The Peace News Four and supporters outside the office

WHEN the first edition of Peace News rolled off the presses in 1936, the growing threat of Nazi Germany was coupled with the memory of the slaughter of the Great War.

But nine decades after the pacifist newspaper first hit the streets, the closure of the flagship publication for British peaceniks was announced this week after a bitter row between its staff and trustees.

The four-strong workforce at the King’s Cross-based publication announced they had resigned from their roles this week and published an eight-page supplement of the newspaper full of stinging criticism.

Editor Milan Rai, Emily Johns, Emma Sangster and Gabriel Carlyle said they saw the move as the last avenue available to them after what they claim was bad financial management and awful workplace relations.

In a resignation letter, the “Peace News Four” told trustees: “The tidal wave of intimidation, harassment and threats over the last year has been extremely stressful and exhausting. We tried to create a more healthy relationship, based on consent and mutual respect. Unfortunately, that attempt has been unsuccessful.”

Staff protesting outside the offices above Housmans bookshop in King’s Cross said issues began two years ago when the newspaper was hit by a cash crisis. They said high-risk property investments lost lots of money and so the trustees began pressuring staff to cut costs.

Emily Johns, who has spent more than 30 years at Peace News, said the staff had the resigned – rather than drag the newspaper through costly legal action.

She said: “Our fear is if we took legal action, or they did, it could bankrupt Peace News. It could mean the sale of the Caledonian Road base. This would destroy an 80-year legacy, and take down Housmans bookshop as well. That was not an acceptable risk.”

Peace News Trustees own Peace News, Housmans Bookshop and their premises at the south end of Caledonian Road.  Ms Johns added: “We  asked why financial support was dropping to zero, when we could see that rents at Caledonian Road were not dropping to zero, and there would still be significant surpluses which could be used to support PN. We never got an answer.”

In early August, staff said they suggested a compromise, where they would over the next 11 months slowly hand over production to the trustees and gradually bow out of their jobs – but this offer was declined.

Ms Johns added: “Staff saw no way other than by resigning in protest.”

And they then turned to Peace News itself to spread the word. The last  bi-monthly edition to appear saw the secretly produced eight-page supplement which told readers staff had seen “a tidal wave of intimidation, harassment, and threats” from trustees.

Chairman Glyn Carter with fellow trustees Albert Beale and Andrew Rigby have released a statement saying allegations had been “personal attacks”, claiming staff had not understood their jobs and meddled in areas which were not their responsibility.

The statement said: “The staff have consistently overstepped their role. To announce the ‘closure’ of PN is the latest example. It is not theirs to close. The individuals named – and abused – by PN staff have long-time commitments to PN and the peace movement. They have integrity and good sense. They have not suddenly turned into monsters.”

The trustees added the paper had faced falling readerships and was stuck in an outdated print approach, and staff had been obstructive to plans to review the papers purpose, strategy and content. “At every turn these efforts were resisted by staff,” they claimed.

The trustees added they would not respond to the content in the supplement, claiming it was “biased and false in so many ways,” adding: “It is fitting that their last act was to publish eight whole pages of inaccurate and self-evidently biased vitriol directed against trustees – who pay them – and against named individuals, who aren’t paid at all. Staff did this clandestinely, and allowed no space for a different view. These are not just terrible journalistic ethics, but are outrageous abuses of power designed to do maximum damage before their departure.”