Prison Letters

by John Jenkins

John Barnard Jenkins is the enigmatic figure who, during the late 1960s, masterminded the longest and most successful bombing campaign ever waged in the cause of Welsh nationhood. He was caught and sentenced to ten years' Category A imprisonment, and it was during this period that Wales first glimpsed his exceptional talent as a writer. His prison letters have style, passion and a revolutionary political message that proved as potent as his previous campaign, increasing public awareness of the issues and demand for devolved powers of self-governance - eventually resulting in the creation of a Welsh Assembly and the burgeoning Welsh independence movement. This is a reissue of the original edition from 1981, out of print for many years, published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales.

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Billy Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

The late John Barnard Jenkins was a Welsh freedom-fighter who, as leader of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Movement for the Defence of Wales), opposed the rotten British state during the 1960s. With very few resources and uncompromising principles, MAC embarked upon an audacious campaign of direct action. They targeted government buildings and the pipelines that carried Welsh water away from drowned Welsh valleys to England's cities in a bombing campaign, all while avoiding the British state's coterie of agents, goons and enforcers.

Jenkins' reflections in his Prison Letters are among the most interesting comments on nationalism in Wales, and the place of socialism in an independent Wales. He insisted on his commitment to socialism as integral to independence. Jenkins rightly saw Socialism as the only system that could foster culture at the expense of profit pathology, and which would see happiness, care and compassion as the yardstick by which we measure the success of a country. As he himself put it:
It is not the output of millionaires but the shortfall of beggars which decides on the form and worth of society.