The phoenix out of the ashes: The rise to power of Poland's post-communist SdRP

Abstract

While the 1989 political transition swept away Poland's communist party, the PZPR, out of its rubble and ashes emerged a much smaller inheritor party, the now-social democratic SdRP. This article traces the evolution of this new party from its relative political marginality in 1990 to its electoral triumph and return to power in 1993.