The presidential elections in Poland are coming soon, which means that it's time for me to bitch about this place (or more exactly the people that reside in it, which science still has not fully been able to describe the behaviorism of) again.
Of course, the Poles, being a classified reaKKKtionary group will cast their votes for the candidate that they (wrongly) believe is the right one, and while most likely the uninspired liberal Trzaskowski will win, this election also sees (so far) a rise in the popularity of a right wing agent of Satan candidate Mentzen (his name is German - that already is an ill omen)
I guess people deciding to caste their vote for the KKKlandidate from KKKonfederacja is bad enough, but currently he has 3rd place in most polls (which are a shit source of info, at least in Poland, but his supporters are loud at least). Like his memes say, he might actually have a higher chance of beating PO's Trzaskowski if he gets to the 2nd turn (which he likely won't). Of course the postulates are the same old rightoid spiel - low taxes, privatize stuff, shit that would never help any common prole (which is funny because common cis male proles are his biggest electorates, followed by teenagers and young adults with delusions of grandeur and entrepreneurial success)
In true Polish fashion there is no real good candidate, maybe Razem's Zandberg who actually has leftist postulates, criticized Israel (uncommon among Polish politics even though the population is like 80% anti-Israel at least), ran the pre-www Polish section of the Marxist Internet Archive as a teenager. But then, Razem is a socdem party through and through - unless Zandberg somehow gets elected and randomly brings back the Polish People's Republic.
His biggest supporters are actually among academic young adults, most of studentoid friends of mine actually vote for him.
Sometimes I wonder what CIA programming Poles went through to just go "jezu komunis" at any leftist postulate and causes them to react towards nazism (speaking of - plenty more nazi stickers around my place recently, being Polish and a nazi has to be a new suicide cult)
tl;dr the Poles have had it too good for long enough.
>>2246004In the big politics barely existent, left-wing parties get at most 4th place spots in most elections. Most of the adult population just votes for whatever opposes current party (thus the PiS-PO duopoly) or go into libertarian or far-right beliefs.
The left itself is mostly carried by urban youth, and even those are split since there are young adult males who think they are funny to vote for far right stuff (actually indoctrinated by memes) or think they have a bright future set for them without taxes and with a successful business.
There are active socialist orgs, there are active anarchists, I'd say the left in this regard is doing better now than it did. But in the minds of general populace it's still a simple equation of left = USSR = bad, strengthened by IdPol (the Poles might lap up idpol harder than any other people)
Trade unions are still pretty small, people don't care about them and probably won't. The only actual left wing union I recognize is IP and they're smaller than big ones like Solidarność which I believe needs no introduction.
Tl;dr it sucks but it could be the Baltic States or Ukraine or something
>>2246021It's kinda funny because a lot of older folks will tell you they miss PRL times (be it out of nostalgia or not, my grandparents always mention how everyone had a job and housing guaranteed)
Meanwhile you also have those born in the late PRL or shortly after it who will vilify it like it's the worst thing ever, simply because the only experience they had were empty shelves caused by mass strikes, logistical breakdown and then the change to kkkapitalism.
I suppose this is why the biggest far right group is male proles aged like 30-55
>>2246049Most of the people I meet are anti-Israel, or at least conscious and condemning of their actions towards Palestinians.
Though some people are anti-Israel for the wrong reasons (just hate the Jews)
And you have some of the happy liberals who are more inclined to like Israel because it’s a wholesome liberal democratic ally
>>2245989>K-ON meme.As somebody that hates the fascist internet slime that took K-ON away from me, there should be more Left-wing K-ON memes.
>…unless Zandberg somehow gets elected and randomly brings back the Polish People's Republic.Hate to tell you this but you're in NATOpia forever or maybe at least until AMOC collapse makes Northern Europe uninhabitable tundra. If he tries, he'll join the ranks of people like Mossadegh, Arbenz, Goulart, etc.
>>2247042I’d say Razem is more on the left with their social policies compared to PiS (socdem vs social liberalism or something)
But the rest is very much about idpol and social policy. PiS is a Christian Democratic Party though and through, hard on conservatism meanwhile Razem is more progressive in that regard
>>2246996Polish nationalists struggle to pick whether to go "those were Piast lands they were always Polish since the 900s" or "those were Polish lands we built Lwów and Wilno and the kresy"
I don't get the Kresy glazing in Poland either. Why the fuck would you want a bunch of swamps with an occasional city back? You got like the 2nd largest German industrial region and an actual coastline in exchange. Free of Germans, too.
>>2245989>Mentzen (his name is Germannot a german name
>>2245995because he was a judeocomunist puppet and as such an embarrassment to the polish people
>>2246004>polish leftthere is none, litterally not a single person
>>2246017they'd get their asiatic asses kicked sooner
>>2246030>a lot of older folks will tell you they miss PRL timesfake news, in all of my extended family only one (numerically: 1) aunt has that notion.
>>2246127there's also a couple million strong jewish diaspora that is vehemently pro-israel
>>2246301there's a couple already
>>2247377>fake news, in all of my extended family only one (numerically: 1) aunt has that notion.in my family most people have that notion, simply different situation. your family will not be likely to miss it if they benefited off buying former state owned housing for cheap and reselling it or if they made any net gain on it.
>there's also a couple million strong jewish diaspora that is vehemently pro-israel??
dude there's like 3 jews left in poland. check most recent census data, there's more buddhists than jews in poland
>>2245989PiS x Razem coalition 2027.
I hate the new guard PiS so fucking much, Czarnek might be even more evil than Mentzen/Bosak.
Zandberg has a lot of momentum in the polls, month over month he doubles his support, he is firmly stepping into 4th place, depending on how catastrophic the last week will be for Mentzen and Nawro he might make it to the podium.
The dynamic between him and other two "leftist" candidates is also a really enjoyable spectacle, paradoxically they mostly get their votes from completely different groups, and don't compete with each other that much.
>Senyszynold (76) grandma and decrepit neoliberal/third-way leftist that became a joke candidate
>Biejat harris-like idpol-left candidate that is in the dysfunctional ruling coalition
<Zandberg tall man that ignores idpol, talks a lot about infrastructure, in opposition, very serious for the most part.
>>2262197Well you are not wrong, the expectation is that the runoff will be a 1v1 between macron-like liberal reactionary or an american style conservative reactionary.
Polish presidential at the end of the day is just a popularity contest, president here is just a professional socialite with veto power.
>>2262219Bread and circuses. And the presidential is one hell of a funny circus.
There are 13 candidates, most of them different over half of them deeply unserious, it's will be a really interesting snapshot of what 60ish% of polish population think about politics. It's a beautiful spectacle.
>>2262229The main issues people have with PRL were how stagnating, piss poor poland was, antitheism of the party (warranted but tactless and criminal at times), and corruption.
After PRL ended, SLD (democratic-left coalition) quickly took power, look at the chart, they were agressively neoliberal, anti-welfare, criminal ("suicide" of Lepper), massively corrupt, allowed for cia torture prisons to run in Poland, people rightfully hate them but in the bounceback after the third-way "left" failed so miserably right-wing talking points made people lean into "anti-communist resistance" historiography, the people who remember SLD are anti-left, most don't remember communism.
The ones that remember communism are old, and don't struggle with the biggest fuckups of capitalism (housing, alienation, gig economy), they see that life is better here now than then, they arent the militant anticommunists.
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