Voices in the Coalshed: Cwmardy

Cwmardy Lewis Jones, 1939

This month, in keeping with the 2024 summer theme of ‘Communities in Action,’ I’ve been reading Lewis Jones’ Cwmardy, a novel written in 1939 with a very strong sense of community.

National Coal Mining Museum’s exhibition dives deep into the Miners’ Strike of 1984/85, and the strength of the coal mining communities in those trying times is evident. However, reading Cwmardy shows that this sense of community has a long history, stretching far back beyond the 1980s.

The novel follows the young Len Roberts as he grows up in a coal mining village in the heart of the South Wales coalfields. Beginning with his childhood admiration of his strong father at the end of the 1800s, the story progresses through to the end of the First World War, and Len plays an increasingly big part in the leadership of the miners’ union and strike.

However, this is not the story of one leader, but the story of an interwoven community of coal miners, working women, children and educators. Lewis Jones’ socialist politics translate into an ethos of communal support, strength in numbers, and the power of union in Cwmardy.

Jones displays the hardships of coal mining with a glimmer of hope about the power of mutual support. The novel explores the different forms this support might take and suggests the strength of community in the face of oppression and company control.

This literature review was written by remote Volunteer Indigo

Image: Harold White, NCMME