Peter Harold Sedgwick (9 March 1934 – c. 8 September 1983) was a translator of

Victor Serge Victor Serge (; 1890–1947), born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich (russian: Ви́ктор Льво́вич Киба́льчич), was a Russian revolutionary Marxist, novelist, poet and historian. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks fi ...

, author of a number of books including ''PsychoPolitics'' and a revolutionary socialist activist.

Life

Peter Sedgwick grew up in Liverpool and won a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, where he became a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. In 1956, after the Hungarian Revolution, he left and joined the ''Socialist Review'' Group, later the International Socialists (forerunners of the Socialist Workers Party). He wrote for the group's press while also getting involved in the activities of rank-and-file members. He was opposed to the International Socialists' renaming themselves the Socialist Workers Party in January 1977 and refused to join the new organisation. However, he remained dedicated to the left.

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...

called him "a noble remnant of the libertarian left" and dedicated his book ''Letters to a Young Contrarian'' (2001) to Sedgwick's memory. For the 15 years until his death Sedgwick earned his living as a lecturer in politics at the Universities of York and Leeds. In his book ''PsychoPolitics'' (1982) he explained that the severe reductions in psychiatric services that were already taking place as a result of the "

politically correct ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

" conceptions of mental illness, such as those of the

anti-psychiatry Anti-psychiatry is a movement based on the view that psychiatric treatment is often more damaging than helpful to patients, highlighting controversies about psychiatry. Objections include the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis, the questionabl ...

writers Michel Foucault,

R.D. Laing Ronald David Laing (7 October 1927 – 23 August 1989), usually cited as R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illnessin particular, the experience of psychosis. Laing's views on the causes and treatment of ...

and

Thomas Szasz Thomas Stephen Szasz ( ; hu, Szász Tamás István ; 15 April 1920 – 8 September 2012) was a Hungarian-American academic and psychiatrist. He served for most of his career as professor of psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate M ...

, were actually being pursued by governments anxious to reduce spending on health care. Ben Watson (music writer) has compared the spirit of Sedgwick's work to the later campaigns of the

Mad Pride Mad Pride is a mass movement of the users of mental health services, former users, and the aligned, which advocates that individuals with mental illness should be proud of their 'mad' identity. Mad Pride activists seek to reclaim terms such as " m ...

movement.Psycho Politics
Ben Watson, Newhaven Journeyman magazine issue #1, 5 January 2015 Sedgwick was found dead on 8 September 1983, aged 49, in a canal near his home in Shipley, Yorkshire. He was editing some of the works of Victor Serge at the time of his death.

Selected writings

*Translation (with introduction) of Victor Serge's '' Memoirs of a Revolutionary'' (1963) *"George Orwell: International Socialist?" (1969: the second part of this article was promised, but has never been published) *''PsychoPolitics'' (Pluto Press, 1982, 2nd edition 1987) New edition, Unkant, July 2015. *"The Unhappy Elitist: Victor Serge’s Early Bolshevism" (1984)

References

External links

Peter Sedgwick ArchivePeter Sedgwick Archive at Bishopsgate Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sedgwick, Peter 1934 births 1983 deaths British Marxists British Marxist writers History of mental health in the United Kingdom Socialist Workers Party (UK) members People involved with mental health British Trotskyists Academics of the University of York