Welsh Socialist Republican Movement
Political party in Wales / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Welsh Socialist Republican Movement (Mudiad Sosialaidd Gweriniaethol Cymru) was a short-lived nationalist political movement[1][2] which was born out of frustration with Plaid Cymru's failure to oppose the first referendum on Welsh Devolution in 1979 in order to map out a specific policy of arguing for Independence. It was also an attempt to develop a Welsh Socialist alternative to Plaid Cymru and it produced pamphlets and a newspaper called Y Faner Goch (The Red Flag).
Welsh Socialist Republican Movement | |
---|---|
Founded | 1979 |
Dissolved | 1982 |
Split from | Plaid Cymru |
Merged into | Communist Party of Britain |
Ideology | Welsh nationalism Marxism-Leninism |
Religion | Protestantism |
In the early 1980s, following undercover police operations targeting student circles in Aberystwyth and Bangor, several WSRM members were arrested and prosecuted under the Explosive Substances Act 1883[3] for conspiracy to cause explosions and possession of explosives.[4]
After its collapse around half a dozen members joined the Communist Party of Britain,[5] some returned to Plaid Cymru, and others became active in issue-orientated movements.[6]
The socialist remnants published a couple more copies of Y Faner Goch ("The Red Flag")[7] and then reformed in the late 1980s to create Cymru Goch (Red Wales), a small socialist political party that lasted another 20 years, publishing Y Faner Goch until 2003 and establishing The Red Poets' Society, an annual poetry magazine that is active today.