Polish People's Party (1945–1949)
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Polish People's Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe)
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| Leader | Wincenty Witos (1945), Stanisław Mikołajczyk (1946–47), Józef Niećko (1947–49) |
| Founded | 1945 |
| Dissolved | 1949 |
| Headquarters | Warsaw, Poland |
| Youth wing | Rural Youth Alliance of the Republic of Poland "Wici" |
| Ideology |
Christian democracy Agrarianism Social conservatism Anti-communism Political Catholicism |
| Political position | Centre to Right-wing |
The Polish People's Party (or Polish Peasant Party, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe – PSL), existed in post-World War II Poland from 1945 to 1949. In the period of increasing solidification of communist power, but still some formal adherence to multiparty democracy principles, the PSL was a centrist party, non-communist and not allied with the communists. The PSL was defeated by the communist-led bloc in the rigged legislative elections of 1947.
A temporary government, declared as the Polish Committee of National Liberation, was established by Polish communists and allied politicians in July 1944 in Lublin, when Poland was being liberated from the Nazi German occupation by the Soviet and Polish armies. The communists were pressured by the United States and Britain, as discussed by their leaders with Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference, to admit into the Polish government participants of the democratic opposition, including members of the London-based Polish government-in-exile.
Former prime minister of that government, Stanisław Mikołajczyk, returned to Poland in June 1945 and became deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture in the so-called Provisional Government of National Unity, dominated by the communists and their allied faction of the Polish Socialist Party. Mikołajczyk revived the prewar agrarian People's Party, led by Wincenty Witos, as his power base. Under Mikołajczyk, the party became the Polish People's Party.
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