Can''t Pay, Won''t Pay - The Fight to Stop the Poll Tax

Thirty years ago, a social movement helped bring down one of the most powerful British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century. For the 30th anniversary of the Poll Tax rebellion, Simon Hannah looks back on those tumultuous days of resistance, telling the story of the people that beat the bailiffs, rioted for their rights and defied a government.

Starting in Scotland where the 'Community Charge' was first trialled, Can't Pay, Won't Pay immerses the reader in the gritty history of the rebellion. Amidst the drama of large scale protests and blockaded estates a number of key figures and groups emerge: Neil Kinnock and Tommy Sheridan; Militant, Class War and the Metropolitan Police.

Assessing this legacy today, Hannah demonstrates the centrality of the Poll Tax resistance as a key chapter in the history of British popular uprisings, Labour Party factionalism, the anti-socialist agenda and failed Tory ideology.

List of contents

Preface

Introduction

1. A Brief History of Tax Resistance and Revolutions

2. Why a Poll Tax?

3. Scotland

4. Debates Over Strategy

5. The Resistance Begins

6. The Battle of Trafalgar (Square)

7. A Ragtag Army

8. Endgame

9. Social Movements, Class and Strategy

Conclusion: A System Shaken or Broken?

Notes

Index

About the author

Simon Hannah is a writer, activist, and trade unionist living in South London. He is an assistant branch secretary in UNISON and has written several books, including A Party With Socialists In It: A History of the Labour Left, which was a Guardian Book of the Day.

Summary

A history of the social movement that brought down Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

Product details

• Authors: Simon Hannah
• Publisher: Pluto
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.03.2020
• EAN: 9780745340814
• ISBN: 978-0-7453-4081-4
• No. of pages: 192
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, European History, Political Ideologies, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Affairs & Administration, Political activism, British & Irish history, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Public Administration, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, Political ideologies and movements, Political activism / Political engagement