"A few hundred anti pole tax protesters (the ones that caused the main problems) closed bits of central London, caused damage to buildings etc, but managed to get massive TV coverage and eventually the end of the pole tax as it was then."
Gerry, with respect, it wasn’t quite like you described.
Nearly 250,000 people marched on London that day in 1990 and millions more in cities across the UK.
I resided in Scotland at the start of the 89/ 90 financial year when the Tories used the Scots as guinea pigs, introducing the poll tax a year before England and Wales. In electoral terms, they are still paying the political price north of the border for that decision, to this day.
I actively joined the anti-poll tax movement in June 89, by which time the campaign was building momentum.
Local groups opposed to the tax, calling themselves Anti-Poll-Tax Unions (APTUs), were formed throughout 1989, and there were an estimated one thousand in Britain by the end of the year. In opposing the poll tax The APTUs adopted a variety of tactics, including encouraging non-payment, organizing protest marches, and resisting bailiffs.
Community networks were set up to look out for and resist bailiffs, and the operation was such a success that debt collecting firms in some areas went out of business. Edinburgh saw APTUs patrolling areas with cars and radios to watch for bailiffs, and in London cab drivers carried out the same role. Baliffs offices were occupied, and in Scotland hundreds of people, myself included, successfully defended houses against the forced entry and removal of goods by sheriff officers.
The ever increasing numbers of protesters were starting to play ‘hard ball’ and by August of 1990 one in five had yet to pay, with figures reaching up to 27% of people in London. 20 million people were summoned for non-payment. Many local authorities were faced with a crisis, and councils faced a deficit of £1.7 billion for the next year.
The dogged determination of millions of ordinary people continued in to the autumn culminating in a government u-turn and the resignation of the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in November of 1990, [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
I know this post is long winded (campaigns usually are), but my point is that if you believe in something strongly enough, sometimes you have to be prepared to remove the boxing gloves and fight the opposition toe-to-toe.
