The party was established in February 1989 as an alternative to the
Polish United Workers' Party–
Solidarity political duopoly. It had its roots in the Christian Democratic Political Theory Club, which had been established the year before by members of the Association for the Promulgation of Catholic Social Science. It was initially known as the Christian Democratic Labour Party (
Chrześcijańsko-Demokratyczne Stronnictwo Pracy, ChDSP), and claimed to be the successor to the
Labor Faction that was dissolved after
World War II. It was initially headed by
Władysław Siła-Nowicki, and it was hoped that his prestige would help popularise the party. Two members were elected to
Parliament on the
Solidarity Citizens' Committee list in the
1989 parliamentary elections;
Marek Rusakiewicz became a member of the
Sejm and
Walerian Piotrowski was elected to the
Senate. The remaining members of the ChDSP subsequently contested the
1991 parliamentary elections as part of the
Christian Democracy alliance that won five seats.
Stefan Pastuszewski was the party's sole MP. Internal heterogeneity affected the party's start in elections. In 1989, the party wanted to run on the lists of the
Solidarity Citizens' Committee, but their candidates were not accepted at the provincial and central levels. So they ran independently, and although they did not win any seats, they fared best among opposition parties that fielded candidates on their own. However, they fared more favorably in the 1990 local elections, when they won more than 200 seats. The party joined the
Centre Agreement for the
1993 parliamentary elections. However, the alliance failed to win any seats. In 1994, it merged with the small Christian Democracy party, and was renamed
Christian Democracy-Labour Party (
Chrześcijańska Demokracja-Stronnictwo Pracy, ChD-SP). It was part of the
Solidarity Electoral Action alliance that won the
1997 elections; the ChD-SP held one of its 201 seats in the
Sejm, taken by
Witold Nieduszyński. In 2000, the party became the
Labour Party. It was part of the
Law and Justice list for the
2001 elections, but failed to win a seat. It was part of the All-Poland Citizen Committee for the
2004 European Parliament elections, but it received 0.6% of the vote and failed to win a seat. Prior to the
2005 elections the party split, with some members leaving to form the
All-Poland Civic Coalition and others founded
Ancestral Home. The Labour Party contested the elections alone, but received just 1,019 votes and failed to win a seat. The other two parties both received more votes, but also failed to win a seat. ==Ideology==