Synopses & Reviews
On a Saturday morning in November 1865, a group of between 1,200 and 1,500 men gathered near the small town of Bethesda, in Wales, to launch a society that they decided to call the United Society of Welsh Quarrymen. Though there had been earlier revolts by quarrymen, this marked the first attempt to explicitly organize a trade union for the industry—and while it failed almost as soon as it was launched, it had lasting repercussions that were felt through many of the most bitter labor disputes of the early twentieth century. This third edition offers an updated bibliography and a substantial new introduction.
Synopsis
On a Saturday morning in November 1865, between 1,200 and 1,500 men gathered above the small town of Bethesda to launch a society which they called the United Society of Welsh Quarrymen. Although there had been earlier revolts of quarrymen, this was the first recorded attempt to organise a trade union. The society failed almost as soon as it was started but an idea had been planted and despite the most strenuous efforts of its opponents, it was not to be uprooted.
This book is about the struggle of quarrymen to organise and ‘combine in the slate quarries and mines of North Wales, and particularly in the giant Penrhyn quarries. It was often a battle for survival, fought in very distinctive communities, and the struggle witnessed some of the most bitter and dramatic disputes in the history of the British working class.
Synopsis
The history of the men who worked in the dominant industry of north-west Wales and of the struggles they fought.
About the Author
R. Merfyn Jones was professor of Welsh History and vice-chancellor of Bangor University.