On Thursday, May 27, a meeting with Bartosz Arłukowicz, a Left MP and member of the Sejm’s gambling committee, was held in the conference room of the District Office in Bolesławiec. The profile of the SLD activist was presented by Jerzy Małachowski, head of the District Council of the Labour Union. “The MP entered politics strongly in 2002. He was always associated with the left,” Małachowski said. “In 2007, he became a parliamentarian, the face and hope of the left.”
“The left in Poland needs discussion, a certain change, strength and openness. It must launch a political offensive,” the MP said during Thursday’s meeting. As he stressed, left-wing politicians are and will be needed in our country. “Poland is a country of socially sensitive people. A country where people want to help other people,” he explained. “Polish left-wing circles must, however, gain courage and get rid of their complexes. We have no reason not to join the public debate. I hope that we will finally become a formation ready to take responsibility for democracy in our country.”
The MP also spoke about the sins of the left. “A major problem is that until now it has been a formation of people united by biography and history. This must change,” the parliamentarian noted. “We must build a formation consisting of people united by a common vision of the state, not by biography. Young people are entering Polish politics who know history only from books. They also want to build a good state.
According to Arłukowicz, another sin of left-wing circles is the fight against the Church. “I am not an advocate of this fight,” the SLD activist said. “The Church is here, was here and will be here. We cannot go to war with the bishops, because this war cannot be won. And, in fact, it is not needed at all. What is important is for the left to observe the boundaries separating the state from the Church very precisely.”
“I have no idea whether God exists. Probably no one in this room really knows that for sure. But if God exists, I have something to discuss with Him, because He has made a bit of a mess,” the MP continued. “That does not change the fact that I respect the views of those who believe in God.”
Arłukowicz also presented his vision of the state: “We must build a country that cares not only about the rights of the free market. A country in which we will care above all about the rights of people functioning within the free market.”
The Poland Arłukowicz wants to create is a “tolerant state.” “This tolerance should be understood to mean that the majority respects the rights of minorities,” he explained. “We have allowed ourselves to be convinced that the left today speaks only about sexual minorities. This is untrue. I would like to live in a state where elderly people are socially active. Another minority whose rights the left should stand up for is children. I have the impression that today the country is governed by politicians concerned exclusively with the fate of unborn children. We should also fight for women’s rights.”
The MP also addressed the issue of patriotism. “The state must trust its citizens; it cannot indicate what is good and what is bad. It cannot tell us how to sleep, how to be born, whom to love and how to die. Today politicians say what is good and what is bad, what is moral and what is immoral, who is a good patriot and who is a bad one,” Arłukowicz stated. “I will not let Jarosław Kaczyński take my patriotism away from me. I am no worse a patriot than he is. We simply see this issue in completely different ways.”
The idea matters, not the party
“People no longer want party labels,” the politician argued. “Our goal is not to be in the SLD; our goal is to build a left-wing formation that will attempt to take power in the state. Having a party membership card is not a value; the value lies in turning it into public support.”
The MP stressed that talking to people is the best form of politics. “I cannot stand party meetings; I feel very uncomfortable in behind-the-scenes power struggles,” he confessed. “And when I see Palikot, I get nervous. The time of running around television studios with a vibrator is coming to an end. I really like vibrators and I even use them. The difference between Palikot and me is that I use vibrators in bed, while Palikot uses them on TVN. This kind of politics must end.”
The meeting was organized by the District Councils of the Democratic Left Alliance and the Labour Union.
(information: ii)