(2023 UPDATE: Our current education page here is fairly out-of-date, and doesn’t entirely reflect the breadth of what we recommend. We are in the process of dramatically upgrading this, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, for some extra basics on Marxism, visit Myth Busting Marxism
To see what our Trans Working Group have written, click here
To see what our POC Working Group have written, click here
Or why not check out our Gwyn Alf Williams archive?)
‘Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today’ – Malcolm X
‘Without Revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement’ – Vladimir Lenin
Education is crucial to building up Socialism in Wales. Education should also be free, so here is a list of key-works to read, all in PDF format ready to download.
Please let us know if any links are broken, or if you’d like to make any suggestions to the list (welshundergroundnetwork@protonmail.com).
We will be expanding this list over time, so keep an eye out for new additions.
Must-Reads
Blackshirts & Reds explores some of the big issues : fascism, capitalism, communism, revolution, democracy, and serves as a must-read to disprove the myths surrounding Socialism.
Can Capitalism be reformed? Can voting truly bring about Socialism? What is the nature of the State? A medium read, but one that’s essential to understanding modern-capitalism and ‘Western’ democracy.
A light-read, Capitalist Realism deals with the common belief that ‘there is no alternative to capitalism’, and the dystopia this belief creates.
A classic, Chomsky serves to prove the limits of mass-media corporations, showing it up as nothing more than the malicious propaganda network of the ruling-class.
A heavy read, but one that explores the inherent contradictions of capitalism – written by the big man himself.
Without question, a must-read. Prepare to get radicalized. We also are happy to be able to provide this classic in Welsh here
A great pamphlet by the Communist Party of Britain on Marx/Engel’s writings on Wales and the Welsh
Writings of a Socialist, a Republican, and an Irish Nationalist. A brief overview of Socialism.
Another excellent read by Michael Parenti, this time detailing the capitalist class’ victory lap in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s fall, as well as a writings on recent history, political life, empire, wealth, class power, technology, culture, ideology, media, environment, sex, and ethnicity.
A quick read, but one that deals with one of the initial hard concepts to get around when starting to explore Marxism – what is ‘dialectics’?
Not so much a single reading, but more a collection. The archive contains the greatest collection of knowledge regarding Marxist scholars currently online – with collections of works and speeches of almost every noted Marxist over the last hundred or so years – all entirely free.
Current Welsh Politics
A short read, but one examining the twenty-years of managed decline posed by the faux-socialists in Welsh Labour, and it’s worrying implications.
Another short read attacking Welsh Labour’s dismal record in Wales, and the limits of Welsh Labour’s ‘socialism’.
Another article from Leaman, covering the political limitations of Wales’ main parties in implementing a truly radical agenda in the run-up to the 2019 Snap Election.
Welsh Nationalism and Socialism
Published in the aftermath of the failed 1979 Welsh Devolution Referendum, the pamphlet covers the growing need for a Socialist Republican movement in Wales to address the country’s many problems – a significant amount of which still remain, forty years later.
Alternatively, we also have Socialism for the Welsh People in Welsh, which you can find here!
A posthumous collection of writings by one of Wales’ greatest Socialist Republican’s, Dr. D. Ceri Evans. From radical ideas for Welsh Devolution, to the Socialist case for learning Welsh, to the extreme limits of Welsh Labour’s policy – Evans’ work remains timeless.
Non-PDF reading:
Whilst we’re unable to get solid PDFs at the moment of these books, we also highly recommend reading:
- ‘The Fed, a history of the South Wales miners in the twentieth century‘ (1980), by Hywel Francis.
An amazing work on the history of the South Wales Miners, and the radical politics that often accompanied them.
- ‘Miners Against Fascism‘ (1984), by Hywel Francis, and ‘The Dragon’s Dearest Cause‘ (2004), by Robert Stradling.
Both excellent accounts – in fact, the definitive, of Welsh volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, and the sense of International Socialist Solidarity that propelled many in South Wales to go fight in Spain.
- The Communist Party of Great Britain and the National Question in Wales (2017), by Douglas Jones.
An excellent account of how the Communist Party had a long and successful history of supporting Welsh home-rule, and how Communists have influenced Welsh politics over the course of the 20th Century.
- ‘Labour Country: Political Radicalism and Social Democracy in South Wales 1831-1985’ (2018), by Daryl Leeworthy
A fantastic account of how radical politics has had such a significant historical impact on the politics of the South Wales Coalfield.
To be expanded…
Welsh Underground Network 