The People's Party was a Polish political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

, active from 1931 in the Second Polish Republic

Second Polish Republic

The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...

. An agrarian populist party, its power base was composed mostly from peasants.

In 1931 it was created from the merger of three other, smaller, peasant-based parties: Polish People's Party "Piast" (PSL "Piast"), Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie" (PSLW) and Stronnictwo Chłopskie (SCh).

During the Second World War it was known as 'Stronnictwo Ludowe Roch' and its military arm, Bataliony Chłopskie, formed part of the Polish resistance movement in World War II

Polish resistance movement in World War II

The Polish resistance movement in World War II, with the Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistance in all of Nazi-occupied Europe, covering both German and Soviet zones of occupation. The Polish defence against the Nazi occupation was an important part of the European...

.

After the end of the war, the People's Party under the leadership of Wincenty Witos

Wincenty Witos

Wincenty Witos was a prominent member of the Polish People's Party from 1895, and leader of its "Piast" faction from 1913. He was a member of parliament in the Galician Sejm from 1908–1914, and an envoy to Reichsrat in Vienna from 1911 to 1918...

 decided to support Stanisław Mikołajczyk. However at the same time Polish communists named one of their proxy parties Stronnictwo Ludowe, and the old People's Party, now loyal to Mikołajczyk, changed its name into Polish People's Party (PSL).

After Mikołajczyk's defeat due to vote-rigging by communists in the Polish legislative election, 1947

Polish legislative election, 1947

The Polish legislative election of 1947 was held on January 19, 1947 in the People's Republic of Poland. The anti-communist opposition candidates and activists were persecuted and the eventual results were falsified...

, the remains of the Polish People's Party were merged (in 1949) into the more communist friendly (United People's Party

United People's Party (Poland)

The United People's Party was an agrarian political party in the People's Republic of Poland. It was formed on 27 November 1949 from the merger of the communist Stronnictwo Ludowe party with remnants of the independent People's Party of Stanisław Mikołajczyk .ZSL became - as intended from its very...

, ZSL).