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Tax Strike Tactics

Correspond with Imprisoned Resisters

For a time I volunteered with the Prisoners Literature Project, which sends free books to prisoners in the United States. Most of the letters the Project gets from prisoners are requesting books, but many others are just expressing gratitude for books and letters previously received—heartfelt, often heartbreaking gratitude, especially since many prisoners are of limited means and sometimes have to make real sacrifices just to put a stamp on an envelope.

This impressed on me how meaningful it is for people behind bars to get letters from friends outside. A good way to show support for imprisoned resisters is just to drop them a line and remind them that they’re in your thoughts.

A tax resistance campaign can support resisters by ensuring that those who are imprisoned for the cause will get regular correspondence from their comrades outside.

Example Poll Tax Resistance

Brian Wright was the first person imprisoned for tax resistance during the rebellion against the poll tax in the U.K. in 1990. While there he received over 800 cards and letters from supporters.

The Trafalgar Square Defendants’ Campaign during that struggle made it a policy that every prisoner should receive at least one personal letter per week from someone in the campaign.

Example Bardoli Tax Strike

The first person imprisoned in the Bardoli tax strike got a letter from Mahatma Gandhi himself: “You are fortunate,” he wrote, “…now the good fortune of going to jail has come to you before all others. Should it please God to permit us a change of places, and if you would be so generous, I should certainly love to change places with you. Victory to you and to the country.”

Example War Tax Resisters

The New York City chapter of the group Anarchist Black Cross, which supports imprisoned dissidents in the United States, held a letter-writing dinner in 2011 in honor of imprisoned war tax resister Carlos Steward. Volunteers cooked dinner and provided letter-writing supplies and information about Steward’s case so writers could concentrate on their letters. This made the letter writing a festive and social event.

Notes and Citations