Editing Saunders Lewis (section)

==Founding Plaid Cymru==
Discussions of the need for a "Welsh party" had been conducted since the 19th century.<ref>{{harvp|Davies|1994a|pp=415, 454}}</ref> With the generation or so before 1922 there "had been a marked growth in the constitutional recognition of the Welsh nation", wrote historian [[John Davies (historian)|John Davies]].<ref>{{harvp|Davies|1994a|p=544}}</ref> By 1924 there were people in Wales "eager to make their nationality the focus of Welsh politics".<ref name="harvp|Davies|1994a|p=547">{{harvp|Davies|1994a|p=547}}</ref> Lewis's experiences in [[World War I]], and his sympathy for the cause of [[Irish War of Independence|Irish independence]], brought him to Welsh nationalism. {{Citation needed|date=October 2022}} He was an advocate for [[Welsh independence]].<ref name="Davies_547">{{harvp|Davies|1994a|p=547}}</ref>

In 1924, Lewis founded ''{{lang|cy|Y Mudiad Cymreig}}'' ("The Welsh Movement") with a small group of fellow nationalists. The group met secretly for the first time in Penarth on 7 January 1924.<ref name="Plaid Cymru Penarth-2013">{{Cite web|url=http://plaidpenarth.blogspot.com/2013/12/penarths-secret-role-in-welsh-history.html|title=Penarth's Secret Role in Welsh History|date=5 December 2013|website=Plaid Cymru Penarth}}</ref> The group continued to meet in secret throughout 1924 and began drawing up a set of aims and policies intended to "rescue Wales from political and cultural oblivion".

At around the same time as Lewis formed ''{{lang|cy|Y Mudiad Cymreig}}'', another group of nationalists formed ''{{lang|cy|Byddin Ymreolwyr Cymru}}'' ("The Welsh Home Rule Army") in Caernarfon.<ref name="History Points">{{Cite web|url=https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=site-of-plaid-cymrus-founding-pwllheli|title=Site of Plaid Cymru's founding, Pwllheli|website=History Points}}</ref> The group was led by [[Huw Robert Jones]], who made contact with Lewis in early 1925 and proposed to form a new political party.<ref name="Plaid Cymru Penarth-2013" /> 
[[File:Penblwydd Plaid Cymru Anniversary - geograph.org.uk - 644944.jpg|thumb|A plaque was inaugurated to mark the 75th anniversary of Plaid Cymru's founding meeting in 2000, on the building where the meeting took place in Pwllheli.]]

Lewis met with Jones, [[Lewis Valentine]], Moses Griffith, Fred Jones and D. Edmund Williams in a café called Maes Gwyn<ref name="History Points" /> during the 1925 [[National Eisteddfod]] in [[Pwllheli]], [[Gwynedd]], with the aim of establishing a "Welsh party".<ref name="harvp|Davies|1994a|p=547" /> They founded ''{{lang|cy|Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru}}'' ("National Party of Wales"), on 5 August 1925.<ref name="Ailgeni">{{harvp|Morgan|2002|p=206}}</ref> The principal aim of the party would be to foster a Welsh-speaking Wales.<ref name="Davies_548">{{harvp|Davies|1994a|p=548}}</ref> To this end it was agreed that party business be conducted in Welsh, and that members sever all links with other British parties.<ref name="Davies_548" /> Lewis insisted on these principles before he would agree to the Pwllheli conference.

According to the 1911 census, out of a population of just under 2.5 million, 43.5% of the total population of Wales spoke Welsh as a primary language.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/language/pages/1911.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609020726/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/language/pages/1911.shtml|title=BBCWales History extracted 12-03-07|archive-date=9 June 2008}}</ref> This was a decrease from the 1891 census with 54.4% speaking Welsh out of a population of 1.5 million.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/language/pages/1891.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609021026/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/language/pages/1891.shtml|title=BBCWales history extracted 12-03-07|archive-date=9 June 2008}}</ref> With these pre-requisites, Lewis condemned {{"'}}Welsh nationalism' as it had hitherto existed, a nationalism characterized by inter-party conferences, an obsession with [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Westminster]] and a willingness to accept a subservient position for the Welsh language", wrote Davies.<ref name="Davies_548"/> It may be because of these strict positions that the party failed to attract politicians of experience in its early years.<ref name="Davies_548"/> However, the party's members believed its founding was an achievement in itself; "merely by existing, the party was a declaration of the distinctiveness of Wales", wrote Davies.<ref name="Davies_548"/>