Evan Wall, Doctoral Researcher at the University of Aberystwyth University in Wales (UK), will give a lecture on Welsh nationalism during the interwar period and the founding of the Plaid Cymru, a political party that is currently on the cusp of power in Wales. During the interwar period Plaid Cymru was indebted to the Irish example of nationalism during. Ultimately, the rebels of easter 1916 and the policies of Sinn Féin shaped a new brand of nationalism in Wales.
The Easter Rising 1916 was a cultural trigger point that led to the forming of the Irish Free State in 1921. Also, the uprising was a guiding moment for anti-imperialist nationalist movements globally, including in Wales.
My research analyses its impact in Wales by focusing on two of Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru’s main architects – Saunders Lewis and Lewis Valentine. Across the Irish Sea, in Wales, both Saunders and Valentine were inspired by the efforts of Irish nationalism. This article will focus particularly on the Irish influence on the decision of three members of the party to burn down an RAF aerodrome in 1936 and sacrifice their freedom by becoming political prisoners.
It will be argued that Irish nationalism had a profound effect on Saunders’ and Valentine’s vision of Wales and the methods they would adopt in their nationalist campaign. The particular focus of this article will be how Plaid’s cultural, constitutional and unconstitutional methods were inspired by the Irish nationalists’ example.