Brynmawr Experiment

The Brynmawr Experiment was an effort led by the visionary idealist Peter Scott to address issues of poverty and unemployment in Brynmawr, South Wales between 1929 and 1939. Initially a relief project response of the Quakers in South East England, it grew first into an effort to set up small industries and finally an ambitious utopian subsistence agriculture project for unemployed workers. Having received large amounts of money from government and private donations, the projects barely made a profit throughout their existence and finally closed in 1939. The official reason for their closure was that unemployment was wiped out due to the opening of local armament factories in the wake of the Second World War, but credit and government loans were also not extended which meant that the projects could not continue.

The 1920s were a decade of economic decline in the South Wales Coalfield as a whole and in particular in the town of Brynmawr. Geographically, Brynmawr sits at the northern side of the coalfield and had little industry, and so people tended to need to commute to work elsewhere. When these industries slumped, workers in Brynmawr had few alternatives. The Quakers also had good relations with the town of Worthing which enabled and encouraged the initial work. The inclusion of international volunteers at Brynmawr is recognised by the International Voluntary Service as the organisations founding moment. By the end of 1931, volunteers had built a swimming pool, a children's paddling pool and a park in land donated by the Duke of Beaufort and contributed a total of 47,000 man days of labour.

Peter Scott's vision for the transformation of Brynmawr involved the creation of small industrial workshops which would bring sustainable work to unemployed workers. A local unused boot factory was bought in 1930 and funding sought to attempt different ideas. Once £6000 had been raised, ultimately cutting himself off from the Quaker central committees following disagreements about grants and funding for his projects. Scott believed that the work in Brynmawr could raise money itself and worked to apply directly for money from the Government. was brought in to the work in Brynmawr and set about developing a particular style even though the initial premises and tools were rudimentary and shared with the bootmaking business. An order of 250 oak chairs for a school in Yorkshire was the first big order

The final part of Peter Scott's vision for work in the Brynmawr area was what he called The Subsistence Production Societies. The concept was that in return for voluntary work for the project, members would be able to buy goods and produce at a much lower price than they could buy in the local shops. Under an agreement made with the Government in 1936, unemployed insured workers could continue to collect "dole" payments if they volunteered for the SPS and were available for work if any came available. It was decided to expand to form a second SPS with the purchase of two farms nearer Brynmawr and the opening of a coal level. leading to the Labour party and Miners' Federation declaring that they were against the plans and that all work should be paid at Union rates. This meant that those who continued to be involved in the projects risked shunning. This led to conflict with local Communists, shopkeepers, co ops and trade unions. In response to comments in a speech by the Prime Minister praising the work in Brynmawr, members of Brynmawr Urban Council wrote back that the praise was unwarranted, that some of the experimental work had already stopped and that the others were not very useful for the unemployed. The Brynmawr Experiment opened and closed various enterprises causing discontent from those who had lost work and felt left behind. The Order was felt to be a "privileged", distant group. The management, in particular Jim Forrester, was seen as perfectionist and made too many decisions on their own.

In 1938, the government opened an ordnance depot at Glascoed which provided work for many members of the Subsistence Production Societies and made operations more difficult for the remaining members. In the summer of 1939, most operations stopped due to a lack of bank credit and 28 older men were taken on as paid employees but by December 1939 all operations stopped, the business was liquidated and the properties put up for auction. The SPS had spent nearly £100,000 of government funds, together with an additional £50,000 private donations.