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 cofounded the Polish Social Democratic Party (Polish abbreviation: ''PPSD''), a precursor to the Polish Socialist Party (''PPS''). In 1897 he was elected to the Austrian Parliament and remained there until 1918.

From 1903 he took part in several congresses and gatherings of the International Socialist Party, advocating for the independence and reunification of all Polish territories, as an integral part of the Polish socialist program. In 1912 he began a long collaboration with future Marshal and Chief of State Józef Pilsudski. He was appointed editor-in-chief of the Socialist newspaper ''Naprzód'' (Forward), published in Kraków.

Following World War I, Daszyński cofounded the Polish National Committee, and for a few days he served as head of the Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland formed in the city of Lublin on 7 November 1918. On 26 January 1919 he was elected to the Polish Sejm, and was re-elected in 1922, 1928, and 1930. From July 1920 to January 1921 he served as deputy prime minister in a Government of National Unity led by politician and diplomat Wincenty Witos.

Though he strongly supported Józef Piłsudski during the May 1926 Coup, he later joined the center-left opposition. From 1928 to 1930 he was the third Marshal of the Sejm. When Piłsudski entered the Sejm chamber, accompanied by a sizable military escort, Daszyński refused to open the Sejm session. He ended his political career in 1930 when Piłsudski dissolved the Sejm.

In his journalistic and underground activities, he used the pseudonyms ''Daszek'', ''Żegota'', and ''Ignis''. Provided by Wikipedia