Three-time prime minister and 'messiah of the peasants', leader of the Polish People's Party 'Piast'
Born to a poor peasant family in Wierzchosławice in Galicia, he joined the People's Party in 1895 and, after the 1913 split, led the Polish People's Party 'Piast'. On 24 July 1920, amid the crisis of the Polish-Soviet War, he became prime minister of the Government of National Defence, and he was prime minister again in 1923 and 1926; his third government was overthrown by Piłsudski's May Coup. Leading the Centre-Left alliance against the Sanacja, he was imprisoned in the Brest Fortress in 1930, and in 1931 he merged three peasant parties into the People's Party. He went into exile in Czechoslovakia before his conviction was upheld, returned in 1939 to be imprisoned by the Germans, and in 1944 refused to issue an anti-Soviet appeal. Named a vice-chairman of the State National Council in 1945, he died that year.
Activities and affiliations
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1895–1945
Political and party leadership
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1917–1918
National League (Liga Narodowa, Poland)
Government and administration -
1920–1926
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1895Joined the Galician People's Party
- 1908–1914Deputy to the Diet of Galicia
- 1909.04Wójt (mayor) of Wierzchosławice
- 1911–1918Deputy to the Austrian Reichsrat
- 1916President of the Polish People's Party 'Piast'
- 1920.07.24–1921.09.13Prime Minister, Government of National Defence
- 1923.05.28–12.14Prime Minister (second term)
- 1926.05.10–14Prime Minister (third term) — overthrown by the May Coup
- 1930.09Imprisoned in the Brest Fortress
- 1931.03.15Founded the united People's Party (SL)
- 1933–1939Exile in Czechoslovakia
- 1945Vice-chairman of the State National Council