During the snowy start to the new year, a strangely feverish atmosphere reigned under the dome of Poland's Sejm, the lower house of parliament in Warsaw. It has seen it all before, but the current air of a change in regime has suddenly given its austere chamber such a youthful feel that Poles have christened the YouTube channel that broadcasts live debates and committee hearings "Sejmflix." On an ordinary afternoon in mid-January, the counter at the bottom of the screen showed that there were 78,239 people watching Sejmflix, with 735,000 subscribers.

Behind these heated outbursts lies a crucial battle for Polish democracy and a potentially exemplary one for the rest of Europe: that of a democratically-elected government, led by Donald Tusk, whose priority is to re-establish the rule of law dismantled by eight years of illiberal rule. But how can the rule of law be re-established without violating the law? Thirty-five years after leading the way in post-Sovietism with the first transition from communism to democracy, Poland is once again pioneering another form of political experimentation.

"For the second time, we're going down a road for which we don't have the directions," said Adam Michnik, who played a leading role in drawing up the 1989 roadmap and, at 77, is observing this second unprecedented transition from his office overflowing with books at the headquarters of Gazeta Wyborcza, the newspaper he founded in May 1989 to bring down communism. The joke that union leader-turned-president Lech Walesa was fond of quoting about the challenge of transforming the communist economy into a capitalist regime is back in vogue: "We know how to make fish soup from an aquarium, but we've never made an aquarium from fish soup." Only the ingredients are different.

Explosive partnership

In reality, it was easier with the communists. In 1989, "they knew they had to leave power and they negotiated the terms of their surrender," said a former senior civil servant who has just joined the Tusk government. "They were the builders of the historic compromise alongside the new power, whereas today Jaroslaw Kaczynski [the leader of the opposition] and his comrades have one obsession: revenge," said Michnik, who was wearing a Ukrainian flag in his buttonhole.

"And then, at the time," he said, stubbing out his umpteenth cigarette, "the world was on our side. In Moscow, the regime was too busy with perestroika, so they let us get on with it. The Western world watched us with hope and admiration. But today, in Moscow, we have Putin at the head of an aggressive power and, in the West, Chamberlains, Daladiers, the terrible shadow of Trump and populist waves that are breaking who knows where."

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