Editing Polish People's Party (section)

===Ideology from 1990s to 2000s===
The party, as it was reformed in 1990, was a direct and formal successor of the socialist [[United People's Party (Poland)|United People's Party]], and it inherited the party's members, political foundations as well as funds.<ref>{{cite book |title=Partie i ugrupowania parlamentarne III Rzeczypospolitej |isbn=978-83-89706-84-3 |author1=Krzysztof Kowalczyk |author2=Jerzy Sielski |year=2006 |publisher=Dom Wydawniczy DUET |page=154|language=pl}}</ref> The PSL was one of the two major Polish parties between from the 1990s to late 2000s with communist origins along with the [[Democratic Left Alliance (Poland)|Democratic Left Alliance]] - these two parties, along with [[Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland]], formed the post-communist bloc. Thus the party had a left-wing economic program that promoted agrarian socialism and praised the fallen communist regime, appealing to the communist nostalgia of voters. The party made references to the peasant movement of the Second Polish Republic and the WW2-era PSL led by [[Stanisław Mikołajczyk]], but these remained at a figurative level and did not affect the party's socialist alignment. This led to a split in the party - after the anti-communist [[Roman Bartoszcze]] was ousted as the party leader and PSL made its communist legacy more explicit, disaffected agrarians who returned to Poland from exile left the party and formed [[Peasants' Agreement]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Ruch Konserwatywno–Ludowy w III RP |language=pl |last=Stodolny |first=Marek |date=24 June 2015 |publisher=Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu |location=Poznań |url=https://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/items/64df5d7b-5655-40c1-8862-0591bd2bb021 |pages=5–6}}</ref> 

In that period, the PSL condemned globalization and capitalist reforms as the driving factors behind the loss of national sovereignty and the growing inequality in the countryside. The party spoke against privatization and instead envisioned a decentralized socialist structure based on state-owned, communal as well as "social" (cooperative) ownership of the Polish economy. The party listed rural poverty, unemployment, lack of affordable housing and limited healthcare access as consequences of the economic liberalization pursued in the 1990s. The party also argued that the 'national interests' necessitates state ownership of most industries, especially that of the banks; the party also proposed a catalogue of protectionist measures that would stop the decline of the Polish agriculture and food industry.<ref>{{cite book |title=Partie i ugrupowania parlamentarne III Rzeczypospolitej |isbn=978-83-89706-84-3 |author1=Krzysztof Kowalczyk |author2=Jerzy Sielski |year=2006 |publisher=Dom Wydawniczy DUET |pages=144–149 |language=pl}}</ref>

The PSL pointed to liberalism and authoritarian tendencies as its main ideological opponents. The party program from that time argued that "in the name of blind liberalism - the doctrine of the elimination of the state from any influence on the shaping of economic structures, it passively watches as more and more segments of our market are taken over by foreign entities and as domestic companies are eliminated from it, for which, in addition, worse economic conditions are created for economic activity". Liberalism was described an ideology in which the state passively observes the struggle on the market between foreign, powerful concerns and Polish enterprises, which, being weaker and deprived of state support, fail. The party argued that the consequence of this was a high rate of unemployment, giving rise to social problems. The party also noted the existence of social disparities and the lack of prospects for the young generation, which is forced to emigrate in search of work, which caused a weakening of Poland's international role, subject to the uncontrolled game played by global corporations.<ref name="szusta"/>