Lewis Jones, writer, and political activist of the left, (28 December 1897 – 27 January 1939) was born in Clydach Vale in industrialised South Wales.Davies (2008), pg427. Although his novels are more studied by academics now than by general readers, Jones occupies an honourable place in the history of

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

politics in Britain, and in the ranks of

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

writers. Like many young activists of his generation he attended the

Central Labour College The Central Labour College, also known as The Labour College, was a British higher education institution supported by trade unions. It functioned from 1909 to 1929. It was established on the basis of independent working class education. The colle ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

from 1923–25, where he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain. During the

1926 General Strike The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British governme ...

he was imprisoned for three months in Swansea Prison for his

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

activities in the

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

coalfield. Once back at the pits, he became chairman and then checkweighman of the Cambrian Lodge of the South Wales Miners Federation. Although often seen as a lesser post to that of Lodge Chairman, in a time of industrial unrest the checkweighman was a vital part of the miners' protection against employers using

piece work Piece work (or piecework) is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed piece rate for each unit produced or action performed, regardless of time. Context When paying a worker, employers can use various methods and combinations of ...

rules to drive down wages, and it was a role in which Jones was likely to routinely come into conflict with management. In 1929, he resigned, refusing to work with ' scab' (non-unionised) labour. He remained unemployed for the rest of his life, although, he was likely to be permanently busy on political business. He was extremely popular amongst the rank-and-file Party members, but his association with "Hornerism" ( Communists working within established trades unions), his turbulent private life and his distrust of the cult of personality (he was sent home from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

for ignoring a standing ovation to

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

) meant that he was repeatedly suspended and disciplined by the Party. As the Welsh organiser for the

National Unemployed Workers Movement The National Unemployed Workers' Movement was a British organisation set up in 1921 by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. It aimed to draw attention to the plight of unemployed workers during the post First World War slump, the 1926 ...

, widely regarded as a

Communist front A communist front is a political organization identified as a front organization under the effective control of a communist party, the Communist International or other communist organizations. They attracted politicized individuals who were not p ...

, he led the

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...

, 1934 and 1936

hunger marches Hunger marches are a form of social protest that arose in the United Kingdom during the early 20th century. Often the marches involved groups of men and women walking from areas with high unemployment, to London where they would protest outside pa ...

to London. Also in 1936, he was elected as one of the two Communist members on to the Glamorgan County Council. In South Wales at this time his attachment to the Communist Party would not have harmed his reputation as a political activist and leader. Lewis Jones died on 27 January 1939 at the end of a day in which he addressed over 30 meetings in support of the

republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

side of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

.Hopkins (1975), pg70. He is buried at ''Trealaw Cemetery'' in

Trealaw Trealaw is a long village, also a community and electoral ward in the Rhondda Valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It stretches over from the junction of Cemetery Road and Brithweunydd Road in the east, to the junction of Ynyscynon Road and Partri ...

. His books provide a description of life in a Welsh mining community of their time; there is an awareness of the crisis of masculinity that mass unemployment brought home to those communities, and the description of workers in struggle with their employers is unflinching in its acknowledgement of defeat as well as victory.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Lewis 1897 births 1939 deaths Members of Glamorgan County Council Communist Party of Great Britain councillors Marxist writers Communist writers People from Clydach Vale Welsh communists Welsh novelists 20th-century Welsh writers 20th-century British writers 20th-century Welsh novelists 20th-century British novelists 20th-century Welsh politicians 20th-century British politicians

Further reading

Bibliography

References