Poland’s Konfederacja Alliance Combines Far-Right Views with Libertarian Economics
Poland already has a nationalist government, and the rise of the Konfederacja party threatens to pull it even further to the right. It wants to slash taxes and break up the welfare state — a radical agenda that’s rallying parts of the right-wing base.
Sławomir Mentzen, the coleader of Konfederacja who helped reform its image, makes a campaign speech on August 27, 2023, in Krakow, Poland.(Klaudia Radecka / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Ahead of Sunday’s general election, both Polish and international media are speculating on the rise of the radical-right alliance Konfederacja (Confederation). For German daily Die Welt, Konfederacja has succeeded already, as it has established itself as a potential force of government alongside either the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party or its neoliberal rivals in Civic Platform (PO).
Certainly, Konfederacja seems radical — leader Sławomir Mentzen has proclaimed “We don’t want: Jews, homosexuals, abortion, taxes and European Union.” But this party’s rise is especially notable in a country whose ruling Law and Justice party is itself widely labeled “radical” or “far-right” given its record of restrictions on abortion, racist policies towards Middle Eastern refugees, and anti-LGBTQ campaigns. It’s worth asking what the difference is between these forces — and what difference, if any, Konfederacja could make to Poland’s next government as a potential coalition partner.
Founding Fathers
Konfederacja was established as an electoral alliance of various right-wing groups in 2018, three years into Law and Justice’s stint in government. The alliance’s first campaign in the 2019 European Union (EU) elections failed to secure it any seats; yet later that same year, it made its breakthrough into Poland’s legislature, electing eleven MPs.
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