The decision to start the strike was the effect of new tactics, worked out during the Extraordinary Congress of the People's Party (SL), which took place on January 17, 1937, in Warsaw. On that day it was decided that if the government did not meet demands of the SL, a general peasant strike would be introduced. Participants in the Congress signed an appeal which demanded democratization of the country, amnesty for politicians sentenced in the Brest trials, and changes in the Constitution. The strike was prepared by Stanisław Mikołajczyk, also by Wincenty Witos, who had been forced to leave Poland and lived in Czechoslovakia. Using his couriers, Witos sent advice and instructions.