About us

Our MISSION (We were founded to…) 

Work towards social justice and solidarity, and implement progressive solutions in political and social practice.

Our VISION (We strive to…) 

Create an open, solidary, and green Poland, and a world that is more equal, just, and friendly to people and all species.

Our MANIFESTO

Ideas don’t work.
By themselves.
Someone has to stand behind the idea.
Together or individually.

Ideas help reinvent the world.
When it needs to be done.
They facilitate understanding, sustain hope, relieve fears.

Ideas are not bold. They have no imagination. They have no colours.
It is the person standing on the side of an idea – it’s a hero.
Who sees and shows others what is invisible.
And believes that utopia uttered today, tomorrow can become a colourful reality.

Ideas are born from criticism.
They arise from thinking.
And when reason is awakened, the frown ends
Critical thinking drives to action.

Ideas are words.
Which have value and power.
But we are not there to [just] create them or defend them.
We intend to make them a reality.

For the common good of the individual.
For an open, solidarity-based, green Poland.
In word and action.

WE ARE REWRITING IDEAS
INTO REALITY

More than 20 years of Krytyka Polityczna at a glance:

The Stanislaw Brzozowski Association is one of the largest independent media and social NGOs in Central and Eastern Europe. Since 2002, Krytyka Polityczna has been creating, testing, and implementing ideas that have the potential to make a real impact on the lives of specific individuals, especially those who are excluded, underserved, and marginalised.

Our mission is to work towards social justice and solidarity, and to introduce progressive solutions in political and social practice. Our vision is a more open, equal, and greener Poland, and a world that is more inclusive, just, and friendly to people and all species.

Our long-term and multi-year actions, based on progressive thought and sensitivity, have already brought about many changes, which we have written about in a series of articles summarising the 20- year history of Krytyka Polityczna. Link: krytykapolityczna.pl/temat/20latkp/

The main fields on which these changes have occurred during Krytyka’s 20 years of work include women’s rights, inclusive economic perspectives, ecology, LGBTQ+ rights, citizen participation and activation, secular state, and arts. Krytyka Polityczna has helped to bring new topics and ideas into the mainstream: from feminism, minority perspectives and queer issues, through critical theory, to doughnut economy and green transformation. Stories can truly change the world.

The creation and distribution of ideas:

The Association has developed a model of functioning that includes a full technological sequence for the creation and distribution of ideas. It includes:

1. The Krytyka Polityczna Institute researching phenomena and attitudes in Polish society.
2. The Krytyka Polityczna Publishing House specialising in the humanities and history.
3. Medium KrytykaPolityczna.pl, the largest progressive online journal in Poland.
4. The Socio-Cultural Centres in Cieszyn and Warsaw, transforming ideas into project practice. Spaces for independent culture, welcoming especially those who feel excluded elsewhere.

The Krytyka Polityczna Institute is responsible for conducting social research in the following priority areas: climate change, welfare state and high quality of public services, political sociology. Moreover, within the Institute the so-called Rapid Response Sociology – a method of working was developed and implemented while carrying out research at the Polish-Belarusian and Polish-Ukrainian border during the refugee crisis that took place in 2021 and 2022.

Among the achievements of the Institute in the recent period of operation, the following activities shall be mentioned:

–  Preparation of the book The Society of Populists, written by Prof. Przemysław Sadura and Slawomir Sierakowski. The book is the result of a series of four years of sociological research carried out as part of the work of the Institute. Within the series it examined, among other things, the attitude of Poles to the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as voting behavior and preferences. The book has had a tremendous impact on public debate in Poland, and the diagnoses posed by the researchers are widely discussed both in expert circles and at events aimed at the general public, which attract dozens of people.

–  The Institute collaborates with prominent German political foundations operating in Poland – Heinrich Boell Foundation and Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Among other notable partner organisations it is worth-mentioning the European Climate Foundation.

–  For the past three years, the Institute’s work has been analyzing the Doughnut Economics development model developed by British expert Kate Raworth. In 2023 the book “Doughnut Economics – the Polish way” was issued, in which the prominent experts and researchers analyse the selected elements of the “Doughnut model” from the Polish perspective. The institute’s activities in this area are unique and original contribution to the development of public and expert debate in the area of climate change and sustainable development in Poland.

Krytyka Polityczna Publishing House creates books aiming to influence and affect reality in the context of the necessary socio-political transformation diagnosed by the Institute, among others. The publishing house has a strong position in the book market (publishing 26 books yearly in 110 000 copies sold and 30 000 ebooks sold) and in the market of ideas, which it continues to consolidate year after year.

Our Publishing House have published many more books by internationally recognised authors, including canons of feminist, queer, sociological and economic literature, including:

– ‘Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights’ by Katha PolliN
– ‘I Am Jazz’ by Jazz Jennings
– ‘They. Homosexuals in World War II’ by Joanna Ostrowska
– ‘Gender Trouble’ by Judith Butler
– ‘Feminist Theory’ by bell hooks
– ‘The Queer Art of Failure’ by Jack Halberstam
– ‘Doughnut Economics’ by Kate Raworth
– ‘Fortunes of Feminism’ by Nancy Fraser
– ‘The New Odyssey: The Story of the Twenty-First Century Refugee
Crisis’ by Patrick Kingsley.

Our list includes also such big names as: bell hooks, Thomas Piketty, David Graeber, Howard Zinn, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Michael Pollan, Jonathan Safran Foer, Paul B. Preciado, Carl Safina, and Eric Hobsbawm, to name just a few.Today, Krytyka Polityczna Publishing House, caters to a more mainstream readership with a well-established series of non-fiction books, which provide a critical commentary on the most pressing social crises of today, and our popular history series targeted at general readers.

KrytykaPolityczna.pl is the most influential Polish media supporter for progressive causes such as feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, environmentalism, and anti-fascism. It is the largest progressive political and cultural magazine based in Poland that publishes critical analysis, essays, and commentary on social, political, and cultural issues.

Our editorial policy is guided by the principles of pro-European democratic socialism, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, feminism, and anti-discrimination policies. Krytyka Polityczna’s editorial policy is characterised by a commitment to social justice and the promotion of democracy, ecology, human rights, and civil liberties. It also emphasises the importance of intellectual inquiry, independent thinking, and critical analysis, and seeks to provide a platform for alternative voices and perspectives that are often marginalised or underrepresented in mainstream media.

Krytyka Polityczna is known for its critical stance towards the right-wing ruling elites in Poland and other countries, as well as for its engagement in social and political activism. We encourage open debate and discussion, and value the diversity of opinions and views that contribute to a vibrant and pluralistic public sphere. Krytyka has been influential in shaping public debates and policies in Poland and beyond, and has inspired similar initiatives in other countries in the region.

At Krytyka Polityczna, we believe that open access to information is critical for democracy. We don’t like paywalls where a well-informed, diverse, healthy and democratic public sphere is at stake. We offer our journalism free-of-charge to expand our reach and amplify our message. Our works are regularly republished by Open Democracy, Green European Journal, Internazionale, A2larm.cz, Voxeurop, Eurozine, as well as many other partners.Our daily online news is read every year by between 4 and 6 million unique users, of whom, in 2021, less than 32% were from Warsaw. Our social media channels are followed by several hundred thousand people.

Two Socio-Cultural Centres in Warsaw and Cieszyn (on the Polish-Czech border) provides an artistic, cultural and educational program to participants from communities exposed to discrimination or under political pressure: for migrants and refugees, including black people, for LGBTQ+ communities, Deaf people, neurodivergent individuals and ones who do not fit in into dominant cultural patterns of corporeality, teenagers and non-binary adolescents. Invites engaged artists for whom – due to their identity, views, topics they tackle, or the communities they cooperate with – their space of expression is limited. Implements programs for organisations and social movements of the young generation, ensuring the continuity of progressive social engagement, and makes its infrastructure available to other civil society entities, recognising the need to share resources as well as cooperation and mutual support within the social sector. Carrying out numerous theatre activities for children and civic education projects focusing on educating the young generation of conscious citizens there, including the long-standing Active Citizens project „Generation Change. „Generation Change”, „Media Activism” or projects supporting activist circles.

Statistics 1.06.2024:

Website – this year alone, our daily newspaper’s website was visited by as many as 3 million readers.

Facebook – more than 150 thousand followers. With our content and articles we reach millions of accounts.

Instagram – we are followed by more than 30 thousand people, and we reach almost 60 thousand per month.

X – we are followed by as many as 145 thousand people.

Podcasts – 74.2K podcast plays.

Newsletters – we are in touch with 22.266 readers.