'Fear arises, and fear is lethal, because the political party is a free community of free people', the three rebels wrote in their letter to the
PiS congress. 'The leader has the right to demand a lot from the party, but the party also has to make demands', the added in the message to the delegates, published online.
The Saturday convention of Poland's largest opposition party will be attended by some 1,000 delegates. Dorn, Ujazdowski, and Zalewski expect them to not allow for the convention to be just a 'dead formality'. And to force Mr Kaczyński to start a debate on the necessary internal reforms.
They made the first attempt to start that debate in early November. Mr Kaczyński rejected their proposals, so they resigned from their posts in the party. For making the dispute public, they were suspended as members, which deprives them of the right to take part in the convention.
Meanwhile, the convention, which was originally planned to be a two-day event, has been shortened by Mr Kaczyński to just one, beginning and ending Saturday. The three rebels believe it will be nothing but a 'media show'.
The three former vice-chairmen want to prevent this from happening. They appeal to the delegates' sense of honour. 'A sad and embarrassing fact has occurred in the Law and Justice: executive powers have been used to suppress the freedom of debate', they wrote. 'If, for his own political comfort and in order to protect his own interests, the chairman suspends us to prevent us from taking part in the convention, this means that from now on no one can feel safe in the party.
Dorn, Ujazdowski, and Zalewski urge the delegates to 'make the effort to introduce a debate on statute amendments to the convention's agenda'. They themselves voice proposals aimed at limiting Mr Kaczyński's omnipotence, believing that a centralised party deprives people of initiative.
'Instead of consulting decisions with the party's statutory bodies, the chairman takes them on his own or in consultation with non-statutory bodies, that is, Adam Bielan and Michał Kamiński', said a supporter of the rebels.
The three rebels mention examples of mistakes made this way, such as the appointment of Janusz Kaczmarek for minister of the interior, or the CBA conference on the arrest of
Beata Sawicka, the PO deputy accused of corruption and detained to much fanfare just days before the October elections.
The changes the three ex-chairmen are proposing are to make the PiS and its decision-making processes more democratic - but without ousting Mr Kaczyński. They want, for instance, for the regional leaders to be elected by the regional party organisations rather than simply nominated by the chairman. Mr Kaczyński would only reject or approve the candidatures.
They also propose that the chairman should be able to suspend party members in their rights only in 'sudden and urgent cases'. In all other cases, he would have to secure the board's approval.
Will Mr Kaczyński bow to these demands? He recently said at the session of the PiS parliamentary caucus that if his powers were restricted, he'd resign as chairman.
There's a widespread view in the party that the three rebels will be expelled for their letter. Their next move will be to start organising a new party together with their supporters in the PiS, with the ex-PM Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, non-affiliated, and with
Maciej Płażyński and Longin Komołowski, who made it to parliament from the PiS ticket but didn't join the caucus.
translated by Marcin Wawrzyńczak
