Editorial
From Planet 228
by Emily Trahair
Just a few years ago, the ‘No’ vote on Scottish independence was only narrowly won, the SNP almost obliterated the other parties in the 2015 general election and many voted Plaid Cymru for the first time, impressed by Leanne Wood’s conviction politics, and the way in which she dusted off socialist principles and incorporated the rainbow-coloured identity politics of Millennials to place Plaid at the vanguard of feminist and anti-racist values. In the meantime, following the unexpected success of Labour in Wales at the general election (credited by many to the ‘Corbyn surge’ rather than to Carwyn Jones’s more centrist and lacklustre Welsh Labour) the latest ITV Cymru Wales/Wales Governance Centre poll from September showed a projected further rise in votes for Labour at Westminster level to 50% and a fall in votes for Plaid. Corbyn’s Janus-headed English socialism, like Leanne Wood’s Welsh variant, draws strength from the past while shaping the future; hence how so many among the Millennial precariat found inspiration in an ageing backbench radical.
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