By Andy Ford, Liverpool DLP delegate 1984-87 and Unite NHS rep
Veterans of the Liverpool City Council campaign against local government cuts mingled at Terry Harrison’s funeral on October 29 with his friends and comrades from the Merseyside Pensioners Association and of course his family – devoted wife Marie, children Davy and Rachel and grandchildren Owen and Ian.
The hundred and more in attendance heard readings that covered Terry’s life from childhood, where he was left motherless at an early age, through his apprenticeship as a boilermaker and working life, his time as a full-timer for Militant, his second career as a much-loved teacher of disadvantaged and marginalised children, and his robust campaign work with the Merseyside Pensioners Association.
I certainly did not know that Terry in his early youth was a member of the Young Conservatives and there was surprised laughter when this fact came out! He was also a member of the Scouts but ditched that, as the outfit made it difficult to attract girls. There were great stories from his apprenticeship as a boilermaker, like the time he and a friend launched a pepper bomb into a ship’s cabin where the older men had locked the two apprentices outside in the rain. He records in his memoir Serving My Time that he then spent the next hour being chased all over the ship by the victims.
He helped lead the Merseyside apprentices strike of 1960, which secured paid day release for the apprentices, and along with Tony Mulhearn and Ted Mooney, went on to be the core of Militant in Liverpool and nationally. Terry’s calm but firm manner and deep knowledge was well suited to building a principled political grouping within the Labour Party and he became Militant’s first full-time employee on Merseyside, then Vice President of the Liverpool District Labour Party, and candidate for the European elections in 1979.
I was a delegate to the Liverpool District Labour Party for a while in the 1980s and had no idea how fortunate I was to take part in what was a democratic body where workers mandated, advised and controlled their representatives, somewhat like a Soviet on British soil, in fact.
Of course the ruling elite could not tolerate working class democracy in Liverpool (or anywhere else) and they marshalled their forces, with attack after attack from Tories nationally, the Liberals locally, and their corrupt press, none of which dented the support of Liverpool Labour Party.
That is, until Kinnock switched sides, closing down the DLP on spurious grounds and expelling the best socialists, including, of course, Terry Harrison. When the myth of intimidation was being created, I remember Terry standing up at the DLP and saying “There’s all this intimidation – but who is doing it?” The response was a deafening silence.
His daughter Rachel described this as one of the most difficult periods in Terry’s life, as he was cut off from the movement he loved and had to swallow the betrayal of ‘friends and comrades’ who had helped get him expelled. But bitterness was not in Terry’s nature – he always based himself on facts, figures and arguments – and just picked himself up and qualified as a teacher, gaining first a degree and eventually a Masters.
He was a much loved and respected teacher of pupils at risk of exclusion in a school in outer Liverpool, and Phil Maxwell described Terry often being stopped in town by young people he had taught and inspired to make the best of themselves. Rachel did thank the pupils at Childwall for finally putting paid to Terry’s sideburns which he had kept since the 1960s; he came into a classroom once and found a drawing with the caption “Elvis has left the building”, which made him reconsider the style. “The sideburns went into the dustbin of history” she said.
Once retired, Terry became active in the Merseyside Pensioners Association, who are legendary in Liverpool for their steadfast campaigns against cuts and fierce support of strikes and workers’ struggles of all kinds. Here he found comradeship and activity to sustain him in his later years, and a place where his knowledge, humour and tolerance was valued and valuable.
Even when struck by dementia, Terry retained his ready welcoming smile for anyone who came to visit, and he was well looked after at Oak Springs Assisted Living, for which his family and friends gave their gratitude at Tuesday’s service.
Donations in Terry’s memory are requested by the family to go to Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Rest in power, comrade Terry Harrison.
