The Republic of Tarnobrzeg was a short-lived entity, proclaimed November 6, 1918 in the Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 town of Tarnobrzeg

Tarnobrzeg

Tarnobrzeg is a city in south-eastern Poland, on the east bank of the river Vistula, with 49,419 inhabitants, as of December 31, 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship since 1999, it had previously been the capital of Tarnobrzeg Voivodeship...

. Its main founders were two socialist activists - Tomasz Dabal

Tomasz Dabal

Tomasz Dąbal was a Polish communist activist.Member of the Polish Legions in World War I, founder of the Republic of Tarnobrzeg, politician in the PSL, deputy to Polish Sejm , he eventually joined the Polish Communist Party , for which in 1921 he was accused of subversive activities, stripped of...

 and Father Eugeniusz Okon, a Roman Catholic priest.

The idea of the Republic had its roots in mass demonstrations of peasants, which were taking place almost on daily basis in the fall of 1918. Tarnobrzeg had been part of the Austrian Empire

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

 (province of Galicia) and dissolution of this entity created a political unrest. On November 6, after a demonstration with some 30,000 people, local peasants decided to take advantage of it and seize power.

As news of the Russian Revolution came to Tarnobrzeg, the people decided to follow Communist ideas. They demanded liquidation of capitalist government and introduction of a land reform, which would result in taking away land from rich owners and giving it to the poor peasantry. Also, directed by Okon and Dabal, the peasants started to organize local administration as well as a peasants' militia.

The Republic of Tarnobrzeg was suppressed by units of the freshly created Polish Army at the beginning of 1919. Father Okon was arrested but soon released, when the locals elected him to the Polish Parliament

Polish parliament

Polish parliament is an expression referring to the historical Polish parliaments. It implies chaos and general disorder, and that no real decision can be reached during sessions...

.