For 11 years Thatcher's vicious Tory government has systematically attacked the living standards and right to organise of the working class. At every stage, the response of the "new realist' leaders of the Labour Party, and Trade unions has been pathetic - not only refusing to lead a fight-back, but taking on the Tories policies as their For many working class people the unfair and regressive Poll Tax is the last straw. The so-called flagship of the third Tory term has become à source of continuing crisis. As Thatcher slumps in the polls, it is clear that opposition to the poll tax will be crucial in determining the outcome of the next election.
Fourteen million people in England, Scotland and Wales still refuse to pay their poll tax. As tens of thousands take to the streets in the mass movement against the tax, cuts in local services and jobs are everywhere on the agenda - including in Labour-led councils which find themselves implementing Tory cuts.
Socialist Outlook supporters have long been fighting against cuts in jobs and services, through local government unions and the Labour Party. We are actively involved in building the anti-poll tax movement up and down the country.
In this pamphlet we examine what lies behind the poll tax crisis. We look at how the labour movement can make sure it is the Tories who pay the political price of the poll tax rather than the working class. We argue that only a mass campaign of resistance - linking the non-payment movement, local government workers and the left - can ensure that the poll tax crisis is not turned against the working class through the decimation of jobs and services in local government.
November 1990