Polish political parties

Last modified: 2009-08-22 by jarig bakker
Keywords: political parties | solidarnosc | opzz | upr | pzpr | zsl | sam |
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• Solidarność
• Solidarność other flag
• All Poland Trade Union Alliance
• Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza, PZPR  (Polish United Workers' Party)
• Ruch Autonomii Slaska (Silesian Autonomy Movement)
• Nowa Lewica (New Left)
• Zjednoczone Stronnictwo Ludowe, ZSL (United Peasants' Party)
• UPR

• Poland

Solidarność flag

Solidarność: Lech Walesa's party which struggled for liberty: Polish flag with the Solidarność signature on the white stripe.
Luc Baronian, 18 May 1999

"Solidarnosc" ("Solidarity") is not the party, but trade union. The full name is: Niezalezny Samorzadny Zwiazek Zawodowy "Solidarnosc" (Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity"). Created 1980.
Flag of "Solidarity" is plain white with the signature. White-red bicolor with signature on white stripe might be used during
anti-communist demonstrations in 1980-es, but was never official flag of "Solidarity".
Grzegorz Skrukwa, 2 Aug 2001

Solidarność other flag

All Poland Trade Union Alliance (Ogólnopolskie Porozumienie Związków Zawodowych)

Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza, PZPR  (Polish United Workers' Party)

Flags of political parties under communist regime in Poland 1948-1989
Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza, PZPR  (Polish United Workers' Party, i.e. communist party) had plain red flag. Called "workers' movement flag" or "international workers' movement flag".
Grzegorz Skrukwa, 6 Apr 2002

Ruch Autonomii Śląska (Silesian Autonomy Movement)

Ruch Autonomii Śląska (Czech: Hnutí autonomie Slezska; English: Silesian Autonomy Movement)
The homepage of this party was last updated in 2001, just before the 2001 elections in Poland, where it presented four candidates as Members of Parliament. The movement wants the reunion of all Silesias in Poland, Germany and Czechia (8 million inhabitants on 44.000 km².)
On its page with photographs are several flags:
- hor NRW 1:2:1 (probably students union)
- hor YB with Coat of Arms in the center (Coat of Arms, probably yellow Silesian eagle on blue, hardly visible) - Landmannschaft's Fahne?
- Blue field with yellow capitals RUCH AUTONOMII ŚL¡SKA.
- Blue field with yellow sun; flying through the sun a black swallow. (that's also the party's logo)
Jarig Bakker, 28 Aug 2002

An article about the autonomy of this region of Poland.
Can anyone identify the two flags? I don't recognize the exact eagle design on the yellow/blue flag.
Johnny Andersson, 20 May 2008

The flags pictured are of Lower Silesia (Dolny Slask-Niederschlesien) -white over yellow - and Upper Silesia (Górny Slask-Oberschlesien) -yellow over blue, with or without respective arms.
The gold eagle on blue shield with the scythe and the coal miners' tools is a traditional emblem of Upper Silesia.
The article is about the demonstration in Warsaw by the Silesian Autonomy Movement (Ruch Autonomii Slaska) in support of the autonomy for Silesia and also about the Silesian autonomy question in general.
The Silesian Autonomy Movement's flag is shown above.
Wikipedia presents a very good articles on Silesia and Silesian Autonomy Movement here and here.
It should be stressed it is not a separatist movement, rather for the re-establishment of the autonomy that Polish part of Upper Silesia enjoyed in the inter-war years. The movement is relatively small, although growing, and with the member of the minority at the helm of the government in Poland now (Donald Tusk - a Kashubian) with
prospects for the better understanding in Warsaw.

The gold eagle alone on the blue shield is a symbol of the Silesian Voivodship (Województwo Slaskie) in Poland and, presumably, also a symbol of all Silesia envisioned as a autonomous territory by the Silesian Autonomous Movement and including entire Opole Voivodship and the lion part of the Silesian Voivodship up to Czestochowa.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 21 May 2008

Nowa Lewica (New Left)

New Left (Polish: Nowa Lewica), founded in 2003, is an alter-globalist Socialist party [1]. Its flag, as shown at the party website [2] and a gallery of photos from 01-05-2008 demonstrations [3], has party name inscribed in two rows in white, all letters lowercase, on red field.
The typeface used is Arial Black. The flag can also be seen at websites of numerous other parties and organizations which frequently co-operate with the New Left (the cited sources are only those related to the party itself).
Sources:
[1] Wikipedia page about the New Left (in Polish).
[2] New Left website.
[3] 01-05-2008 demonstrations photo gallery.
Tomislav Todorovic, 13 Jul 2009

Zjednoczone Stronnictwo Ludowe, ZSL (United Peasants' Party)

Two other parties were de facto puppets.
Zjednoczone Stronnictwo Ludowe, ZSL (United Peasants' Party) had plain green flag. Seen rarely.
Stronnictwo Demokratyczne, SD (Democratic Party) didn't have own flag.
Grzegorz Skrukwa, 6 Apr 2002

UPR flag

UPR is Unia Polityki Realnej, a Conservative Liberal Party in Poland. Its flag is at this URL:
Jarig Bakker, 5 Jun 1999