The Democratic Left Alliance () was a
social-democratic
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
political party in Poland. It was formed on 9 July 1991 as an
electoral alliance
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political party, political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand ...
of
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...
parties, and became a single party on 15 April 1999. It was the major coalition party in Poland between 1993 and 1997, and between 2001 and 2005, with four Prime ministers coming from the party:
Józef Oleksy
Józef Oleksy (; 22 June 1946 – 9 January 2015) was a Polish left-wing politician, former chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance (''Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej'', SLD).
Early life and education
In his youth he lived in Nowy Sącz, and was ...
,
Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (, born 13 September 1950) is a Polish left-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland for a year from 7 February 1996 to 31 October 1997, after being defeated in the Parliamentary elections by the Solidarity ...
,
Leszek Miller
Leszek Cezary Miller (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 July 1946) is a Polish politician. He has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since July 2019.
From 1989 to 1990 was a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Pa ...
and
Marek Belka
Marek Marian Belka (; born 9 January 1952 in Lódź) is a Polish professor of economics and politician who has served as Prime Minister of Poland and Finance Minister of Poland in two governments. He is a former Director of the International Mo ...
. It then faded into opposition, overshadowed by the rise of
Civic Platform
Civic Platform ( pl, Platforma Obywatelska, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a political party in Poland. It is currently led by Donald Tusk.
It w ...
and
Law and Justice
Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński.
It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct su ...
.
In February 2020, the party initiated a process to absorb the
Spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season), a season of the year
* Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy
* Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water
* Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...
party, choosing the name
New Left
The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
( pl, Nowa Lewica), and changing to a more modern logo.
The party was a member of the
Party of European Socialists
The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party.
The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom ...
and
Progressive Alliance
The Progressive Alliance (PA) is a political international of social democratic and progressive political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. The alliance was formed as an alternative to the existing Social ...
.
History
Ideology and support patterns
The party can be classified as centre-left. However, during the 1990s, it managed to attract voters from the pro-market and even right-wing camp. The main support for SLD came from middle-rank state sector employees, retired people, former communist
Polish United Workers Party
The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), 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 lega ...
(PZPR) and
All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions
The All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions ( pl, Ogólnopolskie Porozumienie Związków Zawodowych, OPZZ) is a national trade union center founded in 1984.
History
Following the decisions of the Polish government declaring the Solidarity trade u ...
(OPZZ) members and those who were unlikely to be frequent church-goers. The core of the coalition (Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland) rejected concepts such as
lustration
Lustration is the purge of government officials in Central and Eastern Europe. Various forms of lustration were employed in post-communist Europe.
Etymology
Lustration in general is the process of making something clear or pure, usually by m ...
and de-communization, supported a parliamentarian regime with only the role of an arbiter for the president and criticized the right-wing camp for the introduction of religious education into school. The ex-communists criticized the economic reforms, pointing to the high social costs, without negating the reforms per se.
Coalition
SdRP, SDU and some other
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
and social-democratic parties had formed the original Democratic Left Alliance as a centre-left coalition just prior to the nation's first free elections in 1991. In 1999 the coalition became a party but lost some members.
At the time, the coalition's membership drew mostly from the former PZPR. An alliance between the SLD and the
Polish People's Party
The Polish People's Party ( pl, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) is an agrarian 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 it ...
(PSL) ruled Poland in the years 1993–1997. However, the coalition lost power to the
right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
Solidarity Electoral Action
Solidarity Electoral Action ( pl, Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność, AWS) was a political coalition in Poland from 1996 to 2001. From 1997 to 2001, its official name was ''Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność Prawicy'' (AWSP) or Electoral Action Solidarity o ...
in the
1997 election as the right-wing opposition was united this time and because of the decline of support for SLD's coalition partner PSL, though the SLD itself actually gained votes.
Electoral victory
SLD formed a coalition with
Labour Union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
before the
2001 Polish election and won it overwhelmingly at last by capturing about 5.3 million votes, 42% of the whole and won 200 of 460 seats in the
Sejm
The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland.
The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...
and 75 of 100 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 ...
. After the elections, the coalition was joined by the Polish People's Party (PSL) in forming a government and
Leszek Miller
Leszek Cezary Miller (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 July 1946) is a Polish politician. He has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since July 2019.
From 1989 to 1990 was a member of the Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Pa ...
became the Prime Minister. In March 2003, the PSL left the coalition.
Rywin affair
By 2004 the support for SLD in the polls had dropped from about 30% to just below 10%, and several high-ranking party members had been accused of taking part in high-profile political scandals by the mainstream press, including the
Rywin affair
The Rywin affair ( pl, afera Rywina) was a corruption scandal in Poland, which began in late 2002 while the post-communist government of the SLD (Democratic Left Alliance) was in power. It is named after Polish film producer Lew Rywin, who was a ...
, in which film producer
Lew Rywin
Lew Rywin (born 10 November 1945 in a Nizhnyeye Alkeyevo, USSR) is a Polish film producer associated with Heritage Films (est. 1991). He has also been a member of the Polish Radio and TV committee and worked in an agency, Poltel, producing for P ...
, claiming to be acting on behalf of the government, sought a bribe from the editor of the ''
Gazeta Wyborcza
''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of "real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the g ...
'' newspaper in return for favourable amendments to a proposed new law on media ownership. Prime Minister Leszek Miller was obliged under Polish law to report the attempted bribery to the police when it was brought to his attention, but did not do so.
On 6 March 2004, Miller resigned as party leader and was replaced by Krzysztof Janik. On March 26 the Sejm speaker
Marek Borowski
Marek Stefan Borowski (; born 4 January 1946 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish left-wing politician. He led the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) for a time and was Speaker of the Sejm (the lower, more powerful, house of Poland's parliament) from 200 ...
, together with other high-ranking SLD officials, announced the creation of a new centre-left party, the
Social Democratic Party of Poland. On the next day, Leszek Miller announced he would step down as Prime Minister on 2 May 2004, the day after Poland joined the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. Miller proceeded to do so.
Decline after Rywin-gate
In the
2004 European Parliament election
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 electe ...
, it only received 9% of the votes, giving it 5 of 54 seats reserved for Poland in the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
, as part of the
Party of European Socialists
The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party.
The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom ...
.
Wojciech Olejniczak
Wojciech Michał Olejniczak (; born 10 April 1974) is a Polish leftist politician and member of the European Parliament.
He was the chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) from 29 May 2005, to 31 May 2008 (the first chairman of that part ...
, the former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, was elected the president of SLD on 29 May 2004, succeeded
Józef Oleksy
Józef Oleksy (; 22 June 1946 – 9 January 2015) was a Polish left-wing politician, former chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance (''Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej'', SLD).
Early life and education
In his youth he lived in Nowy Sącz, and was ...
, who resigned from the post of Polish Prime Minister due to false accusations of links to the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
.
Opposition: 2005 and after
The 2004 European elections foreshadowed the SLD's huge defeat in the
2005 parliamentary election, in which it won only 11.3% of the vote. This gave the party 55 seats, barely a quarter of what it had had prior to the election. It also lost all of its senators. In late 2006 a
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...
political alliance
A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies.
International terms
Equivalent terms are used differ ...
called
Left and Democrats
Left and Democrats ( pl, Lewica i Demokraci, LiD) was a centre-left electoral alliance of political parties in Poland which was created on 3 September 2006, before the Warsaw municipal election of 2006. The coalition's aim was to provide an ...
was created, comprising SLD and smaller
centre-left
Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...
parties, the Labour Union, the Social Democratic Party of Poland, and the liberal
Democratic Party – demokraci.pl
The Democratic Party ( pl, Partia Demokratyczna – demokraci.pl), abbreviated to PD, was a minor social-liberal political party in Poland. It had no members of the Sejm, Senate, or European Parliament.
Its foundation was publicly announced on ...
. The coalition won a disappointing 13% in the
2007 parliamentary election and was dissolved soon after in April 2008. On 31 May 2008, Olejniczak was replaced by
Grzegorz Napieralski
Grzegorz Bernard Napieralski (pronounced ; born March 18, 1974) is a Polish left-wing politician. He is an MP (member of the Sejm) and was chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) from 2008 to 2011.
Education and political career
Napierals ...
as an SLD leader.
In the
2009 European election the
Democratic Left Alliance-Labor Union
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
joint ticket received 12% of the vote and 7 MEPs were elected as part of the newly retitled
Socialists & Democrats group.
In the
2011 parliamentary election, SLD received 8.24% of the vote which gave it 27 seats in the Sejm.
After the elections, one of the party members, Sławomir Kopyciński, decided to leave SLD and join
Palikot's Movement
Your Movement ( pl, Twój Ruch, which can also be translated as ''Your Move'', TR) is a social liberal, populist and anti-clerical political party in Poland. The party was founded by Janusz Palikot, a former Civic Platform MP, in October 2010 ...
.
On December 10, 2011, Leszek Miller was chosen to return as the party leader.
In the
2014 European elections
Fourteen or 14 may refer to:
* 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15
* one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014
Music
* 14th (band), a British electronic music duo
* ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013
*''14'', an unrel ...
on 25 May 2014, the SLD received 9.4% of the national vote and returned 4 MEPs.
In July 2015 the SLD formed the
United Left electoral alliance along with
Your Movement
Your Movement ( pl, Twój Ruch, which can also be translated as ''Your Move'', TR) is a Social liberalism, social liberal, Populism, populist and anti-clerical list of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party was founded ...
(TR),
Labour United
Labour Union ( pl, Unia Pracy, ''UP'') is a minor social-democratic political party in Poland. It is a member of the Party of European Socialists (PES).
History
Labour Union was formed in June 1992. The party contested the 1993 parliamentary ...
(UP) and
The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to:
Current political parties
* Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens''
* Greens of Andorra
* Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Greens of Burkina
* Greens (Greece)
* Greens of Montenegro
*Greens of Serbia
*G ...
(PZ) and minor parties to contest the upcoming election.
In the
2015 parliamentary election held on 25 October 2015, the United Left list received 7.6% of the vote, below the 8% threshold (electoral alliances must win at least 8% of the vote, as opposed to the 5% for individual parties), leaving the SLD without parliamentary representation for the first time. Indeed, for the first time since the end of Communism, no centre-left parties won any seats in this election.
In 2017, the party withdrew from the
Socialist International
The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...
, while maintaining ties with the
Progressive Alliance
The Progressive Alliance (PA) is a political international of social democratic and progressive political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. The alliance was formed as an alternative to the existing Social ...
.
For the 2019 parliamentary election SLD formed an alliance with
Razem
Left Together () is a left-wing political party in Poland.
It was formed in 2015 as "Together", and it was one of the eight nationwide committees standing in the 2015 parliamentary election. It was a member of the Progressive International, an ...
and
Wiosna, known as
The Left. In the
2019 parliamentary election, the alliance won 12.6% of the vote and 49 seats in the Sejm, with the SLD winning 24. Later, it was announced that the Democratic Left Alliance would form with the
Spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season), a season of the year
* Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy
* Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water
* Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...
new political party called the New Left. The creation was delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Voter base
The SLD is usually seen as the face of the standard Polish left, having achieved notable electoral success during the 90s and benefitting from a strongly organized network of local offices, which span 320 of Poland's 380 administrative counties. For this reason, it was often viewed as the go-to party for left-leaning Poles for the majority of Poland's modern history.
The party's monopoly on mainstream left-wing economic ideas in Poland however ended, after the right-wing
PiS
Pis ( oc, Pis) is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.
Geography
Localisation
Hydrography
The river Auroue forms most of the commune's eastern border.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Gers department
The fol ...
party adopted many economically interventionist positions, which led a considerable portion of economically left-wing Poles to vote for PiS instead.
Besides self-described left-wingers, the party enjoys the support of many members of the country's police and military, but its largest voting bloc resides among former
PZPR
The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), 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 lega ...
members, government officials and civil servants during the
PPR period, which are seen as the party's core supporters. The loyal support of this voting bloc enabled the SLD to remain the largest party of the Polish left, even throughout the scandals that rocked the party in the early 2000s.
However, this electoral bloc was seen as unreliable by political observers, as despite the fact that it originally constituted a huge voting bloc, that segment of the population would inevitably shrink as its members steadily age. Following the passage of a "degradation law" by the ruling right-wing
PiS
Pis ( oc, Pis) is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.
Geography
Localisation
Hydrography
The river Auroue forms most of the commune's eastern border.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Gers department
The fol ...
party, which cut pensions and disability benefits to thousands of former bureaucrats, however, the party has undergone a revival, as more and more people's primary income came to be threatened by the new government policy. This led many of those affected to support the SLD, thus enlarging and mobilizing the formerly shrinking voting bloc.
The SLD nonetheless made a significant effort to broaden its political appeal by joining forces with two smaller left-wing parties in 2019, creating
The Left political alliance, which poses itself as a 'modern' take on leftism.
Election results
Sejm
Senate
Presidential
European Parliament
Regional assemblies
Presidents and Prime Ministers
Presidents of the Republic of Poland from SLD
Prime Ministers of the Republic of Poland from SLD
See also
*
List of Democratic Left Alliance politicians
A list of notable Poland, Polish politicians of the Democratic Left Alliance (Poland), Democratic Left Alliance party ( pl, Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej).
A
* Waldemar Achramowicz
* Bartosz Arłukowicz
B
* Marek Belka
* Robert Biedroń
* Barbara ...
*coalition
Democratic Left Alliance-Labor Union
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
References
External links
*
The Warsaw Voice Article 24 November 2004.
{{Authority control
1999 establishments in Poland
2021 disestablishments in Poland
Political parties disestablished in 2021
Political parties established in 1999