together we can defeat key questions that have to be Organisation Is needed to turn popular feeling into real power
The attempted imposition of the poll tax by the Thatcher government has resulted in the develop- ment of one of the most significant movements in British politics for a very long time. The govern- ment has been shaken more seriously than at any time in the last ten years and Thatcher's own position within the Tory party has been jeopard- ised. But while the movement against the tax has enormous potential, whether it is final- ly capable of defeating the Tories depends to a large ex- tent on the strategies it pur- sues. There are a number of addressed, debated and resolved correctly. The movement must be or- ganised in a way that involves the greatest number of supporters possible. Terrified of non-payment Crucial to this are the issues and demands around which action is organised - and that participation at all levels is encouraged. The relationship between the anti-poll tax move- ment itself and the official labour movement must be developed and strengthened. The dead hand of new realism reduces opposition to the tax to a tokenistic level. The trade union bureaucracy, far from welcoming the develop- ment of mass action against the tax, is terrified that militancy on this issue will wreck Labour's electoral image. So both the Labour leadership and the TUC have put far more energy into denouncing non-payment than into mobilising people against the tax. Opposition to the poll tax is extremely diverse. New forces coming into activity have been hungry for political ideas, and have lis- tened to those that seem to have a under- standing of the way to defeat the tax, and a commitment to doing so. Those involved range from dissident Tories to anarchists, from people who have never been involved in ac- tivity before to seasoned campaigners. But Page 6
FEATURES Poll tax: Thatcher!
By Theresa Conway within the organised anti-poll tax movement the forces of the far left are relatively strong. Supporters of Militant in particular have key positions of leadership at many levels of the movement, and as such have a particular responsibility for influencing the direction it takes - for better or worse.
Millions have taken action against the tax, in a myriad of different ways - but only a small proportion of these are involved in any ongoing way in anti-poll tax groups. A conscious struggle is required to maximise participation and democracy throughout the movement conducting discussions in the most accesible and non-sectarian way possible.
Behind closed doors
The reality is that at various different levels, from small local groups to the Federation's founding conference, there has been a tendency for decisions to be made behind closed doors and inadequate opportunity for open debate. While a range of political forces have been involved in such manoeuvres it is the majority leadership of the Federation -supporters of Militant - must take particular responsibility for them. Without a conscious struggle against such practices the potential power of mass hostility to Thatcher's tax will
John Harns (N not be fully realised.
Within the movement there are many differences about the way forward. Initially the key debate was over the significance of a policy of mass non-payment with forces on the right either seeing this as ultra-left or only of marginal importance. The scale of mass non-payment in Scotland and increasing sup port for such action in England and Wales has succeeded in convincing the vast majority of activists that this is indeed an absolutely crucial tool for the movement. Some of those who are unhappy about this direction have drifted out of the movement, either as individuals or because the rival groups they set up have collapsed through lack of support. Others, to their credit, have been prepared to work for the goals agreed by the majority, while continuing to voice their dissent.
Non-collection
There have been sharp debates too about the issue of non-implementation by trade unions and non-collection by councils. Those forces who opposed non-payment as ultra-leftist law breaking have even more emphatically condemned the idea that either trade unions or councils should take decisive action against the tax. They have pinned their hopes instead
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 25, June 1990
community not the workplace. The SWP The fight against cuts Is key for the antl-poll tax campaign
on a propaganda campaign against the evils of the tax, and being content to wait for a Labour govemment.
But even amongst those committed to SACK
TORIES non-payment, there have been disagree- TENEMLES ments. The forces of the soft left have argued that it is incorrect to demand councils MALGO should not collect the tax, and have also opposed non-implementation by trade unionists, although they favour various forms of obstruction. A variety of arguments have been put forward ranging from the idea that non-collection would result in the devastation of local services, to the notion that it is incorrect to ask individual councillors to face the risk of surcharge. Such arguments are a repeat of the discussion around ratecapping; again the idea of the 'dented shield' rears its ugly head.
Differences on the left
Within the left of the movement there have also been differences. The position of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in particular has been erratic and opportunist. Initially their attitude was typically syndicalist; that only trade union action could defeat the tax and that non-payment was either irrelevant or at best extremely secondary because it was based in the completely failed to understand that the best conditions for building trade union action was the existence of a strong, confident, organisation of non-payers which can and will support such action. They ignore the fact that every trade unionist will be expected to pay the tax, and will need support not only in their workplace but on their estate or in their street in order to resist.
When it became clear that there was a strong mood for mass non-payment existed, they changed their position and began to support it. But in many areas they have campaigned on estates and in workplaces, outside the federations or at a tangent to them. They have used the support that exists for the anti-poll tax movement to build their own organisation not to involve people in the broader movement. Such sectarianism is highly irresponsible - it puts the needs of the SWP as a group before that of the class as a whole. The practical result of activity such as this will be that many people who oppose the tax may not become involved in the movement; others will rapidly become disillusioned by this sort of behaviour.
The All-Britain Federation has a formal position of support for non-collection and non-implementation, but the reality is that the majority of the Federation leadership have done little until recently to concretise work around either. Despite the fact that Militant have a significant number of supporters who are councillors there has been no real push either inside or outside the council chamber to make this aspect of the campaign more SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 25, June 1990
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central. There has been no organisation of
councillors opposed to the tax - although
moves towards this have recently been made.
But it is on the question of organising in
the unions that the greatest problems have
arisen with Militant supporters. Over recent
months there has been sporadic action by dif-
ferent groups of workers against the poll tax,
growth of mass non-payment in
England and Wales begins to lay the basis fo
further action. Significant layers of trade "Unity in action by the whole of the anti-poll tax movement, together with left activists in the trade unions is the only way to defeat the union bureaucracy and force industrial action against
the tax"
union militants increasingly recognise that the
poll tax is a trade union issue and there is the
potential in a number of unions for mounting a
defeating the new realist leaderships on this
Not only in the local government unions,
but more generally in the labour movement an
understanding is developing that the threat to