Disintegration of Polish left

[Martinus]

If you have followed the Polish politics thread, you probably know that none of the Polish leftist parties (i.e. parties, with a platform that broadly conforms to European social democrat or socialist standards) has made it to the Polish parliament. What's more, they do not seem to be winning back any of the ground as PiS is becoming more unpopular - it's the liberals and the centrists/moderate conservatives who are gaining instead.

I was wondering why this is - the reasons seem many - but to me they boil down to one thing - the left seems to be ignoring the middle class. The leftist movements seem to be interested either in the goals of the internationalist intelligentsia or the socio-biological conditions of living of the poor - but nothing in between. Even in the opposition to PiS, they are saying that ordinary people are more interested in minimum wage and welfare state than disputes about freedom of speech, or independence of media, or constitutional courts - but this doesn't make them more popular, as the middle class (which is actually interested in those things rather than the minimum wage) resents them for that, and the poor (if they vote at all), vote for PiS, as it promises them free cash, but with the added xenophobia, antisemitism and homophobia.

I wonder if you agree with that and whether this can be also used to explain the left losing ground in several other European countries (it seems equally out of touch and ignoring the middle class's concerns on immigration issues). (For example, it seems to me that in the UK Blair may be vilified but he is one of the few who actually was successful in creating the "middle class leftism" while in power; and Corbin is running his party into the ground by rejecting that approach).

Tell me what you think.

[celedhring]

The left won the election in Spain as a whole, but the main social-democrat party - which appeals to that middle class your social-democrats apparently ignore, has lost a lot of ground towards more populist class-struggle far left types. So I'm not sure that equation works everywhere in Europe.

What is happening is that parties like PiS or Podemos are appealing to the concerns of the lower classes, badly hit by the recession, while conventional parties have failed to do so.

[Zanza]

Based on a recent perception poll, the centre left parties in Germany have a massive supermajority as Merkel's CDU is now perceived to be left of center. And in our last parliamentary elections the SPD, Greens and Left won a majority, but couldn't agree on a coalition.

[Iormlund]

The left won the election in Spain as a whole, but the main social-democrat party - which appeals to that middle class your social-democrats apparently ignore, has lost a lot of ground towards more populist class-struggle far left types. So I'm not sure that equation works everywhere in Europe.

What is happening is that parties like PiS or Podemos are appealing to the concerns of the lower classes, badly hit by the recession, while conventional parties have failed to do so.

In Spain it's not solely about class, there are strong age and geographic components as well. The Socialists maintain the support of the elderly and the South (agricultural workers, perhaps?).
Podemos has the cities and younger folk.