The
Polish People's Party (
PolishPolish is a West Slavic language and the official language of Poland. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet which corresponds basically to the Latin alphabet with a few additions...
: Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL, also translated as
Polish Peasant(s) Party) is a
political partyA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
in
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The party's name traces its tradition to an agrarian political party in
Austro-HungarianAustria–Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the k.u.k. Monarchy, or Dual State, was a monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in Central Europe...
controlled
Galician PolandGalicia is a historical region in East-Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, named after the Ukraіniаn city of Halych. The nucleus of historic Galicia is formed of three regions of western Ukraine: Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk.-Tribal area:The region has a turbulent...
, which sent MPs to the
parliament in ViennaThe Reichsrat was the Austrian Parliament from 1861 to 1918. It consisted of the Herrenhaus and the Abgeordnetenhaus .-Early History:...
.
After Poland regained independence with the end of the
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
in 1918, the party merged with agrarian groups from territories previously occupied by Imperial Russia and formed the first PSL led by
Wincenty WitosWincenty Witos was a prominent member of the Polish People's Party from 1895, and leader of its "Piast" faction from 1913. He was a member of parliament in the Galician Sejm from 1908-1914, and an envoy to Reichsrat in Vienna from 1911 to 1918...
, becoming one of the most important political parties in the
Second Polish RepublicThe Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; from the creation of an independent Polish state in the aftermath of World War I, to the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic,...
until it was removed by the
SanacjaSanacja was a coalition political movement in the interwar Second Polish Republic. It was created in 1926 by Józef Piłsudski as a broad movement to support the "moral sanation" of the Polish body politic before and after the May 1926 Coup d'État that brought Piłsudski to virtually dictatorial...
(see also People's Party).
During this time there were two parties using the term "PSL": Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe Piast and Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe Wyzwolenie.
The
Polish People's Party (
PolishPolish is a West Slavic language and the official language of Poland. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet which corresponds basically to the Latin alphabet with a few additions...
: Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL, also translated as
Polish Peasant(s) Party) is a
political partyA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
in
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The party's name traces its tradition to an agrarian political party in
Austro-HungarianAustria–Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the k.u.k. Monarchy, or Dual State, was a monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in Central Europe...
controlled
Galician PolandGalicia is a historical region in East-Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, named after the Ukraіniаn city of Halych. The nucleus of historic Galicia is formed of three regions of western Ukraine: Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk.-Tribal area:The region has a turbulent...
, which sent MPs to the
parliament in ViennaThe Reichsrat was the Austrian Parliament from 1861 to 1918. It consisted of the Herrenhaus and the Abgeordnetenhaus .-Early History:...
.
History
After Poland regained independence with the end of the
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
in 1918, the party merged with agrarian groups from territories previously occupied by Imperial Russia and formed the first PSL led by
Wincenty WitosWincenty Witos was a prominent member of the Polish People's Party from 1895, and leader of its "Piast" faction from 1913. He was a member of parliament in the Galician Sejm from 1908-1914, and an envoy to Reichsrat in Vienna from 1911 to 1918...
, becoming one of the most important political parties in the
Second Polish RepublicThe Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; from the creation of an independent Polish state in the aftermath of World War I, to the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic,...
until it was removed by the
SanacjaSanacja was a coalition political movement in the interwar Second Polish Republic. It was created in 1926 by Józef Piłsudski as a broad movement to support the "moral sanation" of the Polish body politic before and after the May 1926 Coup d'État that brought Piłsudski to virtually dictatorial...
(see also People's Party).
During this time there were two parties using the term "PSL": Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe Piast and Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe Wyzwolenie. During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, PSL took part in forming the
Polish government in exileThe Polish government-in-exile was the government of Poland after the country had been occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union at the start of World War II...
. After the war the leader of PSL,
Stanislaw MikolajczykStanisław Mikołajczyk , Polish politician, was Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile during World War II, and later Deputy Prime Minister in postwar Poland.-Biography:...
, returned to
SovietThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
occupied Poland, hoping to recreate the party structures and create anti-communist opposition. To prevent this, the Soviet-controlled communist government formed a puppet
PSL-Piast and, after rigging an important referendum, forced the real PSL to unite with it, forming
United People's PartyThe United People's Party was an agrarian political party in the People's Republic of Poland. It was formed on 27 November 1949 from the merger of the communist Stronnictwo Ludowe party with remnants of the independent People's Party of Stanisław Mikołajczyk .ZSL became - as intended from its...
— a satellite of the Communist Party. Mikolajczyk was soon forced to flee the country into political exile..
Around the time of the fall of communism several PSL's were recreated, including: Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe - Porozumienie Ludowe, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe - Odrodzenie, and Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (Wilanów faction). In 1989 they merged into one and took part in forming the first postwar noncommunist government in Poland with the
SolidaritySolidarity is a Polish trade union federation founded in September 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyard, and originally led by Lech Wałęsa.Solidarity was the first non-Communist-controlled trade union in a Warsaw Pact country...
grouping, and in 1990 changed its name to PSL.
It originally remained on the left wing of politics in Poland in the 1990s, entering into coalitions with the postcommunist
Democratic Left AllianceDemocratic Left Alliance is a centre-left Polish social-democratic political party. A coalition of left-wing parties used this name from 1991 to 1999. It was formally established as a single party on April 15, 1999.- History :...
. However, in the
2001 parliamentary electionsPolish parliamentary election in 2001 to Sejm and Senate of Poland were held on the 23rd September. In Sejm elections, 46.29% of citizens cast their votes, 96.01% of those were counted as valid. In Senate elections, 46.28% of citizens cast their votes, 96.46% were valid...
PSL received 9% of votes and formed a coalition with
Democratic Left AllianceDemocratic Left Alliance is a centre-left Polish social-democratic political party. A coalition of left-wing parties used this name from 1991 to 1999. It was formally established as a single party on April 15, 1999.- History :...
, an alliance which later broke drown. Since then PSL has moved towards more
centristIn politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting moderate policies which lie between different political extremes. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between left-wing...
policies. The party ran in the
2004 European Parliament electionElections to the European Parliament were held from 10 June 2004 to 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom...
as part of the
European People's PartyThe European People's Party is a centre-right European political party. Founded in 1976, the EPP has 72 member-parties from 39 countries, 13 EU and 6 non-EU heads of government, 10 European Commissioners , and the largest group in the European Parliament with 265 members.-History:EPP traces its...
(EPP) and received 6% of the vote, giving it 4 of 54 Polish seats in the
European ParliamentThe European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union , it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the Union's institutions and has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
. In the
2005 general electionParliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of Poland were held on September 25, 2005. Thirty million voters were eligible to vote for all 460 members of the lower house, the Assembly of the Republic of Poland , and all 100 members of the upper house, the Senate of the Republic of...
the party received 7% of votes, giving it 25 seats in the Sejm and 2 in the Senate. In the
2007 parliamentary electionsEarly parliamentary elections for both houses of parliament were held in Poland on 21 October 2007 after the Sejm voted for its own dissolution on 7 September 2007. The election took place two years before the maximum tenure of four years, with the previous elections having been in September 2005...
the party placed fourth, with 8.93% of the vote and 31 out of 460 seats, and entered into a governing coalition with the victor, the
liberal-conservativeLiberal conservatism is a variant of political conservatism which incorporates liberal elements. As "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different senses...
Civic PlatformThe Civic Platform is a christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Poland. Since the 2007 general election, it is the largest party in the Sejm, the Lower House of the Polish parliament....
(
Platforma Obywatelska).
Leadership
Chairman: Roman Bartoszcze (1990–1991),
Waldemar PawlakWaldemar Pawlak is a Polish politician. He twice served as Prime Minister of Poland, briefly in 1992 and again from 1993 to 1995. Since November 2007, he has been Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy. Pawlak is the only person who held the office of Prime Minister twice during the...
(1991–1997), Jarosław Kalinowski (1997–2004),
Janusz WojciechowskiJanusz Wojciechowski is a Polish politician andMember of the European Parliament, elected from the Lodz Voivodship...
(2004–2005),
Waldemar PawlakWaldemar Pawlak is a Polish politician. He twice served as Prime Minister of Poland, briefly in 1992 and again from 1993 to 1995. Since November 2007, he has been Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy. Pawlak is the only person who held the office of Prime Minister twice during the...
(2005–...)