He was born on 21 January 1874 in Wierzchosławice near Tarnów. He graduated from a people’s school (szkoła ludowa). From early childhood, he was associated with the peasants’ movement, working as a correspondent of the “Przyjaciel Ludu” journal. In 1903, he became a member of the Leading Council of the Polish Peasants’ Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, PSL), and in 1908, he won a seat on the Galician Sejm as a representative of PSL from Lviv. After the split of PSL in 1913, he became vice-president of the Leading Council of the “Piast” Polish Peasants’ Party. In 1918, he was in charge of the Polish Liquidation Commission, which was taking the power over from the partitioners. As the undisputed leader of the Piast faction of the Polish Pheasants’ Party, and in the years 1918-41, President of its Main Board, he headed the government three times (1920-21; 1923; 1926). In the first half of the 1920s, he advocated cooperation between the peasants’ movement and the National Democratic Party, which resulted in the signing of the Lanckorona Pact. After the 1926 May Coup, he was one of the main opponents of the Sanation – the government camp centered around Józef Piłsudski, the instigator of the Coup. Being one of the leaders of the Centrolew opposition, in 1930, he was arrested and brought before the court in what became known as the Brest trials. Sentenced to one and a half years in prison, he left for Czechoslovakia in 1933 to return to Poland in March 1939. After the unification of the peasants’ movement in 1931, he chaired the Leading Council and the Supreme Executive Committee of the Peasants’ Party. While in emigration, he co-founded the anti-Sanation Front Morges alliance of centrist political parties. In 1939-41, he was imprisoned by the German occupation authorities. He died on 31 October 1945 in Kraków. His main writings include: Wybór pism i artykułów (Selected Writings and Articles), (1939); Moje wspomnienia (My memories), (1964-65); Moja tułaczka (My Wandering), (1967).