Several people gathered in our city and loudly called out: “Stop political parties”! They formulated a thesis that at first glance was appealing: PARTIES are “bad,” while NON-PARTIES (associations) are “good.” Why? The current mayor of Bolesławiec, the meeting’s organizer, patiently explains it to us, saying: “Parties do not put the interests of residents first; instead, they put their own purely self-serving interests first.” Strong words! Naturally, he does not say what “purely self-serving interest” he means, nor does he develop his thought. Skillfully—in his own opinion—he paints a black-and-white vision of the world, hoping once again that… “the unthinking masses will buy it.” Because there is little time left—just a few months. And residents (that is, voters) have to learn and believe that parties do not care about their interests. And that he, the non-party mayor, will take care of them. Admittedly, he has only been non-party for some time and it is not known how much longer he will be, but for now he is NON-PARTY.
The difference between a party and an association is small—the purpose of their activity. Let us remember that political parties are also associations and that both entities are established under the same law. So how does a party, say Civic Platform or Law and Justice, differ from a local association—let us call it “Bolesławiec XXI,” “Powiat XXI,” or even “Lower Silesia XXI”? For example, a party does not hide the fact that carrying out its program—its idea for organizing social life at the municipal, county, provincial, or ultimately national level—requires gaining power. Because power, meaning the ability to make decisions and implement them, makes it possible to carry out that program. And local associations of non-party experts with political ambitions? No! Not them! They are disgusted by power. They are “good.” They care… exclusively about the interests of others! Who would dare doubt it? Surely only some ruthless “party activist.”
Let us note that the statutes of these “non-party” associations contain many lofty goals—I write this without irony: activities for the development of culture, sport, and education, or even for the benefit of the entire city or some particular region. But not a word about the fact that members of such organizations want to become councillors, county executives, or mayors. This is supposed to happen… incidentally, unintentionally, along the way.
It is interesting that the current mayor of Bolesławiec wants to be seen as such a non-party local-government expert, even though he was a party member. What is more, in a manner characteristic of him—full of arrogance—he once declared that it was not he who left Law and Justice, but Law and Justice that had left him (I wonder what the local PiS thinks of that). I wonder whether he regrets that decision. After all, he openly supported Jarosław Kaczyński’s candidacy in the last presidential election (while, for example, another non-party politician, Rafał Dutkiewicz, did not). So is he in PiS or not? What is the truth about this non-partisanship? And does this disgust for political parties perhaps stem from the fact that this or that person currently does not belong to any party, while the elections are just around the corner…
How pragmatic and calculating. Contrasting non-party “recognized names” with other people involved in public life, and claiming that the former care only about others while the latter care only about themselves, is hypocrisy. The current mayor’s words are insincere and his actions duplicitous. I am convinced that most residents of Bolesławiec can see through this pretense. I am one of those who recognize this hypocrisy and am not afraid to speak openly about it. Therefore I emphasize: stop political hypocrisy!
Dariusz Kwaśniewski