5 years of the Welsh Underground Network
A Collection Of Interviews
By Hedd, PGC and WUN member
Introduction
On the 7th of September, 2019, the Welsh Underground Network (WUN) was ‘born’ – sort of1! In fact, it was the predecessor of the Welsh Underground Network that was created, Valleys Underground, a Socialist community action group who sought to take power into their own hands and actively change the local community, no permission needed and none asked, an insurgent force. The founder, a man called Joe Jones, broke away from the independence march that happened that day, and broke into the local abandoned synagogue. He had done this many times as a child, like many other Merthyr kids, but this time he wasn’t breaking in to mess around, he was breaking in to clean it up.
His anger is clear when he reflects on this moment, on a walking tour of the Merthyr Rising he took comrades from the Welsh Underground Network, Plaid Gomiwnyddol Cymru and the Connolly Youth Movement on;
“We built this, the people of Merthyr banded together to contribute to building the synagogue. It’s ours, our genuine past, our history. And it is us, we have been left behind. The independence march moved through Merthyr, saying “we need an independent Wales for this or for that” all while marching past the literal fucking signs of our decay”
So, Joe set up a website and a social media account and wrote “This is just the first step. We have an enormous task ahead, and one that Merthyr Council haven’t taken steps toward implementing. Today was just a brief bit of work. We are by no means happy with the work we did today – there is so much we need to tackle. The next sessions we undertake though will hopefully begin to restore the site to a state worthy of its amazing history. If we continue to let our historic sites slide into decay and ruin, we abandon our heritage, and lose part of ourselves in the process.”
He put out a call for more people to help, and they came, inspired by the concept of simply doing what needs to happen to change the world around us – rejecting the decay and rot that comes from the decline of industrial capitalism in Wales and the neoliberalism of our Senedd.
This article is a series of interviews, with members of the Welsh Underground Network, and their supporters. I will be talking to Joe, the founder, who led the Welsh Underground Network for our first 4 years as our Chair. I will be speaking to members, new and old, about the changes they have seen, what inspired them, what keeps them here. I will be speaking to the current leadership, who have just finished their first year since we refreshed the Executive at the 2023 Congress. Finally, I will be speaking to those who support us from afar, those who looked at what we were doing and got to work doing it in their communities.
Interview: Joe Jones – the founder and Chair from 2019-2023
My first interview is with Joe Jones – from 2019 until 2023, he served as the Chair of the Welsh Underground Network. In 2023, we reached a point where we were ready to renew the movement, to let some of the older members step down from leading positions and refresh it with the new – a vital thing for any movement to do. Today, Joe remains an active member, but is grateful to not hold an elected role!
5 years on, what’s the best change you’ve seen in the WUN?
We started off as a group of Valleys boys, and have now blossomed into a fully-fledged national organisation. Seeing new faces, people from different walks of life, people with different experiences than my own, all coming together as one has been the best change for me.
The introduction makes it seem like you decided on the day to go to the Synagogue, breaking away from the independence march, but is that the truth? Did you plan for a while?
I was already working on it from June 2019, with us officially launching as an organisation in September. Valleys Underground was a shitty news service, offering a ‘radical’ take on politics, and life in the Valleys. It was only after interviewing Alex Homits from the Connolly Youth Movement in Ireland that things came together. I could’ve sat around like everyone else seemed to do at the time, constantly writing about the change we need, constantly offering takes, constantly hypothesising about how things could be different – or I could go out and actually do it.
From that, I went home one night, wrote a poorly constructed manifesto, ordered some leaflets delivered to my house, and bought some cheap gardening equipment. The plan was always to start off just as myself, get some direct on the ground work behind me, so that when time came to launch, on a day of importance (for me, the ‘All Under One Banner’ (AUOB) Independence March in Merthyr), we launched with a clear plan, and one that had been working already.
Beyond fixing up the abandoned synagogue, what inspired you into this sort of action?
I was living in England, soon to be returning home to Merthyr, and was sick to the bastard death of listening to people complain. ‘Leftists need to do this!’, ‘The Independence Movement needs to do that!’, it seemed like a constant stream of intellectualising what to me seemed simple – what is the point of politics? The point is to help people, to ensure that our systems work in our favour, and that no one is left alone, hungry, cold, frightened, and disempowered.
It felt as though the majority of the then growing independence movement, and the left-wing contingent of that, were quite happy going to a few marches, writing a few blog posts, attending a few meetings, and calling it a day. That’s not to disparage, because this has its role – but it can’t be all of what we do. People seldom come around to a political movement because you debated them like Ben Shapiro. They seldom come around to pithy, catchy slogans and polished photo-ops – they come around to organisations, and people that actually directly help them. People who are in the mud and the shit with them, people who help.
What specifically broke the straw on the camel’s back though was the Cofiwch Dryweryn monument being destroyed by vandals. A monument that was in private hands, barely looked after, and ignored by the Welsh political class. A monument that symbolised that despite decades of attacks, of disparagement, of sneers, of poverty, of destroyed villages to serve Capital2 in another country, we are still here, and we will remember.
I knew a group of young people who went, with their own money scraped together, off their own backs, and rebuilt the monument. The first thing I saw on Twitter (my own fault for even bothering to go on the site) was an academic from one of the Welsh Universities criticising them for using the ‘wrong material’, and explicitly saying that ‘maybe if they read [her] book, they could do it properly’.
I have no idea who she is, I can barely remember her, but I have a lot to thank her for.
The move towards becoming a Marxist-Leninist political project was a slow one, adopted firstly as a working ideology and then officially in 2022. Why did you start that way and what caused this push into more direct, revolutionary political organising?
We started off as a broad-tent left-wing organisation for Welsh independence, and were non-dogmatic. I believe our only rule was that you couldn’t be a member of a political party. While a lot of us were either communists, or were heavily leaning that way, we didn’t expect there’d be that many communists actually in support of independence.
I still feel that a broad-church has relevance, and is needed. However, for us, the variety of different opinions, often quite diametrically opposed, led to a slowing-down of activity, and internal divisions. Our 10 Point Programme was relatively vague so there were differing opinions. This was to be expected, and honestly encouraged. Despite this, as a new organisation, with the majority, if not all of us having no experience in other parties, or organisations, it led to serious debate about what organising style we go for, what specific policies we advocate for, what lines we take. From this, Marxism-Leninism came quite naturally as a historically proven way of organising.
I’ll stress though that it wasn’t a top-down decision, it wasn’t even something we necessarily heavily leaned into, it was something our members voted for, and we adopted, having looked into a number of alternatives. We are fighting for a Welsh Socialist Republic, so what is the best, most-proven method of achieving this within our lifetime? What is the force that has consistently delivered revolutionary change around the world? The answer for us was Marxism-Leninism.
For us, having a group of communists active in the community both serves as a way to;
- Normalise communism in Wales, after decades of red-scare tactics. If we’re going out helping run food-banks, or clearing your street, we’re not exactly boogeymen.
- Promote working-class liberation in a clear, coherent manner to our communities.
- By our very existence, help push other organisations into taking a more clear, coherent stance, or at the very least, encourage them to do more direct on-the-ground work to try and compete with us.
- Ensure that there always exists a component of the Welsh independence movement that won’t be swayed by the false promises of a ‘liberal nationalism’, learning the lessons from the Republic of Ireland.
If you could go back in time to 2019, and give yourself some advice, what would it be? If you could go back to 2021 to the launch of the WUN, what advice would you give us all?
If I honestly looked at what advice I’d give, and wrote it down, the article would be endless. COVID-19 dominated our first few months of activity, and with it, the culture of socialising online. We kept up a pattern of long meetings, as a way to interact with each other in lockdown, that we didn’t necessarily give up once Covid restrictions began to end. Similarly, because of Covid, we leaned heavily into social media, and gauged our perception based on what people on social media were saying about us. This wasn’t healthy, and led to a lot of stress. Once you’re in a bubble, it’s hard to escape.
If I had to give some actual, proper advice though, to everyone at the launch of the WUN, it would be this.
Take care of yourself. My biggest regret in any of this is how many people were burnt out, were hurt, were maybe alienated, or pushed themselves to breaking point, myself included.
Organising in this political climate, in this culture, the world feels like it’s against you. It probably is, to be fair. You feel that by every action, or inaction, you’re letting the movement down, or letting others down. You feel like you need to give, and give, and give, as without giving, people will suffer – whether it’s in our communities, or in our own organisation.
For too long, I forgot to actually live. Relationships were hurt, friendships ended, my health took a dive. Worse though, was seeing the pressures others were facing, but how they ploughed through regardless, out of the drive to help. The world won’t burn without you. From each, according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
As for another piece of advice, a co-founder of the WUN said something that has stuck with me, once – ‘You can open your mind so much, your brain falls out’.
Trying to appease varying opinions, varying tendencies, and keep the internal harmony, I didn’t debate enough as I should have. Out of a fear of seeming like a dictator at the top, I didn’t give my opinion as much on the specific direction of the group I founded, and was chairing. Rather than leading, I fell into managing. Because of this, things were agreed that I necessarily didn’t agree with, positions changed, and the organisation suffered. My advice would be to speak honestly, clearly, and fight your corner. People might not agree, but you need to be heard.
With this too, listening with an open mind. Someone might not agree with a point, but that doesn’t mean they’re a ‘right-wing reactionary’, or a ‘cop’. There was a tendency within the Welsh Underground Network, thankfully gone, where criticism meant your purity was questioned. I could’ve done a lot more to stamp it out, but what’s done is done, best to just learn from your experiences, and ensure you go forward better. My advice is to listen openly, critique honestly, and treat each other in good faith, not as potential enemies.
This is all incredibly obvious, but you’d be surprised, once you’re doing this day in, day out, how your sense of normality gets warped, and you begin to question yourself.
In summary: Take care of yourself, and each other.
With that all said, you gave the Valleys Underground and the WUN four years of your life as the Chair, you’ve since stepped down and you’re an ordinary member with the rest of us, how does that feel? What does the future hold for you in the movement?
It was needed. No one has the right to Chair, or lead, forever. I had no intention of clinging to my post until I die, just because I once founded the organisation. It feels great to see the WUN move away from its founders, and see it continue to thrive.
That’s my intention too, for my future with the movement. I have no plans, I’ll just do what I can, when I’m needed. If anyone wants a hand falling asleep as well, I can just give advice until they nod off.
Finally, what are your hopes for the next two years for the WUN?
We started with the ethos of going into our communities, and directly helping. Not just food-banks, but street clearances, allotment work, restoration of historic but neglected buildings. We showed people that we don’t need to wait for politicians, and political parties to fix our issues, we can do it ourselves, and build up our communities around us. My hope is we continue with this, and expand on it.
Interview: The old guard, interviews with two founding members of Valleys Underground
My next interviews are with Oli and Tad, who are not only some of the first comrades to join the Valleys Underground, but they are both still active and involved five years on in the Welsh Underground Network. At various times, these two served in important roles both in the Valleys and in the WUN, Oli is hard at work within Plaid Gomiwnyddol Cymru / The Communist Party of Wales developing our theoretical knowledge of Wales, and Tad can often be found with a shovel in hand and covered in dirt at the Cefn Fforest Miners Institute, on the journey towards it being fully repaired.
When did you join and what was your first action?
Oli: I joined in either 2019 or mid-2020 (when Covid restrictions eased), my first action was a cleanup at the Synagogue in Merthyr, very muddy stuff.
Tad: I joined immediately 5 years ago, after seeing the Valleys Underground on Twitter. My first action was a free food event in a chapel in Merthyr. We served the homeless of Merthyr with hot food, beverages and general emergency supplies.
What’s been your favourite action since you joined?
Oli: That’s a hard one, I think in terms of consistency our ongoing presence at Cefn Fforest Stute is one of my favourites, it’s been really inspiring seeing it transform over the years. One that also sticks with me is a cleanup of the allotment in Fernhill because of how eager the kids who lived on the estate were to help and chat with us.
Tad: My favourite action was probably hosting Zapatista revolutionaries in the Valleys in 2021, where we took them on a tour of the Merthyr Rising, and found out about their work over the years. Another highlight was organising a night talking about putting Welsh history on TV, with Colin Thomas, the producer of The Dragon Has Two Tongues and many other pieces. Finally, supporting my butties up north when they occupied the roof of a weapons plant, with Palestine Action.
What keeps you as a member in 2024?
Oli: I think now more than ever we need community organisations and community-led movements to revitalise the places where we live, and having seen the accomplishments over the last few years gives me hope.
Tad: I stay as a member to continue fostering the unique culture of the Valleys, restoring community buildings, educational film nights and general solidarity (food banks, anti racist demos etc).
What are your hopes for the next two years for the WUN?
Oli: I’d love to see us grow more and engage in new communities across Wales, I’d especially like us to have one more ongoing long-term project somewhere.
Tad: I hope we can get back to our roots somewhat with more community events, re-energise our members and foster a true alternative Welsh culture.
Interview: Interviews with members who joined during the founding the Welsh Underground Network – 2021-2022
My next interviews are with people who joined around 2021, either prior to or just after the WUN Congress of 2021, where we officially became a national movement. Remi is from Wrexham, and was an active member and founder of the Wrexham Underground before we dissolved the Chapters at the 2023 WUN Congress, Remi was heavily involved in food events and cleanups across the town, and is now an active member looking to restart local activity in 2024. Modwen is from the Valleys, and was active in launching cultural events in her local town, showing films, organising political talks and doing community rebuilding work. Currently, she is looking to do more cultural and historical work around Welsh socialism! Hedd joined just prior to the Welsh Underground Network forming, and played an important role constantly through the existence of the Valleys Chapter – from being an event organiser, to the Chapter Chair,
When did you join the Welsh Underground Network? What inspired you to join?
Modwen: I joined in 2021 I think! I had accompanied my partner up to the first summer Congress in Aberystwyth, it was their birthday so I just wanted to spend the weekend together around the congress. Instead I got sucked in by the passion, excitement and genuine care displayed by everyone there. I loved the can-do attitude of using zoom on a laptop on the beach. I thought everyone was really genuine and for the first time was surrounded by people who care as deeply about justice and inequality as me. I joined up the next day!
Remi: It was through my sister and her partner that I discovered the existence of the WUN and applied; later becoming a member a few weeks after.
Hedd: I joined the original Valleys Underground in early 2021, prior to which I was in the Communist Party of Britain. I remember seeing photos of people who were my age, in my local area, holding a massive banner that said “For A Socialist Republic of Wales!”, who had just cleared some allotments and were restoring the Merthyr Synagogue. I thought to myself “I’m not sure how that is going to achieve socialism”, and then immediately thought “I’m not sure how being in an organisation which is in danger of ageing out of existence can achieve socialism either”. I was an avid reader of James Connolly already, and was beginning to question the nature of Britain as a barrier to socialism, rather than a necessity to achieving it. So, I spoke to the Valleys Underground, got to know them, asked questions and in a matter of weeks, made the decision to commit to them, and quit my other affiliations.
The Welsh Underground Network fundamentally changed my life. I had been involved in various elements of the ‘British’ left, overwhelming I found it stuffy, overly bureaucratic, and people seemed genuinely afraid to talk to anyone unless they had a paper to sell them. I had and still do have respect for elements of this, however broadly speaking, I found myself more frustrated than anything else.
What are you most proud of since you joined?
Modwen: I’m most proud of being General Secretary for a year [2022-23], we put on numerous outreach and history events in my time, including a Republican festival and a Socialist Independence festival. We spread the message about what Wales needs next and why it must be a Socialist Republic.
Remi: The WUN has become a recognised organisation in both the public, and in particular, the political sphere, especially during the past few months.
Hedd: I served on the Central Committee from 2022-24, firstly as the Valleys Chapter Chair, and then the Internal Affairs Officer – before stepping down to focus on the organisation of Plaid Gomiwnyddol Cymru, the Communist Party of Wales. I am obviously incredibly proud of doing this, as the Valleys Chapter Chair, I helped establish a political and practical culture that I still see today, and as Internal Affairs, I got to snoop about in the business of anyone who talked shit about us online. But in 4 years, I don’t think I can explicitly say “this is the best thing we have done”. There is genuinely so much to pick through, and so much I am proud of – but if I would have to pick one thing, it would be seeing the change in how we’re perceived over the years. I remember when, in political circles, being a WUN member would evoke a strange sort of disgust, we’re “nationalists”, “tankies”, this that and the other. This never happens anymore, being a WUN member today is respected, sometimes begrudgingly but it is respected, people criticise our lines but not our existence!
Years later, I am known in my local community as not only a communist (as I have no desire to hide my politics!) but as someone who is committed to improving the world around me as I go. I’m not alone in this, I have other WUN members in my community, in neighbouring towns and cities, and together we are fighting for a better Wales and a better world.
When you joined, the Valleys was either transforming into a national project or had transformed. You played a key role in the growth of us into a proper national organisation, looking back at 2021-22, what are your biggest takeaways?
Modwen: Don’t have too many committee members! And step in to help people when they start flagging. A couple of our committee members had really hard years and withdrew from their roles. I wish I had reached out to them and got them to talk to me more, and arranged for people to share the work out. Having disengaged officers made running a national organisation really difficult and led to a few issues. I should have supported them more and not been afraid to ask for help from the wider organisation.
Remi: In terms of organising, the South of Wales has a significantly easier time as opposed to the North; whether it be due to more members in the south, more public engagement, etc.
In Wrexham, we were most active with food events, which helped people whether they were homeless, poor or just looking for a bit of community.In my opinion and for others in the chapter, ultimately, it almost felt like we were preying on people in need and proselytising them towards Socialism/Communism and Welsh Nationalism like “red-evangelicals”.
During this period of time, there was a huge schism between north and south as to how to go about theory, as many in the north had a heavy opposition to mandatory education and use of intellectual language (words like “dialectic”, “materialism”, etc) in both conversation and when discussing theory. I’d describe the generalised viewpoints of the North (particularly In the North East) as mainly, if not solely, practically focused as opposed to theoretical.
Another big takeaway from this period of time was the reliance of specific active members to hold the org together, with the Wrexham Chapter having infamously relied on a select group of members.
In truth, many of these problems have been rectified in the last three years; mainly through restructuring the Chapters into a singular nationwide organisation (with potential to decentralise again in the future).
Hedd: My biggest takeaway is that building a national movement in Wales presents many challenges! Remi once said to me “anyone that thinks Wales is a small country hasn’t had to drive across it”. I agree. We are forced into dense clusters without opportunities to meet regularly. This highlighted to me the importance of national meetings, in-person and online, as tricky as it is getting people together. You can’t get from north to south on the train without going through England (even if it’s land the bastards annexed from us), it makes you feel a bit bitter about doing it. But no matter how difficult, the effort is vital – I have a love of my comrades in the north, in the west, we are part of one unit, limited by geography, but not by spirit. To paraphrase our comrade Gwyn Alf William, geography may dictate where a road may go, but not why it goes there. Well, geography may dictate to us how difficult it is to go somewhere in Wales, but not why we must go there.
What are your hopes for the next two years for the WUN?
Modwen: I want us to carry on with cultural events, to push awareness of Welsh communist history to the absolute forefront of people’s minds! I want the WUN’s sister organisation, Plaid Gomiwnyddol Cymru / The Communist Party of Wales, to thrive. We will need to balance our membership efforts across both organisations for a while and ensure the orgs support each other.
I think this is all easily possible, the WUN and party are blazing forward and showing Wales a different way of organising – Welsh communists are BACK and though we aren’t as strong as we were 100 years ago – that will change.
Remi: I’d like to see more events in general hosted by the WUN and especially to have more events in the north as well as further expansion of ambition and an ability to organise grander events.
Hedd: At the 2024 WUN Congress, I co-submitted a motion on the start of a Gwersyll Haf – a summer camp, to take place every 2 years. My hope is, next summer, we gather the entirety of our membership in one place, for four days of culture, politics, poetry, art, learning, and sport, modelled as a socialist Eisteddfod. I am incredibly excited about this prospect! We’re committing to doing smaller events in this field as well, all throughout the year – from putting on films, music, art and poetry events, to even setting up an internal sporting league! I’m excited to be entering 2 years of becoming more than just a restoration movement or a protest movement, I’m excited for 2 years of building up a truly socialist Welsh counter-culture to capitalist cultural hegemony.
Interview: An interview with new members, who joined after the 2023 Congress
These interviews are with some of our newest members, typically from the last 12 months, looking at how they’ve interacted with the movement that had existed for 4 years at that point. These members have integrated into our existing projects, like the Cefn Fforest Miners Stute, and helped us develop new ones.
How did you first become aware of us? Was there a particular action that caused you to join or was it from continued actions?
Nora: I first heard of the WUN when they came to support one of my union’s direct actions. I decided it was something I needed to get involved in after hearing about the WUN repairing an abandoned synagogue – years after the project had started and ended3, which must have been around late 2021 or during 2022 I think. It inspired me because it made me think of all the beautiful abandoned buildings I’ve seen and envision them being community assets again. It’s so important to keep our heritage alive, and to ensure people have safe, comfortable and accessible places to socialise & organise. When I heard about the WUN’s renovation of the Synagogue it was very appealing because it felt like a bold way for people to take ownership of and stewardship of their local community.
Mêl: The first thing I remember seeing was a pic of a group of people renovating the Stute and I was drawn to the proactive community action side of socialism. Have been part of groups before which just involved a lot of sitting around and debating/chatting , which can be fun but also feel quite frustrating at times. The great thing about the WUN is that everyone just gets stuck in with doing stuff.
Golau: The WUN’s clearly expressed position on certain political issues that are important to me is what initially drew me to the movement, for example the WUN’s commitment to anti-fascism, workers rights, LGBTQIA+, abolition, socialism, Palestine liberation etc and particularly on the Cymru-specific perspective on these. I appreciated the WUN’s hands-on work taking positive action in local communities, which I found inspiring and a great antidote to other political organisations. This aligned with my own desire for hyperlocal collectivism alongside the more international perspective. The Ten Point Programme expressed these values unequivocally and helped me to have confidence in the accountability and commitment of the organisation to these positions.
When you joined, how did you find your first few months? What was it like joining a project that is now a few years old?
Nora: I immediately felt welcomed, and like I’d joined something very different to many other communist groups, which I’d been endlessly disappointed in. I’ve been struck by the amiable & grown-up way WUN members work past disagreements both internally and externally. I also feel like people are committed to the advancement of the movement in a way that doesnt centre themselves.
Mêl: I found the first few months to be very welcoming, didn’t feel like I needed to prove myself or anything, just encouraged me to find my place in the organisation. Everyone has been friendly, supportive and accepting.
Golau: Joining was a little unnerving to start with, but the other members and the Internal Affairs Officer in particular really helped me to feel welcome and gain confidence in the group. The WUN feels like a dynamic and constantly evolving organisation, meaning that joining felt like slipping into a flow rather than trying to catch up and fall into step within an already rigidly organised structure.
What have you most enjoyed about the WUN so far?
Nora: The thing I’ve enjoyed most is the sense of adventure I get from travelling around Wales to take action and make connections with new comrades.
Mêl: I have most enjoyed not feeling overwhelmed by the aspects of local & global politics which can feel pretty depressing to just passively consume, the WUN is like an antidote to that feeling.
Golau: I have found the educationals to be really valuable for expanding my knowledge and understanding of Welsh history and politics and socialist movement.
What do you want to do within the WUN?
Nora: I want to create a community space where people can come together and get organised, so the working people of Cardiff can demand better with a single, united voice.
Mêl: I guess my special area of interest is arts/culture & also community work. So I most enjoy putting on events and working on projects like the Stute, getting to meet people and chat to them. It’s also nice to be able to attend protests with groups of people and feel safe, as well as stay in the loop with local protest movements throughout the WUN network. I think there’s enough people that you can play to your strengths and bring what you are good at to the group.
Golau: I am keen to be involved in more cultural events, and to be involved in local action.
What would you say to someone who is thinking about joining, but isn’t sure?
Nora: I’d say that now is exactly the right time. We have momentum, we have plans, we have a place ready for you.
Mêl: For someone who wants to join I would say just try it out and if you find it is not for you or the commitment is too much you can always leave. If you’ve got a lot of feelings like you are not happy with the way things are or it feels like the world doesn’t align with your values then this is a great way to do something about it and help to make a positive change in Wales.
Golau: Join! Shape the movement you want to see. If not now then when?
What are your hopes for the next two years for the WUN?
Nora: I hope we can keep making allies and building goodwill, and create good support networks.
Mêl: My hopes for the next two years personally would be to get some really amazing cultural events going involving art, film, poetry. Use the WUN as a platform to promote Welsh identity through culture, working with other organisations around Wales, Ireland etc. I want to fight the rise of fascism in Wales and across the country, promote anti imperialism & anti racism. I want to help to support refugees and I am particularly interested in working to improve VAWG4 in Wales. Have already felt a lot of solidarity with other WUN members through that. I am very excited to see how the Stute develops!
I think overall just to help to create a clearer picture of what the narrative of socialist and activist politics is in Wales, particularly Cardiff where I am based.
Golau: I hope that the WUN will expand to a wider geographical reach and particularly into the region of Cymru in which I am based, to help members feel more connected and enable further community action.
Interview: An interview with Gruffydd, one of our members in the diaspora of Wales
The Welsh diaspora, meaning those who are from Wales in some way, view themselves as Welsh but no longer live in Wales, is largely formed of those who have had to leave Wales for economic reasons. To many, Wales is sadly a place without a future for them, it could be a lack of work, no available housing, but this doesn’t mean that they are absent from the fight for a future for Wales where they could return or no one has to leave in the circumstances they left.
This interview is with Gruffudd, one of our members in the diaspora of Wales, who lives 1000s of miles away and is still engaged with the fight for a Socialist Republic of Wales from afar.
As one of our members in the diaspora, how do you engage with the struggle for a Socialist Republic of Wales?
I have been outside of the UK for close to 10 years and it’s been hard to be engaged in a tangible way. That was the reason I chose to join the WUN, I wanted to be able to do something tangible and helpful for the independence struggle and particularly engage with an independence movement that fights for a socialist Wales, rather than just a free Wales in a neoliberal system. Since joining I’ve felt far more connected and, though I can only contribute in a small way, I have enjoyed offering what I can.
Despite being 1000s of miles away, do you as a member feel connected to the members who are working on the ground in Wales?
Yes, I’ve felt connected through the ways I’ve been able to contribute. Running educational sessions has given me a chance to have great discussions with members, and working on articles and the podcast have allowed me to develop a great working relationship with Modwen (Ed: Modwen is the Golygydd of Y Seren Goch). In other ways there is obviously some distance, such as the time difference and inability to meet in person, but I have felt very welcomed in the movement.
Are you involved in any organising in your new home? How can the Welsh Underground Network support you in this?
The movements I’ve been involved in in Mexico have primarily been the teachers unions I work with. These are unions that have a long history of radicalism in Mexico stretching all the way back to the 1960s, but also including their fight for justice for the 43 students-teachers who were disappeared in 20145. These unions struggle somewhat with representing a very broad membership base, their relationship to the women’s liberation movement in Mexico for example has at times been contentious. In terms of support I think this movement primarily seeks to be involved with international teachers and educational workers.
Do you have a message for Welsh socialists who are also in the diaspora about how they could get involved?
To others in the diaspora who are thinking about joining I would say come in with whatever you can. As an educator and writer I have found a huge amount of encouragement to use those skills and had an excellent experience. As someone who essentially does not use social media it’s something I’ve kind of steered clear of. I would say just join and jump in.
Interview: An interview with Jacob, the current Llywydd of the WUN, elected in 2023
This interview is with Jacob, who is serving as the LLywydd of the WUN currently. He served as General Secretary for a year prior to becoming Llywydd. He’s been an architect of change within the WUN, reshaping us into a more national movement where people can engage in the work of others even if they can’t physically be there. The last year has been dominated by Palestine, and he’s been instrumental in building pro-Palestine alliances between organisations.
In 2023, it was decided to turn the organisation into a more national one with the abolition of the Chapters. What challenges have you faced turning a formerly Chapter based movement into a national one?
There were definitely some teething problems initially, but overall this was a good move for the organisation ensuring we didn’t burn out our members by duplicating work and inundating them with meetings.
What have you enjoyed most about being General Secretary and what do you look forward to as Llywydd?
I have enjoyed seeing and being a part of everything we do as an organisation. We are among the best people trying to bring change to Wales and that has been genuinely inspired.
What lessons have you learnt, having been General Secretary and now Llywydd?
When you think about Wales it evokes this sense of history of ancient heroes and towering smokestacks, we are a land and a people steeped in pride and culture and it’s easy to get caught up in it all.
The most important thing I’ve realised over my surprisingly short time in this organisation is history is now, and we are its architects.
Across Wales people are suffering, sky high rents, low paying, limited and unfulfilling work, the destruction of our identities and language. Wales deserves revolutionary change.
Over the last year I have been so proud to see members of this organisation active in their communities whether that’s giving out food, throwing a gig or renovating a stute. We will rebuild what has been left behind and what has been taken from us. We are making history with every filled bin bag, with every laid brick, with every tin of food given out.
This year has of course been dominated by Palestine and the Palestinian peoples’ struggle against genocide and oppression. This is a struggle that has always touched the hearts of the people of Wales and we have proudly continued that tradition. Week in, week out we stand side by side with our communities strongly opposing oppression and injustice. We are not free until all people are free.
We are the architects of history, and we will build a movement village by village, town by town, city by city from one community to another until we cannot simply be ignored and left to decay. We will build a movement for a better, fairer world – We will bring revolutionary change to Wales – We will build an Independent Socialist Republic
Now that Plaid Gomiwnyddol Cymru, the Communist Party of Wales has launched, how can we expect the WUN to change? What will stay the same?
We no longer need to take the sole ideological lead in Wales, where we previously had. This allows us to focus on what we do best, action in communities. This is not to say the WUN is depoliticised as this is still a keen focus for us, it just means we don’t have to do it all by ourselves.
If you could go back in time to 2019 when the Valleys Underground was started, or 2021, when the Welsh Underground Network was started, what advice would you give the members?
The foundations that were laid early on in this organisation were strong enough to endure many tests and I’m incredibly grateful for that. The advice I would give is 2-fold, make sure you aren’t doing too much so that you burn out, and make sure that what you are doing has the effect you want it to have.
What are your hopes for the next two years for the WUN?
No goal is too big for us to achieve, we have the drive and determination to make great change in Wales. My hope is that I want us to be the change we want to see, we want a free Wales, we want a socialist republic of Wales and we will do everything we can to make that happen.
Conclusion?
This set of interviews is titled ‘Stalinist litterpickers!’, which is a bit of an inside joke at this point – in truth, it is what one of our many detractors said about us years ago. There are many ways I could conclude this set of interviews, it could be a harsh comment on those who like to criticise online but will never get their hands dirty, those who theorise all day and night with no practise, those who practise without theory and get nowhere, or could be a simple acknowledgement. An acknowledgement that the Welsh Underground Network, 5 years later, turns people out in their communities nearly every week of the year, no month passes by with us saying “shit, we’ve done nothing”.
I set out to do these interviews not out of vanity, but because I want to acknowledge and cherish all those who have made the Welsh Underground Network what it is, those who founded it, those who stayed with it, those who have left. We are a movement made up of the working class, of people who know what it is like to suffer, to be oppressed, to be hungry and poor, to know that even if we’re comfortable now, we’ll always be the first to suffer before the bosses do. This may sound bleak, but this knowledge, matched with our action, our theory, is what has built a positive force – one which knows that only the working class can prevent our suffering, and that we, the working class, have the power to change things!
Very rarely do we find ourselves heaped in praise, but if you ask someone who has been helped by the Welsh Underground Network, you will find a quiet and stalwart form of support, one which cannot be easily swept away. Maybe our victories seem too small, but I see a path ahead of us, a movement backed by the working class in their thousands, who we have won the support of through hard work, through our small victories,
On the 31st of August, 2024, our cymrodyr brawdol in Plaid Gomiwnyddol Cymru, the Communist Party of Wales, held their 1st Cyngrys – and it was opened with this dedication towards the Welsh Underground Network from their Ysgriffenydd Cyffredinol – “There is only one movement in Wales that could have created us, and that is you”.
This may seem like mere words, but it was immediately backed up by action, during a social activity at Cyngrys, they stopped to pick up litter on their way back! Only the Welsh Underground Network could have created not just a movement, but a culture, where the prime goal at all times is to improve things around you, through theory, through practice, and through hard work.
So, here is to being a ‘Stalinist litterpicker’, I wouldn’t want to be anything else.
- In fact, Valleys Underground started as a news site in April 2019, and became a community movement in September, and if you go all the way back on the website you will see two articles from 2019 prior to September, one as an interview with the Connolly Youth Movement and the other on Community Action. The Valleys Underground as we know it began with the direct action in September 2019. These can be read here: https://welshundergroundnetwork.com/2019/07/20/educate-and-agitate-the-radical-guide-to-direct-community-action-with-cyms-alex-homits/ https://welshundergroundnetwork.com/2019/06/26/opinion-derelict-and-decaying-its-time-for-community-action/ ↩︎
- The flooding of the Dryweryn valley, the destruction of the village of Capel Celyn, and the displacement of the people happened explicitly to support the growing industrial sector in Liverpool. https://www.herald.wales/north-wales/tryweryn-the-welsh-village-flooded-to-supply-an-english-city-with-water/ ↩︎
- The Merthyr Synagogue has since been taken on by the Welsh Jewish Heritage Centre, and has been awarded funding to be turned into a museum. https://www.jewishheritage.wales/ ↩︎
- Violence Against Women & Girls ↩︎
- This is the Iguala mass kidnapping of 2014, where 43 students from a Rural Teachers College were kidnapped by the local state authority and handed over to a criminal gang. It highlighted the immense collaboration that exists between the Mexican state and the gangs, from how the students were kidnapped by the state and handed over to the gangs, and how the investigation was blocked at every turn. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/2/mexicos-missing-students-case-investigators-recount-challenges-of-probe ↩︎
Plaid Gomiwnyddol Cymru 