- The information in this article is part of an upcoming rework, and may not be reflected in other articles.
Saunders Lewis (born John Saunders Lewis) is a Welsh politician, activist, soldier, poet, dramatist, historian and literary critic. He is a prominent Welsh nationalist and one of the founders of Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru (the National Party of Wales), informally known as Plaid Cymru. Lewis is usually acknowledged as one of the most prominent figures of Welsh-language literature owing to his extensive works and influence on the subject.
Biography[]
Early Life and the Weltkrieg[]
John Saunders Lewis was born into a Welsh family living in Wallasey, England, on 15 October 1893. He was the second of three sons of Lodwig Lewis (1859–1933), a Calvinistic Methodist minister, and his wife Mary Margaret (née Thomas, 1862–1900). Lewis attended Liscard High School for Boys and went on to study English and French at Liverpool University.
When the Weltkrieg broke out, Lewis enlisted as a volunteer with the King's Liverpool Regiment in September 1914, and in April 1915 applied for a commission with the South Wales Borderers and was promoted to full lieutenant in February 1916. He served in France and was wounded in the Battle of Cambrai. During the war, Lewis read the series of novels The Cult of the Self (French: Le Culte du moi) by the French writer Maurice Barrès. Barrès, a French nationalist, influenced Lewis' own Welsh nationalism. During the war, Lewis would distinguish himself as a capable officer and by the end he had been made a Captain.
Post Weltkrieg and the Civil War[]
Lewis would return to Wales, broken and confused by the loss of Britain in the Weltkrieg but would find a renewed enthusiasm for his latent Welsh nationalism. Remaining in the army for another year he would undergo further officer training but leave in 1921 to complete his English degree. During this time, he would begin to draft writings into his theories of Welsh nationalism, blaming the 'failed' Union and British Imperialism for leading to the catastrophic slaughter of innocent Welshmen. Alongside Lewis' experiences in the Weltkrieg, his sympathy for the cause of Irish independence brought him to Welsh nationalism. He would later cite Sinn Féin as an inspiration to both his early nationalism and later politics.
In 1922, he was appointed as lecturer in Welsh literature at the University College of Wales, Swansea, and begin work on various literary pieces. In the same year, Lewis founded 'Y Mudiad Cymreig' ("The Welsh Movement") with a small group of fellow nationalists. Discussions for a Welsh party had been ongoing since the 19th Century but had yet to reach success. The group met secretly for the first time in Penarth on 10 May 1922. The group continued to meet in secret throughout the next year and 1923, beginning drawing up a set of aims and policies intended to "rescue Wales from political and cultural oblivion." At around the same time as Lewis formed 'Y Mudiad Cymreig', another group of nationalists formed 'Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru' ("The Welsh Home Rule Army") in Caernarfon. The group was led by Huw Robert Jones, who made contact with Lewis in early 1924 and proposed to form a new political party.
However, these discussions would be cut short by the eruption of hostilities in the Civil War. Lewis would be drafted into the Royalist army, retaking the rank of Captain and be sent to Northern England to supervise troops fighting on the Scottish border. Lewis would be hastily promoted to Major by 1925 following further service but as the situation deteriorated he would find himself depressed with the situation, particularly the fighting between Welshman in his native land. With his forces being continuously pushed back and facing mass desertions, the final breaking point would come when Lewis would be ordered to begin summary executions of any soldiers who attempted to defect. Horrified and disillusioned, he would desert himself shortly after and head for rebel lines.
Lewis would be captured and was sent to his native Wales, being conscripted as a porter for the rebel forces. It was here that would he produce his only civil war work: Dilema'r Swyddog (The Officer's Dilemma) which would be famously written on collections of scrap paper. Towards the end of the conflict, Lewis would be made a Major of the fledgling Republican Army and be placed on flushing out Royalist guerrillas in the North of England. Lewis would later write that this experience caused him to take a particular interest in guerrilla warfare. Following the collapse of the Royalist front he would be offered a permanent place in the Republican Army but refuse and instead opt to return to the University of Swansea, becoming one of the first professors in its restored faculty.
Founding of Plaid Cymru and Contemporary Events[]
In 1926, talks about creating some form of Welsh political party would resume in earnest. All restrictions against Welsh had been de facto lifted as they were no longer being enforced but remained law. Chief among the aims of Lewis was to ensure that such laws would be abolished, at one point idealistically proposing that the teaching of English would be suspended so that it would be phased out peacefully. The talks would finally reach success with the establishment of Plaid Cymru Genedlaethol (The Welsh National Party) with Lewis Valentine elected as its first president and with Lewis as its first secretary. Among the party's first policies it was agreed that party business would be conducted in Welsh, and that members sever all links with other British parties.
In 1927, around 18 months a year after its founding, Valentine would be forced to step down following being attacked at a party meeting. While he would survive he would remain hospitalised and Lewis would win out in the ensuing debate for a new leader. During this period, Lewis would sit in the Welsh Regional Parliament as a Plaid Cymru member and attempt to pivot the party towards the politics espoused by continental dictatorships to little avail though this would bring him under surveillance by the authorities. In 1928, concerned by the events in Scotland. Lewis would work to re-establish the WHRA as a sort of secret paramilitary dedicated to protecting the autonomy Wales had won in the Union and raise awareness of Welsh nationalism through low-level arsons and bombings. Lewis would train the new force in guerrilla warfare tactics he had copied from his experiences in the civil war, going as to propose the WHRA be 'outfitted as a proper army with uniforms and weapons becoming of professionals'. Despite its training, a strict code of conduct was established and violence against property rather than people was maintained. The WHRA was thus careful to only ever attack government property and minimise damage done to actual civilians This period would also see Lewis (And Plaid Cymru in general) begin to pivot towards the creation of an independent Welsh state rather than autonomy within Britain.
In 1929, Lewis would be sacked from his position at the Swansea university and arrested following a speech he had given at a university society. Having been asked if he considered himself a royalist, he acknowledged that he was a monarchist but had been disillusioned with the Windsor's and that 'the republic is a fine institution if flawed', though he did not rule out that if possible, he would support a Welsh monarchy. Despite this, he would be arrested for counter-revolutionary activities and sedition with a taped confession and a recording of his comments presented at trial. He would be sentenced to two years hard for seditious activities labour but the verdict would be quashed two days later by the Regional administration. Following a petition from faculty and students at Swansea university among other activists, he would be reinstated to his teaching position. Later in private correspondence with D.J. Williams he would allege that he had been coerced into making the confession but did not deny his royalist sentiments.
Following his trial, Lewis would resign into a more quieter and reserved position. The Central Intelligence Committee would reopen an investigation into Lewis in 1931 though this would likewise lead to nothing and be closed the following year. Since then, Lewis would begin to share power within the party with the more moderate Valentine, leading to a sort of diarchy between the President and Secretary. He has since somewhat retracted from direct politics and has maintained a low-level presence in the Welsh political scene currently serving as a town councillor.
Political Thought[]
The 'Lewis Doctrine'[]
During its early years, Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru would be most successful as a social and educational pressure group rather than as a political party, using the seats it had won more as a means of promoting its aims to larger groups. For Lewis, "the chief aim of the party [is] to 'take away from the Welsh their sense of inferiority... to remove from our beloved country the mark and shame of conquest.'" To this end, Lewis wished to demonstrate how Welsh heritage was linked as one of the 'founders of European civilization. A self-described "strong monarchist", he would write "Civilization is more than an abstraction. It must have a local habitation and name. Here its name is Wales." Additionally, Lewis would strive for the stability and well-being of Welsh-speaking communities, and has decried both capitalism and socialism, instead promoting what he has called 'perchentyaeth': a policy of "distributing property among the masses".
Lewis would, in fact, be ill-equipped to lead any party, or indeed even convince his immediate colleagues of his theories. A Federationist commenter would speak of him: "..Lewis is a cold fish. His reedy voice, bow tie, cerebral style and aristocratic contempt for the proletariat are hardly endearing qualities in a political leader." Heavily influenced by the discourse of right-wing French theorists, he would begin to a developed a so-called 'grand strategy', based on the deindustrialization of Wales. Such a scheme would prove both impractical and unpopular. It would give grave embarrassment to his socialist colleague D. J. Davies, a progressive economist, who showed a much better grasp of the economic realities in Wales and greater sensitivity towards the plight of working people. Lewis's own theories would touch upon a traditionalist and authoritarian Wales. based around agrarianism and the revival of Welsh culture. Lewis would go onto say the chief aim of any Welsh state would be the total revival and primacy of Welsh.
Royalism to Republicanism[]
Lewis and much of Plaid Cymru's early politics would in fact not be based around seeking Welsh statehood, and to some degree, even home rule but rather primacy of the Welsh language within Wales. It would only be after the revolution when home rule was a foregone conclusion and the restrictions against Welsh speaking had been de facto ended, would Lewis begin to pivot towards are more state-based nationalism and support for Home Rule and federalism. However, the events of 1928 would deeply horrify Lewis and cause him (Among many other Plaid Cymru leaders) to shift more towards the goal of an independent Wales. Arguing that federalism was no defence from English aggression, Lewis would argue that Wales would need to be fully independent so as to survive and prosper.
Lewis' experiences during the civil war would undeniably change him from an avid royalist to a more moderate republican. He would write in private diaries following the war that 'the tyranny of King George' had shocked him profoundly and shaken his trust in monarchies. Regardless he would later begin to align this with his own slowly authoritarian views, in part inspired by Germany, though argue that a Welsh or 'Welshified' King would be preferable to the British Windsors. Despite this fleeting monarchism, Lewis would at times give praise to the republic, refer to himself as 'preferable to a Welsh Republic' but always ardently refer to himself as a Welsh nationalist above all as outlined below:
| “ | First and foremost we are nationalists. Welsh nationalists. Our loyalty is to Wales, our goal is to protect Wales and its culture. I personally believe that the establishment of a Welsh royal dynasty could aid our culture, our language and our prestige but if a republic is deemed more suitable, then I would consider myself a Welsh republican. | ” |
Since his arrest in 1929 for alleged Royalist sympathies, Lewis' open acknowledgement of his monarchist beliefs would come to an end, instead either referring to himself as a nationalist or acknowledging himself to support Welsh republicanism. Citing the lack of a potential Welsh dynasty, he has acknowledged that any Welsh state would no doubt be republican in nature.
Personal Life[]
Saunders Lewis is married to Margaret Lewis (Née Gilcriest), the two would meet while at university and then marry in 1927 following the end of the civil war. His wife would be born into a Liverpool Protestant Irish family but convert to Roman Catholicism out of her own interest in Irish nationalism. Lewis would consider converting himself but ultimately rule against it and remains a nonconformist Welsh Calvinist. He himself is the scion of various Calvinist ministers. The couple currently have two children together:
- Owen Daniel Lewis (Born 1927)
- Mair Lewis (Born 1930)
Notable Literary Works[]
- Blodeuwedd (The woman of flowers), (1923)
- School of Welsh Augustans (1924)
- Dilema'r Swyddog (The Officer's Dilemma), (1925)
- Williams Pantycelyn (1927)
- Braslun o hanes llenyddiaeth Gymraeg (An outline history of Welsh literature), (1932)