Welsh Journals

its fate had been decided by the earthquake of August of that year, it had become clear that there was no enthusiasm or even decent welcome for it, either among Welsh members or in the country generally. When the campaign for the Bill was reopened, largely in the pages of the "Welsh Outlook" in 1918, the response was chilly. The "Cymru Fydd" movement as such was dead. One thing is certain, that the end of the Dises- tablishment controversy, whether under normal or abnormal conditions, would have involved a complete change in political alignment in Wales. One of the greatest figures in the Liberationist Campaign in Wales said once "God help Welsh Liberalism when we get Disestablishment. Rural Wales is conservative at heart, and as the old land grievances are gradually disappearing we shall soon see it in its true colours. Industrial Wales is becoming more revolutionary daily." But why speculate ? In August 1914-some seven weeks before the Welsh Church Act became law, the old world and its old politics came to an end. It may sound cynical, but it is the simple truth, that one result of that unspeakable catastrophe was to make possible in 1919 an agreed and peace- ful settlement of our particular ancient domestic controversy. It was very different in Ireland. In 1914 the Conservative Party was pledged to the repeal of the Welsh Act. In 1919 when, after considerable readjustments, it is true, it came fully into effect only two lonely Cecils, with some twenty odd Unionists, one Welsh Bishop, two Welsh Liberal members and two Labour members objected. But very strange things had been happening in the meantime. The General Election of 1918 gave a certain indica- tion that the character of Welsh politics had changed completely. It is true that the atmos- phere of that election was unnatural, and in Wales, particularly, charged with issues of personal loyal- ties. But the defeat of such men as Mr. McKenna, the sponsor of the Disestablishment Bill, Sir Ellis Griffith, Mr. Ellis Davies, Mr. Llewelyn Wil- liams, Mr. E. T. John and others, whatever may have been the immediate cause, shewed that the old Liberal ship had broken loose from its moor- lings. That election, however, cast little light on the ultimate result of the immeasurable changes that were taking place, such as the extension of 'the franchise and the entry of women into politics, the universal disillusionment with, and distrust of, politicians and their methods, the daily increas- ing stress of economic conditions, the growing un- certainty as to the stability of our financial and in- dustrial hegemony and the still greater and more tragic uncertainty for the worker of finding em- ployment and a means of living within it-all these are only beginning even now to indicate the direction in which they are driving political opin- ion. Other forces, in the way of increased trans- port facilities, and means of general inter-com- munication, the levelling up (however slowly) of the intellectual standard through secondary, higher, and particularly adult education, have created a mood of challenge and questioning everywhere. The direction of the political current in the purely industrial areas is perfectly clear. In an area like Glamorganshire the population of which had in two generations risen from 170,000 to nearly 1,250,000, political expression was, long before the war, finding for itself a new tone and a new emphasis,-gradually working through to- wards the creation of a new class conscious party. At first it was satisfied with a kind of accelerated Radicalism-but for a long time, in philosophy and practice, it has ceased to care for any of the old things. Karl Marx said once that the com- ing of his revolution would be heralded by the crow of a Gallic cock. His poultry yard was across the Channel-but it is strange that the two areas in this country, in which advanced Labourism and Communism are dominant-South Wales and the South iWest corner of Scotland, both scmi-Celtic-are the real political storm centres of the moment. Industrial South Wales has be- come the unassailable fortress of 'left' wing pol- itics. The purely industrial areas of North Wales, when they find an opportunity, fall into step al- most instinctively with the South. In the indus- trial areas of Wales, the old political labels are not understood and virtually are non-existent. What then of rural Wales ? Nominally at pres- ent it is Liberal. Some people would say that this only means that parts of it remain loyal to Mr. Lloyd George, while he is out of power and has no opportunity of giving effect to his advanced social and economic policy, and that the remain- der considers that Liberalism and Conservatism in the new world mean the same thing and, since a change of name might disturb the spirits of their ancestors, it is not worth while to change it. ILet it be remembered, however, that all the rural con- stituencies in Wales have during the last fifteen years been contested by Labour-in some cases successfully, in none with a ridiculous result. Under the old Liberalism the political interests of farmer, labourer and small peasant were assumed to be identical. In 1933 we can see the widening fissures. There is an ever increasing conscious- ness of the conflict of interests and it is only the power of the Churches-continually waning- and a sentimental respect for old traditions that keeps the rural electorate marching more or less to time.