Progressive and radical right parties between demands for and supply of civic political engagement: the case of Lewica Razem and Konfederacja in Poland

The links between political parties and civil society organisations, initiatives and social movements has been transforming. Cross-fertilizing allies in the past, who often interpenetrated each other ideologically and personally, nowadays have become much more alienated from each other (Katz & Mair, 2009). Several scholars highlight the proliferation of activists, especially on the progressive side of the political spectrum, who address social issues without the mediation of parliamentary measures and party alliances (Bosi & Zamponi, 2020; Monticelli, 2018; Schlosberg & Craven, 2019). The activists tend to avoid any ideational and organisational relationship with a political party and often perceive the parliamentary arena as unnecessary or even detrimental to their struggle (Muraca, 2013; Schneidewind et al., 2018; Schlosberg & Craven, 2019). Nonetheless, some parties, especially on the progressive and the far-right side of the spectrum, still seek to form alliances and networks with - civic organisations. However, regarding these relations, Central and Eastern Europe have so far remained terra incognita. Nevertheless, the Polish case suggests that the observed phenomenon is also occurring in this part of Europe, with the showcase example of the March of Independence (Kocyba & Łukianow, 2020; Witkowski, 2023) on the one side of the political spectrum, and Fridays for Future on the other. In order to fill this gap, we want to shed some light on the dynamics of these processes in post-transitional political systems by analysing the inclusion and taking advantage of non-party civic engagement by political parties. We focus our attention on two Polish political parties: Lewica Razem (Left Together) and Konfederacja (Confederation) on the assumption that the progressive and populist-radical-right-party family are the ones that are most likely to experiment with new forms of party-members/voters-relationships (Caiani & Císař 2019; Della Porta et al. 2017; Gunther & Diamond 2003). They offer less binding and informal membership affiliation opportunities, and this way they also cater to citizen demands for more participatory and horizontal engagement (Prentoulis & Thomassen, 2020). Therefore, it appears promising to focus on the two party families that share a higher likelihood of addressing new participatory demands and/or experimenting with new forms of party-society-linkages.