Supreme National Committee

The NKN was formed by agreement of almost all the Polish parties of the Austrian partition, from conservatives to socialists. It was led in turn by Juliusz Leo, Władysław Leopold Jaworski and Leon Biliński. Its programme was to unite Galicia with the Kingdom of Poland as a third, Polish part of the Habsburg monarchy. Through its Military Department, headed by Władysław Sikorski, it handled recruitment, supplies and propaganda for the Legions. As early as autumn 1914 the National Democrats, who leaned towards Russia, left it.

The Austro-Polish solution met resistance from Germany and the Hungarians, and the Act of 5 November 1916 announced a Kingdom of Poland without Galicia. Disputes with Piłsudski grew inside the NKN, and in 1917 more deputies left it. In October 1917, after the Regency Council was appointed, the Committee decided to dissolve itself.