League and Self-Defense
Political party in Poland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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.[19] 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 appropiating their political rhetoric.[20]
League and Self-Defense | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | LiS[2] (Fox)[3] |
Leader | Andrzej Lepper[4] Roman Giertych[4] |
Presidium | Radosław Parda Mirosław Orzechowski Wojciech Wierzejski Genowefa Wiśniowska Krzysztof Sikora |
Founded | 16 July 2007[5] |
Registered | 17 July 2007[4] |
Dissolved | 7 September 2007[5] |
Merger of | Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland League of Polish Families |
Headquarters | ul. Kinowa 19 U1, 04-030 Warsaw[6] |
Membership (2007) | ~100,000[7] (Samoobrona) ~14,000[8] (League of Polish Families) |
Ideology | National agrarianism[9] Catholic nationalism[10] Hard Euroscepticism[1] Solidarist economy[11] Left-wing populism[10] Anti-capitalism[12] Catholic left[13] |
Political position | Left-wing[14][A] League of Polish Families: Far-right[15] Samoobrona: Far-left[16] |
Religion | Roman Catholic[10] |
Colours | Orange[1] (customary) Yellow (Samoobrona) Blue (League of Polish Families) |
Slogan | Strong as a lion, cunning as a fox (Polish: Mocny jak lew, chytry jak lis)[11] |
Sejm | 0 / 460
|
Senate | 0 / 100
|
European Parliament | 0 / 51
|
Regional assemblies | 0 / 552
|
City presidents | 0 / 117
|
^ 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.[12][17] The coalition was also considered "not very right-wing".[18] 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.[13] |
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.[12] 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,[21][22] the left-wing Samoobrona dominated the coalition,[23] which gave League and Self-Defense an ideologically left-wing profile, especially economically.[13]