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<v Speaker 1>Hi, and welcome back to the Working Class History Podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>As you may know, we don't get any sort of

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<v Speaker 1>funding from any wealthy benefactors, corporations, governments, or political pies.

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<v Speaker 1>Our work is funded by you, our listeners and readers

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<v Speaker 1>on Patreon. In return, our supports on Patreon get access

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<v Speaker 1>to exclusive content and benefits like ad free episodes, bonus

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<v Speaker 1>podcast episodes, and a couple of exclusive discussion podcast series,

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<v Speaker 1>fireside chats and radical reads. So here is a little

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<v Speaker 1>preview of our latest episode for our patrons. You can

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<v Speaker 1>join us, help support our work and listen to the

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<v Speaker 1>whole thing today at patreon dot com slash working Class

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<v Speaker 1>History link. In the show notes. During the main episodes,

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<v Speaker 1>Dave also mentioned another mass protest which grassroots activists wanted

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<v Speaker 1>to hold in October nineteen ninety but Militant the other

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<v Speaker 1>major Trotskyist group in the UK at that time, which

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<v Speaker 1>dominated the nash Con Federation known as the FED, disagreed

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<v Speaker 1>with this strategy.

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<v Speaker 2>So there was you know, lobbying of the All Bitten Federation.

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<v Speaker 2>In the end, the All Britain Federation said, oh, we'll

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<v Speaker 2>organized a people's march against the pull tax, but only

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<v Speaker 2>seventy five people will be allowed to go on it

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<v Speaker 2>from Manchester to London. And they were all hand picked

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<v Speaker 2>and basically they were all members of militant and we said,

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<v Speaker 2>this is ridiculous, it's like a stunt, but it's not

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<v Speaker 2>what we need, something en mass that would defend the

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<v Speaker 2>right to protest as well as to show the movement

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<v Speaker 2>is strong and the movement is not for turning. So

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<v Speaker 2>what happened in the end there was an uneasy compromise

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<v Speaker 2>in which the All Britain federations said, well, if you

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<v Speaker 2>in London want to organize a London demonstration, we won't

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<v Speaker 2>oppose it. I mean it was hard work working with

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<v Speaker 2>organizations that are controlled by one political party. So we

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<v Speaker 2>in London. There was a lot of debate in the

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<v Speaker 2>London Federation and it was agreed that we would have

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<v Speaker 2>a massive rally and gig in Brockwell Park in South London,

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<v Speaker 2>in Brixton and Traffago Square. Defense Campaign said well it's

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<v Speaker 2>not enough. We need a protest outside the courts and

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<v Speaker 2>outside Brixton Prison. So we decided to organize feeder events

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<v Speaker 2>which to support the rally, that organize our own feeder events.

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<v Speaker 2>So twenty thousand people turned up to the rally, which

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<v Speaker 2>is a pretty good turnout for just a London demonstration,

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<v Speaker 2>and we had about fifteen hundred turned up to the

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<v Speaker 2>protest outside one of the key courts that were processing nonpayers.

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<v Speaker 2>And also after the rally, about three and a half

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<v Speaker 2>thousand people marched to Brixton Prison where there were Trafago

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<v Speaker 2>Square prisoners and nonpayers being held in prison. They were

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<v Speaker 2>quite substantial. We knew that the police this potentially was

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<v Speaker 2>quite challenging to the police and we had a meeting

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<v Speaker 2>I think I attended a meeting with the Chief of Police,

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<v Speaker 2>London's Commissioner of Police or whoever. We said, look, we

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<v Speaker 2>want to all to go off with that incident, could

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<v Speaker 2>you guarantee from your side? And he was saying he'd

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<v Speaker 2>heard rumblings within the police that they wanted a rematch

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<v Speaker 2>after Trafalgar Square and he was going to stamp that out. Yes,

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<v Speaker 2>that's what he said personally. We've got it in writing

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<v Speaker 2>to the Trafalgar Square Defendance campaign. On the day once

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<v Speaker 2>the rally was coming to an end and we were

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<v Speaker 2>about to march to Brixton Prison three and a half

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<v Speaker 2>thousand people, we had this very extensive monitoring system. Everyone

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<v Speaker 2>had bust cards on what to do if for rested.

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<v Speaker 2>We had videos, we had observers coordinated, we had a ready.

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<v Speaker 2>This was the first real kind anything had happened like

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<v Speaker 2>that in this country, where we had planned for what

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<v Speaker 2>would happen if the police attacked the demonstration, and we

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<v Speaker 2>were able to monitor police radios and police conversations on

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<v Speaker 2>the ground and the events. Basically, I was one of

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<v Speaker 2>the heads. We didn't really add a heads to it,

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<v Speaker 2>but I was one of the coordinators. And when we

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<v Speaker 2>got to Brixton Prison, I think I was the coordinator,

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<v Speaker 2>was near the front of the march, and the agreement

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<v Speaker 2>was that we were going to gather outside Brixton Prison

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<v Speaker 2>for an hour and then disperse. And without going into detail,

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of strange things began to happen. Police suddenly

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<v Speaker 2>got withdrawn. Other police units seemed to be arriving in

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<v Speaker 2>side streets, you know, with the heavier armor, and it

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<v Speaker 2>seemed obvious that they were gearing up to attack the demonstration,

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<v Speaker 2>which is what happened. I can't remember how many people

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<v Speaker 2>invested one hundred and twenty or something. The police immediately

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<v Speaker 2>had a press conference and were able to tell the

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<v Speaker 2>whole world straight away that it was all caused by

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<v Speaker 2>the demonstrators, and we within twenty four hours we had

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<v Speaker 2>a complete alternative proof that this would be the premeditated

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<v Speaker 2>police attack on an agreed demonstration. So the aftermath was

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<v Speaker 2>they wanted to use the situation to say, look, this

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<v Speaker 2>whole movement, the antipol tax movement, it's kind of, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>full of radicals. They're not interested in really the poll tax.

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<v Speaker 2>They're just using it to attack the police and the establishment.

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<v Speaker 2>And we were able to paint a different story. The

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<v Speaker 2>antipol tax movement was united. We were determined to defeat

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<v Speaker 2>the poll tax, but also to defend our right to demonstrate,

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<v Speaker 2>and actually we were able to prove that the police

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<v Speaker 2>had fabricated their version of events.

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<v Speaker 1>That brings us to the end of this episode preview.

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<v Speaker 1>Hope you enjoyed it. To listen to the full thing

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<v Speaker 1>and help support our work researching and promoting people's history,

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<v Speaker 1>join us today on Patreon at patreon dot com slash

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<v Speaker 1>working class history. That's p A t R e O

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<v Speaker 1>N dot com slash working class history. Link in the

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<v Speaker 1>show notes. Catch you next time.