ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the mobilization against the poll tax in terms of E. R Thompson's concept of a moral economy. The poll tax was proposed by the 1987 Thatcher government as a new form of local tax to replace the rates. The chapter then examines in some detail the underlying moral response to the poll tax that contributed to generating the massive participation in the movement. It attempts an examination of the political morality of the activists in particular, and through their accounts, that of the participants. The chapter provides an examination of the moral dimension of opposition to the poll tax, but not one which pretends to be a comprehensive account of what happened and why. It links together these broader theoretical issues regarding Thompson's moral economy, class consciousness and the possibilities of collective action among the working class in the conditions of contemporary capitalism.
