Welsh Journals

Youth contributed to its revival. The account and analysis of the Welsh Language Society is illuminating in this respect and draws fruitfully on Parkin's account of middle class radicalism. This section (pp. 231-47) is an excellent case-study for the student of modern protest movements. At the outset of his book, Dr. Butt Philip offers a definition of nationalism. The implications are-not developed, although the definition is repeated in the final chapter. Perhaps there are no implications, but it seems a pity that such a well-researched narrative does not yield a few comparative and theoretical reflections. The perspectives are, it has been suggested, those of a skilled historian, sympathetic but dispassionate; but the book is also a product of the late 1960s. Herein lies the problem of contemporary history. In the mid-70s the perspectives have shifted. In Wales the 'turmoil and bitterness' (Dr. Butt Philip's phrase) are to be found among disgruntled miners, redundant steel workers and unemployed school leavers. The Welsh dimension is less salient, and the Welsh question of the title may not be selected for answer. Welsh nationalism looks different-three members of parliament, static electoral support, devolution in some form likely, the young a little older, and insecurity and permissiveness replacing the faith in government which characterized the 1960s. Dr. Butt Philip makes this point himself: Plaid Cymru, like Harold Wilson, believed governments could bring about change, transform economies, preserve cultures, what you will. Plainly, this mood has passed and the chameleon movements of Welsh politics continue to adapt to the outside forces which so powerfully shape them. Dr. Butt Philip has caught-to mix a metaphor-the chameleon on the wing. An historian in fifty years' time will write a different story. But that one and this contemporary history each has its validity. P. J. MADGWICK Aberystwyth. INTERNAL COLONIALISM: The Celtic Fringe in British National Develop- ment, 1536-1966. By Michael Hechter. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975. Pp. 361. £ 6.25. While historians stick to their last, sociologists are more enterprising or less modest. Professor Hechter's study of 'the Celtic fringe in British national development' takes 1536 as its starting point and applies the skills and styles of sociology to the history of English relations with Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The result is impressive for its scope, industry and tenacity, for its scholarship, in fact. It is stimulating, occasionally irritating, illuminating, too; but sometimes it seems to throw darkness into light corners. However, it is characteristic of the book, that there is no objection or qualification, which has not already been noted by Professor Hechter. 'Under what conditions', Professor Hechter asks, 'do culturally distinct groups occupying specific territories become politically integrated into the wider, national society?' (p. 265). Integration takes place, according to the 'diffusionist' theory, through sustained mutual contact,