Mateusz Morawiecki, the new Prime Minister of Poland for the conservative-nationalist Law and Justice Party government, has laid out a Trump-style programme rejecting both socialism and globalist neoliberalism.
The 49-year-old, who took over from predecessor Beata Szydło in order to spearhead the battle to reform what Law and Justice see as a corrupt, nepotistic judiciary devised by the Soviet-backed military dictator Wojciech Jaruzelski in the dying days of the old Communist regime, said his government would work to build up a competitive, modern economy — but one which puts the needs of country and family first, rather than the interests of multinational corporations.
Much of the programme laid out by Morawiecki echoed the original goals and aspirations of U.S. President Donald Trump and former White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon, with a strong emphasis on job creation, infrastructure investment, and defending coal workers under constant attack from the European Union and the climate change lobby.
He also pledged his government would address concerns beyond the purely economical, announcing a new Institute of Urban Planning and Architecture inspired by the British philosopher Sir Roger Scruton, who has spent much of his life campaigning against modern architecture and town planning — because “We need to pass on to our children and grandchildren a Poland that is well-kept and arranged in an aesthetic fashion… we must not neglect the science of beauty.”
“Nothing is more important to me than rebuilding what we have lost as a result of partitioning, wars and Communism,” said Morawiecki. “We now have a unique opportunity in our hands and we must not waste it.”
He observed that “Polish people are among the hardest working nations in Europe,” working around 2,000 hours a year — but broke with standard neoliberal dogma by pointing out that “work efficiency and the number of hours worked is not the sole determinant of economic success.”
Alluding to his government’s populist policy of gradually phasing out Sunday trading for large stores, in order to help retail workers spend more time with their families and help independent shopkeepers compete with chains, he said: “We don’t want Poles to work the longest hours, we want them to work efficiently for decent pay. We want them to have more time for their families, for their loved ones… this is the goal of our development strategy.”
He confirmed that Law and Justice — known in its native country as Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, or PiS — stands “far from neoliberalism, and equally far from socialism”.
The party has long-confounded establishment critics, who have described it as ‘right-wing nationalist’ and ‘ultra-conservative’, among other pejoratives, for its refusal to conform to their usual categories.
For example, it is broadly eurosceptic, fiercely anti-Communist, and actively promotes a key role for Christianity in the nation’s cultural life — but it has also worked to lower the retirement age, establish social programmes to support poor rural communities in the countryside, and provided support for mothers who wish to stay at home with their children rather than be conscripted into the labour force.
They have adopted this last policy, like their Visegrad allies in nearby Hungary, in order to encourage citizens to have larger families — an alternative to the mass migration and multiculturalism which has been the favoured approach of the governing parties in Western Europe and their corporate backers for tackling the supposed problems of an ageing population.
“The role of a mother and the situation of women is different and often more difficult than in the case of men,” said Morawiecki, in comments likely to enrage radical feminists on U.S. and British university campuses.
“In a reasonable way, we must help our ladies – our wives, sisters, daughters and mothers – both in the workplace and in everyday life. And when it comes to maltreatment, rape, oppression and injustice, will not be accepted it in any way, shape or form. The state must wield a very heavy hand in this matter.”
Making it clear he felt globalism had not proved the unqualified success many had expected after the fall of Communism, the prime minister pledged to pursue a form of Trump-style economic nationalism — as far as is possible within the confines of the European Union, at any rate.
“Western capital [has] colonised Poland and other Central European countries,” he said frankly.
“This is the reality we are living in. So, the masks have fallen off. We are facing a gigantic challenge. We are all facing a gigantic challenge. The taboo topic, this taboo topic has become an obvious truth – although Poles manufacture a lot, not everything our economy produces stays in our wallets.”
Declaring that the country must “move on from the capitalism of loan-based consumption installed by foreign institutions in the early 1990s to the capitalism of savings and investments,” Morawiecki said Poland was in “a fight for Polish ownership, for Polish capital” — and an end to the days of Poland’s young people emigrating en masse to work in Western Europe, while between 4 and 5 percent of Poland-made GDP is “posted as profit abroad”.
He concluded with a call reminiscent of President Trump’s rallying cry to “Make America Great Again”, saying: “I ask everyone for assistance. Let us regain Poland, let us regain Poland together.”