On the final weekend of August, members of the Socialist Republican movement from across Wales and the Welsh Diaspora came together in Wrexham for two days of discussion, debate and decision-making. This was the second Cyngres of Plaid Gomiwnyddol Cymru (PGC), the fifth Cyngres of the Welsh Underground Network (WUN), and the beginning of a new phase for our movement. To mark this occasion properly, it was decided that a report was needed that dealt not just with the decisions we made but also the context in which we made them and our hopes for what they will help us achieve next. Thus this report is about the 2026 WUN and PGC Cyngresau, but it is also about the past, present and future of the Socialist Republican Movement in Wales.

The Past: What is the Socialist Republican Movement?

Welsh Underground Network members like to joke that our organisation is the only active communist movement in the UK that is not a split from something else. Valleys Underground, its predecessor, was formed in Merthyr Tydfil in 2019 by workers outraged at the conditions in their communities, tired of the liberal failures of the mainstream Welsh Independence movement and frustrated by the stagnation of the left. A community action group and news service, Valleys Underground drew much of its first inspiration from the Black Panthers, but were also influenced by the works of Irish Socialist Republican James Connolly and Welsh Marxist historian Gwyn Alf Williams, and by “Socialism For The Welsh People” the pamphlet of a defunct organisation named (confusingly for our purposes) the Welsh Socialist Republican Movement (WSRM). The post-Corbyn shock and the pandemic heavily informed its development. Ultimately the goal of this new formation was simple: to serve as a vehicle for working-class people to serve and organise their communities, to aid the struggle of those communities to demand better for themselves, and to fight for an independent Socialist Republic of Wales.

Valleys Underground repaired the Merthyr Synagogue, cleared up the abandoned Fernhill Allotments and organised community film screenings. It published a list of progressive demands in the form of a Ten Point Programme. The new Socialist Republican wave of action this inspired spread to places like Swansea and Wrexham, leading to many free food events serving local communities in both cities. A national umbrella organisation for this movement, the Welsh Underground Network, was officially formed at the 2021 Cyngres in Aberystwyth. At the 2022 Cyngres (again in Aberystwyth) it adopted Marxism-Leninism as its official guiding ideology, while remaining an organisation that accepted people from across the socialist left. Since then it has continued with its projects of community rebuilding, class consciousness and international solidarity, organising more repair days, litterpicks, food distribution, Palestine fundraisers, memorial plaques, stalls, flood clearups, cultural events, court support, protests and direct actions in places like Caerphilly, Swansea, Llantwit Major, Caernarfon, Cardiff, Pontypridd, Wrexham, Ystrad Mynach, Camarthen and Abergele.

The Welsh Underground Network achieved a lot in that time, but it became clear that the movement needed to develop further. At the 2023 Cyngres, WUN members decided it was time to form a Communist Party of Wales, the PGC, to be the disciplined political leadership of the movement and a sister organisation to the WUN. By May 2024 the Party was ready for its first Cyngres in Merthyr, the home of the red flag and birthplace of the WUN. The goal of the PGC is to apply Marxist analysis to Wales in order to develop a Marxist-Leninist and Socialist Republican political line that the whole movement can follow. It has taken on this task with vigour, and meanwhile its members have continued to be leading figures in the practical work of the WUN.

This year the WUN’s activity during the Senedd elections and the PGC’s principled statements on Palestine, Ireland and Venezuela drew a wave of new people into our movement. This was the position our movement was in as it entered August 2026: two linked organisations with a mix of veteran members and fresh faces, considering our next steps.

The Present: Our 2026 Cyngresau

Members and supporters of the Socialist Republican movement converged on Wrexham from across Wales and beyond on the evening of Friday the 28th of August to begin the 2026 Cyngresau the next morning. General priorities voiced by attendees included clarifying the relationship between the PGC and the WUN, giving the PGC more direction for its activities, reworking the WUN constitution (viewed as “messy” by many in the organisation), improving the movement’s education process, and promoting renewed engagement of members in both orgs.

As the first order of business, the WUN said a heartfelt thank you to its outgoing Llywydd and the PGC did likewise for its outgoing Ysgrifennydd Cyffredinol. For the past two years these two comrades have displayed great commitment and fortitude, overseeing a steady expansion of the Socialist Republican movement’s reach and a significant step up in its level of ideological and structural development. The solid foundation their hard work and dedication have given the two organisations has been invaluable, and all present were vocally grateful for their continued involvement.

A successor candidate for the role of Llywydd was chosen unanimously at the start of the WUN Cyngres on the Saturday, and on the Sunday another unanimous vote elected an Ysgrifennydd Cyffredinol for the PGC. The discussion around these elections laid out some clear priorities for the movement to follow over the next two years. Particular attention was given to the need for the PGC to develop a comprehensive Marxist-Leninist and Socialist Republican educational program, the need for Socialist Republicans to expand their influence by aiding everyday working-class struggle, and the need for a combined effort to build up the membership of the WUN.

Speeches given by international delegates opened the discussion each day, reminding attendees of the movement’s internationalist commitments and emphasising the international nature of the struggle against imperialism. The warm greetings of our Irish comrades in Conradh na Saoirse Náisiúnta (CSN) were deeply appreciated. They highlighted the long term bond between the Socialist Republican movements in Wales and Ireland, speaking of our joint interest in dismantling imperialism. One comrade told attendees that “a Socialist Welsh Republic would be a catastrophe for the British State”. We hope to be able to prove that to the world one day.

First on the agenda on both days were plans to formalise and deepen the connection between Plaid Gomiwnyddol Cymru and the Welsh Underground Network. Over the past two years both groups have advanced a great deal, making strides forward that would not have occurred if WUN members had not founded the PGC. However, many Cyngres attendees felt the progress of the two organisations has been hampered by an ambiguous division of labour between them. Motions were therefore advanced to clarify the nature of the relationship between the sister organisations: assigning them specific responsibilities, setting out their duties to one another and establishing boards of cooperation to help streamline joint work. These motions were adopted without objection after a thoughtful discussion, often with amendments that further improved and expanded them. Members of both the WUN and the PGC believe that these boards of cooperation covering media, education and internationalism will help make their activity more efficient and effective, and are excited to see what they can achieve.

As the WUN Cyngres continued, perhaps the most important changes made were constitutional ones. The WUN adopted a new constitution based on a mixture of its existing structures with innovations inspired by communist mass membership organisations, like Anakbayan in the Philippines, and by Lenin’s historical St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. Members had a fruitful discussion about the organisation’s historical successes and failures, covering the merits and drawbacks of different structures the organisation has experimented with. There was agreement that while constitutional changes would not fix all the issues facing the WUN, they would smooth out the bumps and quirks in its operation and help it move forward. Above all, our hope is that the new structure will facilitate an expansion and deepening of the activity for which the WUN is already well-known.

A final motion of the WUN Cyngres was a commitment to campaign on the issues of disaster relief and prevention, organising its members and their communities to respond to the urgent issue of floods and wildfires caused by climate change. Climate disaster necessitates a strong working-class response, since the profit-obsessed bourgeoisie and their British State lackeys will never truly look out for the environmental interests of the working-class in Wales or elsewhere. WUN involvement will be essential both in protecting communities and in educating them, taking a leadership role so that moments of crisis can become flashpoints of working-class struggle rather than of despair and demoralisation. Research for this campaign is already underway, as members discuss practical steps for flood preparedness and begin a study into ways a socialist government might prevent or mitigate flooding.

On the night of the first day WUN and PGC members and delegates cooked and ate an evening meal together for themselves and their guests. The tiny hostel kitchen was packed with five people chopping home-grown vegetables and making rice and pasta. The Irish delegates were presented with a starry plough CSN flag, handsewn by one of the WUN’s members, as a gift from the Socialist Republican movement in Wales to the Socialist Republican movement in Ireland. As always, the social events throughout the weekend offered an opportunity for more casual discussion, gossip, laughter and comradely argument. It’s typical of our movement that its best plans are developed on hikes, in the park or at the pub. Attendees had hoped to play Cnapan, Welsh medieval football, during the evenings (as we did at the 2024 PGC Cyngres) but the weather was lamentably bad. Instead people contented themselves with a Wales vs Ireland pool game, in which the Irish decisively proved their superiority.

When the time came for the PGC Cyngres, debate centred on ways to shift the movement from a reactive posture to a more proactive and forward-thinking one. Motions on this topic included a proposal for deep research and planning to determine the best path ahead for key fronts of the working-class struggle in Wales: Community Organising, Workplace Organising, Anti-Imperialist Organising and Anti-Fascist Organising. Work on this research is expected to begin shortly and will hopefully be very productive, providing the PGC with guidance on how it can help move the working class movement forward both ideologically and practically.

Also of note was the adoption of a motion committing the PGC to the creation of a comprehensive educational program. This program will help teach PGC and WUN members about the ideas, practices and history of the Marxist-Leninist and Socialist-Republican movements. With time it will also provide the PGC with resources for its work in building up class consciousness across Wales in general.

These two Cyngresau were marked by a high turnout and an excellent level of engagement, reflecting the healthy state of the movement. Veteran Socialist Republicans and relatively new members alike took up responsibilities in organising the event and participated actively over the two days, the experience of the former group and the fresh eyes of the latter both proving useful. Lively debates were had, but our strong commitment to democratic centralism means that we ended the Cyngresau as we had begun them: committed to our organisations and united behind our shared political goals. The deep enthusiasm, dedication and camaraderie on display left attendees in no doubt that the WUN and PGC have a bright future ahead of them.

Both days of Cyngres closed with music, as attendees sang the Internationale in Welsh. This was a great end to an exciting set of discussions, though all agreed that further singing practice is needed. A definite mood of excitement and energy could be felt in the room, and if even a fraction of that mood is carried forward into the next few years the Socialist Republican movement will achieve a great deal.

The Future: You

The democratic decisions made at and around these Cyngresau have set our tasks for us: continue the WUN’s work of serving and organising working-class communities, push hard for action (and take action ourselves!) on the issues of flooding and wildfires, defend our migrant and trans neighbours from attack, aid the efforts of existing working-class movements and produce a comprehensive plan for their renewed struggle, and advance the cause of the Socialist Republican movement at every opportunity. Now is the time to turn these plans into action.

An unspoken motto of the WUN is “if you want something done, do it”. That spirit of direct involvement, of taking the initiative, of deeds over words, is what we need now post-Cyngres. How far our movement can carry these plans forward depends entirely on the people-power that we can mobilise. To the many of us who share the same goals, who want to see a Socialist Republic of Wales, who have watched the WUN and PGC and admired what these organisations do, the movement has one message: lend your strength to these renewed efforts. The more of us who join in, the more victories we will secure. It has taken the combined work of a few dozen people at most to restore the Cefn Fforest Miners Institute from a ruin to a community centre. With a united effort, what could the millions of working-class people in Wales, the billions of working-class people on this planet, achieve? If we link arms and march forward we will find that out together.

Ymlaen to a socialist Welsh republic!

Ymlaen to freedom for the working class!

Ymlaen to the Revolution!

(Ymlaen to learning to sing a little better!)