Christian Democracy Resurgent: Raising the Banner of Faith in Eastern Europe

Adrian Karatnycky

From Foreign Affairs, January/February 1998

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Summary:  The Polish elections may signal the dawning of a political force in Central and Eastern Europe-Christian democracy, with emphasis on both words.

Adrian Karatnycky is President of Freedom House.

Throughout its tumultuous modern history, Poland has been a bellwether of change in Eastern Europe. In 1956, unrest among Polish workers signaled growing discontent in post-Stalinist Eastern Europe; in 1980, the birth of the Solidarity trade union began the unraveling of the Soviet bloc; and in 1989, Poland spearheaded Eastern Europe's rejection of communism as a Solidarity-led government took power.

Last September, when Polish voters ousted a coalition of ex-communists and sealed the comeback of Solidarity, they may have established another landmark-the emergence of Christian democracy as a significant political force in Central and Eastern Europe. The election brought in a right-of-center dramatically different from Western European counterparts, many of which have evolved into secular movements. The Polish Christian democrats have little desire to separate their politics and their religious beliefs. They appeal explicitly to voters' Roman Catholic religious identity and announce their own adherence to "Christian values" that encompass the sanctity of human life at conception; the need for moral instruction, including through the educational system; and the belief that the economy and work are part of God's design for humanity. They are staunch loyalists in the camp of the Polish pope, John Paul II-whose turn away from the welfare state and endorsement of the free market gave impetus to Solidarity's decision to form a coalition government with the backers of economic liberalism. Developments in Poland parallel a resurgence of Christian democracy in other Central and Eastern European countries with Catholic majorities or significant Catholic minorities. And a revitalized Christian democracy may have resonance farther west in Europe-at any rate, the pope hopes so. During his pilgrimage to Poland last summer, John Paul linked the post-Cold War reunification of Europe to the reassertion of its Christian roots.

BUILDING ON FAITH

On September 21, 1997, the Solidarity Electoral Action bloc (AWS) captured a majority of seats in the Polish Senate and came relatively close in the lower house. In mid-October the aws and the liberal, market-oriented Freedom Union agreed to form a government anchored by a stable parliamentary majority. One reason for the reversal in the fortunes of right-of-center forces after their electoral defeat in 1993 was the Solidarity trade union's crafting of a broad-based coalition of nationalist, conservative, liberal, and populist parties. But the aws would not have won over voters without a message that unified a broad spectrum of groups.

Marian Krzaklewski, founder and leader of the AWS bloc and chairman of the Solidarity trade union, established that connection through his appeal to Catholic tradition under the banner of Christian democracy. The first paragraph of the aws campaign manifesto declared: "We can build a modern, just, and self-sustaining sovereign state; a state founded on patriotic and Christian values, on love and freedom. These values have formed our core identity for a thousand years." The appeal to religious identity was at the core of Krzaklewski's electoral strategy.

To understand the aws, one must understand its founder, a 47-year-old academic with a doctorate in computer science. Krzaklewski joined Solidarity ...

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