WELSH NATIONALISM [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As an
Englishman with no particular affection for the Welsh, may I put in a good word for the Welsh Nationalists ? Messrs. R. F. Jones and Aubrey Jones and others have seriously misrepresented not only Welsh Nationalism but nationalism in general, confusing it with imperialism and racialism, and imagining it to be incompatible with internationalism. Even Mr. G. I. Lewis, in his defence of the Welsh Nationalists, makes the same blunder by referring to British Imperialism as " another nationalism."
In Italy and Germany the government is not nationalist at all but imperialist (" Italy for the Italians " is a nationalist sentiment, but "Abyssinia for the Italians " has nothing to do with nationalism) : in Germany it is also ardently racialist— it calls itself National Socialist, but its nationalism is as bogus as its socialism. A nation is a body of people feeling themselves to be one, not a racial or linguistic unit : it cannot, consistently with nationalism, conquer and subdue other nations, for that must mean forming a non-national State including two or more different nationalities. But the imperialist tries to extend the rule of his country (whether a national unit or not) over as many other countries as possible. He wants 'to paint the map red (whether the Shoe Lane or the Moscow brand) or brown or Roman purple, or whatever his colour may be : he visualises the ideal map of the world as all one colour, whereas the nationalist visualises it as a patchwork quilt. Cosmopolitanism, as preached by (among others) Mr. H. G. Wells, with his all- drab " United States of the World," is simply left-wing Imperial- ism ; and the struggle of the nationalist against the cosmopolitan is essentially the same as the struggle of the internationalist against the imperialist. It is as misleading to identify inter- nationalism, which by definition implies the existence of separate and independent nations, with cosmopolitanism as it is to identify nationalism with imperialism. As for the racialist, he argues, often with fantastic theories of his own invention, that numerous other countries are inhabited by people of the same " race " as his own and must therefore be annexed by it.
Germany and Italy are trying to conquer other countries. (So, a few years ago, was the U.S.S.R., and one of the most interesting features of recent history has been the gradual shifting of Moscow from Marxist Imperialism to Russian nationalism—joining the League and co-operating with other nations for the preservation of national freedom.) The Welsh Nationalists are not trying to conquer anybody : all they want is freedom for their own country, an aim which as an English Nationalist I unreservedly applaud, in the interests of all concerned. If the establishment of an independent Wales, or a Dominion of Wales, results in the departure of some of the more undesirable Welsh (not Welsh Nationalist) politicians now afflicting my unhappy country, I for one shall be profoundly grateful.
When the time comes, a plebiscite will presumably be neces- sary in certain areas, such as Monmouthshire and Pembroke- shire : and if Pembrokeshire should elect to remain united with England, I think and hope that my countrymen will not disgrace themselves by demanding to retain the whole South Wales coast so as to secure " territorial continuity " and howling and squ- ealing about the "iniquitous Welsh corridor" • cf Glamorganshire.
Though I am not very fond of the Welsh in general, it by no means follows that that is inevitable merely because I think of them as -a different nation : I do not in the least dislike the ScOfch, but I think of the English and the Scotch as quite different nations which should be regarded and treated as such and not lumped together under the loathsome hybrid designs'
tion of " Britishers." The true internationalist should wish to see England and Scotland and Wales independent of but friendly with each other, not compulsorily absorbed in the present amorphous monstrosity.—Yours faithfully, 85c Marchmont Street, W.C. r.
A. M. C. FIELD.
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