Annie Powell

Annie Powell (8 September 1906 – 29 August 1986) was a Welsh Communist politician, teacher, and trade unionist who served as Mayor of Rhondda from 1979 to 1980, making her the first Communist mayor in Wales and widely recognised as the first female Communist mayor in Britain. She was educated at Pentre Grammar School before attending Glamorgan Training College, Barry, in the 1920s to train as a teacher. When she started teaching at Trebanog and later in Trealaw during the Great Depression, she witnessed the great degree of poverty faced by the schoolchildren and their families: "The poverty of the children hit me really hard". She initially joined the Labour Party, but was impressed by the emphasis laid on theory and action by the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). At one time she was the party's women's organiser.

She said in one interview that she had learnt valuable lessons from such Communists as Arthur Horner, Harry Pollitt, Will Paynter, Jack Davies, and the South Walian Jack Jones. The confrontation successfully forced the BUF to abandon their rally after just thirty minutes, marking their last attempt to hold a meeting in Wales.

Electoral campaigns

Powell contested Rhondda East for the party at several general elections from 1955. At the general election of 1959 she secured 4,580 votes.

As such, she is often said to have been Britain's only Communist mayor, although Finlay Hart had held an equivalent post as provost in Clydebank and Joe Vaughan in Bethnal Green can also claim to be the first Communist mayor in Britain.

A blue plaque was unveiled in her honour on 6 June 2025 at Valleys Kids' Soar Centre in Penygraig, reading "Annie Powell. An inspiring social campaigner, respected across political divides." The application for the blue plaque was made by Dr Chris Chapman, former chair of Women's Archive Wales, working with Darren Macey of Rhondda Heritage.