Warwith Communism from 1944 to 1989
During Soviet times Poland was very effective in defending its Catholic identity. At the Eucharistic Congress in Munich in 1960 there was a poster showing a map of Europe with a dagger dividing it along the line of theGerman-Polish border, and east of this dagger there was an inscription "Kein Platz für Gott" - no pace for God. This was not true. West of the dagger was the German Democratic Republic which would much better fit the description as aplace without God. (#) Poland managed to stay faithful to God in spite of the communist rule. The communists tried to battle with the Church. Priests, bishops and finally the Primate, Stefan Wyszynski, were imprisoned. This has only strengthened the Church. People prayed for the Church and found refuge in the Church from all the unpleasantness of every day life.
When Primate Wyszynski was finally released he embarked on a novena to prepare the nation for the 1000thanniversary of Poland's baptism (which happened in the year 966). Each year ofthe novena was devoted to some specific pastoral theme aimed at improving the moral condition of the nation. The millennial celebrations were preceded by special missions in each parish. (#) Following the millennium celebrations we had the visitation of each parish by a copy ofthe icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa. This went on for many years. Everywhere the one day visitation was preceded by a special missionary preparation and revitalisation of the religious life of the parish. Everywhere the visitation of the icon was a great event, including a 24hr adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Every second day one of the local bishops accompanied the transfer of the icon from one parish to another, being present at either the welcoming or the farewell ceremony in each parish. (#)In my parish the visitation was on May 1st, an important state holiday of socialist connotations. The town was decorated both by the civil authorities and by the parishioners, with a race to cover every wall, fence orlamp post with banners and flags. The authorities did not dare touch the religious decorations. The people did not touch the official ones. Thus we had banners reading "Hail Holy Queen" and "Socialism for ever" next to each other, red flags next to blue ones. Yet the civil decorations were drowned by the multitude of Marian decorations. This confrontation of civil feasting and religious piety clearly showed that the nation is Catholic and wants to remain so. And even party members and civil authorities did not fail to visit the church and pay homage to the visiting icon of Our Lady.
Needless to say when Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope the attachment of the people to the Church grew, and on all visits of the Pope to Poland it was obvious to everyone what reigns in the souls of the majority of Polish people - Catholicism and not socialism.
When the attacks on the Church were frontal and obvious to all, the Church was strong and people stood up to defend it. Now the attacks are less obvious andas a result the defence is weaker.
I may add that the defence of Polish identity in Soviet times was obvious not only in the religious sphere but also politically. Poland was the only countryin the Soviet block to refuse collectivisation of agriculture and as a result farmers remained masters over their own land. To a limited extent some private enterprises continued to function (cobblers, barbers, car repairs, small familybusinesses). We refused to participate in colonial wars that the Soviet Unionwas conducting for example in Angola or Nicaragua, where other members of the block such as Czechoslovakia and East Germany had their soldiers.
We lived at a time when the cold war depended to a large extent on the constantly repeated attempts to create difficulties to the other side by provoking some dissent or liberation movements. Radio Free Europe was the main agent of this from the western side and from the Soviet side the western communist parties were used for the provocations. (#) What was surprising to the West was that we have managed to reject their provocations aimed at confronting us with the USSR. Such confrontations would only end in blood-baths at the insurgents' expense, as we see today in Tibet, while the West would shed crocodile tears at the cruelty of the Soviets. Political wisdom depends on achieving the possible and not wasting time and people on trying to achieve the impossible.
Fallof the USSR
Of course the fall of the USSR was not achieved by the Solidarity movement in Poland or by hammering on the Berlin wall, but by the arms race. This arms race, including the bluff about Reagan's "star wars", showed the inefficiency of the Soviet economic system and ended in its collapse. Also the intensity of attachment to the communist system in the USSR declined after the death of the old guard, people like Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko who remembered the October revolution of 1917. (#) The new generation, people like Gorbachev and Yeltsin were brought up by the II World War, a national defence war against a foreign invasion. They wanted change (perestroika) and more openness (glasnost). Russia if it does not expand its influence collapses. The end of the USSR was predictable. The question was when it would happen and what the world will look like after its collapse.
Needles to say the communists in the satellite countries prepared for the expected change and were ready. The same was true of the opposition supported by the West, particularly by Radio Free Europe that acted as a media alternative for the enslaved countries. Unfortunately the opposition supported by the West was mainly composed of former communists, socialists and at best liberals' but never of Christian democrats ortraditionalists. The right wing of the political spectrum was organisationally least prepared for the coming changes lacking media access and resources. It relied on the strength of the Church and the publicity church pulpits could provide.
Unfortunately however the Church was not prepared for the changes. The seminary training gave priests a strong preparation to combat communism, both philosophically and practically. However the Polish Church was not prepared to deal with the evils rampant in the West. With the fall of the USSR suddenly all these evils arrived in Poland and were accepted as elements of the West for which we were all longing so many decades.(#) Cardinal Wyszynski was no longer alive. Cardinal Glemp never reached the stature of his predecessor. He was overshadowed by the monumental presence of a Polish Pope. And Pope John Paul was too far away, and too much under the influence of the Kraków Catholic circles to be properly oriented in the post-Soviet Polish politics.
Here a igression is needed to explain the phenomenon of the Kraków Catholics. Throughout the Soviet times a single Catholic weekly that had Church connections was allowed to be published. This was Tygodnik Powszechny, dited in Kraków. We all read it, because it was the only thing available. Of course it functioned under state censorship and circulation limits. (#) This weekly became the mouthpiece of progressive Catholics. It would tell us joyfully about all the post-VaticanII changes. It would invite people like Hans Küng to come on a lecture tour of Poland. It would advertise as new Catholic thinking all the liberation theology and the modernistideas of the post-conciliar era. (#) Karol Wojtyla sometimes published in the weekly, primarily his poetry, but also some philosophy. As Archbishop he cherished the fact that in his diocese there is a forumfor Catholics to write in. The circulation was low so the influence on the generalpublic was limited, but within the Polish Church and its intelligentsia it was quite considerable. (#) When in Rome John Paul II continued to read the paper and kept good relations with the editorial staff. They advertised themselves as being the Pope's paper. They bravely sustained reprimands from the Pope for insufficient engagement in battles overabortion and others. The weekly supplied the intellectual support for theliberal and socialist opposition to the communist system.
When the USSR collapsed the hopes of recreating pre-World War II parties on the Polish political scene was quite real. Yet the communists and post-communists were much better prepared. The latter were in fact more anti-Russian than anti-communist. Together they organised a Round Table in 1989 in which the communists agreed with the opposition(former communists) to share responsibility for the country on the principle ofa two party system. (#) The opposition declared itself as right wing, to neutralise the Catholic and traditionalist voters, and headed a number of governments interchangeably with the communists. The Solidarity trade union provided the main electorate for theso called "right wing" and the former party members and secret agents the main electorate for the communists. (#) Lech Walesa was always a figure head. Behind him were people like Jacek Kuron, Bronislaw Geremek, Leszek Balcerowicz and the like, who all at some time or other were members of the communist party and now ruled as the new "right wing", consuming the traditionalist, church-going electorate.
Traditionalist revival
Traditionalist revival came late. It has taken some time for the Church to realise what is happening. Finally a new medium appeared, RadioMaryja of the Redemptorist Fathers. This Radio appeals to the traditional church going public by providing the kind of prayer programs, news programs and entertainment they need. Around RadioMaryja and later the TV program Trwamthat grew out of it, there developed a fair section of the Polish electorate that wanted to terminate the artificial two party system. (#) Thanks to Radio Maryjait became obvious to all that the governments of Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Hanna Suchocka and Jerzy Buzek were not right wing, liberalat best relative to the communist governments of Józef Oleksy, WlodzimierzCimoszewicz, Leszek Miller and Marek Belka, not to mention the two term presidency of Aleksander Kwasniewski, a former minister in the pre-transformation communist government. (#) In 2001the ruling political grouping, that included the Christian democrats and had an absolute majority in the Parliament, has finished its 4 year term under Prime Minister Buzek, again with the ex-communist liberals behind the scenes. It was totally rejected in the 2001 elections. It failed to reach the mandatory threshold and got no seats in the new Parliament.
The communists easily won the election but also new parties appeared in the Parliament including the decidedly traditionalist League of Polish Families with myself as one of its MPs.We were the smallest club in the Parliament with only 7% support in the elections, but very visible. We were the true opposition to the communist ruling majority and managed to advertise a completely different political philosophy to the Polish electorate. (#)In the 2004 elections to the European Parliament we got almost 16% and I became its member. In the Parliamentary elections of 2005 we went back to 8%, more or less holding on to what we got in 2001, while the ruling communists were reduced to an insignificant 11%. The liberals (Civic Platform) got 24%. During that election Radio Maryja supported the Law and Justice Party which got 27% in the Parliament, also 49%seats in the Senate and won the presidency. They formed the government. It had to be a coalition government and we were needed to assure a sufficient majority in the Parliament.
There were three parties in the coalition, the Law and Justice - basically Christian democrat, the Self-defence party populist, and ourselves. We got the Deputy-Premiership, two portfolios, education and marine affairs, and several positions of sub-ministerial rank. We also got a deputy speaker of the Parliament, an ombudsman for children's rights, a seat on the media council and a seat in the Constitutional Tribunal. (#) We were the smallest partner in the coalition but we have used our possibilities to the full. My son Roman became the minister of education and deputy Prime Minister.
Most of our time in government we had to fight for issues which the majority party, the Law and Justice, promised in the election campaign but had no intention of delivering. In fact that party to a large extent got onto our electorate with the help of Radio Maryja but was moreinterested in holding a centrist position. We had to keep on reminding them oftheir promises and to pressure them to support our legislative proposals along these lines in exchange for support on issues they were most interested in implementing. Looking backwards, the achievements were quite substantial.
Achievementsof the League of Polish Families
Family issues
Our main policy platform was on family issues. After all we are the League of Polish Families. We started by demanding a one time monetary bonus for each child born, regardless of the material status of the family. The idea was that we wanted a clear policy signal that the state supports child bearing. The dominant Law and Justice party did not want to support this but we managed to get help from the opposition, which wanted to make things difficult for the ruling party, and we got this proposal through. This was a signal that we are a partner that has tobe reckoned with. (#) Later on we managed to convince our coalition partners to give tax relief for children. Before that it was possible for married people to combine their incomes for taxation purposes. This was especially beneficial for single income families because aportion of income is free of any taxation for both spouses while above that thereis progressive taxation. Now we wanted to include children in the calculation of the non-taxable portion of income. This lowers the taxation level substantially. (#) We got what we wanted, but again on some points we needed the support of the opposition. The state finances did not collapse as our coalition partners feared and the opposition desired.
Another issue that we managed to get through was the elimination of inheritance and donation taxes within the family. This was promised by the ruling Law and Justice party but it took our initiative to get this through Parliament and we had to pressure them by some other issues where they needed our help in order to achieve what they wanted.
School issues
Having the ministry of education school issues featured very prominently in our activities and we have used them as a means for the public notification of much of our program. (#) One of the primary aims of our minister was to increase safety in schools. At the beginning of his term in office there was a much publicised incident where a girl committed suicide after classmates have been molesting her and recorded this on video. This provided a favourable background for several changes. TV monitors were set up to record what is going on in schools and on the playground. Filters were provided for internet outlets available to school children in schools and also were provided free for parents who might want them. School uniforms were introduced.
Teachers were given the status of state officials, a demand often voiced by the teachers unions.
Religion taughtas a subject in schools (mostly Catholic but in some places Orthodox orProtestant) was allowed to be placed on the end of school report and to becounted to the overall average.
Use of ateachers' manual called "Compass", produced by the Council of Europe. was forbidden, because it recommended inviting homosexuals to schools to explain to children what homosexuality is all about. The official that distributed this to Polish schools was fired from the Ministry of Education. (#) This created an international uproar and an intervention from the President of the Council of Europe. However the book carried a disclaimer that the Council of Europe takes no responsibility for its content and theparagraph on homosexuals was expanded in the Polish translation to suggest which Polish homosexual organisation is to be approached to provide speakers. The decision to forbid the book stood.
The greatest uproar was created by the new list of books that pupils must read in different classes. The change was aimed at providing classical Polish literature with Catholic content. (#) The greatest objection was that the new list excluded books by an author that promotes homosexuality. Even the Prime Minister intervened to have this author reintroduced. This was one of the main points of conflict that led to the expulsion of the League of Polish Families from the governing coalition.
Other issues
We had successes in some other fields also. Having the marine affairs ministry our minister changed rules so as to make Polish merchant fleets profitable, which resulted in the reintroduction of the Polish flag on the high seas. Before most fleets preferred a flag of convenience to pay lower taxes and as a result the Polish flag almost completely disappeared. There have also been strong battles with the European Union about fishing quotas and fishermen remember that it was our party that fought for their interests.
On the initiative of our party a regulation was introduced about the Charter of Poles. This allows descendants of Polish citizens to claim the status of Poles.This is very important particularly for many inhabitants of the former USSR (in Ukraine, Byelorussia, Russia, Lithuania and elsewhere) as is evidenced by the flood of people calling on our consulates to be given this status of Poles.
Another success that would not have been possible otherwise was to raise in a prominent place in Warsaw the statute of Roman Dmowski, a Polish statesman, who represented Poland at the Versailles Peace Conference after World War I. In the years 1892-1939 he was organiser and leader of the former mutation of our party.
Overall we feel that we have not wasted our time when in the governing coalition.
Issues battled for
There were other issues we battled for, unfortunately unsuccessfully. Most visible we reour opposition to Poland's participation in colonial wars such as Iraq and Afghanistan, our confrontation with the homosexual lobby, organising counterdemonstrations to gay parades and clamouring for their prohibition and ouropposition to the EU Constitution and to the Lisbon Treaty. (#) In fact with our opposition to the Lisbon Treaty, together with the Self-defence party and a fair portion of the Law and Justice party, the Treaty would have had no chance of being ratified in Poland. It is probably for this reason that the fall of the coalition government and premature elections were organised in 2007, coupled with a very intense and successful campaign in all the media to remove us from Parliament.
Of course while in Parliament we have also acted strongly to change our Constitution so as to provide a full protection of unborn children. The elimination of all abortions was also in the program of the Law and Justice party and there was a strong segment of this party that wanted this. To change the Constitution a 2/3 majority is needed, so the support of the whole of the Law and Justice party was essential. (#) When it came tothe final vote on this issue, that party did not introduce voting disciplineand the proposal failed. On many trivial issues the Law and Justice party votesas a block, with discipline required. Here on this most important of issues no discipline was asked for. (#) This created a conflict within the Law and Justice party. The speaker of the Parliament resigned in protest and left the party. Law and Justice was exposed for what it really is - a fraud, with big Catholic promises during elections and no will to stand fast on Catholic issues when it comes to make decisions.
The League of Polish Families was the only party with 100% of its parliamentarians voting indefence of unborn life. This is also well remembered in Poland.
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Now if I may comment on the proposal to create AMEN, a joint political force cooperating on the European scale with a strongly pro-life program. The idea is excellent, butit requires a minimum of issues defining the grouping. In almost all European countries there are parties that are strongly pro-life. They are usually small parties with many specific local issues of primary importance to them. We should ignore all these other elements of their programs and create a coalitionof parties that:
1) defend right to life from conception,
2) define marriage as a permanentunion of one man and one woman,
3) reject any form of euthanasia.
Each party may have in their programs whatever other elements they wish, but these three issues should be considered a must in order to partake in the coalition. Aparty that does not immediately exclude from its ranks any elected representative that would vote against any of these three positions would be automatically excluded from the coalition. We must turn the tide of politica thinking of Europeans. Creation of such political movement, with a strongpro-life visage, can bring hope for the future of Europe.
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