History of Plaid Cymru
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Plaid Cymru — The Party of Wales
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| Leader | Leanne Wood AM |
| Chairman | Dr Dafydd Trystan Davies |
| Chief Executive | Rhuanedd Richards |
| Honorary President | Dafydd Wigley |
| Founded | 5 August 1925 |
| Headquarters | 18 Park Grove, Cardiff, CF10 3BN Wales |
| Ideology |
Welsh Independence Social democracy |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| European affiliation | European Free Alliance |
| International affiliation | none |
| European Parliament group | Greens-EFA |
| Colours | Yellow |
| Website | |
| www.plaidcymru.org | |
Plaid Cymru; The Party of Wales (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈplaɪd ˈkəmri]; often shortened to Plaid) originated in 1925 after a meeting held at that year's National Eisteddfod in Pwllheli, Caernarfonshire (now Gwynedd). Representatives from two Welsh nationalist groups founded the previous year, Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru ("the Army of Welsh Home Rulers") and Y Mudiad Cymreig ("The Welsh Movement"), agreed to meet and discuss the need for a "Welsh party". The party was founded as Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru, the National Party of Wales, and attracted members from the left, right and centre of the political spectrum, including both monarchists and republicans. Its principal aims include the promotion of the Welsh language and for the political independence of the Welsh nation.
Although Saunders Lewis is regarded as the founder of Plaid Cymru, the historian John Davies argues that the ideas of the left-wing activist D. J. Davies, which were adopted by the party's president Gwynfor Evans after the Second World War, were more influential in shaping its ideology in the long term. According to the historian John Davies, D. J. Davies was an "equally significant figure" as was Lewis in the history of Welsh nationalism, but it was Lewis's "brilliance and charismatic appeal" which was firmly associated with Plaid in the 1930s.
After initial success as an educational pressure group, the events surrounding Tân yn Llŷn (Fire in Llŷn) in the 1930s led to the party adopting a pacifist political doctrine. Protests against the flooding of Capel Celyn in the 1950s further helped define its politics. These early events were followed by Evans's election to Parliament as the party's first Member of Parliament (MP) in 1966, the successful campaigning for the Welsh Language Act of 1967 and Evans going on hunger strike for a dedicated Welsh-language television channel in 1981.
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