Guilty and Proud of it : Poplar's Rebel Councillors and Guardians 1919-25

This is the story of `Poplarism': the conflict of socialist Labour councillors and poor law guardians with the central authorities that ran from their election in 1919 through to 1925, and which peaked with the `Poplar Rates Revolt' of 1921.

The rates revolt was one of the most dramatic and colourful episodes in Labour history. In defence of the livelihoods of their constituents, councillors in Poplar - one of Britain's poorest boroughs - refused to levy a portion of the rates in protest at the injustice of the rating system, enjoying the massive and mobilised support of those they defended. As a result, George Lansbury and his fellow London Labour councillors (including his son and daughter-in-law Edgar and Minnie) spent six weeks in prison.