Evolution of the Polish political discourse after September 2005

Łukasz Orylski
Uniwersytet Gdański

In contrast with the economic indicators or the election pools, changes in the public discourse are not easy to grasp. Transformation process among the symbolic elites after the parliamentary and presidential election in Poland in 2005 caused the incorporation of the political ideas and statements, previously considered to be marginal, into the mainstream of the political life. The division between the “liberal Poland” and “solidary Poland” which has been created during the election campaigns seem to invalidate the distinction between post-communists and the successors of the democratic opposition’s tradition. In my opinion such situation can be described as a consequence of the previous hegemonic position of the “non-rightist” discourse as well as the tendency of the present government leaders to interpret the political reality as the creation of System which is antagonistic to the society but also deep-rooted in it’s structure. To what extend the evolution that has been remarked here screw the previous transformation? Can it create the new type of social engineering which aim is not to promote the consumer model of politics – as in the other countries with strong liberal traditions – but to create the fundamental philosophical conflict? Can the specific Polish conservatism become a source of inspiration for the organizations which similarly to the ones described by Claus Offe as the new social movements will concentrate on the issue of identity and “the world of life”, but understood in a completely different way? I would like to try to answer these questions during my speech.