Now, it argues that "the mass civil disobedience that confronted the poll tax - especially the Trafalgar Square riot - fatally wounded Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher." (Fifteen years since the poll tax revolt)
Then, it argued that "no socialist believes rioting will beat the poll tax." (Socialist Worker, 7/4/1990)
Now the party talks about how people formed "anti poll tax groups, unions and federations, pledging not to pay."
Then, the party was warning of "the danger that community politics divert people from the means to win" and arguing that only strike action, not non-payment, would defeat the tax. ("Socialists and the Struggle Against the Poll Tax", SWP Pamphlet).
It was in only the late spring of 1990 that the party dropped this line and joined with the anarchists and Militant in arguing for the collective class power of community based non-payment.
We wonder why the SWP did not consider those facts worthy of mention in their account of the defeat of the poll tax and what lessons we should draw from it?