MerthyrRising

Some notes towards a Welsh red history...

Trech Gwlad Nag Arglwydd

Popular Protest in Cymru begins with the 16th century land wars in Wales, a much hidden & secret history in which the descendants of Glyndwr's great general Rhys Gethin with their thuggish retainers burnt the Tai unnos (one-night houses - shanty towns like the barrios of today's Third World) of the peasantry occupying the common land in Dolbadarn.
The irony being of course that it was quite possible that those peasants were the descendents of Owain Glyndwr's "Barefoot Welsh Doggis" who had provided the largely "peasant army" led by Rhys Gethin. Class came before nationality for the ruling class. However, when the Anglo-Welsh Gentry tried to drive the peasants from their land in Cwmwd Caio  they were to rise up and call out "Trech Gwlad Nag Arglwydd" a cry for justice that as echoed down the ages as also a rallying call raised again at Merthyr 1831 & Newport 1839 for action against oppression & exploitation.
 
The Rural Revolt That Failed (ISBN 0-7083-1024-9 )
Farm Workers' Trade Unions in Wales, 1889 - 1950
David A. Pretty
Like their counterparts in the south Wales coalfield and slate quarries of Gwynedd, the farm workers were also ready to stand up for their rights when the occasion demanded. They too have a history of labour disputes and strikes. History books have concentrated on the more familiar topics, particularly the Rebecca Riots and the Tithe War. Until now little attention has been paid to the grievances and struggles of the agricultural working class. This book traces the roots of their discontent, and for the first time concentrates on the efforts made by local labour leaders to organise the men into farm workers' unions. This scholarly and serious study, based on meticulous and scrupulous research will make an enormous impact on the study of Welsh social history. It rejects utterly the conventional view and offers a radically new interpretation of Welsh rural life.
`...as an anthem to the neglected pioneers of the rural labour movement his book deserves a warm welcome.' (Times Higher Education Supplement)
`...this is a book which should alter prevailing perceptions of the pattern of rural discontent and trade unionism over the last hundred years.' (Albion)  
Price:   £35.00 
 
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