The 1945 Neath by-election, was a parliamentary

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...

held for the British House of Commons constituency of

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and community situated in the Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,258 in 2011. Historica ...

in South

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Neath was considered a

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

for the Labour Party and had been held by William Jenkins since the 1922 general election. No other candidate had stood in the seat at the last general election."Neath Polling To-Day", ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...

'', 15 May 1945 Jenkins died on 8 December 1944, but as

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

was still underway, the process of calling a by-election was slow, and the date was ultimately set as 15 May 1945. Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson, ''War and the International'' (1986) pp. 136–140

Candidates

The Labour Party expected to easily hold the seat, and stood local miner D. J. Williams. Williams was a member of

Pontardawe Pontardawe () is a town and a community in the Swansea Valley (Welsh: ''Cwmtawe'') in Wales. With a population of 6,832, it comprises the electoral wards of Pontardawe and Trebanos. A town council is elected. Pontardawe forms part of the county ...

Rural District Council Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the ad ...

, and the Executive Council of the

South Wales Miners' Federation The South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF), nicknamed "The Fed", was a trade union for coal miners in South Wales. It survives as the South Wales Area of the National Union of Mineworkers. Forerunners The Amalgamated Association of Miners (AA ...

. He had been part of a miners' delegation to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and was known for his opposition to

Welsh nationalism Welsh nationalism ( cy, Cenedlaetholdeb Cymreig) emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh culture and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh nationalism may also include calls for further autonomy or self determination which includes ...

. Williams was supported by

Will Lawther Sir William Lawther (20 May 1889 – 1 February 1976) was a politician and trade union leader in the United Kingdom. Born in Choppington, in Northumberland, Lawther was educated at Choppington Colliery School, then became a coal miner. He becam ...

, President of the National Union of Mineworkers, which sponsored his candidature."Labour Holds Neath: Communist Loses Deposit", ''

'', 17 May 1945 There was a truce between the major parties: Labour, the Conservative Party, the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

and the National Liberal Party. The

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

(CPGB), which had considerable strength in South Wales, was not a signatory to the pact, but had undertaken not to contest seats held by the major parties. As a result, the only opposition in by-elections came from

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

s, minor parties and occasional unofficial party candidates aligned with major parties.

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

stood

Wynne Samuel Wynne Islwyn Samuel (15 October 1911 – 3 June 1989) was a Welsh politician. Born in Ystalyfera, Samuel became an orphan at an early age. He studied at Ystalyfera Grammar School and then a deacon and lay preacher in the Baptist Church. Alth ...

, its South Wales organiser. The party's main strengths were in North Wales, and he was not expected to be a strong contender, but the party hoped this would launch a new strategy of winning over industrial workers in the south of the nation. The

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) stood

Jock Haston James "Jock" Ritchie Haston (1913–1986) was a Trotskyist politician and General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Great Britain. Early years Haston was born in Edinburgh and went to sea in the merchant navy where he became a m ...

, its General Secretary. This was the first time any Trotskyist organisation had stood a candidate in a British Parliamentary election.Trotskyism in May 1945: Down with the Churchill Coalition! Labour to Power on a Socialist Programme!
, '' Socialist Appeal'', 15 April 2005 The party had only been established the previous year, and Trotskyism had not previously had a base in South Wales. The RCP had been leading supporters of strikes by coal miners which had occurred in the area in 1944, for which efforts some of its members had been imprisoned. Several local miners' lodges had supported their defence, and the RCP had sent a prominent member, John Lawrence, as a full-time organiser for the area, recruiting some activists in

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Ty ...

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's llan (placename element), Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of ...

and Swansea. The party stood on a

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

internationalist platform, declaring "Our candidate will fight on a platform of uncompromising hostility to the imperialist war, for the breaking of the Coalition, for the overthrow of the Churchill Government and for Labour to take power on a Socialist platform." Their main slogan was "Break the Coalition, Labour to Power".

Campaign

The Communist Party offered its full support to the Labour candidate and campaigned against the RCP, using the slogan "A Vote for Haston is a Vote for Hitler". Williams repudiated the Communist support, opposing its policy of a

popular front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalitio ...

with the Conservatives and Labour after the war. After repeated requests from the RCP, the CPGB agreed to hold a debate in Neath, putting up Alun Thomas, leader of the Communist Party in West Wales, against Haston. The meeting attracted about 1,500 voters, who heard Thomas claim that "In Russia they defeated fascism because they shot all the Trotskyists and the Fifth column scum, and if we had our way, these people on this platform would be shot." The local

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse worki ...

was small, and was split as to how to respond to the election. Two of their local activists campaigned for and subsequently joined the RCP. Jim Higgins
Ten Years for the Locust
/ref> In the final week of the campaign, the war in Europe was concluded and

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...

was held, overshadowing the by-election. Although it was apparent that Labour would not agree to continue the coalition and would compel Churchill to call a

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, the '' Western Mail'' called on all Conservative and Liberal supporters to vote for Williams.

Results

Williams retained the seat for Labour with a large majority, and held it until his retirement at the

1964 general election The following elections occurred in 1964. Africa * 1964 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic presidential election * 1964 Dahomeyan general election * 1964 Gabo ...

. Samuel retained his deposit in a distant second place. Haston took only 1,781 votes, losing his deposit, but the RCP claimed the campaign a success and maintained a full-time organiser in the area. Haston remained on good terms with Williams, and when the RCP disintegrated in 1950, Williams assisted him in finding employment with the

National Council of Labour Colleges The National Council of Labour Colleges (NCLC) was an organisation set up in the United Kingdom to foster independent working class education. The organisation was founded at a convention held in the Clarion Club House, Yardley, Birmingham on 8/9 ...

Candidates

Campaign

Results

References

Further reading