The All Britain Anti Poll Tax Federation, commonly known as "the Fed", was an organisation in Great Britain to co-ordinate the activities of local Anti-Poll Tax Unions (APTUs) campaigning against the

Poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

(officially the "Community Charge") brought in by

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

's Conservative government in 1989 (Scotland) and 1990 (England and Wales). The BBC technicians' union,

Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance The Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance (BETA) was a short-lived British entertainment trade union. It was founded in 1984 with the merger of the Association of Broadcasting Staff and the National Association of Theatrical Televisio ...

(Beta) affiliated to the Fed, unlike many other trade unions.

Formation

In November 1989 the All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation was set up largely by the

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as a national body which included many Anti-Poll Tax Unions. Prior to the first conference of the Fed, a steering committee was organised by 20 regional anti-poll tax federations, with

Tommy Sheridan Tommy Sheridan (born 7 March 1966) is a Scottish politician who served as convenor of Solidarity from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 1998 to 2004 and as co-convenor of Solidarity from 2 ...

as chair and had gained the support of 15 Labour MPs. The first conference was held at Manchester Free Trade Hall on 25 November 1989, attracting around 2000 delegates. It elected a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer as well as a wider steering committee. Fraternal greetings were given by Douggie Daniels from the Manchester Confederation of Engineering Unions, Ken Strath deputy leader of Manchester City Council and a representative from the ambulance workers. The Scottish Fed had been established a year earlier.Militant (1991) ''We Beat The Poll Tax'' p. 5

Mass non-payment campaign

The Fed argued for a mass campaign of non-payment of the poll tax, as had been adopted at its founding conference. This view was opposed by some Labour MPs such as Harry Barnes but was supported by groups such as the militant (socialist party) the Socialist Workers Party. Eventually, up to 18 million people refused to pay the tax. The committee called a demonstration in London for 31 March 1990. Three days before the event, organisers realised the march would be larger than 60,000 (the capacity of Trafalgar Square) and asked permission from the MPS and the

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

to divert the march to

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. The request was denied.

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

Critical Eye documentary, "Battle of Trafalgar", 9 July 1990, Despite TV

Demonstrations

The first demonstrations organised by the Fed were the 200,000 strong demonstration in London, parts of which turned into the

Poll Tax Riots The poll tax riots were a series of riots in British towns and cities during protests against the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), introduced by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The largest pr ...

, and a simultaneous 50,000 strong demonstration in Glasgow on 31 March 1990. Federation leaders Tommy Sheridan and Steve Nally criticised the participants of the riot, and were said to promise to "name names". However, Militant claimed that this was "totally false" and criticised those such as

Roy Hattersley Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, (born 28 December 1932) is a British Labour Party politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook for over 32 years from 1964 to 1997, and served as Depu ...

who had called for punishment of those involved. They also organised a 50,000 strong march in London the following year on 23 March 1991.

Officers

*Chair –

(Glasgow) *Secretary – Steve Nally (Lambeth) *Treasurer – Maureen Reynolds (Manchester) *Communications Officer – Kevin Miles (Wallsend) – elected in 1990Taaffe, P. (1995) ''The Rise of Militant'', London, Militant Publications p. 355

References

External links

Militant's Proud Role in defeating the poll taxDanny Burns ''Poll Tax Rebellion''

reviewed by Wildcat UK

Catalogue of the ABAPTF archives
held at the

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...