From socialist Solidarity to neo-populist neoliberalisation? The paradoxes of Poland's post-communist transition

Abstract

This paper interrogates the current neo-populist turn in Poland. The Kaczynski government contains a disparate group of ideological positions with a shared antagonism to the preceding neoliberal and post-Solidarity political mainstream. With Poland in the vanguard of neoliberal post-communist transition, the paper sets out to consider whether recent events signal a clear and decisive rejection of neoliberalisation despite the absence of a serious left alternative. It argues that the former Solidarity opposition and state-socialist social forces have been co-opted into reproducing neoliberalism, while the neo-populists, although rhetorically radical, have instead contributed to the reinforcement of neoliberalisation.