Cornelius Cardew was known in for his avant-garde compositions and also as a political composer. British composer; (1936-1981). He was Karlheinz Stockhausen's assistant (1958-60), founder of the Scratch Orchestra (1966-1971), a member of the Peoples Liberation Music group, and founder member of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) in 1979. Killed in 1981 by a hit and run driver in Leyton, East London.