voter, but I have a sneaking suspicion that on this occasion his cross went next to the box with the prefix "Scottish Militant".
I won't speculate further as to whether A Time to Rage was influential in this regard, other than to say that it is a book which is clearly aimed at the likes of my friend.
Sheridan is telling the history of two Scottish movements. On the face of it, it is the origins and development of the anti-poll tax movement, Interwoven (with reasonable subtlety) with the first history is the second: the origins, development and ultimate adoption by Militant throughout Britain of the "Scottish turn" in Sheridan's own words.
Certainly, this is one good reason why the book is not just a history but a polemic (and a good polemic at that) against notions of the "end of history" or the "death of socialism".
Further, and with particular relevance to the anti-poll tax movement, he also takes issue AN cond HE BEAT ULL TAX THE with anarchism arguing that:
"Here we were, involving hundreds of thousands of people in a mass movement for civil disobedience... Unless there's an organisation to give people a clear direction and keep them involved, you will lose them."
I can't disagree with that. Naturally he has Militant Labour in mind. Yet when we are given a ring-side seat to Militant's internal debates I for one was left a little perplexed.
One could be forgiven for believing that Militant had always been a public organisation -that the break from the Labour Party was completely troublefree and merely a logical step. say, is a little disingenuous to say the least. It is a sanitised history for the first-time reader.
Most will neither notice nor care, but it is a flaw in what is otherwise an excellent fusion of recent working-class history with simple (but not simplistic) socialist propaganda.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 67, August 1994, Page 17