Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1934-1985 / (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
0.018 cubic metres (2 boxes)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Idris Cox (1899-1989), Communist and Labour party activist, worked as a coal miner until 1927, when he became a full-time organiser for the South Wales District of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He organised hunger marches in Monmouthshire and Glamorgan in 1930. Cox was active within the party, writing on policy and tactics, and became the editor of the Daily Worker for a time, but returned to South Wales in the late 1930s, helping to develop a North Wales District and establishing an All-Wales Congress. He wrote the pamphlet 'The people can save South Wales' in 1937. He assisted the party's General Secretary, Harry Pollitt (1890-1960), in standing for the seat of Rhondda East in the 1945 general election. The Party was disappointed by its performance in the 1945 and 1949 elections, and in 1951 Cox was removed from his role as Welsh organizer to take up a post in the Party's International Department, for which he moved to London. This may have been partly a response to Cox's outspoken support for Welsh devolution, reflected in his membership of the cross-party "Parliament for Wales" committee from 1950. Cox later returned to Wales, remaining active as a commentator and writer on politics. He died in 1989.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Donated by Dora Cox, Pontypool, in 1990.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Papers of Idris Cox, 1934-1985, comprising draft autobiography (unpublished), 'From Coal Mines to Communist Ideals', and photocopy of a more complete version held by Univeristy of Wales, Swansea; correspondence, 1960-1983; pamphlets, lectures and broadcasts by Cox, 1936-1984; Communist Party pamphlets, 1930-1963; and miscellaneous, 1934--1985.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Action: All records have been retained.
Item: 1.1. Action: Condition reviewed. Action identifier: 003844689. Date: 20050208. Authorization: Selected for conservation. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: J. Thomas. Status: Printed volume : stained pages, pH reading 5.00, no binding survives. Institution: WlAbNL.
Item: 1.2. Action: Conserved. Action identifier: 003844689. Date: 20050415. Authorizing institution: NLW. Action agent: J. Jenkins. Status: Printed volume : deacidiified affected pages and rebound in hinged boards. Institution: WlAbNL.
Accruals
Accruals are not expected.
System of arrangement
Arranged into the following: autobiography; correspondence; lectures; speech notes; political writings; and miscellaneous.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Readers consulting modern papers in the National Library of Wales are required to sign the 'Modern papers - data protection' form.
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright regulations apply.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
English, Welsh.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
A hard copy of the catalogue is available in Minor Lists and Summaries 1991, pp. 17-20, at the National Library of Wales.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title supplied from contents of fonds
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Project identifier
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Communist Party of Great Britain. (Subject)
- Communist Party of Great Britain. Wales District. (Subject)
- Communist Party of Great Britain. South Wales District. (Subject)
- Cox, Idris -- Archives. (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Description follows ANW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.;AACR2; and LCSH
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
May 2005
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Compiled by Annette Strauch and Martin Locock for the ANW project. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: NLW, Minor Lists and Summaries 1991; Communist History Network Newsletter, 12 (http://les1.man.ac.uk/chnn/CHNN12CPW.html).