Texts from the Fourth International in South Wales on Ed George's New Reading Marx Blog

Welsh Politics after Four Years of the Assembly (2003)

Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Daniel Morrissey

[Workers Action 20 (Februray-March 2003).]

It hardly needs repeating that the five and a half years of the Blair Government has been a time of profound political upheaval, which has thrown up a number of new challenges for socialists. One of the developments which is likely to prove of greatest long-term significance, however, is also one that has been consistently neglected by the Anglo-centric ‘British’ left: namely, Scottish and Welsh devolution. It is typical of New Labour that even this - one of its most progressive initiatives - was diminished by the detail of its implementation, at least in Wales. The strength of popular support for self-government in Scotland was such that New Labour could not credibly have offered anything less than a full Parliament with primary legislative powers, and Scottish politics has indeed begun to develop a dynamic of its own. In Wales, however, the introduction of a weak and limited body, with a far from overwhelming plebiscitary mandate, has left its mark on Welsh politics.

A Note on Welsh History and Politics (2002)

Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ed George

[Post to the marxmail mailing list; October 2002.]

The first point is that I think we need to be wary of characterisations of Wales as a colonial nation , or of talk of occupation . If it is fundamental to understand that Wales is not England, it is also of equal importance to grasp that it is not Ireland either - the historical experience is in fact completely different: specifically, the Acts of Union of 1536, which formalised the incorporation of Wales into England, precisely did not make Wales a formal colony of England:

Wales in Europe: The Poor Relation? (1997)

Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Brendan Young

[Paper presented to the “Socialists and a Welsh Assembly” Conference, Cardiff, 19 July, 1997.]

When we discuss both the present position and the future development of Wales as a political and economic entity within the EU, we must always bear in mind the economics and politics of the EU. Any discussion that makes reference to “Europe”, but ignores the fact that the structures and politics of the EU are intended to make possible the best conditions for capitalist accumulation across Western Europe, will not be able to make an adequate analysis of the dynamics of European integration or the place of Wales in that process.

For Welsh Self-Government! (1996)

Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ceri Evans

[International Socialist Group discussion document.]

The question of a Welsh Assembly is without doubt a key issue in Welsh politics today. It has created the greatest ferment in the Welsh Labour Party for many years and promises to be an on-going source of problems for the party’s Welsh Executive. This document attempts to locate these developments within an overall historical context and to offer a Marxist analysis of the question.

Picking over the Ruins: Wales after Thatcher (1996)

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ed George

[Document presented to a public meeting of Socialist Outlook supporters in June 1996.]

Thatcherism in Wales

Thatcherism emerged in the mid 1970s as a response by sections of the ruling class to the structural deficiencies of British capitalism, which had been exacerbated to breaking point by the long term ‘retreat from empire’ and the end of the post war boom. It also presented itself as a solution to the decline of the Tory Party, whose electoral support had been on a long term declining trend for fifty years and which from 1964 to 1979 had lost four general elections out of five. Thatcherism was a populist attempt to effect a qualitative break from the post-war political consensus to the benefit of capital.

Ten Draft Points on the National Question (1995)

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ceri Evans

[Document presented to a Socialist Outlook Summer School held in the summer of 1995.]

Why do we need a discussion?

They are waving those flags again! The resurgence of great power nationalism within the imperialist countries.
The national movements of small nations within the imperialist countries and the rise of regionalism in Europe.
The national question in the post-Stalinist states.

More (html, 11 KB): Ten Draft Points on the National Question

Mobilise for a Democratic Welsh Parliament (1995)

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

[Socialist Outlook leaflet.]

Wales is at a turning point. Unemployment is at catastrophic levels and the majority of new jobs are appallingly low paid. The WDA is consciously advertising Wales as a low wage, high productivity area. The public sector, now the largest employer in Wales, is threatened with vicious cut-backs.

We face a return to the 1930s.

More (html, 8 KB): Mobilise for a Democratic Welsh Parliament

The General Election and South Wales: A Draft Document (1992)

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ceri Evans

[Internal south Wales International Socialist Group discussion document.]

It is now nearly certain that the General Election will be held on 9 April. At present Labour and Conservatives are neck and neck in the polls and there is a real chance that Labour will win. This election presents a challenge to our young and small organisation in South Wales. A failure to work around it and to be seen to actively support the Labour Party will cause us real problems in the future. On the other hand it gives us an opportunity to reach activists and ordinary workers in a way that has not been possible in recent times. If carried out correctly our work can contribute in a small way to preparing the ground for a new left in Wales of which we will be a part.

A Bydded i'r Hen Iaith Barhau? The Crisis of the Welsh Language and Our Work in the Language Movement (1990)

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ceri Evans

[International Socialist Group internal discussion document]

The Welsh language faces a possibly terminal crisis, brought on by a worsening of the economic conditions which have underscored its decline for many years. Thatcherism has resulted in a further impoverishment of the Welsh speaking areas, forcing migration or acceptance of desperately low paid jobs. The boom in house prices has also been particularly severe in these areas, which coupled with the shrinkage in public sector housing has created a chronic homelessness problem. Conversely Thatcherism has created an affluent, largely English, middle class eager to acquire ‘bargain’ homes for holiday or even permanent use often buying a small business for the price of an inner London flat.

Cardiff and its Valleys: The Political Implications of Economic Restructuring and Crisis (1985)

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

[South Wales Socialist League internal discussion document.]

Recent Political History

The outstanding feature of Welsh political life over the last 20 years has been the steady decay in support for Labour and the parallel rise of Plaid Cymru. The roots of this decay lie in the inability of Welsh Labourism to provide answers to the problems posed for Wales by the emerging crisis of international capitalism from the late 1960s. This failure was symbolised by the response of the l964-70 Wilson government of closing down large sections of the Welsh coal industry and rail network.

Wales and the Capitalist Crisis (1984)

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

[Internal south Wales Socialist League discussion document.]

Wales and the Capitalist Crisis

Capitalism and Wales

Capitalism in Wales has never been independent of either English capital or the British imperialist state. The feudal conquest of Wales prevented the emergence of an independent Welsh bourgeoisie able to compete effectively with that of England. The mid-Wales textile industry was subordinated to that of Manchester. The Welsh iron industry was developed by English iron-masters, largely out of the profits of the Bristol slave trade. Coal was also dominated by English capital, although here the smaller limited capital requirements allowed indigenous Welsh capital to stake its claim. But coal - like iron before it - depended, in the absence of a broadly-based Welsh economy, on exports. And exports in the nineteenth century depended above all else on the strength and influence of British imperialism.

The Nature of the Welsh Socialist Republican Movement (1981)

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

[South Wales IMG internal discussion document]

Criticism of the Previous Document

This new document has to correct the previous one on the Welsh Socialist Republican Movement, which we discussed at the last Area Aggregate. It is open to a basic criticism. The mistake of the previous document, and the discussion, was that it did not proceed as we are now - first, an historical analysis of Welsh nationalism and, second, an examination of the WSRM’s position in the light of that analysis of Welsh nationalism. As we didn’t do that, the nationalist roots of the WSRM lay hidden and the emphasis in our analysis miscued. We tried to analyse the WSRM in terms of a group with Marxist traditions, just because they presented themselves as Marxists or Socialists. We kept to admiring the foliage instead of digging up the roots. Thus we saw them implicitly as left-centrist, people vacillating between reformist and revolutionary positions, with no political understanding of reformism or labour bureaucracy, no definite stand on whether socialism could be achieved through parliament (whether a British or Welsh one), and no concept of what forms of organisation the working class would organise itself through in the struggle against British capitalism (workers’ councils, workers’ democracy, dual power). Obviously, we recognised nationalist tendencies within that the WSRM’s call for a separate Welsh state, confusion over whether the character of such a state should be socialist or capitalist, and putting Wales on the same parallel as Ireland in its oppression by the British state and British capitalism. Rather than seeing these nationalist tendencies as the dominant ones, the all-encompassing ones, we presented them as certain strains within a centrist framework. The present document has to correct this.

The National Question, the Language and Broadcasting in Wales (1981)

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

[South Wales IMG internal discussion document]

‘A “solution” to the national question can be secured only by ensuring to every nation completely unconstrained access to world culture in the language the given nation considers to be its mother tongue.’ (Trotsky, ‘Thoughts on the Party: The National Question and the Education of the Party Youth’)

The recent political crisis of the Tory Government on the issue of the Fourth Channel has brought out that the question of Welsh nationality is a live factor in the class struggle in Wales. This document is an initial contribution based on discussions in the language commission. The content of the discussion is both educational and political. Given the small amount of time spent on this document it needs stressing that this is an opening of the discussion.

Notes on Welsh Nationalism and Plaid Cymru (1981)

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

[South Wales IMG internal discussion document]

The Origins of Welsh Nationalism and Plaid Cymru

There was an absence of a nationalist movement in Wales until the late nineteenth century. Marxists should reject the notion that the Llewelyns revolt of the thirteenth century, or Glyndwr’s revolt of the fifteenth century were actually nationalist. Instead we should characterise them as disputes by feudal lords whose ambitions were essentially the enlargement of their territory. There was some play, especially by Glyndwr, of elements of the latent nationality, as in the proposal for a north and south university. But it remained a matter of enlarging the caste area of Glyndwr’s domination.

Review of Gareth Miles and Robert Griffiths, "Socialism for the Welsh People" (1980)

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Steve Mann

[Unpublished review article written for Socialist Challenge]

Written by leading members of the left nationalist movement this pamphlet is a challenge. It examines the evolution of Welsh society with the aid of Marxism, and suggests an appropriate strategy for Welsh socialists.

More (html, 8 KB): Review of Gareth Miles’ and Robert Griffiths’ Socialism for the Welsh People

The National Question in Wales: Outlines of a Strategic View (1979)

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Steve Mann

[Internal IMG discussion document]

With the abdication of the national question by the gentry, and the integration up to this day of Welsh capital into the British bourgeois state there is no class layer in Wales with a material interest in a separate Welsh state. The petty bourgeois layers who have maintained national aspirations throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (intellectuals, students, small farmers and ’low’ church ministers) can defend their interests only in alliance with the major classes. Their movement has gained ’national’ strength in Wales only when the working class has identified with their movement.