Peter Cadogan

Who was Peter Cadogan?

Peter Cadogan was an English writer and political activist

Cadogan was born into a middle-class family in Newcastle upon Tyne, where his father was employed by a shipping company. He was educated at The King's School, Tynemouth in the 1930s. After working as an insurance clerk, he joined Royal Air Force Air Sea Rescue in 1941, in which he served until 1946. On his demobilisation, he joined the Communist party, drawing inspiration from its historians' group, which included Christopher Hill, Eric Hobsbawm and E.P. Thompson.

He married Joyce Stones in 1949.

He studied history at King's College, Durham and taught in Northampton and Cambridge.

Cadogan disliked the Communist party's authoritarian style and support of the Soviet Union. He was suspended in 1956 for publicly criticising the party's failure to denounce the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian Uprising. He then joined the Labour Party.

Influenced by Trotskyist ideas, he took part in the 1959 founding conference of the Socialist Labour League under the leadership of Gerry Healy.