GENEZA POWSTANIA PARTII POLITYCZNEJ NA PRZYKŁADZIE KONGRESU LIBERALNO-DEMOKRATYCZNEGO (1983–1990)
A Genealogy of the Origins of a Political Party Exemplified by the Case of Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny (1983–1990)

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims at presenting a genealogy of the origins of one of the most influential political groupings in Poland of the early 1990s – Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny (Liberal-Democractic Congress). The beginnings of the party are related to a periodical „Przegląd Polityczny” which has been published since 1983 escaping the political censorship. „Przegląd Polityczny” was a fulcrum of the milieu of young liberal intelligentsia in Gdańsk. In the first period of its existence, the milieu of Gdańsk liberals opted for active participation in the underground Polish political life without seeing a necessity of creating a political programme. Only in 1988, an initiative was taken to organise the I Kongres Liberałów (I Congress of Liberals). Basing on changes introduced to Law on Associations, an application was filed to register a political party. The process culminated in the establishing of Kongres Liberalno-Demokratyczny during a founders’ congress which took place 29–30 June 1990. Janusz Lewandowski was elected the chairman of the party although Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, supported by the Polish President Lech Wałęsa remained an informal leader of the party. Being one of the most mature political parties – in terms of its programmatic basis – Kongres Liberalno- Demokratyczny proved still immature in organizational terms, being unable to draw on the experience of either conservatists or liberals. This situation could be explained by pointing to ideological views of KLD members, modelled on Western exemplars as well as the characteristics of the broader environment in which they came to act. Some fears raised by free market and democracy also contributed to the fact that their initial courage in voicing radical slogans eventually resulted in their rapidly dwindling electorate and diminishing capacity of the party to make an impact on the electorate.

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