The History of the Welsh Language Society

The Welsh Language Society is the most important campaigning organisation ever to have been involved in the struggle for the survival of the Welsh Language and this is the first complete study of the Society to be published in English. Established in 1962 this pressure group has campaigned tirelessly for official recognition for the language, and has used civil disobedience to great effect in order to achieve its aims. During the past 40 years, over 1,000 of its members have appeared before the courts for their part in various law-breaking activities, and nearly 200 members have been imprisoned. As well as protesting against the inferior status of the Welsh language, for instance on official forms and road-signs, the Society also campaigned for a Welsh-medium television channel, Welsh-medium education, and economic policies that would safeguard the language from further erosion. However, despite its great success in squeezing many concessions from successive governments, the Society's huge contribution to the present optimistic condition of the Welsh language has hitherto ignored.