Ken Coates

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Ken Coates (born September 16, 1930 in Leek , Staffordshire , † June 27, 2010 ) was a British politician and writer. Until his death he was chairman of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and editor of The Spokesman , the foundation's magazine first published in March 1970. Coates sat in the European Parliament from 1989 to 1999.

Life

As a former member of the Young Communist League (Britain) he worked as a coal miner in Nottinghamshire . He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain . After the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, Coates and Pat Jordan were at the center of a group of Marxists who turned to Trotskyism . After attending the Fifth World Congress of the Fourth International in 1958, Coates played a central role in founding the International Group , the forerunner of the International Marxist Group .

Coates has also held leadership roles in the Institute for Workers' Control , the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign , European Nuclear Disarmament , the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation (BRPF) and the Independent Labor Network . From 1989 to 1999 he was a member of the European Parliament for the Labor Party, where he was also President of the Human Rights Subcommittee for five years . At the beginning of 1998 he and his fellow party member Hugh Kerr were expelled from both the EP and the Labor Party because of his criticism of Tony Blair’s politics . Coates then joined the Confederal Group of the European United Left . Coates was Professor of Adult Education at the University of Nottingham . Before the Scottish Parliament election in 2007, Coates announced his support for the Scottish National Party .

Coates is the author of Essays on Socialist Humanism , a book in honor of Bertrand Russell . He has also written or edited a large number of books on the subjects of poverty, political philosophy, democratic and humane socialism, peace, disarmament, human rights as well as social and economic topics. His book The Case of Nikolai Bukharin (Nottingham: Spokesman, 1978) is seen by some as the international basis for the rehabilitation of this Soviet politician.

swell

  1. ^ Hugh Kerr: What we are going to do ( English ) February 1998. Archived from the original on January 8, 2009.
  2. ^ Former Labor MEP urges nationalist victory (English) . In: The Herald , March 25, 2007. Retrieved March 12, 2018. 

Works

  • A Future for British Socialism? , The Center for Socialist Education 96pp
  • Beyond the Bulldozer , ISBN 0-902031-43-0 , Spokesman Books 1980
  • Confessions of a terrorist , ISBN 0-85124-678-8 , Spokesman Books 2003
  • Empire no more , ISBN 0-85124-694-X
  • Essays on Industrial Democracy , Spokesman Books
  • From Tom Paine To Guantanamo , ISBN 0-85124-702-4
  • Poverty: The Forgotten Englishmen , Harmondsworth. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-052280-8
  • The New Unionism: the case for worker's control , Penguin Books, 1974. ISBN 0-14-021811-4
  • Trade Union Register , Merlin Press 1969
  • Trade unions and politics , ISBN 0-631-13753-X , Basil Blackwell, Oxford
  • Trade Unions in Britain , ISBN 0-00-686121-0 , Fontana Press May 12, 1988
  • Workers 'Control: A Book of Readings and Witnesses for Workers' Control
  • Workers' Control: Another World Is Possible , ISBN 0-85124-682-6 , Spokesman

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Coates, Ken
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician, MEP and writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Leek Staffordshire
DATE OF DEATH June 27, 2010