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The Battle Against the Poll Tax To introduce legislation even more biased in favour of the rich, and even more damaging financially to millions of ordinary workers than anything gone before, would be hard going given the record of the present Tory government. With the introduction of the poll tax however, Thatcher's government has surpassed anything that has gone The Tories have selected Scotland as the first area of the country to suffer the consequences of the poll tax. It is a testimony to the terrible effects of the tax that even a year before its introduction it has become the most topical political issue in Scotland tor decades. hundreds of thousands of workers are dreading its consequences, but, very significantly, are prepared to implementation.
fight to stop Already public meetings of hundreds have taken place in housing schemes and bonfire nights organised where registration forms have been collectively burned. In some schemes registration "separated' from officers have been their forms which have then been disposed of in the nearest river! The poll tax will replace domestic rates when it becomes law in Scotland in 1989 and in England and Wales in 1990. A flat rate charge will be set by each local authority at the beginning of each financial year. Unlike rates it is a tax on the individual, not on property. The requirement to pay the tax does not relate to financial ability to pay. People on low incomes will pay exactly the same amount as those on high incomes in the same area. This will mean a massive increase in local taxation on working class people-many living in damp, squalid housing-and a decrease for the rich living in luxury homes. At the time of the general election the Tories claimed that the average poll tax would be around £200 per person. The revised estimate, however, calculated by officials in local government, is that the average poll tax will be between £400-£450 per person. This will have devastating effects for thousands of working class families. A family of four, for example, in one of Glasgow's housing schemes, who at present pay £450 a year in rates, would face a poll tax bill of £1,764, an increase of £1,314 a year.
Contrast this with the rich who will benefit financially like Tory MP and By Eddie Donaghy Junior Minister, Michael Forsyth. At present Forsyth pays £1,727 rates for his luxury home in Stirling. Under the poll tax he will pay £498, a saving of £l,299 each year! The Tories attitude that the poor do not pay enough in taxes and the rich pay too much can be summed up in Nicholas Ridley's recent statement, "why should a Duke pay more than a While Scotland will be the first to bear the brunt of the tax a similar situation will occur in England Wales. Sheffield City Council have estimated that 91% of 2-adult households Ridley: to pay the same as a dustman. and 93% of 3-adult households will lose out financially when the poll tax is 1990, while every household with 4 or more adults will lose out. In inner cities generally the average 2-adult family will be toy a year worse off while the average 3-adult family will be £1,147 a year worse oft. Every section of the working class will be forced to pay the tax. Even the poorest sections will have to pay at least 20%, added to water rates which people will now have to pay. However, in its You and the Community Charge the government re- assuringly states that water rates will have to be paid "only if your home is connected to a public water supply"! This will be marvellous news for the crofters in the remote Highlands but not so good for a family living in a high rise tenement in Glasgow or Edinburgh. The only people exempt will be the severely mentally handicapped, a serving prisoner, a long term hospital patient and those mainly resident in residential homes. As with all Tory legislation the tax discriminates against the low paid, women, pensioners and youth. Young people have been at the sharp end of Tory policy. Thatcher's Britain has seen record levels of youth unemployment, poverty and homelessness. Because the poll tax is a flat rate charge it will hit the Since 1979 the low paid hardest.
government has institutionalised low pay for young people. In 1979, 18-20 year olds earned an average 60.8% of the wages of those aged 21 and over. By 1987 this proportion had declined to 53.9%. As a result 80% of 18-20 year olds earn below the Council of Europe's 'Decency Threshold' of £135 a week. Young people will therefore be doubly exploited by the Tories: forced onto cheap labour schemes and forced to pay the same poll tax as their employer who could be earning 20 times a young workers' salary. Young people are two and a half times more likely than others to be living in households with 3 or more adults-where poll tax bills will be highest. With massive poll tax bills this will increase family tensions, forcing many young people to leave home. There is no doubt that many young people will go 'on the run' to avoid being financially crippled by the poll tax. In the mistaken belief that by not registering to vote they can avoid paying the tax, literally thousands of youth will be taken off the electoral register thus losing one of the few democratic rights they have under this Tory regime.
The poll tax will be a nightmare for millions of working class women. Many women work part time in poorly paid jobs-finding an extra £200-£300 a year will cause considerable stress. Women's gross hourly earnings in 1986 were only 75% that of men's. In getting the same poll tax bills, women will be paying more than men proportionate to their incomes. In addition, today there are an estimated 5 million women caring for their sick or elderly parents whose ability to go out to work is severely restricted. Under the old system carers 7
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988 Poll
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have been Under the ped.
Black and Asian families will be crippled under the poll tax, with 11% of West Indian households and 29% of Asian households containing 6 or more adults. These families could face poll tax bills in some of the inner cities in excess of £3,000 a year. Finally, according to Age Concern, one third of pensioners will be £5 a week worse off.
The poll tax will therefore be a financial nightmare for millions of families affecting the most deprived and downtrodden sections of British society. It will increase the yawning gulf that exists between Britain's rich and poor. According to a recent study by the Low Pay Unit, the poorest 20% of workers earned only 64% of the average income in 1987, compared with 69% in 1886! The highest paid now earn more relative to the average than at any time since 1906. Thatcher's vision of going back to Victorian values has become a reality for Britain's low paid. While some in the labour movement speak of the 'old fashioned', 'out of date' idea of class politics, the reality is that a class divide runs through Britain like a Berlin Wall. The need for the labour movement, armed with a socialist programme, to smash these class barriers and eradicate the gulf between rich and poor has never been greater.
eligible poll tax
for this
rate will
rebates.
be scrap-
Identity cards
Inevitably millions of workers will attempt to avoid registration for the poll tax. The Tories however will go to every length to collect the tax. A massive and costly apparatus is being set up to track people down to collect payment. Nicholas Ridley, the Tory Environment Minister, has already admitted that there will have to be an army of snoopers to check that everyone will pay.
The government has stated that it will use its powers to gain access to personal records or any other records to track people down. This could lead to the demand to see name and address lists maintained by trade unions, labour movement organisations, or pressure groups. The government intends to enforce registration of the poll tax amongst students by instructing university authorities to issue identification certificates. This will mean students having to carry poll tax identification cards.
Since 1979 the Tories have introduced 20 different pieces of legislation on local government finance designed to reduce the power of Labour authorities. Poll tax will mean local
authorities controlling only 20% of their income since business rates will be legally tied to the rate of inflation. With the government certain to carry out further cuts in rate support grant (the level has been cut from 36.2% in 1983-84 to 30.3% in 1986-87) then it is likely, given an inflation rate of 5%, that in Scotland's big cities the poll tax will rise to around £1,000 per person within 2-3 years.
Labour local authorities face catastrophe under the poll tax. There can be no doubt that behind the current proposals is the Tories' long term aim to privatise much of local government and charge directly for services provided Thatcher's model for local government is the American local authorities where services are provided on a private basis with councillors meeting once or twice a year to select contractors. Consequently, services in America are out of reach to the poorest section of society.
The concept of a poll tax was first introduced as far back as 1974. In 1981 the Tories drew up a green paper on the poll tax which was subsequently dropped. There is no doubt that this was due to the massive unpopularity of the Tories at this time, with Thatcher's standing in the polls the lowest of any prime minister on record. Their weak position then was highlighted by the miners when they forced the government to retreat over proposed pit closures.
However, following their victory in the 1983 general election- achieved as a consequence of the Falklands war-it became clear that Labour authorities and local government would be the focus of Tory attacks. These attacks were prepared for consciously, like the miners strike, to weaken local authorities and pave the way for the poll tax. As a result Labour local authorities face a battle to defend local democracy. The lesson of Liverpool taking on the Tories and forcing concessions from them in 1984 should be taken on board. Indeed if Labour councils had stood and fought like Liverpool in a united campaign against the government in 1984- 85, which undoubtedly would have forced the Tories to retreat, poll tax would not be introduced today. That 'weakness invites aggression' is all too apparent now with the biggest attack on local government in British history. The 'dented shield' policy of Neil Kinnock and the ex-lefts of the Labour Coordinating Committee has been totally exposed and discredited. The future of local government is at stake. There is now no option; the labour movement must organise a mass campaign to defeat the poll tax.
The battle against the poll tax in Scotland will be a dress rehearsal for the
wider battle in England and Wales. In the last general election the Tories were reduced to a rump with only 10 out of 72 Scottish MPs compared with Labour's 50. The Tories have therefore picked a difficult terrain on which to launch the 'flagship' of Thatcher's third term.
Scotland has a far higher proportion of council house tenants than any part of Britain with 50% of houses being council stock. In Glasgow the figure is even higher at 62%. Already, before a mass campaign has got underway, and without any serious lead from the Scottish TUC (STUC) or Labour Party, anti-poll tax organisations have sprouted up in towns and cities all over Scotland. Community organisations previously defunct have burst into life. Meetings against the poll tax are attracting hundreds in the housing schemes. Pensioners, youth, students, parents, are making their voice heard-many speaking up politically for the first time. Their message is coming out loud and clear-stop the poll tax!
This is borne out in the opinion polls. Over 70% oppose the poll tax and, according to a recent poll for STV, 56%, including 71% of Labour voters, support a non-payment campaign. If translated into action that would mean 2 million people refusing to pay the poll tax, resulting in the biggest campaign of civil disobedience ever seen in Britain. The effect of 100,000 striking miners transformed the political and social climate in Britain-a poll tax strike involving upwards of 2 million people would dwarf even the great miners' strike.
Don't
collect, don't
pay
The mythical aura of invincibility that surrounded the Tories was shattered within three weeks of 1988 with the magnificent strike of 38 Manchester nurses. By going on strike the nurses forced the government to abandon their plans to scrap the unsociable hours payment. This action gave enormous encouragement to workers everywhere and was followed by a series of regional strikes involving other groups of workers striking in solidarity with NHS workers. In Scotland on 24 February 100,000 took to the streets in a brilliant demonstration against privatisation of NHS services. The STUC lifted their little finger and were overwhelmed by the response. Given that 70% of Scots oppose the poll tax the potential for a mass movement is staggering.
In order to translate the mass opposition to the poll tax into effective action a united campaign with a worked out strategy and tactics must be developed. Because of its spontaneous character
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the movement against the tax has tended to be fragmented, with various groups pursuing ditterent tactics. In many areas anti-poli tax groups have called for a refusal to register. This carries the penalty of a £50 fine followed by subsequent fines of £200 for further refusals. Full support must be given for anyone who decides not to register, with mass action to defend them against any fines imposed or victimisation. It would be necessary to point out to people the financial penalties involved in this tactic.
Other groups have argued for disrupting the registration through a 'return to sender' campaign in order to delay and complicate registration. To be effective, the campaign of non-registration or obstruction must be co-ordinated. Instead of individuals sending back registration forms, meetings should be organised on a street by street basis where the forms would be filled in and sent away en masse. This would break down the feeling of isolation and generate an atmosphere of solidarity.
With both of these tactics the question must be posed: what next? Both non-registration or obstruction will not stop the poll tax since the government can compile registers trom other sources. The principal element to defeat the poll tax lies in the strategy of mass non- payment. The campaign of obstruction or non-registration should be used to build support for a mass poll tax strike beginning , in April 1989 and continuing until the tax is withdrawn.
Labour councils, in representing the workers who elect them, must refuse to implement the poll tax. The decisions of the Labour controlled Strathclyde and Lothian regional councils, representing 3 million people, to accept the inevitability of the poll tax must be condemned. Anti-poll tax organisations, Labour Parties and trade union branches must apply the maximum pressure to reverse this cowardly policy of retreat and surrender. These councils should follow the examples of Poplar in the 1920s, Clay Cross in the 1970s and, most recently, Liverpool, who drew tens of thousands of families behind their respective battles against the Tories.
The foundations of a mass nonpayment campaign must be laid with public meetings in every housing scheme to explain the issues and set up anti-poll tax unions. The role of these unions is to rally support for nonpayment around the doors. Pledge rallies have been successfully organised by many unions where people attend the meeting and sign a form pledging not to pay the tax. The displaying of No Poll Tax' posters in the housing schemes
DOLL TAL
DETECTOR
VAN
the posters
against the poll tax
generates a feeling of solidarity, power and confidence. Spreading support into the workplaces is essential in strengthening the campaign.
Scotland has a rich history of struggle involving rent strikes, most notably in Glasgow in 1915 when women in particular, with the support of industrial workers, forced the government to cut rents. The lessons of 1915 are particularly relevant to today's battle. Whilst support for the rent strike was solid, it was the movement of the industrial workers that forced the Lloyd George government to back down. Today, given that the local authority trade unions stand to be devastated by the attacks on local government, these unions could play the leading industrial role in the fight against the poll tax. Industrial action by the local authority unions would be a springboard for wider strike action involving not just workers in the public sector but unions in the private sector whose members will be hit by the effects of the tax. The rent strikes all over Britain against the then Tory government's Housing Finance Act in 1972 serves as a more recent example. A mass poll tax strike backed up by industrial action would gain another great victory for the working class.
Out of touch
Unfortunately the Labour leadership is lagging way behind the mood of millions of workers. Neil Kinnock believes the campaign against the poll tax can be won within the confines of parliament with clever debating skills and relying on Tory backbench rebellions.
Much has been made of the Tory rebellions in April against the Local Government Finance Bill. However, the Tory backbench revolt has nothing to do with compassion or fairness but
produced by the Labour Party.
everything to do with fear of the mass opposition towards the tax that is growing in England and Wales. Whe'e was the Tory rebellion over the recent budget which gave tax handouts to the super rich and nothing to the NHS? Michael Mates, leader of the Tory backbench revolt, admitted on Newsnight that the two reasons for the rebellion were "fear of losing Tory supporters and the bill's unfairness": There was no rebellion, however, when the bill was passed through parliament and became law in Scotland in December 1987. Given their battering in the last election, the Tories have obviously given up Scotland as a lost cause. To rely on Tory back bench rebellions is entirely false. Every conscious worker knows that action is required to stop the Tories as the last 8 years have demonstrated.
Despite the attempts of the Labour leaders to sidetrack the debate on the poll tax into safe parliamentary boundaries, the pressure from without from ordinary workers to fight the tax will be reflected inside the Labour Party. This process has already begun with even some MPs on the right wing of the Labour Party being moved by the anger of the Scottish workers. Dick Douglas, the right wing MP for Dunfermline West, resigned as chairman of the Scottish group of Labour MPs in protest at Neil Kinnock's speech at the Labour Party local government conference in February which criticised those prepared to break the law to stop the poll tax. Douglas argued that "anyone who thinks this lady is going to be held up by legislative foibles is kidding themselves on." Then, at the Scottish Labour Party Conference in March, Douglas attacked Neil Kinnock from the rostrum for "leading an army into battle carrying a white flag.
Labour Euro MP Alec Falconer tured the real mood of activists
capand
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workers in Scotland when he referred to the traditions of the Chartists, the suffragettes and workers' leader John MacLean in their preparedness to go all the way, even if it meant breaking the law. On the other hand, the leader of the 'Stop It' campaign in Scotland, Brian Wilson MP, has openly attacked the proponents of non-payment, calling their position 'futile' as it would mean going down the road of financial ruin, which people would not be prepared to do. What Brian Wilson totally misunderstands is not only the scale of support for non-payment that already exists but also that hundreds of thousands of poor families simply will not be able to pay the poll tax.
If the Labour Party leaders were really listening to people's views as their "Labour Listens' campaign claims they would fully support a mass campaign of non-payment to stop the poll tax. If this did happen there would be colossal support for the Labour Party in Scotland which would spread around the rest of Britain.
Tories divided
The support for Liverpool Labour council's heroic struggle against the Tory government received mass support from the workers of that city. The council's stand was the reason for the tremendous support for Labour in the general election of June 1987, when 57% voted Labour in the city. The slogan of the Liverpool labour movement in their heroic battle with the Tories was 'Better to break the Law than to break the Poor' '. Such a siogan adopted by the Scottish labour movement would gain a massive echo with a population movemen that the Septish
working class would be an extremely daunting prospect for the Tories.
The Labour Party leadership argue that non-payment is illegal and therefore unacceptable. However, when a law like the poll tax is opposed by the overwhelming majority, workers do not view defiance as 'lawbreaking' but as a justifiable, indeed necessary, act to prevent such a law being implemented. It did not matter to thousands of Scottish workers on 24 February that in striking with their NHS colleagues, they were breaking the employment act in organising secondary picketing. They saw it as justitiable, necessary action to defend their NHS. Similarly it did not matter to the tens of thousands of workers in Scotland who supported the Caterpillar occupation that these workers' act of defiance was illegal.
Two years before its implementation opinion polls in England and Wales ar
showing 00% opposition to the poll tax. There is open concern amongst Tory MPs that the combined effect of the poll tax and cuts in social security benefits will be a massive ebbing away of support from their party. Had it not been for the intense pressure exherted by the Tory whips in Parliament, many more Tory MPs would have voted against the poll tax, fearing a similar fate to that which afflicted their colleagues in Scotland at the last election and in the May district elections. In the later elections the Tories were pushed into third place, behind the Scottish National Party (SNP), with only 19% of the votes cast. In Strathclyde they achieved only 15%. Of the 53 councils in Scotland the Tories now have majority control in only three.
There is now an open desperation about the Tories future in Scotland amongst many of their leading representatives. The leader of the Conservative group on the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) has stated that the Tories in Scotland were in a "downward spiral which would continue into oblivion unless something was done to alter their policies." However, Michael Forsyth, Tory MP for Stirling, recently stated that the problem for the Conservatives in Scotland was that "Thatcherism has not gone far enough" • This indicates the divisions amongst the Conservatives in Scotland that will be repeated in England and Wales.
The Tories' 'flagship' is set on a course that will bring it into confrontation with millions of working class families. It is lingering like a black cloud over the heads of Tory MPs and coun cillors who fear the consequences of mass opposition to the poll tax. On the horizon. moreover, looms the storm clouds of world economic crisis which passed over briefly in October in the form of the stock exchange crash. A world slump or a recession would have serious consequences for the weak British economy and for the position of the Tories. It would shatter the Tory myth of Britain's 'sound economy' particularly in the south of England where the feeble economic 'boom' had most effect.
Such a scenario combined with mass opposition to the poll tax in the rest of the country would result in open conf- Jict within the Tory Party which would put into the shade the 'skirmishes' between 'wets" and "drys" that have broken out previously. The fact that less than a year after Thatcher's election victory there is open speculation about the next Tory leader indicates the unease in the Tory Party. The declaration of Thatcher that she intends to continue as leader beyond the next
election, with her open contempt for Tory 'wets' like Heseltine and Biffen while wooing the reactionary David Owen to come over to the Tories, will widen these cracks even further, reflecting the divisions in British society.
The Tories would therefore be delighted if the Labour leaders hold back the campaign to the confines of parliament. The Tories will only be moved on the poll tax if they see the organised power of the working class. This was admitted by Malcolm Rifkind, Secretary of State for Scotland, in an interview in The Independent last year. Asked how he would cope with the "sheer weight of numbers (of Scottish Labour MPs) stacked against him in the Commons... Mr Rifkind smiled and said he comforted himself with Hilaire Belloc's couplet: 'Whatever happens, we have got, The Gatling gun, and they have not," The Independent, 23 December 1987. In other words, with an overwhelming majority, the Tories are openly dismissive of purely parliamentary opposition.
Mass action
However, in the same interview, he made the very telling comment that "Politicians always know when something has become essential." Referring to the Scottish Labour Party/ STUC organised Festival of Scottish Democracy held last autumn, he pointed out that "fifty years ago, the Clydesiders could have produced 50,000 people on Glasgow Green to protest at some policy of the wicked Conservatives. Despite the weather, there were still only 3,000 or 4,000 people at the festival." These words are a lesson to those in the labour movement who place more emphasis on organising pressure on the Tories through the churches than mobilising the massed ranks of Scottish workers presently crying out for a lead mobilise 500.000 on the streets of Scot-
land already exists. Such a movement would shake this government to its foundations. The Labour Party and STUC have a responsibility to show to the Tories this massive opposition by naming the date for an all Scotland demonstration.
If the Labour leaders fail to do this, they will be deserting the cause of millions of Scottish workers. If the labour movement does not show a way forward there could be an ebbing away of support from Labour to the opportunism of the SNP and their programme of nationalism, particularly given the fact that they have at least in words a more militant position on the poll tax than the Labour leadership. The first indications of this were demonstrated in
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the May council elections. While the SNP still only control one council, Angus, in the north of Scotland, their vote increased dramatically from 11.7% in the 1984 elections to 21% in May, a result which gained them S1 seats and saw them overtake the Tories who only polled 19%.
The SNP made gains from Labour in some working class areas like West Lothian where Labour lost 4 seats to the SNP. One of these was in Robin Cook's constituency of Livingston where the Labour Party has been consumed in trying to expel Militant supporters. Similarly in Cumbernauld, where Labour also lost ground to the SNP. That many middle class voters and some workers were attracted to the SNP's "radical' position on the poll tax is a clear warning that if the Labour Party leaders continue to ignore the mood in the housing schemes for a fight, the SNP will continue to make headway in Scotland.
As well as the dangers of nationalism, there lurks in the background the possibility of another equally serious development in the absence of a labour movement fightback. The anger towards the poll tax is also mixed with a mood of desperation, particularly after the social security changes which will cripple thousands financially. The Glasgow Evening Times in an article last year entitled "Tensions that could erupt in Revolution' warned of the anger that was smouldering in the West of Scotland that could explode into open fury. It is not ruled out that given this despair, some sections, particularly the youth-some of whom will be 'on the run' to avoid paying the poll tax-could resort to terroristic methods to vent their anger against the state and the Thatcher government. These methods of despair would not, however, force the Tories to back down and could cut across the building of a mass movement against the tax. The only effective way to stop the poll tax is a movement drawing in all sections of the working class and channelling their anger in a collective fight against the Tories.
If the poll tax is implemented, literally tens of thousands of local authority jobs will be under threat. The involvement of local authority unions in the battle against the poll tax is therefore essential. If the local authority union leaders abandon the struggle they will be cutting their own throats and thousands of their members in the GMBATU, TGWU, NALGO and NUPE will lose their jobs. Further, given that local authority workers are in the main low paid they will be amongst the hardest hit by the tax. From all sides the local authority trade unions have a crucial role to play in the fight to stop
ALLETON Glasgow flat dwellers will be hardest hit by the tax.
the poll tax. As yet, however, there has been a wall of silence from the trade union leaders on the poll tax, particularly those representing local authority workers. It is likely that fierce arguments will rage about whether or not a non-payment campaign would threaten jobs. Already the threat of financial crisis inflicting councils is used by opponents of non-payment to limit the struggle to verbal opposition. Under the new financing for local government, however, with the poll tax only accounting for 20% of total local authority income, wages could continue to be paid even if a mass non- payment campaign was underway.
Fight to the
Fundamentally, it is a question of fight now or be smashed later. The local authority unions should prepare the ground for a one day strike against the poll tax by linking in with other groups of workers and local anti-poll tax unions. The STUC have the responsibility to call and lead a one day strike in Scotland against the poll tax.
The poll tax is one of the worst attacks the Tories have launched on the working class. The experience of the miners strike and Liverpool council's fight has shown that any battle with this government is a fight to the finish. These struggles have also shown the need for correct tactics and strategy: determination is not enough. With correct tactics and strategy, and a preparedness to see the struggle
through to the end, through mass action the poll tax can be stopped. A victory for the Scottish working class would have massive repercussions throughout Britain, giving enormous confidence to all workers, and would represent the beginning of the end of Thatcher's brutal regime.
HOW FIGHT
POLL
01
LE
Almilitant PUBLICATION
Written and produced by Scottish Militant supporters, this new pamphlet is available from: 041 221 1443.
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