Józef Piłsudski, Polish commander-in-chief, determined that regaining control of Vilnius, whose population consisted mostly of Poles and Jews, should be a priority of the renascent Polish state. He had been working on plans to take control of Vilnius since at least March; he gave preliminary orders to prepare a push in that direction—and counter an expected Soviet westward push—on March 26. One of Piłsudski's objectives was to take control of Vilnius before Western diplomats at the Paris Peace Conference could rule on whom the city, demanded by various factions, should be given to. The action was not discussed with Polish politicians or the government, who at that time were more concerned with the situation on the southern Polish–Ukrainian front. By early April, when members of the Kresy Defence Committee ("Komitet Obrony Kresów") Michał Pius Römer, Aleksander Prystor, Witold Abramowicz, and Kazimierz Świtalski met with Pilsudski, stressing the plight of occupied Vilnius and its inhabitants' need for self-government, Piłsudski was ready to move.