Partia Razem
Partia Razem is a left-wing political party in Poland. It was founded in 2015, and from 2019 to 2024 the party's official name was Lewica Razem.
The party was one of the eight nationwide committees standing in the 2015 parliamentary election. Party co-leaders are Adrian Zandberg and Aleksandra Owca, elected at the end of November and beginning of December 2024, following a split in the party in October. It supports principles of social democracy, democratic socialism, and social liberalism, and has expressed progressive views. The party is critical of the historical post-communist Democratic Left Alliance. It is a part of the European Left Alliance for the People and the Planet; a pan-European party that supports an alternative to capitalism. It was a member of the Progressive International and DiEM25.
History
Foundation
Razem was founded as a response to the unsuccessful attempt to create a left-wing political platform in Poland during the 2015 presidential election. Another reason was dissatisfaction with the role of the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance as the main centre-left party. Many founders were previously activists in the Young Socialists, The Greens or local initiatives, including Kraków Against Games.Razem's main political stances were formulated during the founding congress on 16–17 May 2015, when Razem's first National Board was elected, consisting of Jakub Baran, Aleksandra Cacha, Alicja Czubek, Maciej Konieczny, Magdalena Malińska, Mateusz Mirys, Katarzyna Paprota, Adrian Zandberg, and Marcelina Zawisza. However, several local structures were active even earlier, in March and April. The party was officially registered on 21 July 2015.
Razem registered lists for the 2015 parliamentary election in all electoral districts and received 3.6% of the vote in the election, below the 5% threshold to gain seats in parliament. However, having met the 3% threshold, the party received state subsidies for their election campaign.
First years
In 2016, Razem instigated mass protests against a bill that would impose a complete ban on abortion, proposed by a citizens' initiative. In 2016, Foreign Policy magazine included Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk of the Razem National Board, together with Barbara Nowacka of Polish Initiative, in its annual list of the 100 most influential global thinkers for their role in organising the protest. In 2018, Forbes magazine included Marcelina Zawisza on its annual European Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the "Law & Policy" category for her role as a co-founder of Razem and one of the organisers of "black protest".In 2016, Razem began cooperating with the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 pan-European movement, founded by Yanis Varoufakis. In May 2017, Varoufakis expressed DiEM25's support for Razem in the 2019 European Parliament election.
On 6 July 2017, Razem organised a protest against Donald Trump's visit to Poland. Protesters were dressed as handmaids from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, as a symbol of the stripping down of women's rights both in Poland and the United States.
In September 2017, Razem activists filed a complaint with the National Electoral Commission on behalf of the party, alleging that the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists had helped to fund a Law and Justice conference during the 2015 parliamentary election campaign in violation of European Parliament rules as well as Polish electoral law. On 29 October, the commission announced that it would investigate the complaint.
In 2018, the party was subjected to an investigation by the prosecutor's office for allegedly promoting communism, which goes against the Polish constitution. Party co-leader Adrian Zandberg accused the government of initiating the investigation as retaliation for the party's criticism and repudiated any links between Razem and totalitarianism.
2019 election
In early 2019, in the run-up to the European Parliament election Razem Party rejected a proposal of an alignment with Robert Biedroń's Spring. On 28 February, party leaders officially announced formation of the electoral coalition with Labour Union and Social Justice Movement under the name of Lewica Razem. The coalition received 1.24% of overall votes, and thus did not pass the 5% threshold and did not win any seats.For the 2019 parliamentary election, Razem formed a coalition with the Democratic Left Alliance and Wiosna, known as The Left. The move had been a topic of intense debate due to Razem being founded in opposition to the Democratic Left Alliance. Many activists left due to the decision and the faction Socialist Action split to become an independent organisation. In the election Razem won six seats in the Sejm. Soon after the election results were announced, the National Board voted to oblige the six elected MPs to donate all income surpassing triple the minimum wage to charity; universally lowering politicians' pay to this threshold was one of the early postulates. Since the electoral list was formally registered to SLD, Razem's candidates could not receive funding from their own party. Instead, they made personal donations after having withdrawn "appreciation bonus" from the party's budget. The situation caused uproar and was met with opposition within Razem.
During 2021 and 2022, the party released a podcast. Episodes consisted of interviews, discussions, solo talks, and speeches recorded during the parliamentary sessions. Outside of this, Razem is active on other social media.
In 2022, Razem ended cooperation with DiEM25 and Progressive International, criticising their, "lack of unequivocal declaration of recognition of Ukraine's sovereignty and the absolute condemnation of Russian imperialism" during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
2023 election and after
In the 2023 election, the party continued its engagement in The Left with other centre-left and left-wing parties. The coalition received the nationwide electoral list number 3. Seven members of Razem were elected to Sejm and two successfully ran for Senate seats, with the Senate Pact endorsement. According to Dan Davison, "Razem’s focus on optics and appearing “united” made it reluctant to criticize its partners in Lewica", including abstaining from criticizing the right-wing shift on immigration during the 2023 campaign.Razem had intended to enter government as part of The Left coalition together with Donald Tusk's Civic Coalition and Third Way after the 2023 election but opted against doing as the other parties refused to include guarantees the party had sought in the coalition agreement, such as the decriminalisation of abortion and higher expenditure targets for issues such as healthcare and housing. However, it vowed to support Tusk's government in votes of confidence. It temporarily abstained from criticizing the Civic Coalition-led government, with Adrian Zandberg arguing that "We need to let the people who sit behind these doors and work on the government’s program simply work."
However, Razem became increasingly disenchanted with the government and clashed with it on a number of issues, including the proposed 2025 budget, and as such, with its coalition partner New Left, which entered government while Razem did not. In this context, membership in The Left coalition became increasingly untenable. As a result, on 11–12 October, a non-binding, consultative referendum was held to decide the course of the party ahead of a party congress on 26–27 October. 54% of participating members voted to leave the Left coalition. In expectation of and against this course being taken by the party at the congress, five Razem parliamentarians, including co-leader Magdalena Biejat, announced they would be leaving the party and remaining in The Left coalition on 24 October. The party then voted to leave the Left coalition, with 0 votes against, on 27 October. In December, Zandberg was re-elected, while Aleksandra Owca became a new co-leader of the party.
On 11 January 2025, the party's National Council designated Adrian Zandberg as a candidate in the presidential election scheduled on 18 May.
On 12 November 2025, MP Paulina Matysiak was expelled from the party by its National Board, who stated "further political cooperation within a single party is impossible". This was based on a provision for "specially justified cases", added to the party's charter 3 days earlier.
Ideology
Razem has been described as "slightly to the left of SLD". According to political scientist Filip Ilkowski, Razem "resembles the Union of Labour in looking for inspiration in the Scandinavian model of social democracy but combined with patterning itself on some new left formations, chiefly Podemos in the Spanish state". While some compare it to the radical left, the party is not anti-capitalist and is considered to lean towards social liberalism instead. The party rejects neoliberalism and supports principles of progressivism. It strongly condemns communism and called labelling it as such offensive. In December 2017, Razem rebuked its activist, Łukasz Moll, for calling himself a "democratic communist", prompting his resignation from the party. Although some label the party democratic socialist, Razem is generally critical towards state socialism as a system. Razem defends Karl Marx from a social-democratic perspective, as the party's leader Adrian Zandberg praised Marx as "the father of west European social democracy" while strongly comdemning "the totalitarian regimes of the second half of 20th century, that existed in eastern Europe, in Russia". However, the party strongly distances itself from and condemns communism:Economic, tax and labour policy
The party's economic programme has been described as social democratic; it advocates labour rights and opposes deregulation and privatisation of public services. Among its main goals are strengthening redistribution, adopting a 35-hour workweek, raising the income tax threshold to the equivalent of 12 times the minimum wage, establishing progressive corporate tax, and creating a healthcare programme funded directly from the state budget.The party also postulates liquidation of junk contracts, a ban on health care commercialisation, refunding of in vitro and contraception treatments, restrictions on trade on Sundays and holidays, raising the tax-free amount, introducing a progressive tax for enterprises, increasing the length of parental leave and reducing MPs’ salaries. It also wishes to completely remove special economic zones from Poland. It has also proposed a "CEO tax" which would be 75% of the amount exceeding the annual income of PLN 500,000.
The party's economic programme is partially inspired by the Nordic model, and it considers itself part of the anti-austerity movement. British economist Guy Standing describes Razem as "the first authentic movement in Poland representing the precariat". Journalist Michał Syska wrote on the party's program: