(The following articles are from the May 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Wales has just elected its first Communist councillor in three decades. Clive Griffiths, 48, was first elected to the Hirwaun and Penderyn Community Council in 1999 as a member of the Labour Party. On April 14, having joined the Communist Party of Britain, he was re-elected unopposed.

     Asked how he would put Communist principles into practice on a body that has extremely limited powers, Griffiths, who is also standing for election to Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, said: "There's a very important local issue at the moment which is a very good example of why I left the Labour Party. In Hirwaun, there's an old school building that the local NHS Trust would like to turn into a health centre. But the council, which owns the building, says it has to be sold to the highest bidder and wants to sell it to a property developer. I am sure a way could be found to get it converted into a health centre but it seems the council doesn't want to know."

     Griffiths, who has been a peace activist for many years, said he left Labour because of the decision to invade Iraq.

     "It got to the point where I couldn't square the circle and stay in New Labour any more," he said. "I have quite a few friends in the Labour Party but it's clear to me that the party has moved so far away from socialism that there is no point staying in if you are a socialist. The Communist Party reflects what I believe in and I feel comfortable in it."

     Rick Newnham, the CPB's Welsh secretary, told an April 14 news conference: "Unlike the other parties, we are prepared to talk about the issue that is the elephant in the siting room, the fact that our society is built on inequality and that a very small percentage of people own the vast majority of the wealth."

     At the same news conference, CPB leader Rob Griffiths (no relation) was asked what difference it would make if Communist candidates won seats in the May 1 elections in Wales. Griffiths said: "That would send out a powerful message that would be picked up loud and clear. More and more people are becoming disillusioned with the policies of the mainstream parties, all of which want to prop up the fundamentally unequal and unjust system of capitalism. We are offering an alternative which more and more people are turning to. Young people are our future. For the first time for many years, we have in Wales a Young Communist League that is campaigning for genuine socialism. We are on the way back."

     (From an article in the Western Mail newspaper.)