Cymru: New book recalls Welsh armed struggle 1963-1993

Freedom Fighters: Wales's Forgotten 'War' 1963-1993, published by University of Wales Press, is described as the first detailed account of a period in Welsh history that many in Wales feel uncomfortable with, according to the author John Humphries, former editor of the Western Mail.

To be accurate there is an earlier work on the period, 'To Dream of Freedom' (The Struggle of MAC and the Free Wales Army), by Roy Clews, but that was published in 1980 and is long out of print. Humpheries book therefore provides a welcome in-depth analysis of this under-scruntinised but crucial period in the struggle for freedom in Wales

It opens with events in Tryweryn in 1963, after which a score of sabotage efforts were attributed by the police, and an increasingly active security services presence in Wales, to Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Movement for the Defence of Wales). MAC attacked water pipelines and government buildings in the most concerted campaign of violent direct action in Wales since Owain Glyndwr's uprising in 1400. It culminated in the death of two patriots, Alwyn Jones (22) and George Taylor (37), who attempted to plant a bomb on a railway line just hours before the royal train taking Prince Charles to Caernarfon for the investiture was due to pass.

While cultural activists are eulogised, there is little place for John Jenkins and the activists of MAC in the pantheon of Welsh heroes. Historians have preferred to marginalise them and their insurrection although, according to Jenkins, "MAC gave nationalism, prison, death and blood. What more did they want? Instead, they have opted to write us out of history." The sacrifice of Alwyn Jones and George Taylor is now, for the most part, quietly forgotten, poorly acknowledged within Wales and little known outside the country

However, Humpheries book has illustrated that MAC had more widespread support than that claimed by opponents who dismissed the insurgency as an isolated stain on Welsh national life. Humphries says:

"Standing behind the foot soldiers of MAC were prominent members of the more respectable wing of Welsh nationalist society, people such as Harri Webb, editor of Plaid Cymru's Welsh Nation. Webb was MAC's link with Breton nationalists, a sort of political liaison officer."

The failure of the security services to crack the conspiracy was because MAC was organised as a collection of independent cells. The same cell system was eventually adopted by the IRA after Owen Williams, jailed for his part in sabotaging Tryweryn, jumped bail and fled to Ireland.

After extensive research and interviews the author believes that the remnants of MAC, driven underground after Jenkins's arrest, re-merged ten years later as Meibion Glyndwr (Sons of Glyndwr) targeting holiday homes in Wales. During a decade of arson attacks more than 200 properties were torched, only one person was ever convicted.

"The extent to which violent direct action persuaded the Westminster government to be more receptive to devolution will always be contested by those nationalists who kept their heads down during this momentous period," says Humphries. "But the devolutionary process did accelerate in the aftermath of these events. National movements cannot pick and choose their martyrs."

One tangible legacy of the campaign of MAC, which was the forerunner of a more more lengthy campaign of renewed armed nationalist struggle in Ireland, is that today the UK security services still devote much effort to surveillance of Celtic nationalism, having learned the lesson of their earlier inadequacies.

Freedom Fighters: Wales's Forgotten War, 1963-1993 by John Humphries.

Format: Paperback 288 pages Date of publication: 04/11/2008 Publisher: University of Wales Press ISBN: 9780708321775

Price (Various on-line around £20)

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League 26/12/08