Courting the television cameras, the militants forced Tesco, Britain?s biggest private employer, into an embarrassing about-turn by occupying probably its smallest store last Saturday.
Twelve people protested in the Tesco Express opposite the Houses of Parliament, causing it to close for barely an hour.
But it was enough to lead the supermarket chain to effectively pull out of the Government?s ?workfare? scheme, which offered jobless young people up to eight weeks? work experience.
It left the Government embarrassed, but also puzzled that a well-intentioned proposal should have caused mayhem.
This newspaper?s investigations suggest the Coalition has been caught out by activists working for the Socialist Workers Party, a group that advocates the overthrow of capitalism via a Marxist revolution.
Using a front organisation called the Right to Work Campaign, the radicals have set about undermining what the Government considers vital job opportunities for millions of people.
Those masterminding the campaign include:
* The unemployed son of a retired Ministry of Defence scientist who has promised a wave of direct action;
* A full-time activist who in the past has led an attempt to storm the Royal Bank of Scotland?s London headquarters;
* A Glasgow University graduate who has travelled to Europe for anti-Nato protests which ended in violence;
* A bus driver who called for a Tahrir Square-style uprising against the Coalition.
Their latest protest, limited though it was, has had a snowball effect. Tesco put distance between itself and the scheme, and Waterstones, TK Maxx, Poundland, Oxfam and Burger King have declared that they will no longer take part.
Others are reviewing their positions. The speed of the about-turns has angered ministers.
Chris Grayling, the employment minister, said: ?It is really important that none of the companies involved allow themselves to be forced out of what is a really important scheme by what we now know is a small group of long-standing militant activists from the far Left.
?We have to do everything we can to support young unemployed people and the actions of those looking to destroy the companies? efforts is nothing short of a scandal.?
Privately, the Government is mystified that Tesco has so readily abandoned its work experience programme, which provided placements for 3,000 young people.
The retailer has announced its own parallel scheme, in which those on placements will receive an average of ?7 an hour. The effect has been to undermine the Coalition?s own efforts.
What apparently caused Tesco?s about-turn was the demonstration in its Westminster Express store.
At the head of the protest, clutching a placard proclaiming ?Tesco exploitation ? Every little helps?, was Michael Bradley, a shaven-headed, full-time SWP activist who is leading the campaign.
Four days later Mr Bradley would appear again, bearing the same aggressive demeanour but different placard, in Holland & Barrett, the health food store, then McDonald?s about a mile down the road in the City of London and again yesterday outside its Oxford Circus branch.
Tesco will not officially admit that the protest was a trigger and said that it was merely trying to do the right thing for young people, but a senior source conceded: ?By making our position clearer, by paying for work experience, it has helped us avert the threat of further boycotts.?
Mr Bradley, 44, a former print worker, West Ham fan and father of one, was the victor.
?We won?t allow multinational giants to use the recession to exploit vulnerable young people,? he told this newspaper last week.
?I?m not embarrassed about being a socialist. We?re on the ground fighting. We are not job snobs. We just want proper training and proper jobs for young people.?
Mr Bradley, a member of the SWP?s central committee, is a veteran protester. Last year, he led an attempt to storm the London headquarters of RBS in protest at bankers? bonuses. Megaphone in hand, he encouraged a crowd trying to force their way through police lines.
Standing alongside Mr Bradley inside the Tesco Express last Saturday was Julie Sherry, who at 23 is already an experienced campaigner.
Juggling a banner in her right hand, a cup of coffee from Caff? Nero in her left and a sheaf of Socialist Worker newspapers under her arm, Miss Sherry was caught on camera, mid-battle cry, raging against what is essentially a voluntary scheme.
Mr Grayling has been at pains to point out that nobody is compelled to go on the short-term placements. In other words, those on it are not there for long enough to occupy posts that could go to paid workers.
Miss Sherry sees it differently. To the SWP, the scheme is forced labour. A graduate of Glasgow University, Miss Sherry joined the revolutionary party while still a student.
Her Facebook page shows an ordinary young woman who enjoys hill walking and cultural European city breaks. She also proclaims that it is time for ?a global intifada?.
Miss Sherry is a veteran of a notorious 2009 demonstration against Nato?s 60th anniversary summit, held in Strasbourg.
Attended by thousands of anarchists and socialists from around Europe, the protests turned violent ? although there is no evidence she was involved ? with militants setting barricades on fire and fighting French riot police.
With Mr Bradley, Miss Sherry and their comrades keeping up their barrage of anti-Tesco slogans, another of their number was outside, addressing the TV cameras that had by now gathered on the pavement.
Mark Dunk, a spokesman for the Right To Work Campaign, held court, saying that protesters would target the supermarket until it pulled out of the programme.
?They can either withdraw from the schemes immediately or face a wave of protest that will shut down their stores,? he declared.
?Having worked in supermarkets before I am perfectly prepared to take any job I can get, but I refuse to be a modern day slave while Tesco steals ?1,500 from the pockets of those on eight weeks of unpaid work?.
Mr Dunk, brought up in Chatham, Kent, with a Ministry of Defence scientist father, has an arts degree from Southampton University.
He has been a paid worker for the SWP as well as a Left-wing bookshop. Nowadays he describes himself an ?unemployed activist?.
Last week, Mr Dunk, 30, was seemingly reluctant ? despite a series of BBC appearances ? to speak to The Sunday Telegraph about his role. He promised to call back but failed to do so.
On Saturday he was turning on the McDonald?s chain?s use of the scheme, joining a protest outside its Oxford Circus branch.
His father, Rowland Dunk, 65, said: ?Mark is unemployed. That is why he got involved. He is an active member with a number of his friends with various Left-wing politics.
"When you are out of work it is hard to get back in. He was working in a Left-wing bookshop then a Left-wing party but he was getting run down.?
Mr Dunk is fully supportive of his son. ?I cannot believe that people should work for nothing,? he said. ?There is either a job or there isn?t a job. These companies are profiteering from it.?
Plotting behind the scenes is the figure of Paul Brandon. A London bus driver by day, his role as national secretary of the Right To Work Campaign places him at the heart of the organisation.
Mr Brandon, from Ipswich, has spoken at demonstrations around the country, including the campaign to save the Bombardier train manufacturing plant in Derby.
He is a union rep for Unite at Holloway bus garage, north London, and editor of The Busworker freesheet.
His goal is international revolution. In March last year Mr Brandon visited Tahrir Square in Cairo in support of the Egyptian uprising.
He said at the time: ?Perhaps we can turn Hyde Park or Trafalgar Square into our own Tahrir Square. We need a Greek and Spanish-style uprising.?
Shoulder to shoulder with Mr Bradley inside Tesco Express was the banner-wielding figure of Sam James, the Right To Work Campaign?s chairman. Another SWP member, she was a leading figure in George Galloway?s Respect Party in east London before it split.
Miss James, who is seen on the front line of most of the campaign?s protests, including an appearance outside the parliamentary hearings into phone hacking last July, said that under the scheme taxpayers were funding companies? profits. ?These schemes have already provided more than ?67.5? million in free labour to businesses that make billions in profit.?
At the doors to the store, confronting the police, stood the SWP?s national secretary, Charlie Kimber.
The former Socialist Worker editor and key speaker at party rallies said last week: ?The campaign against forcing unemployed people to work for nothing is supported by very large numbers of people, not just the SWP.
"That is why the campaign by Right to Work, alongside others, has scored successes against major employers.?
Founded in 2009 by the SWP, as a revival of its 1970s front group of the same name, the Right To Work Campaign has attracted the support of other Left groups and trade unions, including the University and College Union, the Public and Commercial Services Union and the Communication Workers Union. Its honorary chairman is the Labour MP John McDonnell.
Much of the campaign?s funding comes from affiliation and membership fees, with the unemployed paying just ?2.
The money pays for placards and leaflets, and transport and accommodation costs for speakers.
Until now its most notorious outing was in May 2010 when activists stormed negotiations between Unite and British Airways over striking cabin crews, forcing them temporarily to abandon the talks. Even Unite?s toughened negotiators were alarmed. It was an early show of strength.
There are other groups involved in the anti-work experience campaign, among them Youth Fight for Jobs, which is linked to the Socialist Party. Companies and even charities in the scheme have been targeted on websites and have received abusive emails.
The leading internet group appears to be Boycott Workfare, which is linked to the anti-capitalist group UK Uncut. Boycott Workfare is a secretive organisation which refuses to reveal the identities of its ringleaders. It is promising a national day of protest on March 3, although action planned for Friday night in central London failed to garner support.
A spokesman would give his name only as Adam and that he was an unemployed graduate aged 28 and lived in London. ?We have to keep ourselves under the radar,? he said. ?We are not aligned to any political party. It is genuinely a group of people who have had enough. This has taken on a life of its own.?
Nobody is off limits. Activists in Hackney, east London, are targeting a primary school they accuse of taking part in the scheme, while the Salvation Army, which has also offered placements, has been subjected to critical messages on Twitter and Facebook from Boycott Workfare supporters.
The charity cannot believe the vitriol. A spokesman said: ?The Salvation Army believes that everyone deserves dignity and an opportunity to be given a hand up, rather than a handout.
?Short-term work experience placements are an important way of helping people into the workforce, particularly if they do not have much experience on their CV.?
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