Welsh Journals

GWYNEDD POLITICS, 1900-1920: THE RISE OF A LABOUR PARTY THE character of social and political life in Gwynedd between the beginning of the twentieth century and the outbreak of the first world war reflected the particular and exclusive culture which had developed in this relatively isolated part of Wales. A range of social factors, notably the appeal of nonconformity, the strength of the Welsh language, the restricted industrial development and the nature of social and political leadership, ensured that political life in this distinct community, both at local and central government levels, was dominated by Welsh radical nonconformity as represented by the Liberal Party. As a result, the complex and lengthy process whereby the Labour Party ultimately replaced a once all-powerful Liberal Party in this part of Wales acquired a unique quality. Though this process did not work itself out until at least the middle of the century, the period falling between 1900 and 1920 proved to be formative. During these years the growing Labour movement, by a subtle process of adapting itself to its particular social and political context, absorbed many of the attitudes which formed part of the well-established radical tradition in Welsh politics. The Main Developments The history of the Labour movement in Gwynedd between 1900 and 1920 is divided into two clear stages by the outbreak of the great war. During the pre-war years, the movement was essentially a loose association of pressure groups of which the two most important sections were the trade unions and the Independent Labour Party. In the post-war period the movement was to be transformed when, largely because of the effects of the war itself, the different groups of the pre-war movements came together in a reorganized Labour Party. The cohesion secured in the post-war period was, in effect, a final stage in a pattern of growth which had its origins in the very different social climate of the pre-war years.1 1 For a more extensive treatment of this theme, see C. Parry, The Radical Tradition in Welsh Politics (1970).