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Product Description
Product Description
Freedom Fighters covers a violent episode in recent Welsh history shunned or relegated to the sidelines by more conventional historians. By drawing together various sources, the author has produced a highly compelling narrative of a period when a group of Welshmen declared war on England with gelignite and fire bombs. Two died, others were jailed in this struggle for Welsh independence. Could it happen again? Or is yesterday's Welsh patriot doomed to become tomorrow's terrorist? "Freedom Fighters" provides a fascinating insight into Welsh patriotism on the extremist fringes. The principal focus of this book is the role of the two main protagonists of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (MAC), the Movement for the Defence of Wales, Owen Williams and John Jenkins.Welsh consciousness is uncomfortable with the memory of the Sixties' sabotage campaign directed by this secret, extremist organisation at water pipelines, Government offices and the Prince of Wales. No matter what the authentic voice of democratic nationalism might think of these foot soldiers in Wales' forgotten war, they cannot be ignored. This book tells the story of this remarkable campaign from its inception in 1963 up to the establishment of the Welsh Assembly and considers to what extent the direct action of the Sixties' picked up again by the holiday home arsonists a decade later, helped shape a political environment in which the governing class became more receptive to Welsh aspirations.
About the Author
John Humphries is the former Editor, Deputy Editor and News Editor of the Western Mail. He has previously published two books, on the Welsh Chartist Uprising and Caryl ap Rhys Pryce.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a journalist I covered many of the 'freedom' trials in Wales and
I knew John Jenkins from covering his case in courts.
I also worked with the author but did not get along with him.
However this is a well written book.
It is correct on the facts that I know and therefore I suggest it is accurate throughout.
It should be used as a text book for Welsh history for the period it covers,
if not one for any history of terrorism.
Before I read this I had read Sabate, the Spanish anarchist, but Freedom Fighters gives us hard, well researched facts with little if no sentimentality.
I recommend it strongly.
Peter M Williams
I knew John Jenkins from covering his case in courts.
I also worked with the author but did not get along with him.
However this is a well written book.
It is correct on the facts that I know and therefore I suggest it is accurate throughout.
It should be used as a text book for Welsh history for the period it covers,
if not one for any history of terrorism.
Before I read this I had read Sabate, the Spanish anarchist, but Freedom Fighters gives us hard, well researched facts with little if no sentimentality.
I recommend it strongly.
Peter M Williams
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
We all remember the spoof Not the Nine O'Clock News item that made light of the spate of arson attacks on holiday homes in Wales. As a terror campaign it was one of a number of outbursts from angry Wales. There was also the bombings of water pipelines following the flooding of villages in the 1960s, attempts to disrupt Prince Charles being sworn in as Prince of Wales and a hunger strike over the plans for a Welsh fourth channel.
John Humphries, a former reporter and later editor of the Western Mail, has written a history of the fringes of Welsh politics, focusing on two groups called Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Movement for the Defence of Wales) or MAC for short and the Free Wales Army.
While the Free Wales Army was good at stunts it was never regarded as a serious force and Humphries regards them as posturing clowns. He has considerably more time for John Jenkins, the man behind MAC, a bomb maker and cell commander who served time for his bombing campaign and was interviewed by Huw Edwards for a BBC documentary. Two of Jenkins' colleagues blew themselves up (the Abergele martyrs) and it was good fortune which prevented other deaths, but that is what happens when you play with fire. Another bomb that injured someone he claims wasn't one of his, which is convenient. The book will no doubt add to a cottage industry of mythology around Jenkins that I'm pretty sure he doesn't deserve. He created a cell structure where many of the activists never met, or even knew each other, just Jenkins. A structure that was used by the IRA to great effect and which baffled the police and the security services. But though Jenkins was an articulate activist and has since devoted his life to helping the mentally ill, it all rather accentuates the view that terrorism and political violence actually attracts those either too stupid and too lazy to pursue achievable aims through peaceful means.
There was much that must have seemed very unfair to Wales in the 1960s, but when you look at the direction of travel of Welsh interests from the 1980s, then the cause for Welsh speaking and for local democracy has been a vindication of constitutional nationalism.
But, I digress, what is significant about the book however isn't so much the well-composed accounts of the campaigns against the investiture of Charles, or the flooding of the valley of Afon Tryweryn to make a reservoir for Liverpool, but the startling omission of any notion that there has been an achievement of a national independent political structure and a media in a country once struggling find a sense of identity.
The book trails off with some odd biographical anecdotes, but was worth reading for its first person telling of a crucial story in our recent history and culture. I was interested in it, because I often wonder what draws people to the flame of violence. Why would they give up a life for a cause, in particular, such a lost one? And what, if anything, did their efforts achieve?
As for the arson attacks which persisted through the 1980s and 1990s, the thought remains that while they didn't work in any way shape or form, they did drive an issue to the surface that is as relevant in Wales as it is in the Lake District and Cornwall.
John Humphries, a former reporter and later editor of the Western Mail, has written a history of the fringes of Welsh politics, focusing on two groups called Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Movement for the Defence of Wales) or MAC for short and the Free Wales Army.
While the Free Wales Army was good at stunts it was never regarded as a serious force and Humphries regards them as posturing clowns. He has considerably more time for John Jenkins, the man behind MAC, a bomb maker and cell commander who served time for his bombing campaign and was interviewed by Huw Edwards for a BBC documentary. Two of Jenkins' colleagues blew themselves up (the Abergele martyrs) and it was good fortune which prevented other deaths, but that is what happens when you play with fire. Another bomb that injured someone he claims wasn't one of his, which is convenient. The book will no doubt add to a cottage industry of mythology around Jenkins that I'm pretty sure he doesn't deserve. He created a cell structure where many of the activists never met, or even knew each other, just Jenkins. A structure that was used by the IRA to great effect and which baffled the police and the security services. But though Jenkins was an articulate activist and has since devoted his life to helping the mentally ill, it all rather accentuates the view that terrorism and political violence actually attracts those either too stupid and too lazy to pursue achievable aims through peaceful means.
There was much that must have seemed very unfair to Wales in the 1960s, but when you look at the direction of travel of Welsh interests from the 1980s, then the cause for Welsh speaking and for local democracy has been a vindication of constitutional nationalism.
But, I digress, what is significant about the book however isn't so much the well-composed accounts of the campaigns against the investiture of Charles, or the flooding of the valley of Afon Tryweryn to make a reservoir for Liverpool, but the startling omission of any notion that there has been an achievement of a national independent political structure and a media in a country once struggling find a sense of identity.
The book trails off with some odd biographical anecdotes, but was worth reading for its first person telling of a crucial story in our recent history and culture. I was interested in it, because I often wonder what draws people to the flame of violence. Why would they give up a life for a cause, in particular, such a lost one? And what, if anything, did their efforts achieve?
As for the arson attacks which persisted through the 1980s and 1990s, the thought remains that while they didn't work in any way shape or form, they did drive an issue to the surface that is as relevant in Wales as it is in the Lake District and Cornwall.
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