Revolutionary type caught up in The Confederates (3)
I believe the answer is:
red
'revolutionary' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'up in the confederates' is the wordplay.
'up' says the letters should be written backwards (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'in' indicates a hidden word.
'der' can be found hidden inside 'confederates'.
'der' backwards is 'RED'.
'type caught' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for red that I've seen before include "'If you see it, perhaps you're angry (3)'" , "Colour of a cardinal's hat" , "Stop light" , "14 -- breed of 4" , "Bloodshot" .)