Editing Plaid Cymru (section)

===1960s===
Support for the party declined slightly in the early 1960s, particularly as support for the Liberal Party began to stabilise from its long-term decline. In 1962, Saunders Lewis gave a radio talk entitled ''[[Tynged yr Iaith]]'' (The fate of the language) in which he predicted the extinction of the Welsh language unless action was taken. This led to the formation of [[Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg]] (the Welsh Language Society) the same year.<ref>Morgan, K. O., ''Rebirth of a Nation'', (1981), OUP.</ref>

Labour's return to power in 1964 and the creation of the post of [[Secretary of State for Wales]] appeared to represent a continuation of the incremental evolution of a distinctive Welsh polity, following the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government's appointment of a Minister of Welsh Affairs in the mid-1950s and the establishment of [[Cardiff]] as Wales' capital in 1955.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

However, [[1966 Carmarthen by-election|in 1966]], less than four months after coming in third in the constituency of [[Carmarthen (UK Parliament constituency)|Carmarthen]], Gwynfor Evans captured the seat from Labour at a by-election. This was followed by two further by-elections in [[Rhondda West (UK Parliament constituency)|Rhondda West]] in [[1967 Rhondda West by-election|1967]] and [[Caerphilly (UK Parliament constituency)|Caerphilly]] in [[1968 Caerphilly by-election|1968]] in which the party achieved massive swings of 30% and 40% respectively, coming within a whisker of victory. The results were caused partly by an anti-Labour backlash. Expectations in coal mining communities that the [[Harold Wilson|Wilson]] government would halt the long-term decline in their industry had been dashed by a significant downward revision of coal production estimates.<ref>Francis, H. and Smith, D., ''The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century'', (1980), University of Wales.</ref> However, particularly in Carmarthen, Plaid also successfully depicted Labour's policies as a threat to the viability of small Welsh communities.<ref>Tanner, D., ''Facing the New Challenge: Labour and Politics 1970–2000'' in ''The Labour Party in Wales 1900–2000'' (Ed. Tanner, D., Williams, C. and Hopkin, D.), (2000), University of Wales Press.</ref>