Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

earliest public experiences came through the evangelical messianism of Welsh nonconformity for some years the future dialectical materialist was a noted Baptist preacher. The community of industrial Glamorgan that produced Syndicalism, the Labour Colleges and the Miners' Next Step synthesized the ideas of Sorel, Mann and de Leon with a much older native tradition, as indeed did Horner himself. This gave the growth of the labour movement in South Wales, as in Scotland, an individuality of its own. Horner's first experience of violent action was on behalf of Jim Connolly's Citizen Army in Ireland the cause of struggling nationalities overseas readily touched Horner's emotions as they had touched those of Michael Daniel Jones and Emrys ap Iwan in the past. It was this continuing, live radicalism that gave impetus to the Unofficial Reform Movement and to its continuation through industrial unionism and the National Minority Movement in the 1920's amd 1930's. The initial inspiration had come from the "new immigrants" before 1914 but it was this older tradition that gave it durability and substance, and, indeed, also ensured the triumph of the official Labour Party in South Wales after 1918. Even in the inter-war years, events in South Wales retained a pattern and a rhythm of their own. Nowhere was resentment more keenly felt at the non-implementation of the Sankey Report and the disaster of "Black Friday". Nowhere, as Horner proudly points out (p. 79) was more solidarity shown during the General Strike, or more enthusiasm shown for its continuation, even in the face of certain defeat and the victimization of employers. The "stay- down" strikes of the 1930's against company unionism were again largely a peculiarly Welsh development, with Horner in the van. In South Wales, as in Durham and elsewhere, we find a sectionalism and a self-sufficiency that suggest a very different picture of the growth of the Labour Party as a national force from that often presented, a more fragmentary picture, with the Labour Party less of a monolithic whole than a coalition of sectional interests, each with its own ideals and traditions. Horner himself interestingly observes (p. 100) that there was not the bitterness between miners' leaders in South Wales that existed in other areas. Horner remained on warm terms even with the veteran "Lib.-Labs." Tom Richards and Enoch Morrell, even though the rigours of Marxist-Leninism should have demanded their proscription for the betrayal of their class. In spite of all inconsistencies in his political creed, Horner's basic loyalty to the community of the Glamorgan coalfield has remained remark- ably constant. It is this sense of class loyalty and class pride that have kept him firmly rooted in the society of South Wales, in contrast with Mabon who became more and more isolated in his later years. It is, too, an attrac- tive picture of Horner as a man that emerges here, warm-hearted and compas- sionate, willing to find virtue even in Sir Evan Williams of the Coalowners* Association (p. 154), an unexpectedly warm admirer of King Edward VIII (p. 156), the forthright enemy of persecution everywhere, whether it be anti-semitic riots in South Wales, atrocities in Spain or the execution of Imre Nagy.. Even in the very different context of centralized, bureau- cratic nationalization, Horner has managed to keep the Syndicalist ideal of Mann and Ablett live and vigorous, and an active agency for social advance.