Welsh Anarchist History?
Dec 14 2006 13:12
Apart from a few bits about Sam Mainwaring (Snr & Jnr), Emma Goldman marring Amman Valley called miner James Colton, and early Class War, theres very little about anarchist history in wales anywhere online.
Does anybody on these boards know any articles/books/etc or have any knowledge on the subject?
Dec 14 2006 13:28
#2
The Miners Next Step.
Dec 14 2006 13:29
#3
and we have it in libcom library - http://libcom.org/library/miners-next-step-swmf-1912
Dec 14 2006 13:29
#4
Jack wrote:
The Miners Next Step.
That's the one.
Dec 14 2006 13:47
#5
The anarchist creditials of the Unoffical Reform Committee is somewhat debateable really.
Dec 14 2006 16:12
#6
Dim Llywodraeth wrote:
The anarchist creditials of the Unoffical Reform Committee is somewhat debateable really.
Haven't got stuff to hand but two points. There were anarchists among those miners who wrote it (Noah Ablett IIRC, but I might have got that name completely wrong).
And secondly, it is one of the high points of what is known historically as the "Syndicalist Revolt" - that little window of time before WW1 when workers started to shake free of politicians and bureaucrats and fight for their own interests. Anarchism and anarcho-syndicalism has as much claim to that traditin as anyone else and more than most,
regards
Martin
Dec 14 2006 16:20
#7
It's been ages since I saw the Bolton book on Britsh Syndicalism (i know, i know it's Pluto Press,SWP, etc.), but I think there was something about Miners Next Step, etc in that book.
Dec 14 2006 19:05
#8
About 10 years ago I was having a drink in a pub in Portsmouth. I got chatting with an old bloke ,of about 80 years of age.He said he was an Englishman from the west country who had traveled to the Rhondda to work in the mines after WW1. He became involved in the General Strike in 1926. Anyway when I asked him if there were any anarchists in the mines, he replied that there were, and that they were "bloody mad",in the sense that they wanted to attack the bosses.But it is difficult to assess anecdotes like this, "anarchist", is a term like "bolshie",which is used by some older people to denote a generally rebelious person. I would suggest 2 books, "The Slow Burning Fuse", John Quail, Panther 1978, and chapter 5 of ,"To Hell with Culture"ed Klaus/Knight,University of Wales Press,2005. But I am sure a bilingual researcher could find much to write about regarding the subject.In the late 1970's there was a branch of the anarchosyndicalst DAM comprising 13-14 members in the south Wales area, but I don't think they did any major research on the matter.
Ooooohhh.... there's some really famous syndicalist thing produced by the Welsh miners federation IIRC.
No doubt someone with a memory will be along to tell us what it is, shortly