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The Emergence of the Labour Party
In the face of all these achievements, the Labour Party could only stand on the sidelines; it had to wait for what has been termed "the Great Unrest" to establish itself firmly in the Welsh political scene. For now, socialism was still tarred unfairly with the brushes of immorality and treason. To call oneself a Socialist was to incur opprobium and scorn (it was a label perhaps equal to that "dirty Communist pinko" in the United States of the 1950's). The situation was to change rapidly.
The "Great Unrest" was felt throughout the industrialized world. In Wales, it manifested itself most prominently in two areas. In the north West, many of the most productive slate quarries were owned by Lord Penrhyn, called by Professor Davies" arrogantly English, ardently Anglican and unyieldingly Tory." The growth of unionism among his quarrymen was fiercely resisted by the paternalistic, arrogant Penrhyn who in his magnificent castle overlooking the Menai Straights demanded absolute submissiveness and obedience from the workers in the numerous slate quarries on his estates.
The quarrymen had traditionally worked through "the bargain" system by which an agreement with the management gave them some measure of autonomy as contractors. In order to retain these rights, the workers struck on 22 November, 1900 in what was to become the longest-lasting dispute in British history, and one that ended in complete defeat for the quarrymen. The wonderful camaraderie of a totally Welsh-speaking community was almost destroyed. Even underground, in the most appalling working conditions imaginable, the miners had met amiably in discussion groups or impromptu Eisteddfodau.
Sadly, the bitterness engendered between strikers and "blacklegs" divided whole communities that never recovered their sense of solidarity. In addition, thousands of young men left the area for the coal mines of South Wales or English cities such as Liverpool (whose Welsh-speaking community benefited immeasurably), or to other slate-producing areas such as Poultney, Vermont, or Bangor and Delta, Pennsylvania, in the United States. By the time World War I began, cheaper and easier to produce roofing materials were entering the world markets. The slate industry, at its peak employing 18,000 men, and a pillar of the Welsh language community, never recovered. In the 1990's it employed but a handful of men mainly employed in producing souvenirs for the tourist trade.
It was in the South, however, because of the vast numbers of workers involved, that the Great Unrest produced the most dramatic results. The southeast Wales coalfield, in particular the Valleys, experienced the greatest upheaval during the years 1900 to the beginning of the First World War. In an area of unprecedented population growth, the real value of the miners' wages had been declining drastically due to inflation. In order to save money, owners were reluctant to invest in laborsaving machinery and safety measures; thus mining remained a dangerous "hard-labor" industry in which life expectancy was short. Explosions such as the one at Senghenydd in 1913 that killed 439, totally devastated local communities. It was one of many mine disasters and entirely preventable.
Resentment at the owners' seemingly callous disregard for the welfare of their men served to increase the agitation for social and political change. Hostility to capitalism and an embrace of socialism created a new political climate in southeast Wales that abandoned the Liberal Party and made the whole region epitomize the general unrest that was felt throughout industrial Britain. A more radical form of politics entered the picture. Men such as Noah Ablett were not satisfied with the slow progress of either the Independent Labour Party or the South Wales Miners' Federation.
A dispute in 1909, in which Ablett played a prominent role led to the formation of the Central Labour College in London that was patronized by the South Wales Miners Federation (the "Fed") and the National Union of Railwaymen. The college educated many Welsh workers, including James Griffiths, Aneurin Bevan and Ness Edwards who became pivotal figures in the struggles of the miners.
Such men fervently believed that industrial action was necessary to achieve ownership of the mines and control of the whole system of production. To help achieve these aims, the Unofficial Reform Committee met at Tonypandy, in the Rhondda Valley in 1911. It was there, in the most productive coalmining valley in the world, that a disagreement over pay began a series of strikes that affected the whole South Wales coalfield. The miners unions' demanded legislation to ensure their rights to a fair wage for working difficult mines.
Under pressure from the miners in the Rhondda, the Miners Federation of Great Britain, to which the South Wales Miners' Federation belonged, persuaded their members in all British coalfields to join the strike in 1912. The combined effect of so much disruption of labor led to the government passing the Minimum Wage Bill in the same year; furthermore, it gave the miners a sense of their "power," and attracted many more to their cause. Mabon's influence was now completely dead. The spirit of compromise had fled the land.
Sadly, the era was marked by much violence; the Tonypandy Riot symbolizing much of the turmoil in the coalfields. The presence of armed soldiers, sent by Winston Churchill as Home Secretary, created a hatred of the English government for years and generated support for the more radical elements of socialism. Strikers joined the Tonypandy miners in the mines of the Cynon Valley, by seamen in the docks at Cardiff, and by railwaymen at Llanelli. All were resisted by the authorities, and all resulted in riots, property damage, and some loss of life that didn't end with the outbreak of the Great War in Europe.
Chapter 21: Once More a Nation
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