The Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Tymczasowy Rząd Ludowy Republiki Polskiej), also known as the Government of

Ignacy Daszyński Ignacy Ewaryst Daszyński (; 26 October 1866 – 31 October 1936) was a Polish socialist politician, journalist, and very briefly Prime Minister of the Second Polish Republic's first government, formed in Lublin in 1918. In October 1892 he cofo ...

, was established on 7 November 1918 in

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

Austrian Galicia The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,, ; pl, Królestwo Galicji i Lodomerii, ; uk, Королівство Галичини та Володимирії, Korolivstvo Halychyny ta Volodymyrii; la, Rēgnum Galiciae et Lodomeriae also known as ...

, as one of the precursors of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

's sovereignty following World War I. It proclaimed the creation of a constitutional republic with the right to

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of key industries, as well as

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

, and

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

s. Prominent personalities of the

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

included

Stanisław Thugutt Stanisław August Thugutt (30 July 1873, Łęczyca - 15 June 1941, Stockholm) was a Polish activist and politician during the interwar period of the Second Polish Republic. During World War I, he was a soldier in the Polish Legions. He was t ...

as Minister of Internal Affairs,

Tomasz Arciszewski Tomasz Stefan Arciszewski (; 4 November 1877 – 20 November 1955) was a Polish socialist politician, a member of the Polish Socialist Party and the 31st Prime Minister of Poland, 3rd Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile in London fro ...

as Minister of Labour, as well as Col.

Edward Rydz-Śmigły Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły (11 March 1886 – 2 December 1941; nom de guerre ''Śmigły, Tarłowski, Adam Zawisza''), also called Edward Śmigły-Rydz, was a Polish politician, statesman, Marshal of Poland and Commander-in-Chief of Poland's ...

as the Minister of War and Supreme Commander of the Polish Armed Forces. Ignacy Daszyński became Prime Minister. The Provisional Government dissolved itself after several days when

Józef Piłsudski ), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) , death_date = , death_place = Warsaw, Poland , constituency = , party = None (formerly PPS) , spouse = , children = Wan ...

became Head of State (''Naczelnik Państwa'') on 14 November 1918 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

History

On 2 October 1918 Polish members of the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

parliament, led by Daszyński, forwarded a historic motion demanding restoration of an independent Polish state. They also recognized that the "

Polish question The Polish question ( pl, kwestia polska or ) was the issue, in international politics, of the existence of Poland as an independent state. Raised soon after the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century, it became a question current in Euro ...

" was an international matter and requested Polish participation in the Paris Peace Conference, in order to negotiate the re-emergence of sovereign Poland. Daszyński gave his speech to the Austrian parliament on 3 October 1918, stating: On 15 October 1918 Daszyński and other Polish deputies to the Austrian parliament adopted a document in which they declared themselves to be Polish citizens, not Austrian. On 28 October the

Polish Liquidation Committee The Polish Liquidation Committee of Galicia and Cieszyn Silesia ( pl, Polska Komisja Likwidacyjna Galicji i Śląska Cieszyńskiego) was a temporary Polish government body that operated in Galicia at the end of World War I. Created on 28 October ...

was formed, led by

Wincenty Witos Wincenty Witos (; 22 January 1874 – 31 October 1945) was a Polish politician, prominent member and leader of the Polish People's Party (PSL), who served three times as the Prime Minister of Poland in the 1920s. He was a member of the Polish Peo ...

first in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, then in

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

. On 6 November, Daszyński and his deputies proclaimed the formation of the Polish People's Republic led by interim government based in Lublin, with Daszyński as Prime Minister. On Sunday, 10 November at 7 a.m., Józef Piłsudski, newly freed from 16 months in a German prison in Magdeburg, returned by train to Warsaw. Piłsudski, together with Colonel

Kazimierz Sosnkowski General Kazimierz Sosnkowski (; Warsaw, 19 November 1885 – 11 October 1969, Arundel, Quebec) was a Polish independence fighter, general, diplomat, and architect. He was a major political figure and an accomplished commander, notable in p ...

, was greeted at Warsaw's railway station by Regent

Zdzisław Lubomirski Prince Zdzisław Lubomirski (; 1865–1943) was a Polish Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, landowner, lawyer, a conservative politician and social activist. The Prince was chairman of the "Central Civil Committee" (Centralny Komitet Obywatelski) i ...

and by Colonel

Adam Koc Adam Ignacy Koc (31 August 1891 – 3 February 1969) was a Polish politician, MP, soldier, journalist and Freemason. Koc, who had several ''noms de guerre'' (Witold, Szlachetny, Adam Krajewski, Adam Warmiński and Witold Warmiński), fought ...

. Next day, due to his popularity and support from most political parties, the Regency Council appointed Piłsudski as Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. On 14 November, the Council dissolved itself and transferred all its authority to Piłsudski as Chief of State (''Naczelnik Państwa''). After consultation with Piłsudski, Daszyński's government dissolved itself and a new government formed under

Jędrzej Moraczewski Jędrzej Edward Moraczewski (; 13 January 1870 – 5 August 1944) was a Polish socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownershi ...

. Italy became the first country in Europe to recognise Poland's renewed sovereignty.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland Second Polish Republic States and territories established in 1918 1918 establishments in Poland 1918 in Poland Governments in Poland Provisional governments