Dic Penderyn reports on the Communist Party’s Wales congress, where delegates debated plans for a radical manifesto and broad alliance to challenge Reform UK at the polls and make a clear break with Starmer and Westminster.
This article first appeared in the Morning Star.
Laura Picand in her chairwoman’s address to the Communist Party’s Wales congress, acknowledged the hardships suffered in Pontypridd after the town flooded during Storm Bert a week ago.
“This is a perfect example of why utilities should be owned by us with public ownership and accountability.
“The Welsh government is failing the Welsh working class, and yes, we know that the Tories in Westminster woefully underfunded Wales.
“But the Welsh government need to fight and campaign for better resources, and a different, socialist approach.
“They need to remember they are the government of Wales, not apologists for Westminster. We need to see clear red water between Wales and Starmer’s Labour,” Picand said.
The congress debated the key congress resolution, Wales for the People Not the Profiteers, which was introduced by Welsh executive committee member David Nicholson.
“After 25 years of devolution, we need to take stock and analyse the political situation in Wales, the way the nation is heading and how communists and our allies might influence that direction.
“The resolution was born out of the recent general election result, Reform UK’s electoral success in coming second in 13 seats in Wales, voter turnout, and attempts by the far right and fascists to organise in the country.
“The main resolution was developed by the executive committee as the start of the discussion of the way forward for our party and class and how, as communists, we need to consider how best to influence the policy debate in Wales to ensure a progressive agenda to counter Reform UK,” Nicholson said.
There were 12 amendments to the resolution debated at congress, some of which will be incorporated into it by the incoming Welsh executive committee.
An all-Wales Morning Star conference is to be held in Cardiff on February 15 to enable progressives from across parties, the anti-racist and peace movement, and trade unions to discuss a radical manifesto for the Welsh Senedd elections in 2026 to give hope to the people of Wales.
Guest speakers
The Welsh congress heard from Communist Party of Britain chairwoman Liz Payne, who brought comradely greetings from the British party.
Payne thanked the party in Wales for its work and its foresight in the development of its policies to fight the next election.
A panel of guest speakers included former MP Beth Winter, Welsh language campaign Cymdeithas yr laith Gymraeg’s Owain Meiron, Cymru Cuba’s Twm Draper and Friends of Socialist China’s Keith Bennett.
“I am a very proud socialist and very pleased to be here with you today,” Winter said.
“Our country and wealth have been extracted and exploited with billions of pounds taken.
“We have unprecedented levels of poverty and hardship with the highest level of child poverty in the United Kingdom.
“The rise of the far right goes along with the sense of abandonment by many of our communities in Wales.
“Reform offers something that the Establishment parties do not, and estimates suggest they could take 20 seats in the Senedd at the 2026 election,” Winter warned.
Owain Meiron said housing was a key campaign for Cymdeithas and explained it was impossible for many young people to afford to live within their local community.
“We will continue to campaign for the Welsh language and will work with the Communist Party to ensure it survives and thrives,” Meiron said.
Both Twm Draper and Keith Bennett spoke about the need for solidarity with Cuba and China and for the existing links between the party and the two countries to continue.
Gwyn Alf Williams lecture
Historian Douglas Jones gave the traditional Gwyn Alf Williams lecture on the eve of the Welsh Communist Party’s congress.
Jones is an official with the Civil Service union PCS and author of the book The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the National Question in Wales 1936-1991.
He explained that “the fate of the Welsh language was one of the most important issues in Welsh politics and society during the 20th century.
“Having survived the first wave of population transfer at the end of the 19th century, which had seen a largely internal migration from rural to urban industrial areas within Wales, the 20th century witnessed a significant decline in the number of Welsh speakers,” Jones said.
He gave the background to the formation of the Communist Party in Wales, formed from the South Wales district committee established in 1922, followed by a north Wales district in 1937, with the two committees unified in 1944 to form a Welsh committee.
The party in Wales developed its Welsh language policy during the inter-war and immediate post-war period. Publishing a series of Welsh language pamphlets, including two bilingual Eisteddfod pamphlets and culminating with the publication of a Welsh translation of the Communist Manifesto — Y Maniffesto.
“The party supported the establishment of a Welsh Parliament from the second half of the 1930s onwards, and it took part in the Parliament for Wales Campaign in the 1950s and the campaign for a Yes vote in the 1979 referendum,” Jones said.
A closing collection also raised £263 for the Morning Star.