AGROunia

The AGROunion (Polish: AGROunia, AU) is a left-wing agrarian socialist political movement in Poland formed by Michał Kołodziejczak. AGROunia criticizes the actions of current politicians in relation to the state of agriculture in Poland and organizes agricultural protests and information campaigns. The party declares to be built on agrarian socialist ideals and to have taken inspiration from the left-wing nationalist Samoobrona movement, Fighting Solidarity, as well as pre-war agrarian movements such as Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie". Officially registered in 2022, the party became a socialist party with agrarian and Catholic overtones, with the leader of the party stating in 2022 that "faith, tradition, and Saint Mary herself are all elements of socialism for me". The party denies the labels of populism and nationalism. AGROunia first entered Polish politics in 2018 as a social movement and a trade union, and became famous for its high-profile protest actions. AGROunia's activists blocked roads, scattered apples and threw pig carcasses. The main demands of the protests included trade protectionism and price control of agricultural products. The movement was considered conservative and had ties with right-wing agrarian groups, but did not participate in the 2019 election. In 2021, AGROunia became a political party and embraced left-wing ideology: the party invited several left-wing activists to its congress, and a socialist, Jan Zygmuntowski, was chosen to formulate AGROunia's economic program, which included breaking up monopolies, construction of additional housing and wage increases. In February 2023, AGROunia entered a coalition with liberal-conservative Porozumienie, considered the liberal wing of the United Right. The coalition was dissolved in May 2023, and in June 2023 AGROunia entered a coalition with a left-wing regionalist party Nowa Demokracja - Tak instead. In the 2023 Polish parliamentary elections, AGROunia candidates competed on KO's lists. This pushed the party's hitherto ambiguous stance on social issues...