Headed by Ignacy Daszyński as Premier, the Provisional People’s Government of the Polish Republic was established on November 7, 1918 in Lublin by a group of independence-oriented Leftist activists (PPS, PSL Wyzwolenie). This Government did not however attain a nation-wide reach, and functioned alongside other power centres, among them the Polish Liquidation Commission in Galicia. The Manifesto called for the dissolution of the Regency Council and the creation of an independent people’s republic. It declared the equal rights of all citizens, irrespective of their nationality or religion, and granted freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and association, and the right to strike. It announced an eight-hour workday in industry, the crafts, and trade and declared it would immediately set about reorganising territorial self-government and forming a people’s militia. The Provisional Government moreover demanded that German troops leave the lands of Poland and expressed its will to resolve all territory-related disputes with neighbouring countries by way of negotiations.
Although the Provisional People’s Government of the Polish Republic was formed by political colleagues of Józef Piłsudski, it did not win his support because of its party-character. Ignacy Daszyński therefore submitted his resignation to Józef Piłsudski on November 12, the day after Piłsudski had returned to Poland from Magdeburg.
