Saunders Lewis' lecture inspired college students to found Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Society, during a Plaid Cymru summer school in 1962. In February of 1963 the first mass protest was held-members of the society blocked traffic on the Trefechan Bridge in Aberystwyth. Despite being fined and imprisoned, Cymdeithas yr Iaith continued its nonviolent protest activities. They went to far as to damage government property such as road signs, removing or painting over English-only signposts.
The ever-growing cost of these actions to the government, combined with the mounting nationalist movement, eventually prodded the government into re-examining the issue of the Welsh language. One of the first concessions was the Welsh Language Act of 1967, which began to provide for government forms in Welsh and English, and was the first step towards giving Welsh equal legal status with English.
Though a lot of work still needed to be done, such as campaigning for Welsh-language media and a more comprehensive Welsh Language Act, one of the biggest obstacles to the survival of the Welsh language was finally breaking down-making Welsh citizens themselves aware and actively involved. The role of Saunders Lewis and his pivotal speech in spurring this forward momentum cannot be overestimated. To see the text of his lecture in Welsh, and to read more about Lewis' role in linguistic activism, please visit the following sites:
Ymgyrchu! (LLGC--National Library of Wales)
Go Britannia! Wales
The following was also of help to me in writing this article:
Bell, Brian, Ed. Insight Guide: Wales. Singapore: APA Publications, 1998.
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