In a darkening world, a radiant beam shines out from Poland. Look, it is possible to push back the authoritarian populist tide. Extreme rightwingers who sack judges, try to silence opposition journalists, impose a near-total abortion ban and create what activists decry as “gay-free zones” can be overcome. Unprecedented numbers can be persuaded to vote, including usually reluctant young people.
Britain, where one party of the right nearly always wins, with the press dominated by plutocrats and an electoral system warped to favour the Tories, has lessons to learn from how Poland’s Law and Justice party (PiS) was vanquished. Labour will have watched the campaign of Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform party and the other anti-PiS parties that are about to form a coalition.
