I joined the WRP in 1983
after a nine-month candidate membership, which I think was a record for any
revolutionary organisation. When I told my parents about the membership, I
expected some hostility, but my mother said, “At least it will keep him on the
streets”. This quote will be the title of my autobiography. My path towards
membership in the WRP was pretty tortuous, and I will not burden readers with
the details of the many organisations I joined, which, in reality, were
thoroughly reactionary.
Joining the WRP was like
a breath of fresh air. I felt comfortable being a member. I had prepared myself
by reading and collecting classical Marxist literature. I bought so much
literature from the Militant organisation that they sent two girls around to my
house in an attempt to recruit me. I did not stay long in that party, which I
quickly saw was a front for the Labour Party.
Inside the WRP, I read
books and pamphlets about their history and that of the ICFI. A basic part of
membership was, of course, newspaper selling. I never really read the WRP’s
Newsline which was nothing more than a comic to me and did not advance my intellect
one iota. That bothered me, but I did not understand why the paper was so low
compared to the youth movement’s paper, The Young Socialist. The youth paper
carried articles from the US section of the Workers League. One such article
was David North’s Leon Trotsky and the development of Marxism. In my limited
outstanding of Trotskyist politics, the Workers League was far superior to the
WRP. It was only after the split and the publication of How the WRP Betrayed
Trotskyism did I fully understood why.
As I said, my first
meeting with Dave was in Hammersmith. He was handing out booklets that
contained a wealth of material on the split and various topics. One of which
was Security and the Fourth International. I had read the two books produced by
the ICFI, so I was very familiar with a subject that fascinated me and was
eager to read more. I still have the booklets I got from him. It isn't easy to
sum up a man's character in such a brief meeting, but my abiding memory was of
his energy. He was a fighter of very similar stature to the American Trotskyist
James P Cannon. Hyland had what Trotsky called the “physical power of thought.”
As I got to know him,
while it was hard to become friends in a revolutionary party, it did not stop
me from having the utmost respect and admiration for him. Outside of David
North, he was the most important figure in my political development. He had many
important characteristics. He was well-read despite having a hard-working life
and raising a family, which was probably the most important family in the
political life of the British Section, if not the ICFI. He was very
approachable and easy to talk to and I like to feel we had immediate political
and personal rapport. One memory sticks out. It was during my victimisation in
1987. I was preparing for an important meeting and having problems writing a
speech. At the time, he was National Secretary of the British section of the
ICFI, yet he still found the time late into the night to coach me and make
changes to the speech.
During my time in the
party, I had known that Dave was not well but did not know until his death how
terrible his illness was. So, unlike many who were close to him at the end, his
death did come as a great shock to me, and it saddens me terribly that he had
to suffer with such extremely aggressive rheumatoid arthritis for more than 20
years. But as David North wrote, “Despite the gravity of his illness, Dave had
manifested powers of resistance that seemed to defy scientific explanation. His
willpower, his desire to live and to participate in life as fully as possible,
exerted itself as a real physical force.”
In his appreciation of
Hyland, Nick Beams said, “Marxism bases itself on the objective laws of
society. But it has nothing in common with any fatalism or passivity. At
crucial turning points in the historical process, the decisions made by
individuals and their struggles based on those decisions prove to be the
decisive factor. Dave’s decision to fight for the programme of the IC was one
such decision”. It was his finest hour. In my heart and mind, Comrade Dave will
never be forgotten. As David North said, “ He will be remembered by his
comrades and remain an inspiring example of revolutionary steadfastness and
principle for generations to come.”
