Of red flags and red dragons: Welsh Labour history in retrospect and prospect

Wright, Martin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2971-5507 2023. Of red flags and red dragons: Welsh Labour history in retrospect and prospect. Labour History Review 88 (3) , pp. 245-272. 10.3828/lhr.2023.11

Preview

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (359kB) | Preview

Abstract

Welsh labour historiography has been dominated by the history of the south Wales miners, with the north Wales quarrymen occupying second place, and other groups of workers having received less attention. This is partly due to the dominant assumptions of labour historians which are tied up with ideas of modernization and universalism, and which have privileged anglophone accounts of the past. The Welsh radical tradition, although well explored and documented within Wales, has not been sufficiently recognized within narratives of British labour history. Rather, the emergence and subsequent dominance of the Labour Party has tended to occlude an earlier, vibrant, and diverse Welsh radical history. Now, half a century after the professional organization of Welsh labour historians, thoroughgoing deindustrialization and political devolution have created a new context for a new generation of labour historians who have no direct memory of a Wales dominated by heavy industry. This provides both challenges and opportunities. Welsh and British labour historians have much to gain by developing a closer relationship, and this will involve striking a careful balance between universalist and particularist interpretations of labour’s Welsh history.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
Publisher:	Liverpool University Press
ISSN:	0961-5652
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	18 February 2024
Date of Acceptance:	30 August 2023
Last Modified:	01 Mar 2024 05:56
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/166376

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item