[1] It was founded in 1882 by Ludwik Waryński from members of Warsaw socialist circles [pl] At a meeting in Vilna in 1883, The First Proletariat joined with parties from other cities in creating a central committee composed of Waryński, Stanisław Kunicki, Tadeusz Rechniewski, and others.
Other important party activists were Edmund Płoski, Maria Bohuszewiczówna, Marian Stefan Ulrych, Aleksandra Jentysówna, and Henryk Dulęba.
In March 1884 the First Proletariat formed an alliance with the People's Will and embraced political and economic terror as a means to combat autocracy.
The party supported proletarian internationalism and opposed the Polish independence movement.
Rosa Luxemburg, a prominent Polish revolutionary socialist, joined Proletariat in 1886.