On Populism and Class Politics: The Polish Union of Labour and the Workers’ Party of Belgium

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research note combines conceptual considerations on the relationship between populist and class-political discourse with an analysis of two parties that, in light of their origins, suggest affinities to both populism and class politics: the Union of Labour (UP) in Poland and the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PVDA/PTB). Taking up a discursive approach to populism with an established tradition of theoretical reflection on class politics, the analysis keys in on the interplay of populist and class-political elements in how these parties construct collective identities in their programmatic statements and related organisational practices such as links to trade unions. It finds that the UP largely abandoned its founding references to ‘working milieus’ in favour of a left-wing populism of ‘ordinary people’ vs. ‘elites’, whereas the PVDA/PTB has maintained a primarily class-political discourse centred on ‘working people’ with elements of populism, performatively embellished by its practices of workplace-level organising and trade union entryism.