David Widgery (27 April1947 – 26 October1992) was a BritishTrotskyist writer, journalist, physician, and activist. He was a member of the International Socialists and its successor the Socialist Workers Party. His written works include The Chatto Book of Dissent (1991), an anthology of dissident writings co-edited with Michael Rosen, Some Lives!: A GP's East End (1991), the story of his experience as a doctor in London's East End, The National Health: A Radical Perspective, and Beating Time (1986), an account of the Rock Against Racism movement of the late 1970s. One obituary described Widgery, who died in London at the age of 45, as "a radical humanist intellectual on permanent loan to revolutionary socialism." April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 248 days remaining. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... Fist Logo The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a revolutionary socialist political party in Britain. ... The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a political party of the far left in England. ... Childrens novelist and poet, author of 140 books. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The East End of London, known locally as the East End, is an area, with no formal authority or boundaries, that spans a number of administative districts of London in England. ... Rock Against Racism (RAR) was a campaign set up by Red Saunders, Roger Huddle and others in winter 1976. ... This article discusses Humanism as a non-theistic life stance. ... Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to social control. ...
Widgery was among the first of his generation to grasp the significance of the women's liberation and gay rights struggles of the 1970s.
Born in 1947, Widgery was a victim of the 1956 polio epidemic, and spent five years in reconstructive operations, graduating as he described, 'from wheelchair and callipers to my first pair of shop-bought shoes'.
Because Widgery was a hippie even before he was a red, he found his place among the underground papers that sprang up to celebrate and spread their vision of the sixties.
But this was the same Widgery who could recite André Breton's Surrealist manifesto; who wrote articles on "Fleet Street's Chain of Fools" on psychedelic paper in Oz, which he was later to edit; and who fell for Allen Ginsberg.
For some, the Widgery cocktail was a bit too heady.
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