PiS vice-chair Terlecki slams 'maślarze' faction, warns of defeat as Morawiecki's group exits party

The internal conflict within Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party escalated on Friday as vice-chair of the parliamentary club Ryszard Terlecki publicly attacked the "maślarze" faction, warning it was leading the party to defeat. His statement came hours after party chairman Jarosław Kaczyński announced that about thirty MPs had resigned their membership following an ultimatum tied to former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki's association, Rozwój Plus.

Ultimatum and resignations

The deadline set by Kaczyński for PiS parliamentarians to declare they did not belong to any external associations expired at midnight on Thursday, 23 July. The move was aimed primarily at members of Rozwój Plus, founded by Morawiecki, a party vice-chairman and former head of government. On Friday, Kaczyński said that "thirty-something" MPs had resigned from the party, a decision to be ratified by the Political Committee on Tuesday, 28 July. Morawiecki, speaking at a later press conference, stated that his association now counted 40 MPs, one senator and three MEPs. He argued that the ultimatum amounted to blackmail and that a previously agreed strategy of "two lungs" for the party was being discarded.

We cannot agree that through ultimatums or blackmail a strategy agreed not long ago ends up in the bin.

Factions: 'harcerze' vs 'maślarze'

The dispute has crystallised around two informal groupings. Morawiecki's supporters are dubbed "harcerze" (scouts), while their opponents are called "maślarze" (butter-makers), a label for the conservative bloc aligned with vice-chairman Przemysław Czarnek, Jacek Sasin, Tobiasz Bocheński and Patryk Jaki. The maślarze are seen as pushing for a harder line and, according to Terlecki, are driving the split. The conflict has been simmering for weeks, with Kaczyński earlier referring to a proposal to divide the party that had surfaced many weeks ago.

Terlecki's intervention

Ryszard Terlecki, a veteran PiS politician who served as deputy speaker of the Sejm and was for years one of Kaczyński's closest aides, broke his silence on Friday evening with a post on X. While calling Kaczyński "the most outstanding politician of 35 years," he directly blamed the maślarze for the crisis.

Jarosław Kaczyński remains the most outstanding politician of 35 years, but the Maślarze are leading PiS to defeat. I think the day will come when the Chairman will chase them away and together we will go for victory.

Terlecki had earlier written on Facebook that some colleagues were "eager to show zeal and push for a split," warning that Kaczyński "sometimes likes to listen to sycophants, but he does not respect them." He is among the MPs who did not sign the required declarations and is now aligned with Morawiecki's group.

Local impact in Małopolska

The fracture is also visible in the Małopolska region, where several PiS MPs joined Rozwój Plus. Among them are Łukasz Kmita, Elżbieta Duda, Agnieszka Ścigaj, Ryszard Terlecki and Wiesław Krajewski. Local party sources note that former prime minister Beata Szydło has stayed out of the "harcerze versus maślarze" conflict, while another group around former infrastructure minister Andrzej Adamczyk remains loyal to the party leadership without aligning with either faction. The regional consequences of a national split are still unclear, but local structures could be reshaped.

What next

The Political Committee is set to meet on Tuesday to formalise the departure of the MPs who resigned. Morawiecki's camp insists it wanted to remain within PiS and operate under the "two lungs" model, but the ultimatum forced their hand. Whether Kaczyński will eventually move against the maślarze, as Terlecki predicts, remains an open question. For now, the party faces its most serious internal rupture in years, with both factions digging in.