After all, it now becomes the only university in north-east Wales and the country's 10th, with 8,000 students.

The new university's principal, Professor Michael Scott, who will assume the position of vice-chancellor, said that achieving university status will deliver significant benefits, not just to the student population but to the north Wales economy.

He added that Glyndwr had been a visionary statesman and an iconic figure, arguably the most important and widely known figure in Welsh history.

"It is fitting also that a figure who embodied the spirit of enterprise should be associated with an educational institution where enterprise is at the very core of our activity.

"He (Glyndwr) argued for the establishment of universities in both north and south Wales centuries ahead of its time. It is fitting that a figure who embodied the spirit of enterprise should be associated with an educational institution where enterprise is at the very core of our activity."

All's well, then. The future is bright for an institution that has provided education, mainly in artisan form, for 150 years, adapting its subjects in the changing industrial world around Wrexham and Deeside.

Founded on Wrexham's School of Science and Arts, it became the Denbigh Technical Institute in 1927. A teachers training college was added in 1945.

In 1975, the college, the teacher training college and Kelsterton College, Connah's Quay, were merged to form the North East Wales Institute and it has continued to thrive.

But why has university status been granted to what is still basically a polytechnic?

Polytechnics, after all, have a great history of achievement. They were built in every major centre, growing out of the industrial revolution in individual ways to become iconic institutions with names such as the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, the London Polytechnic and Ellesmere Port's Carlett Park. That last one was ours. You'll no doubt know your own.

Going to a polytechnic was the pinnacle for the brightest of the working class. They were fed in from local schools via night classes run in day-school buildings by workers or teachers. It was here that my education ended at 14 with a third in preliminary practical mathematics, as the snooker table beckoned.

Urged on by trade unions, enlightened and reactionary employers alike used the facilities to send young tradesmen or budding professionals to night school or on day release.

During the post-second world war boom, an administrative base was built under the auspices of the Department of Employment that included employers, government and trade unions. Several industry training boards covering engineering, construction, agriculture etc monitored the numbers needed in their industries and determined and co-ordinated their training.

A substantial bulk of the money needed to finance the work of the training bodies and the educational needs of young workers in polytechnics and colleges was paid through a levy on employers - with bad grace. Then along came Margaret Thatcher.

She aimed to "unburden" employers of "bureaucracy and costs," which included abandoning most training schemes, their governing bodies and the providers.

Most were swept away, as were most light and heavy industries themselves, leading to the end of industrial training as we knew it and leaving as a legacy a poorly skilled nation.

Left to themselves, the remaining industries provided little in the way of training for the artisans of the future.

The working class, amid thousands of redundancies, reverted to a modern form of labouring as its mainstream work. Incidentally, the training of workers for more menial tasks is now labelled "vocational" education. Its aim is generally to make them fit to do their employers' bidding.

The concluding stage of this particular Thatcher revolution saw polytechnics and further education colleges suffering from a shortage of customers.

The older universities also suffered financially. Successive Westminster governments ended the commitment to free universal education, cut grants and introduced fees for British nationals. Wales has not yet gone completely down this road, but watch out.

The loss of their previous market in workers' education meant that the polys and techs had to find new markets and became "universities," which was OK by Thatcher if it cut costs.

In modern times, this has meant fluffier courses, characterised by the ubiquitous "media studies," accompanied by fig-leaf quotes about the need to develop more "academic" courses. This is exactly what has been said of Glyndwr University.

All the evidence is that both the old brick and ex-poly new universities are devaluing courses. Swansea University, for instance, has dropped chemistry in favour of more "modern" subjects as it seeks students, particularly those from overseas who are able to pay the increasingly inflated prices.

But maybe the Owain Glyndwr University can yet escape these pitfalls and create a successful blend of the best of the polytechnics of yesteryear and meaningful "academic" courses.

The advantage that Glyndwr has is that it is grounded in the most industrially prosperous part of Wales, with a huge aerospace plant at its centre and more industry in England close by. Perhaps these bases of innovation will secure a proper prospectus for its future.

First publiched in the Morning Star (25.8.08)

The summer of activity have seen the Party holding regular street stalls in Shotton, Llandudno and Cardiff as well as staffing a Morning Star stall at this year's Eisteddfod.

The Eisteddfod activity was a particular success with a high profile presence on the Maes ensuring that revolutionary left politics was at the forefront of political discussions during the week.

Also during the week the Welsh Communist Party successfully launch two new publications: a revised Welsh translation of the Communist Manifesto and a Welsh language version the Party's programme for Wales (Real Power for the People of Wales).

In addition to these new publications, Morning Star Mugs, T-shirts, Flags, badges and much more were sold; the Morning star paper itself went down well with up to 50 copies sold every day.

The secretariat of the Party will be meeting up shortly to plan activities for the Autumn, that will include the Communist University of Wales which will be held over the last weekend in November in Pontypridd.

If you are not already involved in the Welsh Communist Party or the YCL then don't delay e-mail us at office@welshcommunists.org TODAY!

Devolution has allowed Wales to avoid the worst excesses of the new Labour project, with successive assembly governments following a different path from England in key policy areas like health and education.

Wales has no foundation hospitals, independent-sector treatment centres, SATs, school league tables or university top-up fees. Prescription charges have been phased out and the use of PFI largely discontinued.

The NHS 60th anniversary highlights the contrast between the English and Welsh variants of Labour politics - while the Westminster government deepens the privatisation and marketisation of the service, Welsh Health Minister Edwina Hart is abolishing the last remnants of the internal market and attempting to re-establish a service that is true to founder Nye Bevan's vision.

Despite this contrast, however, Welsh Labour is not immune from the electoral consequences of new Labour's right-wing agenda. Last year's assembly elections delivered the party's lowest share of the vote in Wales since 1918, while May's local elections left Labour in overall control of only two authorities out of 22.

Evidence from the doorstep confirms that Westminster policies were primarily responsible for the party's drubbing on both occasions, with voters' anger exacerbated by the far higher media profile of British rather than Welsh issues and by Welsh Labour's unwillingness to distance itself more explicitly from the British party leadership.

If the British party does not undertake a radical change of direction, then a heavy price could be paid, not just in the Westminster elections but at the next Welsh Assembly poll in 2011.

It would be a disaster if the progressive policies of the last nine years were derailed by an election setback, as nearly happened last year, until the eleventh-hour coalition deal with Plaid Cymru.

The Welsh Labour leadership election, which is due next year when Rhodri Morgan retires, will be crucial in determining how far the party in Wales can extricate itself from new Labour's crisis.

Only a leader who is committed to maintaining and deepening the "clear red water" between Wales and Westminster would stand any chance of boosting Welsh Labour's popular appeal.

The leadership contest is likely to see the revival of arguments presented in the aftermath of last year's assembly elections which suggested that the Welsh party needed to be more like new Labour, appealing to "aspirational" voters in the suburbs, if it wanted to improve its electoral performance.

Gordon Brown's subsequent misfortunes demonstrate that this argument is as fallacious as it is politically objectionable. The left will need to say so clearly when the Welsh party chooses a new leader.

The other major task for socialists within Welsh Labour is to help secure a Yes vote in the promised referendum on devolved primary powers.

Just as 18 years of Thatcherism convinced many in the labour movement that Wales needed an assembly to defend its communities, so the spectre of a Tory David Cameron government in Westminster underlines the point that that assembly cannot be beholden to a hostile British government in seeking to make its own laws.

We need the strongest possible Yes campaign whenever the referendum is called.

(This article was first published in the Morning Star 12.8.08)

On arrival at the maes (field), your eisteddfotwr (eisteddfod-goer) is issued with a map of the site. Around the centrally positioned Pafiliwn, a big top in shocking pink, are arranged the stands and exhibitions of charities, government bodies and councils selling their wares and propaganda.

There's plenty of choice for your socialist attendee. There are trade unions, such as UNISON, teachers' unions NUT and UCAC or the National Union of Students.

Alternatively, you could visit pressure groups CND, Shelter, Stonewall, Cymru-Cuba, Nicaragua Solidarity or the Workers' Educational Association - apologies to those that I've ommitted.

Gorsedd y Beirdd (eisteddfodic bards) process by on the way to a literary ceremony.

Meanwhile, in the special venues for meetings, you could hear Labour Welsh Assembly cabinet member Carwyn Jones speaking on the crisis facing the Welsh language. He's currently emerging as favourite to succeed First Minister Rhodri Morgan, by the way.

Or what about catching his cabinet colleague Alun Ffred Jones - Plaid Cymru's newly appointed heritage minister in the coalition government - on his vision for Welsh cultural policy?

Plaid is in power, albeit jointly, and its members wear new suits and a new confidence, especially here on the eisteddfod field, which is something of a home ground for the nationalists.

A Cymdeithas Yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society) protest is sure to take place somewhere - it's de rigueur, effectively part of the programme of events. Look out - somebody's under fire.

But what's also interesting for your seasoned eisteddfod watcher is the gaps in those groups attending.

Absences speak volumes in terms of Welsh political life here and clecs (gossip) is the lifeblood of an eisteddfod.

For example, the only mass political party without a stand is Llafur (Labour). Word has it that this is primarily a reflection of the financial crisis of Weimar proportions that the party currently faces. Surely it is not because its stand was trashed by the Welsh Language Society a few years back.

To be fair, though, the field is awash with Labour politicians clearly unwilling to be deterred by the lack of a home of their own on the "maes" to shake off their umbrellas and take coffee.

They're unwilling to yield the field to Plaid, with the new Labour Party general secretary Ray Collins escorted around the site by Labour stalwarts.

Anyway, Labour re-established its credentials with a barnstorming multicultural event in Pabell y Cymdeithasau (the Societies' Tent).

Welsh-speaking children representing a plethora of ethnic communities in the city performed pieces compered in Welsh by TV director and presenter Ali Yassine. They were addressed by the first minister.

As you wander the duckboards avoiding the mud, you are surrounded by music - classical, folk and rock.

Stop off to see the Lle Celf (arts space). Charles Byrd's phantasmagorical creations are displayed next to his proud romantic remembrances in oil of a Cardiff lost to 1960s redevelopment. Numerous artists speak of an endless war in Iraq.

We've had a pint, met old friends and revisited old arguments. We've bought the latest books and CDs in Welsh and English. We've swapped political pamphlets. Amser i fynd (time to go).

On the street outside on the way home there are outlines of bodies on the pavement. A favourite Welsh word is scrawled there - "Cofiwch" (remember) followed by "Hiroshima."

We hear endlessly about the Edinburgh Festival. I'm sure that it's culturally very important. But, in terms of the British media as a whole, the National Eisteddfod is clearly amherthnasol (irrelevant).

PS I forgot to mention one stand, Y Seren Fore (The Morning Star).

(First published in the Morning Star 9.08.08)

Taro ar gopi wnes i o Gwir Rym I Bobl Cymru, rhaglen y Blaid Gomiwnyddol ar gyfer Cymru a gyhoeddir ym mhabell y Morning Star am hanner dydd heddiw a gweld cyfeiriad at Grwpiau Darllen a Chefnogwyr y papur. "Ar draws y chwith wleidyddol yng Nghymru, gall(ent) weithredu fel fforwm ar gyfer trafodaethau gwleidyddol, fel grym undod y chwith … i chwarae rhan werthfawr yn trefnu cynhadleddau eang eu hystod ar faterion o bwys," medd y ddogfen. Mae grwpiau bywiog yng Nghaerdydd a Phontypridd yn cefnogi'r Star.

Yn arbennig o blith y cyfarfodydd misol a gynhelir yng Nghlwb y Bont, Pontypridd, yn ystod y flwyddyn oedd yr un cadarnhaol a niferus a gafwyd ddiwedd 2007 pryd y trafodwyd y ddogfen Cymru'n Un, gydag aelodau o'r Blaid Gomiwnyddol, Plaid Cymru a'r Blaid Lafur yn dangos unfrydedd mawr.

Yn Nhachwedd, cynhelir Prifysgol Gomiwnyddol arall ym Mhontypridd, o'r math a drefnid gan y diweddar Gwyn Alf Williams a'i gyfeillion yn y 70au, ac a atgyfodwyd gan gefnogwyr y Star, Pontypridd, dair blynedd yn ôl.

Mae'r rhaglen yn eang a chynhwysfawr gyda syniadau y bydd Cymry o dueddiadau'r chwith yn ei chael yn hawdd uniaethu â nhw. Geilw am fwy o ryddid i Gymru a'r angen i drawsnewid y Cynulliad yn senedd rymus, gynhwysol, fydd yn ysgogi, yn ogystal â chynrychioli, pobl Cymru.

Bu'r Blaid Gomiwnyddol ar flaen y frwydr am Senedd i Gymru ers cychwyn ymgyrch 1950 gan alw bob amser am senedd y byddai pobl Cymru'n teimlo eu bod yn rhan ohoni drwy ymgynghoriad a system bleidleisio gynrychioliadol.

Mae'r ddogfen yn dadlau y dylai'r Cynulliad gael yr hawliau a'r adnoddau i reoli a datblygu'r economi, am bwerau i ddeddfwriaethu a chodi cyllid fel y gellid creu'r fframwaith i ddarparu gwasanaethau cyhoeddus, rhoi diwedd ar y drefn PFI a'r duedd at breifateiddio gwasanaethaeu cyhoeddus.

Mae angen trawsnewid y Cynulliad yn senedd rymus i ysgogi - yn ogystal â chynrychioli - pobl Cymru. Mae angen i Gyngres Undebau Llafur Cymru, y Blaid Lafur a mudiadau blaengar eraill ddatblygu a chyfuno eu polisïau yn strategaeth economaidd a gwleidyddol amgen ar gyfer Cymru – a brwydro i gael y senedd Gymreig i fabwysiadu'r strategaeth honno.

Siom fawr fu methiant Comisiwn Richard i gydnabod yr hawl i godi cyllid fyddai'n gwneud y Cynulliad yn rym i sicrhau newidiadau blaengar. Ac er i'r Comisiwn nodi'r angen i'r Cynulliad gael yr hawl i greu deddfau, ac argymell y dylid adlewyrchu ewyllys y bobl drwy ddefnyddio dull y bleidlais sengl drosglwyddiadwy o ethol, collodd y Blaid Lafur gyfle i gymryd safiad unedig, dewr, i ddiwygio'r cyfansoddiad.

Ty hanner-ffordd ansicr rhwng datganoli gweithredol a deddfwriaethol yw Deddf Llywodraeth Cymru 2006.

O hyn allan, gellir gwneud y gwaith o ddrafftio a diwygio Mesurau Cymreig ar gyfer senedd San Steffan yng Nghaerdydd. Ond os digwydd y bydd cynrychiolwyr etholedig pobl Cymru yn dymuno bwrw ymlaen gyda'u mesurau eu hunain, bydd yn rhaid iddynt yn gyntaf geisio caniatâd Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru.

Nid oes unrhyw sicrwydd y bydd deiliad y swydd honno wedi ei anfon i San Steffan gan etholaeth Gymreig ac nid oes unrhyw reidrwydd arno ef neu hi adlewyrchu ewyllys yr etholwyr Cymreig. Mae'n debygol nad yr un blaid fydd mewn grym yng Nghaerdydd a San Steffan wedi'r etholiad cyffredinol nesaf ac y gwelwn broblemau tebyg i'r hyn a welsom dan y llywodraethau Torïaidd rhwng 1970 a 1974 a'r deunaw mlynedd wedi 1979.

Bydd gan Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru y grym i wrthod unrhyw ddrafft o fesur deddfwriaethol gan y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol.

Yna, os cytuna'r Ysgrifennydd Gwladol i gymeradwyo'r cynnig, bydd yn rhaid ei osod gerbron dau Dy Llywodraeth San Steffan.

Yno, bydd yn rhaid cymeradwyo'r cynnig mewn siambr lle mae 94 y cant o'r aelodau yn cynrychioli etholaethau yn Lloegr, Yr Alban a Gogledd Iwerddon.

Yn ogystal, bydd yn rhaid i'r cynnig dderbyn cymeradwyaeth y mwyafrif yn Nhy'r Arglwyddi - anetholedig a heb gynrychioli unrhyw etholaethau o gwbl.

Eisoes bu cwyno o gyfeiriad San Steffan bod y Cynulliad yn taflu gormod o waith atyn nhw!

Rhaid ailadrodd y drefn hon bob tro y bydd Aelodau'r Cynulliad yn dymuno cychwyn deddfwriaeth yn yr ychydig meysydd a "ddatganolwyd" i Gymru. Mae'r drefn lethol hon yn unigryw i Gymru - nid yw'n debyg i sefyllfa'r Alban, Gogledd Iwerddon, Ynys Manaw, Ynysoedd y Sianel, na'r taleithiau yn Yr Almaen a Sbaen.

Gosodwyd pob rhwystr posib rhag rhoi mwy o ymreolaeth i Gymru, yn y gobaith y bydd unrhyw gynnydd, lle na gellir ei rwystro'n gyfangwbl, yn araf iawn. Nid oes dim all danseilio hunan-hyder y Cymry a'r achos dros hunan-lywodraeth yn fwy na gwendid a methiant Cynulliad Cenedlaethol di-rym ac ymbilgar yng Nghaerdydd. Rhaid i'r Blaid Lafur a Phlaid Cymru, yn unol â chytundeb Cymru'n Un, gynnal y nod o gychwyn refferendwm ar hawliau deddfwriaeth sylfaenol erbyn 2010 gan adeiladu ymgyrch flaengar eang i sicrhau pleidlais Ie enfawr.

SUMMARY IN ENGLISH:

More power to the Welsh Assembly
THE Welsh Assembly needs to be transformed into a powerful parliament able to inspire, as well as represent, the people of Wales, argues the new Communist Party pamphlet Real Power for the People of Wales.

A Welsh language version of the pamphlet is being launched on Friday at noon at the Morning Star's stand at the National Eisteddfod.

It calls on the Wales TUC, the Labour Party and other progressive organisations to plan and agree an alternative economic and political policy for Wales and to campaign to get the assembly to adopt those policies.

The document argues for the assembly to be given primary law-making powers and the right to raise the finance needed to create the necessary framework to put an end to the PFI system and all privatisation of public services.

A national assembly or parliament with extensive economic and financial powers would create a shift away from the policy of bribing foreign transnationals to come to Wales and bending education, training, planning and transport resources to their short-term needs. Instead, there should be steps towards encouraging and supporting indigenous enterprise of every kind - public, private, social and co-operative.

This should be done within the context of an economic plan for Wales identifying and nurturing services and industries matched to local needs, resources and potentials while achieving balanced economic development across Wales as a whole. Central to the plan would be the protection and extension of an industrial and manufacturing base.

Such an economic plan should include a programme of nationalisation to take back into public ownership the energy - including coal, water and electricity - transport and steel industries as well as slate.

This would broaden the scope for co-operation between workers at the heart of British and transnational capitalism.

The pamphlet stresses the importance of Morning Star Readers and Supporters Groups to act as a forum for political discussion, as a force for left unity and a valuable vehicle role in organising broad-based conferences on key issues.

(First published in the Morning Star 8.08.08)

Also present was the union's president Ernesto Cardenal, one of Latin America's leading contemporary poets.

Father Cardenal, the priest who was publicly rebuked on the tarmac of Managua airport by Pope John Paul for his membership of the revolutionary FSLN government.

I read to him my Welsh translation of one of his poems and he presented me, on behalf of his union, with an anthology of recent Nicaraguan poetry. It contains this poem, which I think Morning Star readers will enjoy.

YN YSTOD ymweliad â Nicaragua fel aelod o ddirprwyaeth Cymdeithas Cymru-Nicaragua, rai blynyddoedd yn ôl, cefais fod yn bresennol mewn cyfarfod o Undeb Ysgrifenwyr y wlad, yn y brifddinas, Managua.

Yno hefyd yr oedd Llywydd yr Undeb, Ernesto Cardenal, un o feirdd cyfoes mwyaf America Ladin. Y Tad Ernesto Cardenal a geryddwyd yn gyhoeddus, ar y tarmac yn maes awyr Managua gan y Pab Ioan Pawl am fod yn aelod o lywodraeth chwyldroadol yr FSLN.

Cefais y fraint a'r pleser o ddarllen fy nghyfieithid o un o'i gerddi i'r bardd a chyflwynodd yntau i mi ar ran ei undeb, flodeugerdd o farddoniaeth ddiweddar Nicaragua sy'n cynnwys y gerdd ganlynol a ddylai fod at ddant darllenwyr y papur hwn.

The Bible story as retold to children by Richard Nixon (La Biblia contada a los ninos por Richard Nixon) by Alejandro Bravo

And God created Superman
in his own image and likeness
and called him U.S.A.
and said unto him:
"Increase and multiply
fill the whole earth"
And this people became as numerous
as the grass of the fields
and multiplied like grains of sand on the sea-shore
And God appeared
unto Henry Ford
who begat the Ford Foundation
and Dupont
And God in his personal capacity
created General Motors
And lo, near unto the people
chosen by God
there lived other peoples
who were envious of their happiness
the Koreans, for instance,
and the Vietnamese
And the people specially chosen
by God
declared a holy war
against those envious peoples
which had risen up against
the people of God
as Cain had risen up
to slay his brother Abel
And God sent
his angels
whom he called B-26s
and his archangels
whom he called B-52s
and legions of cherubins,
also known as U.S. Marines
against those peoples
the followers of Satan
Satan is the other topic
of this story
which I'm telling you
Once upon a time
there was a man who envied
the greatness of God
and his name was Karl Marx
He also envied
the chosen people of God
— Dupont, Ford,
Rockefeller, Vanderbilt —
and with his books
he stirred up other envious men
against God and his people
And those evil men
created Hell
and named it U.S.S.R.
Then they enlarged it to include
China, Indochina and Cuba
And the chosen people
waged and still wage
many holy wars against these impure races
Shortly before the disciples of Satan
created Hell
God sought to purify the world
And when Hell had been created,
He decided to repurify it
And so it came to pass
that God sent
the First Flood
and the Second Flood
which men called
World Wars One and Two
Then He sent unto the world
His only begotten Son
whom he named
Multinational Corporation
This is the Messiah
who sacrifices himself
for your salvation
And He established
His One True Church
and said unto His chief apostle:
"George you are dollar
and on this currency
I shall build my Church"
And I, Richard Milhous Nixon,
am the true representative
of God's Church
on earth
Amen

ALEJANDRO BRAVO
Alejandro Bravo is a Nicaraguan poet born in 1953. He is also a lawyer and an author of books and articles on colonialism.

Y Beibl, wedi ei addasu ar gyfer plant gan Richard Nixon (La Biblia contada a los ninos por Richard Nixon) gan Alejandro Bravo

A Duw a greodd Superman
ar ei lun a'i ddelw ei hun
ac a'i enwodd USA
ac a ddywedodd wrtho:
ffrwytha, amlha
a llenwa'r holl ddaear.
A'i had ef a amlhaodd
fel gwellt y maes
ac a luosogodd fel tywod y môr.
A Duw a ymddangosodd
i Henry Ford
yr hwn a genhedlodd y Ford Foundation,
ac i Dupont.
A Duw ei hun, yn bersonol,
a greodd General Motors.
A gerllaw pobl etholedig Duw
trigai cenhedloedd
a chwenychai eu hapusrwydd hwy,
megis y Coreaniaid
a'r Fietnaminiaid,
ac ar orchymyn Duw
ei bobl etholedig ef
a gyhoeddodd ryfel sanctaidd
yn erbyn y cenhedloedd
eiddigeddus hynny a
heriai bobl Dduw
fel yr heriasai Cain ei frawd, Abel,
a'i ladd ef.
A Duw a anfonodd ei angylion,
y rhai a alwai B-26's,
a'i archangylion,
y rhai a alwai B-52's,
ynghyd â llu o seraffiaid,
y rhai a alwai US Marine Corps,
yn erbyn y cenhedloedd hynny
a ddilynai Satan.
Satan yw ail ben
y bregeth hon yr
wyf yn ei thraddodi i chi.
Amser maith yn ôl
yr oedd dyn
a genfigennai wrth fawredd Duw
a'i enw ydoedd Karl Marx.
Cenfigennai hefyd
wrth etholedigion Duw
– Dupont, Ford,
Rockerfeller, Vanderbilt –
a hwn a gynhyrfodd,
gyda'i lyfrau,
ddynion eraill a genfigennai
wrth Dduw a'i bobl.
A hwy a greasant uffern
ac a'i galwasant hi Yr Undeb Sofietaidd
ac yna hwy a'i ehangasant i gynnwys
Tsieina ac Indotsieina
-yn Asia-
a Cuba
-yn America-
a'r bobl etholedig
a ymladdasant
lawer o ryfeloedd sanctaidd yn erbyn
y cenhedloedd halogedig hynny,
a daliant i ymladd yn eu herbyn
bob tro y bydd galw.
Ychydig cyn i ddisgyblion
ac apostolion Satan
greu eu huffern,
ceisiodd Duw buro'r byd,
ac wedi iddynt greu eu huffern
penderfynodd ei ail-buro.
Dyna pryd yr anfonodd
Duw y ddau Ddilyw,
y rhai a eilw dynion
yn Ryfel Byd Cyntaf
ac Ail Ryfel Byd.
Ac efe a anfonodd i'n plith
ei unig-anedig fab,
Multinational,
y Meseia sy'n aberthu ei hun
i'ch achub chi,
yr hwn a sefydlodd ei un wir eglwys apostolaidd,
gan ddywedyd wrth y blaenaf o'i apostolion:
"George, ti yw'r ddoler,
ac ar yr uned ariannol hwn
yr adeiladaf fy eglwys".
Ac myfi,
Richard Milhous Nixon,
yw Pen yr eglwys honno
ar y ddaear.

ALEJANDRO BRAVO
Bardd o Nicaragua a aned yn 1953 yw Aleljandro Bravo. Mae hefyd yn gyfreithiwr ac yn awdur erthyglau a llyfrau ar drefedigaethu.

(This article first appeared in the Morning Star 7.08.08)

Achubwyd Plaid Cymru gan ei Haelodau Cynulliad
asgell-chwith rhag gwneud camgymeriad trychinebus.
Buasai ffurfi o clymblaid gyda'r Toriaid wedi
difetha enw da Plaid Cymru am genhedlaethau. Mae
hanes y Blaid Geidwadol yn fwrn arnom fel cenedl.

Achubwyd y Blaid Lafur rhag mynd i'r anialwch
gan yr undebau llafur. Buasai gwrthod ymuno â
Phlaid Cymru mewn clymblaid ym Mae Caerdydd
wedi trosglwyddo pobl Cymru i ddwylo clymblaid
lywodraethol ddi-egwyddor, i gynghrair cyfog yn
hytrach na chyngrhair enfys.

Efallai y byddai hynny wedi bod yn llesol i'r Blaid
Lafur, ond y byddai pobl Cymru wedi dioddef.

Pan ffurfi wyd y Glymblaid, cyhoeddwyd ei rhaglen,
Cymru'n Un. Dogfen ac ynddi lawer o bolisiau blaengar
yw hon. Mae'n fwy blaengar, mewn gwirionedd,
nag oedd maniffesto'r naill blaid na'r llall yn
etholiadau'r Cynulliad.

Wrth barhau â gwaith da'r llywodraeth Gymreig
fl aenorol, gyda Rhodri Morgan wrth y llyw, mae'r
Cynulliad yn ennyn cenfi gen ymhlith ein cymdogion
yn Lloegr. Gyda'i bolisiau blaengar ynglyn ag addysg,
tai, iechyd a thrafnidiaeth gyhoeddus yn enwedig,
mae'r Cynulliad yn cyfrannu at y frwydr dros bolisiau
felly yng Lloegr a'r Alban.

Hynny yw, mae'r frwrdr am bolisiau blaengar yn y
Cynulliad gan ACau Plaid Cymru a Llafur yn
cryfhau'r frwydr wleidyddol ledled Prydain, yn union
fel y proffwydodd y Comiwnyddion saith deg o fl ynyddoedd
yn ôl wrth ddadlau o blaid Senedd i Gymru.

Y cwestiwn yn awr yw "Pa ffordd ymlaen i'r Glymblaid,
i'r chwith gwleidyddol ac i bobl Cymru?"

Mae cryn dipyn o gytundeb â'r math bolisiau sydd eu
hangen ar Gymru. Mae'n rhaid datblygu ein cyfundrefnau
addysg, iechyd, gofal cymdeithasol a gwasanaethau cyhoeddus
eraill heb ymyrryd sylweddol o du elw preifat.

Y prif fan tramgwydd rhag cyfl awni dyheadau'r
Cynulliad Cenedlaethol ar hyn o bryd yw llestair San
Steffan. Mae Gorchmynion Deddfol ynglyn â
diogelu'r amgylchedd, plant mewn perygl, gofal yn y
cartref, tai fforddadwy a diogelwch tan yn aros am
ganiâtad y Senedd Brydeinig, ac mae pump arall ar y
ffordd o Gaerdydd.

Caswir arall yw bod y gwasanaethau hyn, fel pobl
Cymru ei hun, yn dibynnu ar sylfeini economaidd ein
gwlad. Dyma fan gwannafaf rhaglen Llywodraeth
Cymru.

Mae'r ddogfen Cymru'n Un yn cydnabod yr angen
am gynllun strategol, cynaladwy gyda chanran uchel
o'n pobl mewn gwaith. Drwy ail-gyfl wyno'r syniad o
gynllunio economaidd ac ymyriad llywodraethol yn
yr economi, mae'r ddogfen yn adennill y tir a gollwyd
o dan lywodraethau Torïaidd a Llafur diweddar ym
Mhrydain.

Ond mae'r mesurau a gynigir yn y strategaeth yn
ddiffygiol am ei bod yn arddel y syniad mai'r unig
ffordd i sicrhau economi gref yw trwy gefnogi busnesau
mawr yn ddi-gwestiwn.

Mae trychineb LG yng Nghasnewydd yn brawf o
fethiant yr athroniaeth hon. Cofi er, felly, mai'r Blaid
Gomiwnyddol, yn unig, a heriodd yn gyhoeddus gost
cynllun LG ar y pryd.

Ac nid yw'r Academi Filitaraidd yn Sain Tathan y
fath o fenter lle dylid defnyddio arian cyhoeddus i hyrwyddo
datblygiad economaidd. Byddai biliynau o
bunnau yn cael eu buddsoddi mewn prosiect a reolid
gan gonsortiwm o gwmnïau bancio, adeiladu ac arfau
Prydeinig ac Americanaidd gyda hanes hir o orelwa
digywilydd, llygredigaeth a chefnogi rhyfeloedd anghyfi
awn a llywodraethau adweithiol.

Byddai preifateiddio militaraidd o'r fath, a'r modd
y byddai'n ystumio'r a'r economi a'r gyfundrefn addysg
Gymreig, yn clymu Cymru'n dynnach fyth wrth
beiriant rhyfel imperialaidd Prydain a'r Unol Daleithiau,
gan ledaenu gwerthoedd adweithiol ac imperialaidd
ymhlith y bobl, yn enwedig y genhedlaeth iau.

Mae'n annhebyg y gwelid y llu o swyddi a addawyd,
tra y llenwid y rhan fwyaf o'r swyddi sy'n galw
am fedrusrwydd a sgiliau gan weithwyr wedi eu
symud o Loegr a'r Alban. Nid yw cynllunio a hyfforddi
ar gyfer rhyfel yn sail ddiogel na moesol ar
gyfer adeiladu economi gytbwys, fodern a blaengar
yng Nghymru.

Yn lle hyn, dylem annog a chefnogi mentrau cynhenid
o bob math: cyhoeddus, preifat, cymdeithasol a
chydweithredol.

Y prif beth sydd ei angen, felly, yw Cynllun Economaidd
i Gymru, wedi ei weithredu o fewn fframwaith
Senedd Gymreig gyda'r hawl i ddeddfu'n gychwynnol
a chyda ph erau economaidd a chyllidol i rwystro
diswyddiadau enfawr mewn gweithleoedd llwyddiannus;
i gymryd cwmnïau afl wyddiannus dan adain
perchnogaeth gyhoeddus; i gyfeirio datblygiad economaidd;
i gyd-drefnu'r gwahanol ddiwydiannau ynni
a chludiant a chodi cyfalaf.

Dylai cynllun economaidd o'r fath gynnwys
rhaglen o wladoli a fyddai'n dychwelyd y diwydiannau
ynni, cludiant, dur a llechi i berchnogaeth gyhoeddus,
ddemocrataidd.

Dylai ail-ddechrau datblygu'r diwydiant glo dwfn fod
yn rhan o bolisi ynni integredig, sy'n galw am fuddsoddi
mewn technolgeg 'glo glân' i ddelio gyda rhyddhau nwy
CO2 i'r awyr. Ni ddylid camgymryd hyn am y cynlluniau
presennol i ehangu gwaith glo brig gan gwmnïau
preifat, gyda'u nod o wneud yr elw mwyaf posib ar draul
cymunedau lleol a'r amgylchedd.

Byddai anghenion ynni Cymru yn cael ei cyfl enwi'n
fwy effeithiol a chynaladwy drwy wneud defnydd o
feliniau gwynt arfordirol. Dylid ymchwilio i botensial
Morglawdd Hafren i harneisio grym y llanw, ond
gan roddi'r sylw mwyaf i ddiogelu'r amgylchedd a
bod statws y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol a'r llywodraeth
yn cael ei ddiogelu yn y drefniadaeth gweinyddol.

Rhaid i'r mudiad llafur, yn arbennig Cyngres Undebau
Llafur Cymru a'r undebau unigol, arwain yr
ymgyrchu dros Gynllun Economaidd i Gymru.

Dyma'r unig ffordd o sicrhau sylfaen economaidd
ddiogel ar gyfer cymdeithas gyfi awn yng Nghymru.

Y mae angen polisiau a fyddai'n sicrhau datblygu
cyfryngau torfol yng Nghymru i adlewyrchu bywyd
pobl Cymru a sy'n hybu eu hamryfal ddiwylliannau,
gan osgoi'r meddylfryd plwyfol a Phrydeinig a geir
yng ngwasanaethau Saesneg 'rhanbarthol' y BBC ac
ITV heddiw.

Dyna pam fod y Blaid Gomiwnyddol yn galw am
gefnogaeth lawn gan y Cynulliad i bapur dyddiol
Cymraeg ac am sefydlu Corfforaeth Deledu Gymreig
i droi S4C a S4C2 a, maes o law, y sianeli eraill yng
Nghymru yn wasanaeth cyfl awn Saesneg, Cymraeg a
rhyngwladol ar gyfer pobl Cymru.

Hoffem hefyd weld ein Cynulliad yn datblygu mwy
o gysylltiadau ffurfi ol â gwledydd tramor; er enghraifft,
drwy ffurfi o grwp ACau i gydlynu â gwledydd
America Ladin.

Yn anad dim, bydd angen sicrhau, yn y dyfodol
agos, bwerau deddfol, economaidd a chyllidol i
Gynulliad a Llywodraeth Cymru, er budd parhaol
pobl Cymru. Ac wrth ymgyrchu am hynny, rhaid
cofi o'r hen awyddair sydd ar faneri ein hundebau
llafur: "Mewn undeb y mae nerth."

Robert Griffiths yw Ysgrifennydd Cyffredinol yBlaid Gomiwnyddol ym Mhrydain.

(This article first appeared in the Morning Star on 6.08.08)

Wherever this peripatetic festival occurs in Wales, there are competitions and events scattered about in surrounding church halls, vestries and community centres.

And, for some time in advance, local committees have been at work raising awareness and cash in preparation for the landing of this enormous cultural tardis on their patch.

One such venture is to be found fittingly in the nearby former canvas warehouse in Canton, Oriel Canfas.

Where tents and marquees used to be made is now home to a cooperative of a dozen Cardiff artists. They were made homeless a decade ago when their previous lively artistic base in the old central city library was redeveloped.

Here at Oriel Canfas this week can be found Gair O Gelf/Word Of Art, an exhibition which sets out to provide a prominent platform for literature and art while also collecting funds for the National Eisteddfod.

Twenty - two local poets and artists have been paired in a bid to express what exactly Cardiff means to them.

As the poet Ynyr Williams stated at Sunday's opening, the effect on show at the gallery is "a creation that is similar to a film ... pictures, words, images."

It's definitely an exciting blend of different styles and perceptions of the capital - a place that obviously attracts a wide range of Wales's most interesting cultural contributors.

Iwan Bala, who is always stylistically challenging, gives us an almost medieval representation of the city. Yet, at the same time, poet Mererid Hopwood's Dinas Ar Daf - City On the Taff - is one cut across by motorways and railway lines.

The young installation artist Carwyn Evans has deconstructed a carthen - a Welsh traditional woollen blanket - with the patterns physically extracted to illustrate Rhys Dafi s's poem on "brethyn cymuned" - "the cloth of community."

Patrick McGuinness's English poem Calon y Dre/Heart of the City is interpreted by Alun Hemmings's capillary cross-section which intersects the capital with imaginary waterways and roads while expressing the inhabitants' basic passions.

Meanwhile, we're offered a panoramic impression of Cardiff in Anthony Evans Caerdydd O'r Wenallt. Emyr Lewis responds in verse to this image of a retreating storm over the city by the sea with upland Wales in the foreground.

Painter William Brown was sadly unable to see his work in situ, having died recently. His painting Gwylanod Caerdydd/Cardiff 's Seagulls is part of a joint creation paired with the words of David Greenslade.

These are just some of the pairings which can be seen at Oriel Canfas in Canton over the Eisteddfod week.

The poets will be reading their verses at the literature tent on the Eisteddfod field on Thursday at 1pm.

Take this opportunity to see Wales's capital represented in these exciting new artistic couplings.

(This article first appeared in the Morning Star on 6.08.08)

This is a picture that is still painted of Wales's annual National Eisteddfod, a roving festival being held this year in Cardiff.

But what has been forgotten, if it was ever known, is the revolutionary past that shaped these seemingly eccentric ceremonies.

To understand this strange confection, we need to study the life and times of the creator of this body Gorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain - The Gathering of the Bards of the Island of Britain.

Iolo Morganwg or, rather, Edward Williams was born the son of a stonemason in the Vale of Glamorgan in 1747.

Morganwg (pictured) never attended school, but instead learnt his letters from watching his father carve names on gravestones and learnt to write verse in Welsh from country poets.

He was taught his father's craft and he remained an artisan all his life despite unsuccessful forays into shopkeeping and business - ventures that often failed due to his political convictions.

An early proponent of fair trade, he strove to source his sugar from non-slave plantations and he advertised produce "uncontaminated by human gore."

After trying his hand at farming, Morganwg was to spend a year in jail in Cardiff for debt before making the familiar trek to London to join the Welsh diaspora in the capital of the empire. He tried to make a living as a poet writing the kind of pastoral works that won favour with the aristocratic patrons of the age.

But, as historian Mary-Ann Constantine observes, "in his Poems Lyric and Pastoral published in 1794, lambs are busy frolicking next to his revolutionary Ode to Liberty."

Subscribers to this volume were to include the anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce, the English radical thinker Tom Paine and David Williams's adviser to the French regicide government.

He sang of pacifism at a time when Britain was at war with revolutionary France. He preached for "universal peace and perfect equality" and "against the arch-murder of war."

Jacobinism was clearly not a political philosophy to espouse at this reactionary time in London. Morganwg's religious beliefs, unitarianism, were regarded as ultrademocratic and illegal in the eyes of the authorities. No wonder the Welsh cultural societies in London were infiltrated by government informers and Morganwg's writings seized.

In 1792, at Primrose Hill in London, Morganwg staged his first Gorsedd of Bards in a ceremony which included the dangerous pacifist sentiment of "sheathing the sword."

The pomp and circumstance of the event and his writings may have been partly intended to disguise the radical content from government spies.

Subsequent gorseddau in Wales were shadowed by the militia and even banned. This was a time of perceived threats of revolt, with French forces even landing in Pembrokeshire in 1797.

With the defeat of Napoleon, Morganwg was able to see his bardic ceremonies linked to the long-standing tradition of Welsh cultural competitive events, eisteddfodau.

In many ways, the ideals of Morganwg and the Welsh Jacobins were buried with the rise of the new middle classes of the Victorian age in Wales.

However, despite the best efforts of the Establishment to bury Morganwg's tradition, Welsh radical politics has consistently intruded on to the field of the National Eisteddfod.

And it is not only Welsh cultural campaigns that are fought out here on what Marxist historian Gwyn Alf Williams called prior to Welsh devolution "the peripatetic capital of Wales."

The struggles of the 1984-5 miners' strike and the battles of the Anti-Apartheid Movement were also played out at the National Eisteddfod.

Every year, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan is remembered in a ceremony during Eisteddfod week too. This is surely an event that Morganwg would recognise as part of his tradition.

And he would smile wryly as a curiously dressed druid chants his still revolutionary question, "A Oes Heddwch? Is There Peace?"

(First publihed in the Morning Star 5.08.08)

'Mae'r bwrdeiswyr, trwy wella'n gyflym y moddion cynhyrchu, a thrwy ddatblygu trafnidiaeth, yn tynnu pob cenedl, boed mor anwar ag y bo, o fewn cyffiniau gwareiddiad. Prisiau isel eu nwyddau yw'r gynnau mawrion a ddefnyddiant. Gorfodant ar arnynt fabwysiadu'r hyn a elwir yn wareiddiad, sef, mynd ohonynt yn fwrgeisiol eu hunain. bob cenedl fabwysiadu ar berygl dinistr y dull cyfalafol o gynhyrchu, gorfodant Mewn gair, creant fyd ar eu delw eu hunain....Mae'r bwrdeiswyr wedi darostwng y wlad i reolaeth y dref. Creasant ddinasoedd enfawr, cynyddasant yn enfawr boblogaeth y dref o'i chymharu ag eiddo'r wlad....a megis y troesant y wlad yn ddibynnol ar y dref, felly y troesant wledydd anwar a gwledydd hanner gwâr yn ddibynnol ar wledydd gwâr, cenhedloedd amaethyddol yn ddibynnol ar genhedloedd cyfalafol, y Dwyrain yn ddibynnol ar y Gorllewin.'

Roedd Globaleiddio yn ei fabandod, yn 1848. Mae yn ei anterth heddiw, ac wrthi 'yn difodi pob rhwymyn rhwng dyn a dyn ond hunan-fudd noeth, rhwymyn arian parod calon galed... yn troi urddas y person yn werth cyfnewid... yn sefydlu un rhyddid sef rhyddid masnach ddigydwybod...'

Y Maniffesto Comiwnyddol yw'r disgrifiad mwyaf cryno, cynhwysfawr a chraff o ddatblygiad cymdeithas a gyhoeddwyd hyd yn hyn. Er bod rhai o nodweddion cyfalafiaeth wedi newid llawer yn ystod y cant a thrigain o flynyddoedd a aeth heibio ar pan y'i lluniwyd, gorfoda ni i gydnabod mai'r un gyfundrefn ydyw yn ei hanfod. Deil cyfalafiaeth i gyfarwyddo datblygiad economaidd, cymdeithasol a gwleidoddol y rhan fwyaf o wledydd y byd. Deil i ddyfeisio technegau newydd mewn diwydiant a masnach. Mae'r bwlch rhwng y gweithwyr a'r cyfoethogion cyn lleted ag erioed, a'r un rhwng y gwledydd cyfoethog a'r rhai tlotaf. Deil y gyfundrefn gyfalafol i orymestyn yn gyfnodol trwy gynhyrchu gormodedd, gan dywys cymdeithas i argyfwng a dirwasgiad. Mae gan bopeth ei bris yn y farchcnad gyfalafol – bwyd, llety, iechyd, rhyw, plant, menywod, cyffuriau, arfau rhyfel – waeth beth fo'i werth i gymdeithas wâr.

Gwyddor yw Marcsiaeth, nid ffydd. Dull ydyw o ddadansoddi ffenomenâu economaidd, gwleidyddol, hanesyddol a diwylliannol. Gan mai ffaeledig yw dynion ac nad ydynt yn hollwybodus, gall y dadansoddiad fod yn gyfeiiornus ar adegau. Rhaid wedyn yw ail-ystyried yr achos, yng ngoleuni gwybodaeth amgenach, efallai. Dengys Robert Griffiths yn ei Ragair rhagorol i'r argraffiad newydd mai dyna wnaeth Frederich Engels wrth ystyried hawliau cenhedloedd bychain fel y Cymry, y Llydawiaid a Slafiaid de-ddwyrain Ewrop. Ym 1848, Blwyddyn y Chwyldroadau ar gyfandir Ewrop ( a blwyddyn Brad y Llyfrau Gleision yng Nghymru), barnai ef a Marx nad oedd ddyfodol i'r 'cenhedloedd anhanesyddol' hyn ac mai eu tynged anorfod– ac haeddiannol yn hanes y rheini a oedd wedi ochri gyda'r Imperialwyr yn erblyn pobloedd dewrach a ymladdai dros anni byniaeth – fyddai eu bwrw ar domen sbwriel Hanes.

Erbyn diwedd ei oes, fodd bynnag, yn sgil brwydrau'r Indiaid, y Pwyliaid a'r Gwyddelod dros eu hawliau, newidiodd Engels ei feddwl. Seiliai ei ymateb i bob ymgyrch genedlaethol yn awr ar werth a chyfraniad yr ymgyrch honno i fudiad y gweithwyr ac i'r frwydr ddemocragaidd, wrth-imperialaidd, fyd-eang. Credai mai 'cam ymlaen fyddai gweriniaeth ffederal ym Mhrydain, lle meddiannir y ddwy ynys gan bedair cenedl a lle y mae tair cyfundrefn gyfreithiol wahanol ochr yn ochr â'i gilydd, a hynny er nad oes ond un Senedd'.

English summary:

On reading this new, revised editon of WM Rees's 1948 Welsh translation of the Communist Manifesto, Gareth Miles suggests that its prophecies more accurately describe the state of our globalised world today than the one Marx and Engels lived in when they wrote it in 1848.

He also commends Robert Griffiths's preface, which explains the historical context of the first edition and shows how Marx and Engels's response to the National Question developed from a rejection of the claims of "unhistorical nations," like the Welsh, the Bretons and the "South Slavs," to a case-by-case assessment related to each individual national struggle's contribution to the working class cause and the worldwide, democratic, anti-imperialist struggle.

(First published in the Morning Star 5.08.08)