Economically, the coalition sought a halt to privatization, empowering trade unions and greatly expanding welfare, social pensions and the minimum wage, as well as tackling foreign capital and big business.

[34] In contrast to the traditionally laissez-faire, free-market outlook of Dmowski and his nationalist movement, the LPR denounced the post-communist transition to capitalism in Poland as a "socio-economic experiment" that had "greatly deleterious effects on the Polish families".

According to political scientists, Tomasz Zarycki and George Kolankiewicz, LPR "held objectively left-wing views on issues such as privatisation, state intervention in the economy and redistribution of wealth", combined with "strong opposition to Polish EU membership and, more generally, a nationalist and anti-cosmopolitan worldview.

To this end, both Samoobrona and LPR appealed to those who considered themselves "losers" of the capitalist transformation and felt marginalized and excluded by the socioeconomic changes that dismantled the socialist system in Poland.

However, this plan was foiled by the 2005 Polish parliamentary election, in which LPR and PSL underperformed; a Samoobrona-PSL-LPR would only have 115 seats, half of the amount needed to form a majority government.

In January 2006, Samoobrona and LPR declared that they would run together in case of early election, calling it "People's National Self-Defence-LPR Bloc" (Polish: Blok Ludowo-Narodowy Samoobrona-LPR), effectively becoming the "proto-LiS" coalition.

PSL was initially hesitant towards reactivating the concept of the "People's National Bloc", stating that it would not run together with LPR and Samoobrona to Sejm, but that it is interested in organizing such coalition for the Senate.

On 9 July, the leader of Samoobrona, Andrzej Lepper, was dismissed from his position as Minister for Agriculture following a secret investigation by the Central Anticorruption Bureau (CBA) which attempted to link him and his department to corruptive practices.

He also filed a denunciation lawsuit against the minister coordinator of services Zbigniew Wassermann, while also stating that the head of the Central Anticorruption Bureau, Mariusz Kamiński, broke the law by initiating the sting operation against him.

[4] After the formation of the League and Self-Defense, Law and Justice began making demands that both Samoobrona and LPR withdraw from the idea of setting up a commission to investigate the CBA action, after which Andrzej Lepper lost his deputy prime minister's seat.

Gazeta Wyborcza wrote that Lepper is a "former communist, radical trade unionist, once an SLD ally, with fond memories of collective farms", while Giertych was described as "an heir to the National Democrats, a right-winger and a fan of Margaret Thatcher".

Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard argued that League and Self-Defense had great potential as long as it focused on the Samoobrona's socioeconomic appeal, namely its socialist orientation, protectionism and nostalgic feelings towards communist Poland.

The presence of League of Polish Families, Der Standard argued, would not shock voters because of the existence of PiS, which already tried to combine left-leaning economics with social conservatism, although with a strong dominance of the latter.

League and Self-Defense were to agree to unconditionally support the cabinet's bills, oppose strikes, vote in favor of waiving parliamentary immunity at the request of the prosecutor's office, and abandon the demand to set up a commission of inquiry into the actions of CBA.

[54] However, Giertych rejected the proposal, stating that he desires to continue League and Self-Defense together with Samoobrona; he also argued that Law and Justice has its own internal divisions, which the party is desperate to contain by maintaining the coalition.

Self-Defense attacks Kaczynski's party on the social level, explaining that it has duped the voters, that it has not been able to find money to increase wages in the health and education sectors, and that it has remained deaf to the demands of the peasants.

[73] In late September, Giertych organized a press conference in which he claimed that "Lepper has gone mad", in which he attacked his former partner for inviting "communist apparatchiks" to Samoobrona's electoral lists.

[77] The Central Anticorruption Bureau, responsible for the unlawful sting operation against Lepper that ultimately ended his political career, grew unpopular and was disbanded in March 2024.

[79] In light of the Civic Platform's victory in the 2007 election, opposition parties such as Law and Justice and Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), as well as the president Lech Kaczyński, worked together to prevent the new PO-led government from changing the leadership of Telewizja Polska (TVP), state-owned Polish television.

Flis concluded that this reiteration of ‘LiS has dug himself a pretty safe burrow and it won't be easy to throw him out.’[80] The main objectives of the coalition were to create a commission of inquiry into the Central Anticorruption Bureau and its operations, blocking the ratification of the European Union reform treaty that both members of the coalition were opposed to, stop the privatization process and "strengthen the constitutional protection of life", which would include introducing additional restrictions on abortion.

The coalition speculated that the European Union might plan to introduce the position of an EU president and a foreign minister, which would overrule the policy of individual member states in favor of enforcing one-for-all rulings.

[48] On social issues, League and Self-Defense stressed its anti-corruption stance and referred to the unlawful actions of the Central Anticorruption Bureau that led to the collapse of the PiS-LPR-Samoobrona coalition.

The coalition also proposed to guarantee protection of life from the moment of conception until natural death, as well as an extensive education reform that would introduce "zero tolerance" program for violence and bullying at school.

[24] League of Self-Defense rejected capitalism as a system that causes the "McDonaldization of the planet"; conversely, neoliberalism and the tradition of economic liberalism in general were condemned as "lumpenliberalism" that is characterized by consumptionism and hedonism rather than serving the needs of the poor and disadvantaged.

[89] The coalition itself was considered "not very right-wing" by Polish media despite the presence of LPR in it, who noted the far-reaching criticism of privatization process in Poland and a clearly left-wing economic program.

[90] Samoobrona was considered a "peasant-left" and a far-left[91] party that sought to look after the rural voters, combined with agrarian socialist demands and an ambition to represent people who struggle financially.

Polish sociologist Andrzej Rychard noted that the coalition was ultimately anti-capitalist and economy-oriented, as the voters of both parties shared longing for the security of the socialist welfare state and protection from the risks of open markets.

[95] German magazine Stern noted the dominating role of Lepper, which it called "Polish Hugo Chávez" and described his ideology as "populist mixture of socialism and nationalism."

[98] Dutch political scientist Gerrit Voerman remarked that Samoobrona sought to represent those who "found themselves on the edge of poverty and despair" as a result of capitalist reforms and described it as "the voice of the poor, deprived and humiliated".

Since Law and Justice, an extremely anti-communist party, has reached an agreement with Samoobrona, a grouping one hundred percent derived from the previous [communist] system, then further volleys will no longer be a sensation.