Katharine Jane Hudson (born 1958) is a British left-wing political activist and academic who is the General Secretary of the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...
(CND) and Media Officer of
Left Unity. She served as Chair of CND from 2003 to 2010 and has been an officer of the
Stop the War Coalition
The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group established on 21 September 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks, to campaign against what it believes are unjust wars.
The Coalition has c ...
since 2002.
Life and career
She was Head of Social and Policy Studies at
London South Bank University
London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough ...
from September 2003 to 2010 and is now a Visiting Research Fellow. She was founding editor of the journal ''Contemporary Politics'', serves on the editorial board of ''
Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe'' and is a member of the Board of the
Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust. She is also a member of the Editorial Board of the new radical left journal, Transform, founded in spring 2017, and linked to the European transform!network, the political foundation of the European Left Party.
Hudson was a member of the
Communist Party of Britain
The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a communist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows Marxist-Leninist theory and s ...
until 2011. In 2012, she joined the
Respect Party
The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...
following the party's
Bradford West by-election victory. Hudson was selected as the Respect candidate for the
2012 Manchester Central by-election
The Manchester Central by-election was a by-election for the House of Commons constituency of Manchester Central held on Thursday 15 November 2012.
Lucy Powell of the Labour Party won with 69% of the vote (it has historically been a safe Labo ...
but subsequently stood down in protest at "unacceptable and un-retracted statements about the nature of
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
" made by the party's only MP,
George Galloway. She resigned as a member of Respect on 15 October 2012.
In March 2013, she joined film director
Ken Loach
Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...
and
Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies at
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury a ...
(SOAS),
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
, in a call for a new left-wing party. Hudson has written that over 2,000 gave their support to the campaign within three days of its launch. The campaign founded the
Left Unity party in November 2013, and Hudson was elected National Secretary of the organisation at its first policy conference on 29 March 2014. Serving as National Secretary for three years, the maximum term allowed, she was elected as the party's Media Officer in March 2017.
Personal life
In the 1990s, Kate Hudson met and married
Redmond O'Neill, (1954–2009) an activist in
Socialist Action and adviser to
Ken Livingstone. In 2012, Hudson married
Andrew Burgin, an officer of the Stop the War Coalition and secretary of the national anti-cuts organisation, the
Coalition of Resistance. Hudson is also active in the
Greece Solidarity Campaign and the
Venezuela Solidarity Campaign
Venezuela Solidarity Campaign is a British political organisation which expresses support to the Bolivarian Revolution and campaigns against its threats. Its Scottish section is known as the Scottish Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (SVSC).
Aims
...
.
Selected works
*''CND – Now More Than Ever: The Story of a Peace Movement'', Vision Paperbacks, (2005)
*''Breaking the South Slav Dream: The Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia'',
Pluto Press
Pluto Press is a British independent book publisher based in London, founded in 1969. Originally, it was the publishing arm of the International Socialists (today known as the Socialist Workers Party), until it changed hands and was replaced ...
, (2003)
*''European Communism Since 1989'',
Palgrave Macmillan
Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...
, (2000)
*''The New European Left: a socialism for the twenty-first century?'', Palgrave Macmillan, (2012)
*''Free Movement and Beyond: agenda setting for Brexit Britain'' (ed)
Public Reading Rooms (2017)
*''CND at 60 – Britain's Most Enduring Mass Movement''
Public Reading Rooms (2018)
See also
*
List of peace activists
This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work ...
References
External links
Contributor pagefor ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Kate
1958 births
Living people
Academics of London South Bank University
British communists
British Marxists
British political writers
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament activists
Place of birth missing (living people)
Communist Party of Britain members
Leaders of political parties in the United Kingdom
Respect Party parliamentary candidates
Academic journal editors