Lewis Jones (1897 – 1939, E) was born in Clydach Vale and was a writer and political activist. Although his novels are more studied by academics now than by general readers, Jones occupies an honourable place in the history of left-wing politics in Britain, and in the ranks of socialist writers. Like many young activists of his generation he attended the Central Labour College in London from 1923–25, where he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain. During the 1926 General Strike he was imprisoned for three months in Swansea Prison for his trade union activities in the Nottinghamshire coalfield. In 1929, he resigned, refusing to work with ‘scab’ labour and remained unemployed for the rest of his life although he was always active in socialist meetings. His books provide a description of life in a Welsh mining community of their time; there is an awareness of the crisis of masculinity that mass unemployment brought home to those communities, and the description of workers in struggle with their employers is unflinching in its acknowledgement of defeat as well as victory.
Books
- Cwmardy (1937)
- We Live (1939)