[1] emerged from the vision of Janusz Lewandowski, who initiated its formation in the early 1980s alongside co-founders Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Andrzej Voigt, and Donald Tusk.

These early gatherings involved 30 young economists and intellectuals who met secretly in Sopot and at Świetlik Cooperative, a discreet location in Gdańsk situated next to a soccer field.

To avoid suspicion, the group masked their political discussions by staging casual soccer matches on the adjacent field every Sunday from 10 AM to 12 PM, followed by strategy sessions at the Cooperative.

Voigt also co-led the Private Entrepreneurs Club (KPP), a 370-member organization that funded nearly all KLD activities between 1988 and 1990, and co-founded the Regional Development Agency in Gdańsk (1990–2001), Poland’s first such institution.

By 1990, the KLD formally registered as a political party, advocating free-market economics, privatization, European integration, and individual liberties framed by Catholic social values.