The Welsh Socialist Republican Movement (''Mudiad Sosialaidd Gweriniaethol Cymru'') was a short-lived nationalist political movement which was born out of frustration with
Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...
'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).
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 for conspiracy to cause explosions and possession of explosives.
After its collapse around half a dozen members joined what would become the
Communist Party of Britain
The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a communist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows Marxist-Leninist theory and su ...
, some returned to Plaid Cymru, and others became active in issue-orientated movements.
The socialist remnants published a couple more copies of ''Y Faner Goch'' ("The Red Flag")
and then reformed in the late 1980s to create
Cymru Goch
; ) was a left-wing Welsh nationalist political party, founded in 1986 and fought for what it described as a ''Free Socialist Wales''.
Background
Following the collapse of the Welsh Socialist Republican Movement, a number of former members, ...
(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.
References
Further reading
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Defunct political parties in Wales
Left-wing nationalist parties
Political parties established in 1979
Socialist parties in Wales
Republican parties in the United Kingdom
Republicanism in Wales
Welsh nationalist parties
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