The People's Party (''Stronnictwo Ludowe'', SL) was a Polish

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

, active from 1931 in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

. An agrarian populist party, its power base was mostly farmers and rural population. In 1931 it was created from the merger of three other, smaller, peasant-based parties: centre-right Polish People's Party "Piast" (PSL "Piast"), centre-left Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" (PSLW) and left wing Stronnictwo Chłopskie (SCh). During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

it was known as 'Stronnictwo Ludowe Roch' and its military arm,

Bataliony Chłopskie Bataliony Chłopskie (BCh, Polish ''Peasants' Battalions'') was a Polish World War II resistance movement, guerrilla and partisan organisation. The organisation was created in mid-1940 by the agrarian political party People's Party and by 194 ...

, was part of the

Polish resistance movement in World War II The Polish resistance movement in World War II (''Polski ruch oporu w czasie II wojny światowej''), with the Polish Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistance movement in all of occupied Europe, covering both German ...

. After the end of the war, the People's Party under the leadership of Wincenty Witos decided to support

Stanisław Mikołajczyk Stanisław Mikołajczyk (18 July 1901 – 13 December 1966; ) was a Polish politician. He was a Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile during World War II, and later Deputy Prime Minister in post-war Poland until 1947. Biography Back ...

. However at the same time

Polish communists Communism in Poland can trace its origins to the late 19th century: the Marxist First Proletariat party was founded in 1882. Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (''Socjaldemokracja Królest ...

named one of their proxy parties , and the old People's Party, now loyal to Mikołajczyk, changed its name into

Polish People's Party The Polish People's Party ( pl, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL) is an agrarian political party in Poland. It is currently led by Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its history traces back to 1895, when it held the name People's Party, although i ...

(PSL). After Mikołajczyk's defeat in the rigged

1947 Polish legislative election Parliamentary elections were held in Poland on 19 January 1947, Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1491 the first since World War II. According to the official results, the Democratic Bloc (''Blok ...

, the remains of the Polish People's Party were merged (in 1949) into the communist-allied United People's Party (ZSL).

References

1931 establishments in Poland Agrarian parties in Poland Centrist parties in Poland Defunct political parties in Poland Liberal parties in Poland Political parties disestablished in 1949 Political parties established in 1931 Polish People's Party {{Polish political parties