[2] Samoobrona emerged in 1992 as a radical rural trade union movement that led militant nationwide strikes and protests.
", Samoobrona acted as an outspoken defender of the poor and disadvantaged, accusing the Polish government of impoverishing many for the benefit of the few through dissolution of socialism and implementation of capitalism.
[7] Initially, Samoobrona was an agrarian trade union that rocked the 1990s political scene of Poland with its radical protest methods and anti-capitalist demands.
[10] In regards to the batallions and the goal of the party itself, Lepper stated: "We will strengthen physical fortitude, develop patriotism and train our military troops.
During the presidential campaign, Lepper confirmed the direction of the party by arguing that socialism should br restored in Poland as it had "not yet reached full maturity".
[16] The Polish People's Block was formed as a result of the withdrawal of Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland MP Wojciech Mojzesowicz and a small group of MPs associated with him.
Members of the circle formed on 6 December 2002 became Wacław Klukowski, Dorota Kwaśniewska, Wojciech Mojzesowicz and Lech Zielonka.
The first considered partner was the People's Democratic Party (Polish: Partia Ludowo-Demokratyczna) of Roman Jagieliński, another Samoobrona defector.
The ruling coalition gathered 224 votes by mid-June, as it could count on the support of the People's Democratic Party and the German Minority Electoral Committee.
On behalf of the Polish Peasant Bloc, Mojzesowicz declared that he would support the new government (bringing the vote up to 229), if SLD dismissed its minister of agriculture Adam Tański.
Mojzesowicz criticized Tański's policies, accusing him of selling Polish grain for low prices to foreign capital.
[26] In May, Lech Zielonka joined the Federated Parliamentary Club, and in June the circle was also abandoned by Bożena Kozłowska and Dorota Kwaśniewska, as a result of which its size decreased to 3 MPs.
The Polish Peasant Bloc also argued that Samoobrona lacks internal democracy, and that the party works on the basis of "one-man rule", with Andrzej Lepper having allegedly absolute power.
Despite stating its intention to realize the program of Samoobrona, the party greatly different from it in that the Polish Peasant Bloc described itself as neither left-wing nor right-wing, but rather broadly agrarian.
The party had ambigous stance towards socialism, but it argued that neither Poland nor the Polish agrarian movement should reject its socialist legacy.