However, the party's members believed its founding was an achievement in itself; "merely by existing, the party was a declaration of the distinctiveness of Wales", wrote Dr Davies. In these early years Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru published a monthly paper called Y Ddraig Goch (the Red Dragon, the national symbol of Wales) and held an annual summer school. H. R. Jones, the party's full-time secretary, established a few party branches, while Valentine served as party president between 1925 and 1926. In the UK General Election of 1929, Valentine stood for Caernarfon and polled 609 votes. Later they became known as 'the Gallant Six Hundred' when Dafydd Iwan immortalised them in song. By 1932 the aims of self government and Welsh representation at the League of Nations had been added to that of preserving Welsh language and culture. However, this move, and the party's early attempts to develop an economic critique, did not lead to the broadening of its appeal beyond that of an intellectual and socially conservative Welsh-language pressure group. The Lewis Doctrine 1926–1939 During the inter-war years, Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru was most successful as a social and educational pressure group rather than as a political party. For Saunders Lewis, party president 1926–1939, "the chief aim of the party [is] to 'take away from the Welsh their sense of inferiority... to remove from our beloved country the mark and shame of conquest.'" Lewis sought to cast Welshness into a new context, wrote Dr Davies. Lewis wished to demonstrate how Welsh heritage was linked as one of the "founders of European civilisation". Lewis, a self-described "strong monarchist", wrote, "Civilisation is more than an abstraction. It must have a local habitation and name. Here its name is Wales." Additionally, Lewis strove for the stability and well-being of Welsh-speaking communities, decried both capitalism and socialism and promoted what he called perchentyaeth: a policy of "distributing property among the masses". Broadcasting campaigns and 1931 Census With the advent of broadcasting in Wales, Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru protested the lack of Welsh-language programmes in Wales and launched a campaign to withhold licence fees. Pressure was successful, and by the mid-1930s more Welsh-language programming was broadcast, with the formal establishment of a Welsh regional broadcasting channel by 1937. According to the 1931 census, out of a population of just over 2.5 million, the percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales had dropped to 36.8%, with Ynys Môn recording the