Known for his radical rhetoric and aggressive protests, Lepper was considered a far-left populist,[1] compared to left-wing figures such as José Bové,[2] Hugo Chávez,[3] Evo Morales,[4] and Juan Perón.

A farmer by trade, Lepper completed all coursework required at the State Agricultural Technical School in Sypniewo, yet did not undertake the final qualifying exam.

He also had no formal higher education,[11] but was presented with several doctor honoris causa awards, including by the University of Kyiv (Ukraine) in recognition of his work, commitment and outreach.

[11] The first time Lepper rose to a position of political leadership was in the summer 1991, when he organized and led a farmer protest movement against the disastrous economic conditions in Polish agriculture and lack of state assistance to those impoverished by the ongoing capitalist transition.

[12] Rural Solidarity wanted to preserve their official and civil image by keeping to peaceful protests, while the group organized against Lepper insisted on more confrontational measures.

Some of them, mainly from the Koszalin voivodship (where a protest committee has been active since July), publicly stated that they did not believe in the effectiveness of these peaceful methods: "The government will only give in when there is bloodshed and dead bodies.

[12] As Lepper reported many years later, the idea to create a trade union and then a political movement was born after a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Leszek Balcerowicz.

The list of the Provincial Farmers' Self-Defence Committee opened by the group's leader received only 3247 votes in constituency number 21, covering the then Koszalin and Słupsk voivodeships.

[16] While Lepper failed to win a seat, the fact he received over 3000 votes for his name was seen as a demonstration that he could mobilize local networks of farmers in his favor.

Its membership - apart from representatives of ZZR "Samoobrona" - also included activists from the Metalworkers' Trade Union and a Green faction headed by Jan Bryczkowski.

[17] On 14 November 1991, an agreement was concluded between the protesters and the government, which provided for a halt to the bailiff executions threatening farmers and the establishment of a special Fund and the Restructuring and Debt Relief of Agriculture.

Lepper was elected president of the trade union, and a decision was taken to tighten up the forms of protest, setting up, among other things, so-called ‘anti-enforcement brigades’, which were to deal with thwarting bailiff seizures on indebted farms.

[16] Around one hundred and fifty ZZR Samoobrona activists broke into the Ministry of Agriculture building in Warsaw and set up camp in one of the reception rooms on the first floor.

The demonstrators' demands were: implementation of the November agreements, in particular with regard to halting the seizure of the assets of over-indebted farmers, the introduction of agricultural loans at preferential rates, 12% maximum, and a meeting with the Prime Minister.

[12] Lepper organised anti-government demonstrations and other actions, most significantly against the politics of the Suchocka and Buzek governments, both characterised by growing social and socio-economic injustice, especially experienced in the Polish countryside.

In 2000, Samoobrona organised campaigns blocking major roads[11] to bring public and mass media attention to the growing impoverishment of Polish agriculture.

Lepper was initially opposed to both candidates, denouncing the election of "sham democracy" of oligarchic character in which "Poles voted for different parties and still Balcerowicz jumped out of the ballot box".

This belief in the necessity to prevent neoliberal parties from governing again also led Samoobrona to form the coalition with Law and Justice in 2006, which it considered economically left-leaning.

On the other hand, Lepper alienated many by his blatant disregard for parliamentary procedures, its abusive behaviour in the Sejm, and its aggressive demonstrations and blockades across the country.

[23] Samoobrona (SRP) and Lepper successfully tapped into the disillusion felt by millions of poor citizens who had not benefited from Poland's transition to capitalism and entry into the European Union.

This was achieved at the price of massive unemployment, layoffs and a 40% decline in real wages, as well as a large expansion of income inequality and slashed welfare.

[29] The political rhetoric of Lepper was also full of nostalgic references to the communist Polish People's Republic, especially in regard to the rule of reformist Edward Gierek.

[30] Lepper's communist background was also visible in his stances regarding foreign policy - he was critical of the European Union and favoured a pro-Eastern alignment of Poland.

He also believed that the downfall of Communist Poland was caused by the anti-worker elites of the PZPR, while praising the rank-and-file members who stayed true to "genuinely socialist ideals and values".

[33] According to Polish political scientist Andrzej Piasecki, Lepper's anti-EU stance was not based on nationalist, anti-Western or religious beliefs, but rather on Lepper's analysis of social class - he argued that the neoliberal and laissez-faire policies of the EU exploit the poor, and sought to defend disadvantaged social classes such as "farmers, the unemployed, pensioners and all those dissatisfied with the changes in Poland after 1989 from the [European] Union".

[37] Janusz Wojciechowski, a long-standing Polish Member of the European Parliament, argued that contrary to his reputation as a vulgar populist, Lepper "was a really good minister of agriculture" whose conduct was professional yet tough.

Among Lepper and SO's undertakings in parliament were such incidents as the use of their own loudspeakers in the Sejm and claims that Robert Smoktunowicz of the liberal Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska) engaged in the gemstone trade with the Taliban.

[45] Lepper was charged with criminal offenses, including assault, blocking roads and dumping grain on railroad tracks in the course of anti-government demonstrations (The New York Times, 2006).

In February 2010 Andrzej Lepper was sentenced to two years and three months in jail after being found guilty of demanding and accepting sexual favours from female members of his Samoobrona party.

It was determined that Lepper suffered from crushing depression due to his enormous debts on all fronts including at his farm, his political defeat and sex scandals.