Rhondda - Political Activism

Political Activism

Political activism in the Rhondda has a deep link with trade unions and the socialist movement but was initially slow to develop. In the 1870s the Amalgamated Association of Miners won support, but was destroyed by employer hostility. The Cambrian Miners’ Association was more successful and the creation of the South Wales Miners' Federation after the 1898 coal strike, gave the South Wales miners a reputation for militancy, in which the Rhondda Valley played its part. As part of the Redistribution Act of 1885 the Rhondda was granted its first seat in Parliament which was won by left wing Liberal William Abraham, who was notably the only working-class member elected in Wales. Socialism and syndicalism ideals grew throughout the 20th century and industrial struggle reached a crescendo in the 1910-11 Tonypandy Riots. A year later Tonypandy saw the publication of Noah Ablett’s pamphlet The Miners' Next Step. Tonypandy was at the centre of further public disorder when, on 11 June 1936 at Dewinton Field, a large group of people gathered to confront the open-air address by Tommy Moran, propaganda officer of the British Union of Fascists. The crowd, recorded as between 2,000 and 6,000 strong, turned violent and police were forced to protect Moran's Blackshirt bodyguard. Seven local people were arrested.

The Rhondda also has a strong history of communist sympathy, with the Rhondda Socialist Society being a key element in the coalition that founded the Communist Party of Great Britain. By 1936 there were seven Communists on the Rhondda Urban District Council and was publishing its own Communist newspaper The Vanguard. In the 1930s Maerdy became such a hotspot of Communist support it was known as Little Moscow producing left wing activists such as Merthyr born Arthur Horner and Marxist writer Lewis Jones. The Rhondda miners were also active in socialist activities outside the valleys. In the 1920s and 1930s the Rhondda and the surrounding valleys provided the principal support of some of the largest hunger marches, while in 1936 more Rhondda Federation members were serving in Spain as part of the International Brigades than the total number of volunteers from all the English coalfields.

In 1979, Rhondda councillor Annie Powell became Wales' only communist mayor.