Polish autonomous nationalism against the background of social movement theory

Abstract The purpose of this article is to analyze autonomous nationalism as a new social movement. This current of nationalism, which emerged at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, is characterized by a radical rejection of liberal democracy, as well as the ideology of the New Left. As a result of the analysis of the published content, it was possible to conclude that autonomous nationalism is a formula of nationalism as a movement of resistance to the establishment, adapted to the conditions of the 21st century. Economic conditions also influence the success of this social nationalism, which is inspired by the political thought of Otto Strasser. Autonomous nationalism is a novelty on the Polish far right also because of its rejection of Catholicism, as well as the formula of cultural nationalism associated with the national-Catholic current. Instead, a commitment to the ethnic concept of the nation as a ‘community of blood’ is noticeable in the movement under study. This goes hand in hand with the new neopaganism popular in the milieu.