Peter Cadogan (26 January 1921 – 18 November 2007) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and political activist.

Life

On 26 January 1921, Cadogan was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. For his education, Cadogan attendeded The King's School, Tynemouth during the 1930s. He studied history at

King's College, Durham The Colleges of Durham University are residential colleges that are the primary source of accommodation and support services for undergraduates and postgraduates at Durham University, as well as providing a focus for social, cultural and sporting ...

. For his career, Cadogan started out with an insurance company. In 1941, he joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Air Sea Rescue and served until 1946. On his demobilisation, he became a member of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

. He also was a teacher in Northampton and Cambridge following his 1949 marriage. When Cadogan was ousted from the Communist Party in 1956, he became a member of the Labour Party. While with Labour, Cadogan was part of the first

Socialist Labour League The Workers Revolutionary Party is a Trotskyist group in Britain once led by Gerry Healy. In the mid-1980s, it split into several smaller groups, one of which retains possession of the name. The Club The WRP grew out of the faction Gerry Healy ...

(SLL) conference in 1959. After being removed from the Labour Party and SLL that year, Cadogan became an editor for a Trotskyist magazine called ''

International Socialism Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is the perception of all communist revolutions as being part of a single global class struggle rather than separate localized events. It is based on the theory that ...

'' in 1960. He also wrote for '' Socialist Worker''. He was national secretary of the anti-nuclear Committee of 100 in the 1960s. He became an advocate of the breakaway state of

Biafra Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated form ...

during the Nigerian civil war. In 1968 he started the Save Biafra Campaign. He was chairman of the South Place Ethical Society from 1970 to 1981. He took the controversial decision, on the grounds of freedom of speech, to permit the British National Front (despite his hatred of

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

) and the Paedophile Information Exchange to meet at the society's premises. He taught the history of ideas in the extramural department of the

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 ...

(later part of

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...

) between 1981 and 1983. Cadogan was a long-standing member of the

Blake Blake is a surname which originated from Old English. Its derivation is uncertain; it could come from "blac", a nickname for someone who had dark hair or skin, or from "blaac", a nickname for someone with pale hair or skin. Another theory, presuma ...

Society and served as both its chairman and president. He wrote a book on direct democracy in 1974 and many pamphlets and articles. He was a founder of New Consensus/New Dialogue in 1990, co-founder of Values and Vision, 1991, and chairman of the London Alliance for Local Democracy from 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cadogan, Peter 1921 births 2007 deaths Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne Alumni of King's College, Newcastle British anti-war activists English Trotskyists Writers about direct democracy Academics of Birkbeck, University of London Royal Air Force personnel of World War II People educated at The King's School, Tynemouth People associated with Conway Hall Ethical Society People of the Nigerian Civil War