good vs. Evil
The Round Table talks were pretty amazing as they saw the communist government invite representatives of Solidarity (the anti-government, anti-communist, pro-democratic semi-legal opposition) as well as members of the Catholic Church (sworn enemies of communism) to the table in order to discuss the future. The very fact that all of these people were able, and wanted, to sit down and together discuss the future of their country was unprecedented on a European, and perhaps even global, scale.

Forces of Good
The members of the Solidarity opposition who sat at the Round Table (and in later years became key figures in Polish politics) included: Lech Wałęsa (leader of Solidarity), Bronisław Geremek (chief consultant to Lech Wałęsa), Tadeusz Mazowiecki (editor-in-chief of the weekly Solidarność), Jacek Kuroń (Solidarity advisor and founder of the Workers’ Defence Committee), Adam Michnik (Solidarity advisor and Workers’ Defence Committee member) and Lech Kaczyński (Solidarity advisor).

Forces of Evil
The governmental side at the Round Table included: General Czesław Kiszczak (member of the Politbiuro and Minister of Internal Affairs), Leszek Miller (member of the Central Committee of the Party) and Aleksander Kwaśniewski (Minister for Young People).  The infamous General Kiszczak is said to have played a fundamentally positive role in the talks. Leszek Miller and Aleksander Kwaśniewski, perhaps not huge players at the time, were set for dazzling careers in Polish politics in the years to come.

Wałęsa at the Table

Repercussions
The talks were pivotal in the fact that they saw the bitterest of enemies sit down and constructively discuss the future of a nation on the brink of economic and social collapse. As a result, Solidarity gained a tangible foothold in Eastern European politics and led to the disintegration of communism throughout Europe. The Round Table not only began the erosion of communism within Europe, but the participants (including the much-maligned communists) actively worked towards the dismantling of a totalitarian regime that they realised no longer had a future.

Round Table Careers
The political legacy of the talks can still be felt today. Beginning with the Solidarity side, Lech Wałęsa went on to become President of Poland, Bronisław Geremek was Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tadeusz Mazowiecki was Poland’s first post-war democratically-elected Prime Minister, Jacek Kuroń became Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Adam Michnik founded Poland’s first post-war free newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and Lech Kaczyński is currently President of Poland. As for the communists, Leszek Miller became Polish Prime Minster whereas Aleksander Kwaśniewski was President of Poland. Three Presidents, two Prime Ministers and a host of ministers is quite a legacy.

Polish Personality 2008

2009 is upon us and it’s perhaps time to take stock of 2008 and consider who were the biggest players on Poland’s political scene, who people took most notice of and who was the most influential Polish politician. Several names spring to mind but we can safely whittle the number down to five politicians:

Lech Kaczyński, President of Poland
Janusz Palikot, Civic Platform politician
Radosław Sikorski, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland
Lech Wałęsa, former President of Poland and leader of Solidarity

Justice (and Law) for All

Battling Everyone
Poland’s President has been on the front pages for the majority of 2008. However, for most of that time, the former head of Law and Justice (PiS) has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Lech Kaczyński hit the headlines for his ongoing war with two other Polish political heavyweights – Lech Wałęsa (his former employer) and Donald Tusk (a one-time friend).

Waging War

Battle-ready
Palikot has become Civic Platform’s (PO) aggressive little mascot, a renegade that the governing party is able to let loose every now and again to take a swipe at the President and the opposition, Law and Justice. Palikot hit the headlines in 2008 by claiming the President had alcohol problems and should have regular health checks to see if he is ‘fit’ enough to govern.

Rising Statesman

Battling High
Radosław Sikorski’s comebackability, first from senator to Defence Minister (when PiS was in power), sacking (by PiS) and then appointment as Foreign Minister  (by PO) has solidified his position as an expert in foreign policy and high government advisor. Rumours that he could become NATO’s new leader, though far-fetched, could be a sign of great things to come.

Shaky Platform

Battle-worn
The PM has by no means had an easy ride this year. Constant bickering and petty squabbling with the President have not gone down well with the Polish public denting his popularity. Tusk seems to be a man always ready for the race but never  managing to get to the finish line. 2008 has been a year of near successes and Poland’s much-needed reforms still seem a long way off.

Prized Leader

Battle-hardened
Wałęsa spent much of 2008 trying to clear his name after a book was published claiming he had collaborated with the communists. Lech Kaczyński publicly slurred Wałęsa and spurned him during Independence Day celebrations by not inviting him to the official do. However, Wałęsa’s year finished on a high note with his own Nobel Peace Prize Anniversary celebrations attended by the world’s greatest politicians, famous personalities and finest dignitaries.

Get Wałęsa

The political climate in Poland is abubbling, afrothing and afoaming due to the imminent publication of SB a Lech Wałęsa (the Secret Police and Lech Wałęsa) by Sławomir Cenckiewicz and Piotr Gontarczyk. The authors of the book, two historians who work for the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), claim that the former President of Poland and legendary leader of Solidarity Lech Wałęsa was in fact a communist agent (Polish TW = tajny współpracownik = secret agent) with the pseudonym “Bolek”. A double agent, no less. This has sent shock waves across the Polish political landscape causing an incredible polarisation of an already divided political scene.

Bolek or Not
There are in effect two camps. Those who believe Wałęsa is the now mythical “Bolek” and those who believe there is no way on God’s Earth that the leader of Solidarity, the man who defeated communism and a devout Catholic could have played for both sides. The “Bolek” camp is headed by the terrible twins, wannabe Machiavellis, Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński who very early on in their political careers made it clear that they thought Wałęsa was “Bolek”. Interestingly, they only made their opinions known when Wałęsa threw his former aide Lech Kaczyński out of his office and decided he was unfit to work in politics and when Wałęsa decided to put an end to the ill-fated government of Kaczyński buddy Jan Olszewski (as well as Antoni Macierewicz).

Campaign of Dishonour
The truly annoying thing about this campaign to discredit the Nobel Peace Prize winner is that Kaczyński and Kaczyński have quite literally pulled out all the stops to besmirch Wałęsa. The IPN is loaded with Law and Justice (PiS) cronies who have not yet been cleared out by the government of Civic Platform (PO). Several days ago, Polish National Television (TVP) broadcast a so-called documentary which provided ‘hard evidence’ that Wałęsa was “Bolek”. Actually, this ‘papumentary’ was more an advert for the book. TVP is of course headed and managed by a whole slew of PiS sympathisers casting a dark shadow over the journalistic credibility of the programme. What is more, the now infamous book is an alleged history based on IPN documents. It is odd that a history book posits a thesis at the beginning rather than look at the facts and then draw a conclusion.

What if…?
The question on most people’s lips is what will happen (or become of Wałęsa) if it turns out that he did collaborate with the SB. Those people who survived communism know full well that a large majority of people did collaborate. So what? They did so to survive. I suggest the younger generation go out and watch the poignant Das Leben der Anderen which shows how communism was never truly black and white. We are rarely confronted with true, pure evil in life and people usually come in shades of grey. If Wałęsa did collaborate (which I severely doubt) then I’m sure he did it to protect the fragile, embryonic democracy that he was trying to nurture. If he did collaborate why doesn’t he admit it? Life is never black and white and to point the finger and to name names would do no good now. The facts are that Wałęsa did more for freedom than most men do in their whole lives and that can never be taken away from him.

In Defence of Wałęsa

It is an interesting paradox that leaders who are revered around the world are often seen in a completely different light by the natives of that leader’s particular country. To this day, many Brits shudder or foam at the mouth when the name “Thatcher” is mentioned; Russians loathe Gorbachov and a large number of Polish people cannot stand the sight of Lech Wałęsa. However, all three are regarded as heroic figures throughout the world.

Truth Hurts
One of the reasons for this peculiar paradox is that natives are able to see their heroes on a daily basis, warts and all. Information that does not necessarily reach the world press is fed to the domestic masses on a regular basis so that every raised voice, grimace or faux pas is repeated four times a day on prime time TV. It’s hard to be a hero.

Presidential Charm
Say what you like about Wałęsa but when he was at his best he had the uncanny ability to see a situation for what it was and comment on it often to the dismay of his enemies and chagrin of his supporters. He is often mocked in Poland for his lack of eloquence, his slovenliness and poor use of Polish which is astonishing for a figure responsible for some of the wittiest one-liners and catchiest slogans in modern Polish history, such as:

“Czuj się odwołany” (feel dismissed ~ you are dismissed)
“Jestem za, a nawet przeciw” (I’m for, even against)
“Rozmawialiśmy jak Polak z Polakiem” (we talked as one Pole to another)
“To są ostatnie godziny naszych pięciu minut” (these are the final hours of our five minutes of fame)
“Są plusy dodatnie i plusy ujemne” (there can be positive positives and negative positives)

He is also credited with saying:

“Nie chcem, ale muszem” (= a negatively accented version of “nie chcę, ale muszę” = I don’t want to but I have to).

which has since become a negative Wałęsa ‘label’, although, unbeknown to most people, he did not actually say this, as anyone who read the Gazeta Wyborcza interview in question would know.

Divided Poland
When analysing modern Polish political history, we can see that Wałęsa was without a doubt a landmark figure. In fact, Polish politics can perhaps even be divided along Wałęsa fault-lines, that is figures who were on his side and those who were not. The first such division was between General Wojciech Jaruzelski (the last communist leader of Poland) and Wałęsa, the leader of the forces of good (and Solidarity). Wałęsa was victorious.

War Above
The second division came with the “war above” effectively providing a catalyst for the splintering of Solidarity into two factions:
(1) Porozumienie Centrum (Centre Agreement) set up by Jarosław Kaczyński to support Wałęsa in the 1990 presidential elections (later turning into Law and Justice) and
(2) Ruch Obywatelski Akcja Demokratyczna (Citizens’ Movement for Democratic Action) (later evolving into the Democratic Party – a part of Left and Democrats – and Civic Platform) which supported Tadeusz Mazowiecki in the same elections. Wałęsa was again victorious.

Burning Effigies
The division between the ‘Hard’ Right (Law and Justice) and ‘Soft’ Right (Civic Platform) still remains, although now Wałęsa is a supporter of the latter. The break from the Hard Right (in the form of the Centre Agreement) was a messy one. Tired of what he believed to be the unfortunate politics of a useless Centre Agreement administration headed by Jan Olszewski, President Wałęsa removed the whole government replacing Olszewski with a young Waldemar Pawlak (ironically now coalition partner to Civic Platform). In protest, the Kaczyńskis burnt effigies of Wałęsa in front of the presidential palace signalling Wałęsa to later say something on the lines of God help Poland should it ever be governed by the Kaczyńskis.

Political Future
Older he may be but Wałęsa has not lost any of his arrogance or lust for life. Now, looking back, his words relating to the Kaczyńskis seem almost prophetic. During the recent election campaign the new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk talked about his respect for the “man with the moustache”. Several days ago, Tusk called upon Wałęsa to help re-build Poland’s place in Europe and the world. Tusk has asked him to be a special envoy for the government.

Wise Words of Wałęsa

I find it sickening when I hear the invectives and abuse targeted at Lech Wałęsa by members of Poland’s ruling elite crowd. I have always been a great fan of Wałęsa for moving mountains. I may not love all of his policies, but he showed the world that everything is possible. The humble electrician who outshone the throngs of academics and seasoned politicians around him.

Kacz-Attack
Both Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński have been eager to convince the nation of the need for moral cleanliness and good manners. They have also been first to recognise an erosion in the standards of Polish politics. Odd really that it should come while they are in power. Strangely enough it was Jarosław Kaczyński who took part in the disgusting act of the 4th June 1993 when members of his former party Centre Agreement decided to hurl abuse at the then President Lech Wałęsa by demonstrating outside the Belweder Presidential Palace whilst carrying pictures of a red swine soiled with the words “Bolek” – a reference to the ridiculous insinuation that Wałęsa was a communist collaborator. They also burned an effigy of Wałęsa demonstrating their aversion to the President.

Wałęsa Speaks
Many might laugh at the way Wałęsa conducts himself linguistically, but the meaning behind his words is often worthy of analysis and it is obvious that the man was made leader of Solidarity and President of Poland for the other skills he possesses. Wałęsa has an uncanny ability to quickly understand a situation, evaluate it and capture what is actually going on. Wałęsa is gifted with a wisdom most politicians would give their right hand for.

Wise Words
So what has Lech Wałęsa been saying? One of his first acts after the election of the Kaczyński twins was to resign as honorary head of Solidarity wary of the influence the Kacz twins would have on the future of the trade union. Wałęsa was proved right. When asked to comment on the new PM and new President, Wałęsa was quick to warn the nation that voters will regret their choice of party in PiS as all the Kaczyńskis are able to do is destroy, create divisions and cause hurt. Mr Wałęsa hit the nail on the head. Wałęsa recently said that he is concerned that there is no effective opposition in Poland. Low and behold, out of nowhere PiS have overtaken Civic Platform in the polls.

Listening to Lech
These two messages are important. Firstly, the Kaczyńskis have an uncanny ability not to be liked, twin politicians who occupy a mindset quite unlike the world around them. As Wałęsa said, they are great at creating divisions and burning bridges. Secondly, Wałęsa was again right in scolding the opposition for having no policies. Should PiS win the next general election the fault will lie firmly with LiD and PO, and of course all those voters who decide not to vote. The conclusion is to listen more to the wise words of Lech Wałęsa. I recently Skyped dear old Lech. I hope he replies…

Happy Birthday

Pictures of Angela Merkel and the Kaczyński twins have been raising eyebrows on both sides of the Oder River, but that isn’t the big story of the week. Poland’s political movers and shakers gathered together this week in Lech Wałęsa’s back garden to celebrate his name day.

The event has become somewhat of a tradition and first hit the headlines several years ago when Wałęsa invited his arch-enemy, politcal foe and usurper Aleksander Kwaśniewski to join him for his name day festivities and bury the proverbial hatchet. In a move that many believed to be a milestone in Polish politics – Wałęsa had once said he would never shake Kwaśniewski’s hand, nor even his foot (!) - the pair were reconciled and have since been seen on several occasions milking the applause and posing for photos to show the healing power of political rapprochement.

In successive years, Wałęsa has not become less bold in his choice of guest and has used the name day party as a platform for bringing people together. This year was no different. 500 guests including members of the opposition Civic Platform (PO), Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the Left and Demorats (LiD) coalition decided to make the trip to Wałęsa’s estate to hob-nob and mingle with other political heavyweights and the Polish glitterati.

Wałęsa decided also to do a little something to repair the rotting and festering wound that was the relationship between himself and his former employees, the Kaczyński twins. He invited both the President and the PM to the event. That in itself was a news-worthy gesture but what sparked the major controversy of the week was the reaction of President Lech Kaczyński upon receiving the invite – something on the lines of “How dare he! The cheek of the man!”

Unfortunately, the politician’s ego is a wholly obnoxious ailment and pumped-up pride a sad, petty characteristic. Add to this a man with an acute Napoleon complex with the inability to compromise or to smile and we see before us a weak, waddling, short, fat man who does not have the good manners or common courtesy to shake another man’s hand.