Self-Defence Social Movement (, SRS) was a political faction within Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland (, SRP) and later an independent political party. Social Movement emerged as a political faction within SRP in early 2000s amongst the local activists of the party in Mazowsze. The faction placed particular emphasis on agrarianism and rural interests. It also fought for social justice and defended people against evictions. In 2006, Social Movement entered into conflict with party leader Andrzej Lepper over the party's electoral lists for the 2006 Polish local elections, which included many newcomers and non-members at expense of long-serving members of the party. The conflict came to a head when the leader of the faction Sławomir Izdebski demanded expulsions of Krzysztof Filipek from the party.
Lepper responded by expelling Izdebski from the party instead, prompting Social Movement to break away from SRP and become an independent political party in February 2006. The new party was registered and held its founding convention in March 2006, which took place in Czosnów near Warsaw. The convention was attended by 100 former members of SRP, including those expelled and disaffected with the leadership of the party. The new party then grew to 2300 members, and wanted to challenge SRP in upcoming local elections. However, Lepper filed a lawsuit against the breakaway party, accusing it of being a plagiarism of his party; Social Movement was ruled to be a plagiarized party, which made it unable to participate in the elections. The party dissolved in 2007 and joined Self-Defence Rebirth, a larger Christian socialist SRP breakaway.
History
Before it became a registered political party in 2006, Social Movement was a political faction within the Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland. It emerged in the 2000s amongst local party activists in Mazowsze, and became known for social justice actions such as protesting, legally challenging and obstructing evictions. The faction was devoted to rural and agrarian issues, which was something that Self-Defence started from as an agrarian trade union in the 1990s. The unofficial leader of the faction, Sławomir Izdebski, also led an agrarian trade union in the area. In result, the faction was considered a peasant movement and was particularly known amongst the farmers and in the countryside.
Conflict between Social Movement and the authorities of the party emerged after the 2005 Polish parliamentary election. As the party was preparing for the 2006 Polish local elections, electoral lists that the party would register excluded many long-time party activists in favour of new but connected members or independent candidates that the party established cooperation with. This made Izdebski enter a personal conflict with the leader of the region Krzysztof Filipek. Ultimately, Izdebski confronted the leader of the party Andrzej Lepper, demanding removal of Filipek from the structures of the party. Lepper dismissed the demand and expelled Izdebski from the party, which sparked the exodus of Social Movement faction from the party.
Soon, the problem of SRP's electoral lists turned into a scandal, as it was alleged that Lepper promised places on electoral lists and would exlude those who did not have enough money; this turned into a practice of candidates buying positions on the party's list. Izdebski declared that he was one of the victims to the party's electoral list trading, as it was demanded of him to be included in the list only to be excluded when someone paid more for his place. The existence of numerous irregularities within the party was to be confirmed by further reports of breaches of the law by Lepper and his associates; on the eve of the conclusion of the coalition agreement with the Law and Justice party in 2016, information emerged about recordings of MP Wiśniewski's telephone conversations, which were said to indicate illegal financing of the 2005 election campaign by sympathetic businessmen. Members of the faction now accused the party of being a "extortion sect" and replacing party veterans with wealthy businessmen, betraying the socialist ideals of the party.