Rhiwbina Living Issue 54 │ Spring 2022

communism.
He became the Honorary
Secretary of his local lodge and
it did not stop there. In 1923, he
was appointed full-time secretary
of the Blaengarw branch of the
Miner’s Union, moving his wife and
family to live in Bridgend, before
settling in Cardiff after the General
Strike. It was at this time that he
was also active also in play writing
and actually won a Manchester
competition.
His book Black Parade was turned
into a stage play in London but
was postponed, yet the book was
published. It was a hard hitting
look at Merthyr in the 1880s,
portraying the unemployment,
the poverty, the violence, the rich
getting richer and the poor getting
poorer. Merthyr was portrayed in
an inglorious light. The book was
declared an outstanding narrative
and its success was down to Jack's
first hand plight of the working
man - the miners. The book is still
available to purchase to this day.
In October 1936, the BBC
broadcast its version of the play
Black Parade as part of a radio
series, causing major controversy.
There were protests about its
content from Merthyr dignitaries
and other establishment
organisations. Jack knew when
to keep quiet and said nothing
about the subject when asked.
Looking at Jack's pedigree, he
would certainly have known life in
the Rhondda and Merthyr as well
as anyone, - perhaps a little better.
The BBC decided to drop the
heading 'Merthyr' and substitute it
with a generalised term, basing the
play in any of the mining areas of
England and Wales. The vociferous
protests did not stop and the play
was pulled from the air. Jack again
said nothing when asked about the
decision. His fame had grown even
more, and one press man said, 'If
silence is golden then Jack Jones is
the gold standard'.
To those who knew him, Jack was
a contrary man. He knew the type of
society he wanted, which brought
him to switch political party loyalties
on several occasions. He had joined
the Labour Party and actually spoke
at a Ramsey McDonald rally in
Aberafon. He then jumped ship to
join the Liberal Party, which fitted
more closely with his political ideals
at the time.
Jack was employed by the Liberal
Party and he travelled the United
Kingdom selling their cause at
major meetings and political
hustings. This employment was
on the advice of their leader at the
time, David Lloyd-George. He had
attended at one of Jack's meetings
and was impressed with his
speeches. Jack stood for the Liberal
Party at the General Election of
1929, in direct opposition to Labour.
He spoke to street gatherings and
hustings and was becoming a huge
thorn in Labour's flesh. He finished
second, with a creditable 28% of the
polling.
During these decades, Jack's
thoughts were well documented
in many of his plays aimed at
the London audiences and his
foes - the rich. His play, Rhondda
Roundabout ran in the Globe
Theatre, London, which made Jack
a famous name in his adopted city
of Cardiff. In fact, Cardiff's Lord
Mayor, in the June of 1939, joined
Jack and others on an official visit to
London to see the play.
The drama was a series of
vignettes of valley life and
extremely disrespectful to the
managing establishment and
highlighting the perseverance,
honesty and dogged stubbornness
of the miners and their quest for
worker's rights. One line from the
show drew wide applause from
the audience when one character
said, 'that in war the capitalists from
London would be glad to re-open
the disused pits as air raid shelters
for themselves'. This was 1930s
London. In 1940, Jack appeared in
the movie The Proud Valley with
Paul Robeson, a movie that Jack
had helped write.
Jack's books were being churned
out at an amazing rate. This
amazing skill took him to the
United States of America on several
occasions, undertaking lecture
tours. He was also to undertake
the same skills to the battlefronts
during WW2.
Unbelievably, Jack once more
changed his political allegiance
to another party. He had tried
Communist, Labour, Liberal but the
next change was surely the most
controversial. Joining and support
for the Oswald Mosley's black shirts
during the 1930s would have been
the strangest twist in any a storyline
but that's exactly what he did. He
stayed within that political family for
many years. In 1945, he supported
the far right candidate Sir James
Grigg at the General Election.
It was his book Land of My Fathers
that really brought him to the
general public's attention. The
'play' version ran in London to great
acclaim.
His classic novel, Off to
Philadelphia in the Morning is about
the collier's working life in the
1880s/90s south Wales valleys. The
book intertwines the story of Joseph
Parry, the composer. Parry was a
miner during his early years but
his love of music and his struggle
to succeed finally overcame to
become one of, if not the greatest,
of all Welsh composers. Myfanwy is
perhaps his best known work. The
South African national anthem is
based on Parry's work.
Every Cardiffian should read
River Out of Eden. It is a masterful
depiction of the city's growth
from village to city, from the
industrial explosion to WW2. Jack
is supremely ingenious as the
narrative follows just one family
and the generational struggles
from Irish immigrant to richness.
Each follow different paths but
the most seductive reason for
reading this book is to study the
streets and suburbs of Cardiff prior
and during the early half of the
twentieth century. We visit the rich
man's world of expensive shopping
and private clubs, then follow in
the footsteps of pimps and their
prostitutes. It is probably one of the
finest depictions of Cardiff's history
within a novel that there ever has
been, or perhaps ever will be.
When he was observed back in
the 1960s, on his own, shuffling
his way to the Butcher's Arms,
Rhiwbina, young locals watching
had little knowledge of the
incredible life story of Jack Jones.
I remember him well. I was one of
those who shouted ‘Hi Jack’ as he
walked past me in the village. He
would smile and ‘umph’. If only I had
known then what I know now, about
his incredible life, I may have asked
for an autograph, or even a ‘snap’,
I'd like to think that he would have
agreed to one.
I would also like to think that my
words here have been able to do
this wonderful and complex man
justice.
John Wake
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