My relationships with the folk movement, and I mean mainly the Polish People's Party, date back to 1990, and although they were never formal (I didn't belong to the PSL), they always existed and sometimes were even intense.
At the same time, I cannot say that I have an illusion about the political function and position of the peasant party. Contacts and support were pragmatic. The most crucial factors for me that make PSL close to me are, firstly, the historical sympathy between national and folk movement, and secondly, the position of the people against the problems of Ukrainian chauvinism and the issue of commemorating its victims.
The political aspect came out as early as 1990, erstwhile the National organization (senorial) of which I was a associate decided to cooperate with the people during the first local elections and then to support in the first general presidential election, then the PSL candidate – the president Romana Bartoszche. And so over the years, I can say that my electoral relationships with PSL have been more frequent than my relationships with another organizations. Of course, erstwhile the SN was launched, sometimes organizations led by Janusz Korwin-Mikke, The League of Polish Families, etc., the people came to the background, but more frequently I gave my vote to the heirs of Witos than to others.
On the Ukrainian issue, my paths with the people came together on the ground of activity in the border movement, and especially through a close acquaintance with the late Colonel John Niewiński, who had very close contacts with the activists of the PSL and through them, and in close cooperation with them, he tried – in many cases very effectively – to force the Kresovians' postulates. That's erstwhile I met people like Jarosław Kalinowski, Tadeusz Samborski, Janusz Gmitruk, Franciszek Stefaniuk, and the erstwhile leader of the ZSL, Roman Malinowski, or present a erstwhile folkman, Janusz Wojciechowski. And many, many others. By the time of the large border march of 2013, it was indeed close cooperation at different levels.
Unfortunately, in 2013 and 2014 the Ukrainian case got heated, then the reset with Russia ended and Poland's engagement on the Ukrainian side began. What is crucial – not just Ukraine – but 1 who on banners (often red and black) had written flagwords and made a sharp turn towards building Ukrainian identities based on the cult of Bandery et consortes. Political changes in the global arena, and internally the death of Colonel Niewiński (2015), made the contacts more relaxed. In 2016 a large conference was held in the Sejm Column Hall, organized by PSL from already then Władysław Kosiniak-Kamish in the lead, but later the border movement and the engagement of PSL clearly slowed down, in the case of PSL, unfortunately, for political reasons, i.e. cyclical engagement on the part of Ukraine.
In my case, however, the spell of bitterness overtook the behaviour of PSL and its politicians after the start of the war in Ukraine, and especially after the election success in 2023 and entering the coalition with PO/KO. Speech Mark Sawicki of March 2022, which “called for further sanctions and embargo on Russian natural materials. If he comes to pay PLN 20 per liter of fuel, I'll pay. Let's hang on a year, two, but we can't indulge the Russians.“ – it would surely not be worth remembering, if it were not for its bluntness.
Therefore, let us look at the much more crucial statements made by various PSL representatives around the time indicated.
Ethical and moral shakyness
Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski, Polish Radio 24, 17 June 2020: “Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, PSL presidential candidate... says clearly: Let's do a referendum and ask Poles if they want partnerships and gay marriages. due to the fact that if it turns out that most people are against it, it won't happen. But if most people say yes, yes."
Interestingly, this is not entirely clear. PSL and CEO Władysław Kosiniak-Kamish clearly launder. On 19 March 2019, he said: “We are against homosexual matrimony and against adoption of children by same-sex couples. We have never applied for specified a solution, we are against homosexual marriage, and thus we are against adoption (children by same-sex couples).”
On 14 June 2024, following a gathering with K. Kotuła, min. on equality, the president stated: “The issue of partnerships is not covered by a coalition agreement. There is no discipline in world-view matters. I will not declare anything on behalf of my full formation, due to the fact that here each associate makes his own individual decision. erstwhile it comes to facilitating access to medical information in matters of inheritance, I am open, but there is no question of equalising the position of matrimony or adoption. I would not vote for specified changes and I would not vote for them."
Apparently, Vice Marshal of the Senate. Michał Kamiński belongs to those with different views. Here, on 5 June 2024, in RMF24, he said: “You are talking to a man who, in matters of union, editor, now attention, I am speaking out loud – I was inactive in Law and Justice a fewer years ago and advocated a partnership for monosexuals... [editor]: Should matrimony be an option? You know, this is simply a substance of nomenclature (...) the point is that homosexuals should have the same household rights and I will tell you honestly if we accept, and we have adoption cases in Poland that are very restrictive, I think that it is absolutely possible to talk about the adoption of children by homosexual couples as long as these adoption criteria are well formulated. Then why make a difference? This is my individual view to make it clear. This is not a PSL view".
Let us add that Kosiniak-Kamysz and PSL besides launder on abortion, besides seeking a referendum here. This is classical moving from self-determination and throwing decisions at people whose view will support each result.
Radical support for Israel
Michał Kamiński besides has very first views on Israel and its actions towards Palestine. On 29 October 2023, during a demonstration of solidarity with Israel in Warsaw, he stated: “We stand at a place that was the heart of judaic Warsaw a 100 years ago. (...) We are in the mediate of a judaic territory in Warsaw, which ceased to be due to the fact that the Germans decided that the judaic people should no longer be on the planet. Today, the exact same slogans that German Nazis preached, Hamas... The exact same goal – the clash of Jews from the face of the earth accompanies those who are killing people again present only due to the fact that they are Jews (...) That's why we Poles are here present to show that Warsaw is with Israel and Poland is with Israel”.
Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski stated on 21 May in Radio Zet: "Israel wages war in a very civilized way".
Michał Kamiński, on 7 May this year during the gathering of Deputy talker of the legislature and president of the Committee on abroad Affairs with the delegation of Kneset, stressed that the legislature is simply a friendly institution set to Israel, to our common legacy and history. He expressed "the deepest sympathy to all the victims of the savage attack, which took place on 7 October in the holy land of Israel" and "deep gratitude and respect for soldiers and civilians, who at these hard times signaled to the full planet that the times in which Jews could be massacred were past." "When I walked in the blood-dried places of these cruel murders, I knew that all soldier defends not only Israel, but the full Western civilization." He pointed out that Israel is the only democratic state in this region of the world.
The empire of evil returns
The most crucial place in the exiles of the leader of PSL, Minister of National Defence and Deputy Prime Minister in 1 person, and another representatives of PSL, however, is Russia. Władysław Kosiniak-Kamish, February 20, 2023, PR Day Signals1: “Americans clearly say: Putin's government has committed crimes against humanity and should be punished for that. Not only performers, but decision-makers should be punished. They must either be put before the Hague Tribunal, or a fresh tribunal should be set up in Nuremberg. (...) However, Russia must be isolated, not tamed, due to the fact that this policy has proved to be a complete disaster.”
Representative of PSL in the EP, Krzysztof Hetman 17 January 2023: “Mariupol, Bucha, Irpień are only 3 of the fewer dozen, respective 100 towns where the Russians committed cruel crimes in the Ukrainians. It's 21 mass graves, it's a 1000 exhumed bodies, it's over 16,000 murdered civilians [sic!], it's 5,000 torture sites, it's thousands of kidnapped and abducted children. All these crimes must be judged, and the guilty must be punished. The European Union must so make a large effort to support the creation of a peculiar tribunal that will guarantee that all perpetrators – starting with those who pressed the button (...) all the way to all those who issued orders at each level, to Vladimir Putin – are punished.”
Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski, 2 January 2024 Polsat News, asked whether he shares the opinion of those who say that Ukraine will sooner or later lose the war: “I do not share that opinion. It's so dark... A small moderation. Ukraine can win this war with greater aid from the West. Ukraine inactive does not have adequate weapons (...), Ukrainians request better weapons and missiles that are able to hit targets not only in Crimea, due to the fact that that is necessary, but besides in the territory of the Russian Federation."
Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski, interview for the diary of the Legal Gazette, February 5, 2024: “We want Ukraine to win the war. We request the top possible financial, humanitarian and arms supply. There is no discussion of war fatigue or possible negotiations. In our meetings, we argued that Germany had to start arming itself. As Minister Sikorski said, we are more afraid of the weak than strong Germany. due to the fact that strong Germany will make a strong Europe, and weak is simply a possible disaster. Russia can attack NATO in 3 to 5 years. Our callers are aware of that. We want Germany to play a function in a safety strategy comparable to that of the economy."
Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Radio Zet 9 May 2024: “I have a peculiar backpack prepared for the outbreak of war and the request for evacuation. I packed it over 2 years ago erstwhile I was going to Ukraine after starting Russian aggression.”
Kosiniak-Kamysz on the 25th anniversary of Poland in NATO, 16 March 2023: “25 years ago Poland made a choice not only for military, but for civilisation and geopolitical, it joined the strongest modern defence pact for freedom. (...) NATO is more than a military pact, NATO is simply a way of practicing the policies of the lives of nations and common organizations (...) in the face of a threat, a reborn empire of evil, there is no choice but the force needed for freedom.”
Kosiniak-Kamish, press conference on 22 March 2024: “The empire of Evil, which is reborn, must see clearly and clearly: the full Polish society is ready to defend its homeland. At the time of the threat, the state defends itself not only with its units, with its armed forces, or with all its institutions. It defends itself with all its power, the power of its citizens. There is no greater force than that which citizens give to their country in its defence. This is our largest army, this is our largest weapon.”
Kosiniak-Kamish on 1 March 2024: “You must not tame yourself with war. Europe is waking up and must wake up the arms manufacture and a sense of disapproval of the ongoing war. “Russia has been and is simply a threat to Western civilization.” Kosiniak-Kamish does not share his thoughts, which he understands by claiming that NATO is simply a "defensive pact", nor does he explain what it means by "Western civilization". Nor will I bully the Deputy Prime Minister for the enigmatic statements about the "armoured capacity" he gave during the May debate on Polish abroad policy in the Sejm.
Piotr Zgorzelski, September 22, 2022, Rzeczpospolita: “We must be ready and keep on supporting Ukrainians in all possible area. We can't let it go for a second due to the fact that Putin will usage it cynically and ruthlessly. But Putin is in retreat present due to the fact that he lost the most crucial weapon, or threat of attack. (...) The president of the Russian Federation has besides lost his strategical initiative and has become a client of many countries that have not long been the clients of the Kremlin. Ukraine has shown that it is not a seasonal state and that the imperial urges have been stopped."
Piotr Zgorzelski, 27 April 2022, PR1: “Let Putin take this gas and choke. (...) It is good that Poland has utilized up this time in fresh decades and has mostly become independent of Russian supplies.”
Piotr Zgorzelski PR24, February 18, 2022: “The possession by Russia of Ukraine would be a peculiar way out to the Balkans and to Crimea and show that it is besides possible to interfere with European politics. It has much earlier connotations, due to the fact that already in the 17th century Russia occupied east Ukraine and began colonizing and russification it. Western Ukraine fell to Poland. At the time, this situation of the division of Ukraine became very strong. It is no wonder Putin is dreaming of returning to the russian Union today."
All this is adequate to say goodbye to our own illusions connected with the Polish People's Party. And yet there is another side of the medal called the 3rd Way – group Simona Holowna and statements of his leader – Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. We remember the tirade of "trumpling into Putin's land" in full silence and deficiency of any subsequent reaction from the PSL leaders. In fresh days, Holovnia visited Kiev, where in apological words he gave a homagium of completely blind worship to Ukraine, spreading a fantasy of historical and political illusion: “We must overcome their communicative with our story. due to the fact that our communicative is simply a communicative of good, about respect, love, cooperation.”
And so, bravely fighting for years about the fact about the banderos and informing against her rebirth of the PSL was on the side of uncritical fans of murmured types in sweaters, who made Bandera a proponent of Ukrainian identity. Moderate and free from radicalism, the PSL was included in the first series of obsessively Russophobic and utmost pro-Israeli policies, losing its chance to be the bridge and catalyst of a different policy.
Traditional and rooted in the Christian morality of the Polish village of PSL turns out to be a organization spinning trousers and inexpensive rhetoric, without its own, consistent opinion, covering itself with deficiency of organization discipline – all due to fear of aggressive leftovers from pseudo-Levice and progressive allies from Tusk.
Instead of reason and looking to the future, which may require various decisions and actions of the ruling Poland, we have dogmatism and cowardice. And for what – stools? Based on the facts and considerations mentioned above, miracles or even more reflections are not to be expected due to the failure of a meaningless vote signed below. But there are people in the PSL who think differently. Why are they silent? Why let the degradation of the oldest Polish party? Mr. Tadeusz, are you inactive there?
Adam Laughter
In the photo, a conference on Volyn organized in the Sejm by PSL on July 11, 2016
Think Poland, No. 29-30 (14-21.07.2024)
