Serczyk of the People's Party. Ptak was a member of the Polish People's Party Supreme Council during its meeting in Tarnów on 13 December 1913. At the meeting the party has split into the Polish People's Party "Left", which gathered supporters of Stapiński; and the Polish People's Party "Piast", led by Jakub Bojko and Wincenty Witos. Franciszek Ptak joined the Polish People's Party "Left" and was elected a member of its Supreme Council on 5 April 1914. On 28 June 1914, together with Franciszek Wójcik, he addressed the peasants with financial support for the Polish People's Party "Left". During World War I (1914–1918) Ptak did not serve in the army and remained at home. During the short-lived reunification of the Polish People's Party "Piast" and the Polish People's Party "Left", he was elected a member of the Central Board of the Polish People's Party at the congress in Tarnów on 1 December 1918. Wincety Witos in his memoir recalled a short conversation he had with Ptak in the spring of 1917. A resolution stating that the only pursuit of the Polish nation is to regain an independent, united Poland with access to the sea was then submitted to the Imperial Council in Vienna by Włodzimierz Tetmajer. Until then, territories of the former Polish Republic remained under foreign annexations, and ethnically Polish Galicia was a part of Austro-Hungary. Witos wrote: “In the evening, the Kraków peasants took up the deputy Tetmajer, proud of what had happened, satisfied with their chosen one. I saw Franciszek Ptak among them (...) and several others. Despite my will, I recalled all the galas and festivities in which they took part, appearing equally festive and having happy faces. The difference was that they were richly paid for imperial money there, and here they were the hosts. In a word, the Kraków peasants of that time were not the best. That's nothing surprising, however, because they were constantly demoralized, used for decorations and various decorative performances. They did not feel strong at that time, because when someone brought news that the police were to arrest the participants of the manifestation, they immediately remembered various urgent interests and began to leave alone. Franciszek Ptak, who was very defiant all the time, approached me and asked: – What do you think , Wicek, if Poland will rise, will it be a bit better for the peasants? Because I think