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Polish Communist Party (2002)
Polish political party From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Polish Communist Party (Polish: Komunistyczna Partia Polski, KPP), or the Communist Party of Poland,[2] is an anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist communist party in Poland founded in 2002 claiming to be the historical and ideological heir of the Communist Party of Poland, Polish Workers' Party and the Polish United Workers' Party.[2][3]
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History
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The Communist Party of Poland was founded in July 2002 in Dąbrowa Górnicza by activists largely derived from the Union of Polish Communists "Proletariat", which had existed since 1990 and was liquidated by the state authorities due to formal procedures.[4][2]
The first congress of the party took place in December 2002, the second in December 2006, the third in December 2010,[5] the fourth in March 2015, and the fifth in July 2019.[6][7]
In the Polish parliamentary elections in 2005 and 2007, KPP members started from the lists of the Polish Labour Party (PPP). In the 2005 Polish presidential election, the party supported Daniel Podrzycki of the PPP (who died shortly before the election in a road accident).[8] Before the 2010 Polish presidential election, the chairman of the party Józef Łachut expressed at the Congress of the Left Alliance support for the candidacy of Grzegorz Napieralski from the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).
In the 2010 Polish local elections, the party formed an election committee (Red Wrocław Election Committee) and put forward candidates for the Wrocław city council.[9] In the 2011 Polish parliamentary election, individual members of the KPP started to the Sejm from the lists of the SLD or PPP.
The Communist Party of Poland called for a boycott of the 2015 Polish parliamentary election.[10] In addition, it established contacts with the Polish Left. In the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, the KPP put forward one candidate to The Left for the Sejm.[11] Before the 2020 Polish presidential election, the Communist Party of Poland supported the candidacy of Waldemar Witkowski from Labour Union.[12] The KPP is no longer part of The Left political alliance.
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Party program
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The Communist Party of Poland proclaims anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist slogans. It seeks to introduce socialism and take over political and economic power by the proletariat.[13] It also calls for the replacement of capitalist property by social ownership through the nationalization of industry, trade and natural resources. They advocate broad social rights (including free and universal education and free healthcare). It also postulates cessation of privatization and reprivatization and tax reform (progressive tax system, limitation of VAT), as well as property vetting. It criticizes the liquidation of the Polish People's Republic and the political transformation. The KPP is also against Poland's participation in the European Union and NATO.[14][15] In addition, the party strongly opposes the decommunization laws and the historical policy pursued by the Institute of National Remembrance.[16][17]
The party's ideology is described as based on Marxist-Leninist thought, but "filled with the rhetoric of the past, and above all, sentimentalism towards People's Poland". The party focuses on criticizing the post-1989 developments in Poland, such as "the growing areas of poverty, the inability to meet material needs and limited access to education and cultural goods, as well as a growing sense of injustice". It rejects parliamentary democracy, arguing that it is anti-proletarian and heartless; the party wrote: "The nation should rejoice that it has been liberated from the shackles of communism, rejoice that we have expelled the Russian occupiers and give alms, and not bother the rulers with trifles. For example: how to feed their families. There is freedom, there is democracy, and everyone has freedom of action. These are the rules of democracy! And if someone cannot take advantage of freedom and democracy, that's their problem!".[18]
On its website, the KPP glorified Joseph Stalin as the "Liberator of the Nations"[19] and Kim Jong-Il as the "Great Leader",[20] supported the leadership of North Korea[21] and denied Soviet agency in the Katyn Massacre.[22] The party declares People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea and Cuba as socialist states;[23] On China, the party wrote that it affirms "with full conviction Chinese Marxism and the PRC as a socialist country with Chinese characteristics and Chinese features."[24] It also supports Venezuela as a socialist-led state,[25] describing it as a country that is in a process of moving "from classical capitalism to a pro-socialist orientation".[26] The KPP supports Russia, explaining that the "Asian socialist countries, together with Cuba, survived among other things thanks to the ‘silent’ support of numerous formally capitalist countries, whose interests coincided in the fight against the imperial ambitions of the leading capitalist powers and attempts to subjugate the world to global capital in the context of rapidly advancing globalisation processes."[23]
It fully supports and upholds the legacy of the Polish People's Republic, writing in 2013: "We consider the years of the Polish United Workers' Party's existence and its exercise of real power in Poland to be the most beautiful, most successful and most fruitful period in the history of our state and our nation. [...] Unquestionable respect is due to all First Secretaries of the Central Committee: those still living, Stanisław Kania and Wojciech Jaruzelski, and those who have passed away, Bolesław Bierut, Edward Ochab, Władysław Gomułka, Edward Gierek and Mieczysław F. Rakowski".[27] The party also praised and upholds the legacy of Mieczysław Moczar who is controversial for his Endo-Communism and main role in the 1968 Polish political crisis, writing: "It is said that he was a controversial figure. Agreed, but he was as controversial as he was principled in his adherence to the Marxist worldview and its application in everyday life – in his party and professional work, in his social and personal life. In professing his Marxist worldview and adhering to it on a daily basis, Mieczysław Moczar was principled, unambiguous and therefore worthy of deep respect." It denies the accusations of Moczar and his Endo-Communist Partisans being antisemitic, arguing that "the authors of history written to [capitalist] political order and tailored to the needs of political correctness confuse anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism".[28]
Social issues
Socially, the KPP is considered to adhere to "conservative-traditional values".[29] The party is friendly towards religion, and published an article titled "Communists and Catholics - working people - united by a bond of solidarity and fraternity" in which it argued: "It is not that the Communists were and are opposed to Catholics. On the contrary..."[30] It reasoned that instead of being anti-theist, the Polish People's Republic was strongly religious in terms of customs, and that the Vatican had authority over the priests on religious matters.[31] The KPP spoke against same-sex partnerships, criticizing the political culture of Polish centre-left parties in which "the pinnacle of leftism has become the fight for the rights of sexual minorities". The party argues that centre-left parties are "full of people who are wealthy and therefore absolutely uninterested in the fate of the poorer social classes", and criticized same-sex partnership proposals as "a priority for the homosexual lobbies based on the ideology of the European Union".[32] Criticizing the Democratic Left Alliance, the Polish Communist Party also argued that "who equates the vision of the left with the defence of sexual minorities, feminism, abortion and euthanasia reveals the lack of ideology [...], clearly betraying the entire left".[28] The party also rejects Luxemburgism and anarchism:
We cannot allow Marxism-Leninism to be pushed aside in favour of Luxembourgism, which is patiently, like a drop of water wearing away a rock, being smuggled into Poland, as well as in favour of various anarchist and Trotskyist groups. At present, Luxemburg and Trotsky are the most recognisable icons of the global left, while Lenin, Dzerzhinsky and Stalin are being consigned to the dustbin of history. Attempts are also being made to rewrite Marx, cutting him off not only from Lenin but also from Engels. The so-called ‘Althusser school’ is becoming an increasingly popular Marxist philosophical school.[28]
Foreign policy
It denounced the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, stating: "We must remember the victims of NATO aggression since 1999, the ongoing persecution of political and military leaders who were sent to the legally unfounded Hague Tribunal for defending their country – President Milosevic and others who died there."[33] It also opposes the independence of Kosovo,[34] and considers its secession an imperialist action done in order to achieve the "destruction of the territorial integrity" of Serbia and to allow the USA to exert military control over the Balkans through the establishment of Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. The party is also against NATO expansion, demands "the dismantling of all American and NATO military bases and the dissolution of NATO" as well as removal of NATO and US missile defence shields from Europe.[33] It also opposes the European Union, writing:
The EU is a creation of the ruling classes and Western European monopoly capital. It promotes neoliberal methods of capital concentration that benefit monopolies. The EU cannot become a European counterweight to the US. With the Treaty on Reforms and its new structures, it is gradually becoming an imperialist economic, political and military bloc. New measures are being taken in the EU against the interests of workers and entire nations. The sovereignty and independence of nations and states are increasingly being undermined.[34]
The party considers the Russian invasion of Ukraine to be a "de facto defensive war" of Russia against NATO.[35] The party summarized the war as such: "The main reason for the current war in Ukraine is the desire of the forces that have been in power in Ukraine since 2014 (i.e. those who prepared the coup and overthrew Ukraine's legitimately popularly elected President Yanukovich) to join NATO, the immediate consequence of which would be a threat to Russia's international security", and warned that "the collapse of Russia through the assumption of its potential defeat in Ukraine, will be a prelude to a final showdown with China, which US imperialism sees as the main and strategic threat and bulwark to its world domination."[36] It denounced the Euromaidan protests as a "fascist coup",[37] also arguing that it represents only "the small and medium bourgeoisie, not from all of Ukraine, but mainly from the west and centre of the country and the city of Kiev" and noting "the lack of support among workers" as "evidenced by the failed attempt to organise a nationwide general strike". In contrast, the party supports the Donetsk People's Republic and considers it to be of proletarian character, writing:
The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has not explicitly defined itself as a socialist state, but provisions to that effect are included in its declaration. The economic system of the DPR is to be based on ‘collective forms of ownership’. Poor and poorly dressed people – workers and youth from the suburbs – gathered with red flags, Russian tricolours and St. George's ribbons. They took their first steps towards the collective defence of their interests. They responded to blows with blows, aggression with aggression, evil with evil. Because that is what class struggle is all about. For the first time in the history of the former Soviet Union, the working class is beginning to act. The short text of the Donetsk People's Republic's declaration contains words about collective ownership, equality and the social interest.[33]
The party supports the People's Republic of China, and considers it a socialist country.[38] It praises the reforms of Deng Xiaoping, arguing that Deng brought prosperity and rapid development while remaining on a socialist paths, and praised him for suppressing the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, which the KPP denounced as a counterrevolution and an attempt to abolish socialism in China. The party states that Socialism with Chinese characteristics is an adaption of Marxist theory to the Chinese national conditions, and constitutes a "historical and dialectical approach that was highlighted by Marx and Lenin when exploring the question of the transition to socialism of the peoples of Asia".[39] It wrote:
The private sector's share of the Chinese economy has exceeded half of GDP and continues to grow slowly, with the regrettable socio-economic ills typical of capitalist countries clearly visible, and life in large cities at first glance resembling similar landscapes in the traditional capitalist world. And yet, according to all studies and observations, the Communist Party's power in China remains very strong, key sectors of the economy and finance are in the hands of the state, major companies are mixed ownership, and strong state intervention in socio-economic mechanisms is a decisive factor. There is no doubt that the Communist Party's power is exercised consistently in the interests of the vast majority of citizens. The alleged harshness (and even cruelty) of the Chinese communists is undermined by insightful public opinion polls (conducted by Western institutes that are not sympathetic to them), which clearly show that the modern Chinese people consider themselves to be among the happiest in the world. These and other circumstances make it difficult for China to ‘undo’ its status as a socialist country.[23]
The reason for allowing such far-reaching political changes in China was the desire to revive the economy, even at a huge cost. This allowed for the gradual introduction of a kind of socialist market economy, which in turn enabled the country to better adapt to the mechanisms of the global economy. Previously, links with the powerful economic (and especially financial) machine of the capitalist world had, in a sense, finished off the European countries of real socialism. The Chinese, however, have so far managed to successfully exploit these links to maintain an extremely high rate of production growth and comprehensive civilisational development.[40]
The party also supports the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro, stating that it "condemns the actions of the imperialists and speaks out in defence of the Bolivarian Revolution."[41] It also expressed "full solidarity with the people of Bolivia, President Evo Morales, the Communist Party of Bolivia, the MAS-IRSP movement and all progressive and anti-imperialist forces and movements in their great battle to defend progressive achievements and in the struggle to deepen change."[42]
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Chairmen
Structure and activists
The number of activists of the Communist Party of Poland over the years ranged from several hundred to over a thousand activists.[45][46]
The KPP's highest executive body is the National Executive Committee. The central control body of the party is the National Statutory and Audit Commission. The body appointed to deal with individual cases of party members arising from appeals against resolutions of organs, including resolutions on exclusion from it, is the National Peer Court.[47]
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Newspaper
The official newspaper of the party is ''Brzask'', published in subscription and available on the Internet.[48]
Legal status and attempts at outlawing
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The existence of communist parties in Poland and their activities are legal as long as they refer to the ideology of the communist system, bypassing totalitarian methods and practices. Similarly, communist symbolism is not prohibited in Poland.[49][50] The Polish Communist Party completely dissociates itself from the use of totalitarian methods.
In 2013, Law and Justice activist Bartosz Kownacki requested the party to be banned because of alleged propagation of totalitarianism.[51] The prosecutor's office investigated and discontinued the investigation after finding no evidence of a crime. From 2015 to 2019, a trial was underway regarding the alleged promotion of the totalitarian system by KPP activists in the magazine Brzask. On January 18, 2019, the District Court in Dąbrowa Górnicza found editors of the magazine Brzask innocent of the alleged offenses.[52][53]
As part of solidarity with the KPP in connection with the court proceedings against it, in 2018 and 2019 protests under Polish embassies organized, among others The Communist Party of Greece, the Communist Party of Belgium and the Communist Party of Britain.[54][55] In Poland, solidarity with the KPP was declared by the Democratic Left Alliance and Workers' Democracy.[56]
In 2020, the Public Prosecutor General and Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro requested the Constitutional Tribunal to ban the party, alleging that it had a totalitarian ideology and wanted to seize power violently.[57]
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See also
References
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