Well, Gowers went at great length explaining its motivations [0] (see the following quote, from [1]). So saying that Gowers started attacking Elsevier "by accident" and "was surprised that it grew as a movement" is very disrespectful to Gowers, to truth, and also a bit to the reader.

>"Once I did hear about Elsevier’s behaviour, I made a conscious decision not to publish in Elsevier journals and I started to feel bad about cooperating with them in any way. [...] Now, however, I have decided that my previous quiet approach was not enough."

[0] https://gowers.wordpress.com/category/elsevier/

[1] https://gowers.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/elsevier-my-part-in-...