News, Peace

The origins of Peace News lie in a pacifist study group which met in Wood Green, London, on the initiative of Humphrey Moore. The group financed the publication of the first issue of Peace News as a means of spreading the pacifist cause. It appeared on 6 June 1936 and soon became the official newspaper of the Peace Pledge Union (formed in 1934 by Dick Sheppard). Humphrey Moore took on the role of editor and a limited company was set up in 1937. Peace News reached a peak circulation of 35,000 in 1938.

Wartime restrictions on the distribution and printing of Peace News and divisions within the peace movement about how to respond to the war led to a drop in circulation. The editor during this period, John Middleton Murry, became personally disillusioned with pacifism and resigned both from the newspaper and the PPU. Frank Lea took over as editor in 1946, assisted by Hugh Brock whose printing firm had produced Peace News during the war. Hugh Brock also worked alongside Bernard Boothroyd (1949-1951) and J Allen Skinner (1951-1955), before becoming editor himself in 1955. Peace News acquired its offices at 5 Caledonian Road, London, in 1959; the building also housed Housmans Bookshop.

It was under Hugh Brock’s editorship that Peace News shifted its focus from traditional pacifism to nuclear disarmament, non violent direct action and the movement for colonial freedom. An example of this came when Gene Sharp, the American non violence campaigner, was taken onto the staff in 1955 and began to cover the black civil rights movement. Tension developed with the PPU, including with Sybil Morrison, who had previously written regularly for Peace News and was both Chair and Campaign Organiser of the PPU. Formal links were broken in 1961 and Peace News became an independent publication. In practice many PPU members continued to read and sell the newspaper. A sister company, Finsbury Park Typesetters, was created in 1962 to typeset the paper and subsidise Peace News financially.

Hugh Brock retired as editor in 1964 and was briefly replaced by Theodore Roszak (1964-1965) and Rod Prince (1965-1967). Thereafter, all the editorial staff became co-editors, pre-figuring the Peace News collective which emerged later. During this era, the emphasis of the newspaper changed again as its writers were influenced by the counter-culture in Britain and America and wider ideas of social revolution. Peace News was also closely identified with the cause of Biafra and civil rights in Northern Ireland (through co-editor Bob Overy who moved to Belfast).

In 1969 regular meetings (known as potlatches) began with the Peace News readership. The aim was to integrate the newspaper more closely into the peace movement. The company was re-structured in 1971 to separate the management of Peace News from that of Housmans Bookshop. Overseeing both of these was the newly created Peace News Trustees Ltd. In the same year, the banner ‘For nonviolent revolution’ was added to the masthead.

After much debate, Peace News moved its offices to 8 Elm Avenue in Nottingham in 1974 and re-organised itself as a publishing collective. The newspaper became a fortnightly magazine and attempts to sustain a weekly London-based publication as well came to nothing. In 1975 Peace News won a ‘scoop of the year’ award for its investigation into plans for a private army to break up strikes. Peace News was also closely involved in the British Withdrawal from Northern Ireland Campaign and was found guilty of contempt of court for its role in the ‘Colonel B’ affair.

As the decade progressed, Peace News established links with the new resistance movement against nuclear power and became its main discussion forum. This then fed through into the renewed campaign for nuclear disarmament, which emerged in Britain in the early 1980s. Peace News was the only reliable channel for news of the many peace camps which sprang up around the country.

The company’s financial difficulties came to a head in the late 1980s. The collective was disbanded in 1987 and publication was suspended until May 1989. The magazine returned to its London base and has been co-published with War Resisters’ International since July 1990.

From the guide to the Archives of Peace News (1936 - to date), 1937-1990, (University of Bradford)