Polish Socialist Party

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Template:Short description

Template:For Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox political party Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists Template:Polsoc The Polish Socialist Party (Template:Langx, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form the Polish United Workers' Party in 1948. Józef Piłsudski, founder of the Second Polish Republic, was a member of and later led the PPS in the early 20th century.

The party was re-established in 1987, near the end of the Polish People's Republic. However, it remained on the margins of Polish politics until 2019, when it won a seat in the Senate of Poland.

History

The Polish Socialist Party (PPS) was founded in Paris in 1892, during the period known as the Great Emigration. In 1893, a faction called the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) split from the PPS. The PPS focused more on nationalism and Polish independence, while the SDKPiL adopted a far-left (Marxist), internationalist stance. In November 1892, key members of the PPS developed a political program that, for its time, was notably progressive. The program called for an independent Republic of Poland founded on democratic principles, direct universal voting rights, equal rights for all citizens regardless of religion or gender, freedom of the press, speech, and assembly, progressive taxation, an eight-hour workday, a minimum wage, equal pay for men and women, a ban on child labor (under age 14), free education, and social support for workers injured on the job.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

After the Revolution of 1905 in the Russian Empire, the party membership drastically increased from several hundred active members to a mass movement of about 60,000 members.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Another split in the party occurred in 1906, with the Revolutionary Faction following Józef Piłsudski, who supported the nationalist and independence ideals, and the Left faction which allied itself with the SDKPiL. However, the Revolutionary Faction became dominant and renamed itself back again to the PPS, while the Left was eclipsed, and in 1918 merged with SDKPiL forming the Communist Party of Poland. In 1917-18 the party participated in the Central Council of Ukraine and the Government of Ukraine.

During the Second Polish Republic, the PPS at first supported Józef Piłsudski (himself a former Socialist), including his May Coup, but later moved into the opposition to his authoritarian Sanacja regime by joining the democratic 'centrolew' (center-left) opposition movement. Many PPS leaders and members were put on trial by Piłsudski's regime and jailed in the infamous Bereza Kartuska prison.

The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1923 and 1940.<ref name="kow">Template:Cite book</ref>

The party supported the Polish resistance during Template:Awrap as the underground Polish Socialist Party – Freedom, Equality, Independence (Polska Partia Socjalistyczna – Wolność, Równość, Niepodległość). In 1948 it suffered a fatal split, as the Communists applied the salami tactics to dismember any opposition. One faction, which included Edward Osóbka-Morawski wanted to join forces with the Polish Peasant Party and form a united front against the Communists. Another faction, led by Józef Cyrankiewicz, argued that the Socialists should support the Communists in carrying through a socialist program while opposing the imposition of one-party rule. Pre-war political hostilities continued to influence events, and Stanisław Mikołajczyk, leader of the Peasant Party, would not agree to form a united front with the Socialists.Template:Citation needed The Communists played on these divisions by dismissing Osóbka-Morawski and making Cyrankiewicz the Prime Minister.

In 1948, Cyrankiewicz's faction of Socialists merged with the Communist Polish Workers' Party (PPR) to form the Polish United Workers' Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; PZPR), the ruling party in the Polish People's Republic; remnants of the other faction survived on emigration in the Polish government-in-exile and because of that Polish Socialist Party was still active on emigration. Cyrankiewicz's faction isn't really treated as proper PPS.

Refoundation and present

A new party sharing the same name, aiming to continue the legacy of the original PPS, was founded in 1987 by left-wing opposition figures like Jan Józef Lipski. However, the modern PPS has remained a marginal force in the political landscape of the Third Republic of Poland, holding representation in the Sejm only from 1993 to 2001, due to the lingering stigma of communism associated with Soviet occupation. In the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, the PPS experienced a resurgence with its leader Wojciech Konieczny being elected to the Senate of Poland as part of The Left.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Subsequently, other members of both the Sejm and Senate joined the PPS, which now has two deputies and two senators.

Its main propaganda outlet was the Robotnik ('The Worker') newspaper. The current party published the Nowy Robotnik ("The New Worker"), a continuation of the original publication, from 2003 to 2006.

On 16 November 2020, the party founded its first foreign branch in the United Kingdom, in the city of Coventry,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref> home to a British Polish population founded by Polish Army Exiles.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On the 25 June 2022, factions of the party formed an alliance with Social Democracy of Poland, Freedom and Equality, Labour Union and Polish Left to compete in the next Polish parliamentary election. The alliance also included the Feminist Initiative, the Democratic Left Association (SLD), and the Working People's Movement.<ref name="dziennik">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In February 2023, after an internal conflict,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> PPS, together with the Labour Union, re-joined The Left.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Ideology

Historically, the party advocated for a blend of socialism and nationalism,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and was generally considered to be a left-wing party on the political spectrum.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The party opposed Bolshevism and aligned more with the Mensheviks.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In recent years, the party has identified as a democratic socialist movement, with its parliamentary leader Wojciech Konieczny describing it as a leftist party with a strong emphasis on democracy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As a modern party, it distanced itself from anti-clericalism, declaring that it does not wish to wage "war against God", accepting the concordat between Poland and Vatican, along with the position of the Catholic Church in Polish society.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Election results

Presidential

Second Polish Republic
Election Candidate 1st round 2nd round
Votes % Votes %
1922 Ignacy Daszyński 49 9.1 (#5) 1 0.2 (#5)
1926 Supported Józef PiłsudskiTemplate:Notetag 292 60.2 (#1)
1926 Zygmunt Marek 56 11.6 (#3) 1 0.2 (#3)
Third Polish Republic
Election Candidate 1st round 2nd round
Votes % Votes %
1995 Supported Tadeusz Zieliński 631,432 3.5 (#6)
2000 Piotr Ikonowicz 38,672 0.2 (#10)
2005 Supported Daniel PodrzyckiTemplate:Notetag
2020 Supported Robert Biedroń 432,129 2.2 (#6)
2025 Supported Magdalena Biejat 829,361 4.23 (#7)

Sejm

Election Votes % Seats +/– Government
1919 515,062 9.2 Template:Small Template:Composition bar New Template:Yes2
Template:No2
Template:Yes2
Template:No2
1922 906,537 10.3 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 6 Template:No2
Template:Yes2
Template:No2
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1928 1,482,097 13.0 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 23 Template:No2
1930 1,965,864 17.3 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 41 Template:No2
As part of the Centrolew coalition, that won 79 seats in total.
1935 Boycotted Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 23 Template:No
1938 Boycotted Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:No
1947 9,003,682 26.13 (#1) Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 116 Template:Yes2
As part of the Democratic Bloc coalition, that won 394 seats in total.Template:Notetag
1991 230,975 2.1 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 116 Template:No
As part of the Labour Solidarity coalition, that won 4 seats in total.
1993 2,815,169 20.4 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 4 Template:Yes2
As part of the Democratic Left Alliance coalition, that won 171 seats in total.
1997 3,551,224 27.1 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 1 Template:No2
As part of the Democratic Left Alliance coalition, that won 164 seats in total.
2001 13,459 0.1 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 3 Template:No
2005 91,266 0.8 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:No
As part of the Polish Labour Party committee, that won no seats.
2007 160,476 1.0 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:No
As part of the Polish Labour Party committee, that won no seats.
2015 1,147,102 7.6 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:No
As part of the United Left coalition, that won no seats.
2019 2,319,946 12.6 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:No
As part of The Left coalition, that won 49 seats in total.
2023 1,859,018 8.6 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:No
As part of The Left coalition, that won 26 seats in total.

Senate

Election Votes % Seats +/–
1922 468,147 8.4 Template:Small Template:Composition bar n/a
1928 715,556 11.2 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 3
1930 As part of Centrolew coalition, that won 13 seats in total.
1935 Boycotted
1938 Boycotted
1993 4,993,061 35.7 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 1
As part of the Democratic Left Alliance coalition, that won 37 seats in total.
1997 6,091,721 45.7 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 2
As part of the Democratic Left Alliance coalition, that won 28 seats in total.
2001 131,987 0.5 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 3
2019 415,745 2.3 Template:Small Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 1
As part of The Left coalition, that won 2 seats in total.

European Parliament

Election Votes % Seats +/– EP Group
2004 48,667 0.80 (#12) Template:Composition bar New –
As part of the KPEiR-PLD coalition, that won no seats.
2009 1,331 0.02 (#12) Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 –
2014 Did not contest Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 –
2019 Did not contest Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 –
2024 741,071 6.30 (#5) Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 –
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Notable people who were members or were associated with PPS

Presidents and heads of state

Presidents in exile

Prime ministers

Prime ministers in exile

Other figures

See also

Notes

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References

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Template:Ukrainian Bolshevik Revolution Template:Polish political parties Template:Authority control

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