That whole column above the fins stayed stationary during agitation. Only the flappers moved. They pulled water through the stationary agitator column where there was a screen at the bottom where the lint was caught. Of course, truth be told, lint got caught in the slits of the column, too, but those were not the official lint filter. When the machine did the spinning, that upper part turned with the tub which was how the fabric softener was spun out of the cup in the center of the agitator. They could not have had that type of fabric softener dispenser if the top of the agitator column had moved with the flappers.