Tomasz Arciszewski

Tomasz Arciszewski was a Polish socialist politician and a member of the Polish Socialist Party. He was one of the leaders of the Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party, a revolutionary group fighting for the liberation of Poland from the Russian Empire. He was also a close associate of Józef Piłsudski, the founder of the Second Polish Republic. Arciszewski served as the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs in the Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland and the government of Jędrzej Moraczewski in 1918-1919. He was also a member of the Polish parliament from 1919 to 1935. During World War II, he was active in the underground Polish Socialist Party - Freedom, Equality, Independence, which opposed both the Nazi and the Soviet occupation of Poland. He became the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile in London from 1944 to 1947, during which he tried to negotiate with the communist authorities in Poland and the Western allies. He was also a member of the Council of Three, a collective presidency of the Polish government-in-exile, from 1954 until his death in 1955. Arciszewski was a staunch defender of Polish sovereignty and democracy, and a critic of both fascism and communism. He was also a supporter of social justice and workers' rights. He died of a heart attack in London at the age of 78.