Poland

The recent Polish parliamentary elections (held on 25 October) delivered a thumping victory for the Law and Justice party (PiS) which has become the first post-soviet party to win an outright majority in the legislature (235 out of 460 seats).

“Young people are completely tired of the situation in Poland. The endless political war between the two main parties that never produces anything. They want change. I want change.” These are the words of a 21 year old student in Warsaw in the aftermath of the presidential election in May 2015.

Last week saw the Polish Parliament vote on motions of no confidence in the interior minister and the ruling coalition as a whole. These motions, which were tabled in the wake of a massive corruption scandal involving politicians at the highest level, were both defeated. However, surviving the votes of no confidence will do little to rebuild the reputation of the ruling coalition and the ideas they represent in the eyes of Polish people. They are rightly being seen, now more than ever, for the corrupt clique they really are.

On Saturday 14 September over 100,000 people marched through Warsaw in a joint action called by Solidarity, the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ) and the Forum of Trade Unions. This was the culmination of four days of trade union demonstrations against the Donald Tusk government.

The Polish economy was the only European economy to avoid a technical recession in the wake of the global collapse in 2008. But the whirlpool of capitalist crisis continues to grow and as its pull on the creaking ship of the Polish economy intensifies, the strain is beginning to show. From the capitalist point of view, the Polish ship of state appears to be in good working order – the Polish left is weak and neo-liberalism dominates. But below the waterline social unrest and eye-watering inequality reveal the real state of the rotting capitalist system.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his party PiS, Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc (Law and Justice), are in trouble. A scandal has erupted threatening the already unstable government. The situation is extremely unpredictable, and every day brings new revelations and new possible outcomes.