A bit of a history lesson. It is claimed MaCcoll instigated the folk revival. I would claim it was the BBC giving airtime to the likes of Dylan and Baez.
I had not heard of the critics    until decades after I last attended the Surbiton Assembly rooms, but the Folk club was providing entertainment, the critics instruction.
I think the dates clearly indicate the interest existed, and was pandered to by the BBC, before the critics were even formed. Julie Felix was In 1964 the first solo folk performer signed to a major British record label, when she gained a recording contract with Decca Records. By 1968 she was reportedly the first folksinger to fill the Royal Albert Hall. Also Robin Hall and Jimmiw Macgregor were stalwarts of the The Hoot'nanny Show in 1963/4



The ballad and blues club 1952
The critics 1965(mid)
Surbiton assembly rooms folk club formed 1961 by Dereck Searjant and Gerry Lochran. Biggest folk club in Britain at it's peak 23000 members

Discography
Bob Dylan 31.03.1965 THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' No9 in the charts
Joan Baez 18.07.1964 JOAN BAEZ IN CONCERT VOLUME 2 no 8 in album charts
JOAN BAEZ NO. 5 No 3 in Album charts 19.06.1965
JOAN BAEZ No 9 in album charts 27.11.65
FAREWELL ANGELINA No 5 in album charts 27.11.65
The best album credited to Ewan MacColl is Second Shift which is ranked number 50,637 in the overall greatest album chart with a total rank score of 7.
Ewan MacColl is ranked number 21,815 in the overall artist rankings with a total rank score of 7.

That MaCcol exerted an influence and created a legacy is undisputed.However I think the prominence given to the MaCcoll in the folk revival is undeserved. The real ones with the influence were those selling records and getting airtime, because they reached and entertained a much wider audience.