Polish left party splits

On Thursday, 24 October, Magdalena Biejat, former co-leader of the left-wing Razem party in Poland, announced on Instagram: “We are leaving Razem today… You can guess it was a difficult and painful decision… We were fundamentally divided by the vision of how we want to act in politics.”

Razem had voted to leave the “Klub Lewicy” (Left Caucus) and establish its own parliamentary group.

Biejat declared: “If we are strong in the Lewica caucus, then we are strong in the governing coalition”, which she and other MPs will join, including Daria Gosek-Popiołek (whom I voted for in the 2023 election).

This event comes almost exactly one year after Poland’s 2023 elections, where voters ousted the right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS) after nearly a decade in power. Since 2015, PiS had progressively eroded democratic norms, fostered homophobic and xenophobic rhetoric, and critically restricted reproductive rights. On 22 October 2022, a PiS-backed judge declared abortions due to foetal defects unconstitutional, intensifying Poland’s already strict abortion laws. The decision ignited some of the largest anti-government protests in recent history, sparking a surge of women voters who contributed significantly to PiS’s 2023 defeat.

But abortion remains almost wholly illegal under the new coalition government — composed of Civic Platform, Third Way, and the New Left — elected with promises to advance reproductive rights. Many who have quit Razem are women, and perhaps there is a strong correlation on urgency for change in the realm of reproductive rights.

Razem chose not to enter the coalition after a new agreement dismissed key commitments such as legalisation of abortion and reducing working hours. Adrian Zandberg, co-founder of Party Razem, defended his decision stating an importance of “strong opposition” in keeping the current government in power accountable. This viewpoint has clearly contributed to the rift that led Biejat and others to leave the party, with Biejat claiming she can now have more direct impact within the coalition. She describes the opposition as “writing critical reviews of coalition” rather than being proactive to fulfil the manifesto.

The exit of 27 Razem members, including five Sejm MPs (many of whom are women), has come as a shock. Razem, a rare left-wing stronghold in Poland’s political landscape, offered left-leaning voters a place of representation and activism. Many voters see the split as fracturing the leftist opposition, and weakening already fragile position of a Left in Poland that continues to struggle to gain support from the Polish public due to the fears stemming from the historical experiences of Poland being a satellite state of the Soviet Union.

Sceptical

Many remain sceptical that the departing MPs will consistently uphold leftist ideals, and fear that their move indicates a shift towards centrist-liberal stances. Without Razem’s oversight, they might increasingly align with the coalition’s more moderate positions instead of championing the progressive reforms that Poland needs.

Zandberg remains firm in his conviction that independent opposition strengthens rather than weakens the party’s cause. Zandberg cites the Tusk position on asylum seekers and the border with Belarus, which continues to leave migrants stranded on the border who aim to cross it. The strength of Razem as the opposition is more important than ever in combating right-wing rhetoric from Tusk that resembles that of his predecessors.

Another member of Razem, Marcelina Zawisza, states that “entering this government would have been a huge mistake, legitimising it”. Razem cites “the remaining three thousand members, who still believe that the programme that we promised voters is more important than position and personal career aspirations”.

Many of those who left received insulting comments from fellow former party members or even death threats from the public.

To me the split came as a shock, but I feel that all of this comes as a result of 2023 election. Back in 2023, after the election, I wrote that Razem’s presence in the coalition could have driven essential changes — like expanding reproductive freedoms, LGBTQ rights, and a commitment to a secular state. However, Razem’s lower vote that year (8.6% in 2023, 12.6% in 2019) led to fewer MPs in the Sejm, significantly reducing their leverage within the coalition.

Zandberg chose to remain in opposition rather than enter a coalition agreement that largely sidestepped their policy priorities — especially reproductive freedoms, which were left vague in the agreement at best.

This made me less optimistic about achieving the genuine, transformative change Poland needs — a true democratic system and an improved socio-economic landscape for those most in need, goals that Civic Platform and Third Way seem to grasp only partially, if at all.

Gosek responded to a question from a voter asking, “Do you truly believe that leaving Razem will make it easier to pass laws for legal abortion and LGBTQ civil partnerships?” Gosek replied, “It’s definitely more realistic from within a coalition rather than solely as an opposition.”

It feels as though the left’s voice is now weaker against Poland’s increasingly unified right-wing front. The left’s presence, already struggling, is becoming even more vulnerable as PiS and Confederation continue to gain strength, with the latter securing a significant number of seats in the European Parliament. This outcome has stirred fears that a similar shift may occur in the domestic elections.

I hope that Biejat, Gosek, and the other departing members stay loyal to their progressive electorate, those who envision a more inclusive and equitable Poland — not just a sounding board, giving a mandate to the centrist, neoliberal, and often xenophobic and conservative politics of Tusk’s Civic Platform and Third Way peers.

With a congress on 26-27 October, we will see what Razem will do now.

• Background: here