The Welsh Road to Ecosocialism by Martin J Shrewsbury - for Discussion at 2nd Welsh Socialist Republican Congress

 Yr Aflonyddwch Mawr has always been a deep real green organisation but opposes superficial ideas like the Green Market Economy which are ill thought through in Plaid Cymru and have the opposite effects from those intended.

This is a particularly relevant to the scams around the windmilling of Wales and the anti democratic processes involved in aiding corporates against the people of Wales even by the Welsh Assembly riding roughshod over democratic rights.

See also :

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.com/2012/08/real-green-solution-to-climate-change.html

Monday musings and some thoughts on the fiftieth anniversary of the 1969 Investiture...Some fifty years ago I was a child of 11 at an English Prep School. I knew that as the staff and pupils at the school waxed lyrically and sycophantically of the House of Saxe-Coberg-Gotha.

I asked my teacher why this had no real meaning either to Wales or of history. I was mocked by Miss Seranck for that question. I told her I had read of the Edwardian conquest of 1282 and of the great lie of Edward the First. She told me not to be a silly little boy. 

Yet she sat me on the road that led to my Welsh Republican Socialism. Fifty years later the shy little boy of 1969 is looking back over fifty years and reflecting on the possible routes to a Welsh EcoSocialist Republic. 

My thoughts have changed and developed over those fifty years and I have during that time been the Leader of the Welsh Green Party, and for the last few years an activist within the Labour Party and branch Secretary of Ystradgynlais Labour Party. 

As I glance at the Welsh Green Party I observe that it's claim to have a Welsh identity was done to death when it voted two to one against becoming a separate party.

I had long argued that for a vibrant Green Party to turn it's back on the Welsh National Movement was a profound error. 

The principle of an independent Green Party in an independent Wales would have been a powerful tool in critiquing both Plaid and the Welsh Labour Party and of providing a treasury of ideas that would have enriched the Welsh political tradition and added a significant Welsh dimension.. 

As it is the Greens now do nothing but feed the socially conservative and reactionary rants of Jac o the North and the growing nature of a Welsh home grown far right that is populist and best illustrated in the confused males of groups like Ein Gwlad. 

The Welsh Greens at best seem to be little more and rather unfairly as incomers telling the Welsh people what to do.

Within Plaid we have a tension. While there are perfectly competent Ecosocialist here and a long honourable tradition of community activity in individuals such as Leanne Wood and Bethan Sayeed there is within Plaid a long tradition of Social Conservatism. 

This can be essentially seen in what I would call the Neil MeEvoy Syndrome. Here we see an essentially unreconstructed masculinity that is essentially tolerant and in support of a Welsh masculinity and outlook that dislikes "Greenies, wimmin and lefties" . 

The men around him are often worse and I saw during the Plaid leadership campaign a vile misogyny from many of them. I saw the trashing of transgender rights by social conservative supporters of Neil McEvoy arguing that the main issue was an independent Wales and that social diversity was not an essentially important part of a new Wales. 

Adam Price must decide soon if he allows Prince Neil back into the party. If he does the pressures against Eco Socialism within Plaid will increase dramatically as Prince Neil and his followers will seek to change Plaid into a Welsh UKIP lite party far removed from ecosocialism and a tolerant and diverse Welsh identity. 

As it is I hear that the Plaid group within the Assembly will not allow him back. Indeed I suspect that if he returns it is highly possible that Leanne Wood and Bethan Sayeed would probably leave Plaid and form a Welsh Republican Socialist faction.. 

I note also with interest that Cardiff West Plaid have renamed itself 'Plaid and independent" you can clearly see the trajectory and possibilities considered by the social conservatism of Prince Neil and his allies. 

And so I conclude my observations on Plaid by noting the opposition to a Welsh Ecosocialism clearly emerging here. 

Plaids inner demons over opposition to renewables and it's schizoid attitude to Nuclear power also provides serious problems to it's emergence as an Eco Socialist party.

I joined Labour some years ago largely because it seems to me the best party to develop an Ecosocialist teach in an Eco Socialist Wales. Mark Drakefords commitment to Socialism. 

The role of Momentum and Welsh Labour Grass roots make this transformation possible. I feel at home within this tradition and have found many former Green Party and Plaid Ecosocialists there. 

There is a commitment to diversity and multiple identities there . 

The emergence of Jeremy Corbyn and alternative non capitalist policies all create the circumstances and policies to make Labour the best means for creating a Welsh Ecosocialist tradition,. 

This would involve new models of ownership, and an open tolerant and diverse Wales. 

It may well be that Ecosocialists from within Plaid like Leanne Wood and Bethan Sayeed would feed radical ideas into an Ecosocialust Welsh Labour. 

It would also offer the capacity of those Ecosocialist  from the Green Party to influence and provide ideas for the future. 

The road to Welsh Ecosocialism is near but the road is still a long and winding one. 

These thoughts run through my mind and I am a committed Welsh Republican Socialist of some 61 years of age. 

I look forward to the future of the Welsh people and the Welsh nation. There is much to do and the dogs of reaction are barking and yet my mind is clear as is the method and direction of a new Wales that is socialist, tolerant, green and diverse...