Annie Powell (1906–1986) was a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
politician.
Born in
Rhondda
Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley ('' ...
and educated at Pentre Higher Grade School, Powell became interested in politics while at Glamorgan Training College, Barry, in the 1920s. It was while undertaking taking teacher training during the period of the 1926 General Strike that Annie Powell first became interested in politics and when she started teaching at
Trebanog
Trebanog is a village in the Cymmer electoral ward lying on the southernmost outskirts of the Rhondda Valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, located off the A4233 road between Porth and the town of Tonyrefail. Trebanog is an outlying district of the ...
she witnessed the great degree of poverty faced by the schoolchildren and their families: "The poverty of the children hit me really hard". She joined the
Labour Party, but was impressed by the emphasis laid on theory and action by the
Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). After long consideration, she put aside her
non-conformist religious background and joined the CPGB in 1938.
She remained a teacher and became active in the
National Union of Teachers
The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in Education in England, England, Education in Wales, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NU ...
, while contesting
Rhondda East for the party at several general elections from 1955. At the general election of 1959 she secured 4,580 votes. Powell was not only a Welsh speaker but also taught in Welsh. She sat on the Welsh Committee of the CPGB, and at one time was its women's organiser. In 1960, she was a CPGB delegate at a major conference of Communist parties in Moscow, where she claimed to have impressed
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
with her rendition of "
Hen Wlad fy Nhadau
"" () is the official national anthem of Wales. The title, taken from the first words of the song, means "Old Land of My Fathers" in Welsh, usually rendered in English as simply "Land of My Fathers". The words were written by Evan James and ...
", the national anthem of Wales. Perhaps as a result of this meeting, she became a supporter of Khrushchev's ideas within the CPGB.
In 1955, after thirteen attempts, Powell was elected as a Communist councillor for
Penygraig
Penygraig is a village and community in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. As a community Penygraig contains the neighbouring districts of Dinas, Edmondstown, Penrhiwfer and Williamstown. Penygraig is within ...
, losing in 1957. In 1961, Powell was re-elected as a councillor in Rhondda. She served on the council for the next twenty years, and in 1979 was appointed mayor. As such, she is often said to have been Britain's only Communist mayor, although
Finlay Hart had held an equivalent post as
provost in
Clydebank
Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...
and
Joe Vaughan
Joe Vaughan is a Canadian recording engineer, musician, and currently, professor of audio engineering in the Music Industry Arts program at Fanshawe College. He is also a founder and co-owner of EMAC Recording Studios in London, Ontario.
Early ...
in
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...
can also claim to be the first Communist mayor in Britain.
She stated in one interview that she had learnt valuable lessons from such Communists as
Arthur Horner,
Harry Pollitt
Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt spen ...
,
Will Paynter
William Thomas Paynter (6 December 1903 – 11 December 1984) was a Wales, Welsh miners' leader involved in the hunger marches of the 1930s.
Paynter was born in Cardiff, where he had a basic education before going to work at a colliery at the ...
, Jack Davies, and the South Walian Jack Jones.
References
BBC - Wales On Air - Annie Powell ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''
*
Graham Stevenson
Graham Barry Stevenson (16 December 1955 – 21 January 2014) was an English cricketer, who played in two Test matches and four One Day Internationals from 1980 to 1981.
His county cricket career was spent mainly with Yorkshire and, latterly, ...
,
Compendium of Communist Biography'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Annie
1906 births
1986 deaths
Women mayors of places in Wales
Communist Party of Great Britain councillors
Mayors of places in Wales
People from Rhondda
Welsh communists
Welsh schoolteachers
Women councillors in Wales