History of Plaid Cymru - Foundation 1925

Foundation 1925

Discussions for the need of a "Welsh party" had been circulating since the 19th century. With the generation or so before 1922 there "had been a marked growth in the constitutional recognition of the Welsh nation", wrote historian Dr. John Davies. A Welsh national consciousness re-emerged during the 19th century; leading to the establishment of the National Eisteddfod in 1861, the University of Wales (Prifysgol Cymru) in 1893, and the National Library of Wales (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru) in 1911, and by 1915 the Welsh Guards (Gwarchodlu Cymreig) was formed to include Wales in the UK national component to the Foot Guards. By 1924 there were people in Wales "eager to make their nationality the focus of Welsh politics".

Support for home rule for Wales and Scotland amongst most political parties was strongest in 1918 following the independence of other European countries after the First World War, and the Easter Rising in Ireland, wrote Dr. Davies. However, in the UK General Elections of 1922, 1923, and 1924; "Wales as a political issue was increasingly eliminated from the ". By August 1925 unemployment in Wales rose to 28.5%, this in contrast to the economic boom in the early 1920s. For Wales, the long depression began in 1925.

It was in this climate that the Welsh Home Rulers group and the Welsh Movement met. Both organisations sent a delegation of three to the meeting, with H.R. Jones heading the Welsh Home Rulers group and Saunders Lewis heading The Welsh Movement. They were joined by Lewis Valentine, D.J. Williams, and Ambrose Bebb, among others. The principal aim of the party was to foster a Welsh-speaking Wales. To this end it was agreed that party business be conducted in Welsh, and that members sever all links with other British parties. Lewis insisted on these principles before he would agree to the Pwllheli conference.

According to the 1911 census, out of a population of just under 2.5 million, 43.5% of the total population of Wales spoke Welsh as a primary language. This was a decrease from the 1891 census with 54.4% speaking Welsh out of a population of 1.5 million.

With these prerequisites Lewis condemned "'Welsh nationalism' as it had hitherto existed, a nationalism characterised by inter-party conferences, an obsession with Westminster and a willingness to accept a subservient position for the Welsh language", wrote Dr. Davies. It may be because of these strict positions that the party failed to attract politicians of experience in its early years. However, the party's members believed its founding was an achievement in itself; "merely by existing, the party was a declaration of the distinctiveness of Wales", wrote Dr. Davies.

In these early years Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru published a monthly paper called Y Ddraig Goch (the Red Dragon, the national symbol of Wales) and held an annual summer school.

H.R. Jones, the party's full-time secretary, established a few party branches, while Valentine served as party president between 1925 and 1926. In the UK General Election of 1929, Valentine stood for Caernarfon and polled 609 votes. Later they became known as 'the Gallant Six Hundred' when Dafydd Iwan, the current party president, immortalised them in song.

By 1932 the aims of self government and Welsh representation at the League of Nations had been added to that of preserving Welsh language and culture. However this move, and the party's early attempts to develop an economic critique, did not lead to the broadening of its appeal beyond that of an intellectual and socially conservative Welsh-language pressure group.