It’s with great sadness that the New Statesman has learned of the imminent closure of Tribune, the left-wing weekly founded in 1937.
During its early years, Tribune campaigned for a second front against Hitler’s Germany, hired George Orwell as literary editor and deemed itself “the official weekly of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament”.
It will leave behind an unstaffed website with “automated feeds” coming from other left-of-centre publications. A statement to be published in the magazine later this week says:
Tribune is to cease publication in its 75th year. Unless arrangements can be found for new ownership or funding within days the last edition will be next week, 4 November. The decision has been made by Tribune Publications 2009 Ltd after a substantial cash injection failed to raise subscriptions and income to target levels.
The Company intends to maintain a Tribune website, which will carry automated feeds from other left of centre sources and will require no staff. All six full-time and part-time staff are to be made redundant.
Owner Kevin McGrath has indicated to staff that if they wish to continue to run Tribune as a co-operative he is prepared to transfer the Company and the archive of 75 years editions to them free of any historical debt, which he has committed to honouring. In collaboration with senior officials from the National Union of Journalists, the Editor and staff are exploring the possibility of setting up a co-operative to keep the title alive but with a deadline of Friday 28 October, time is regrettably short. Talks are taking placed in advance of a crunch meeting on that date at which new arrangements will be agreed or the Company will be closed. Among the options under review with experts in co-op models of management is an appeal for short-term donations from readers and supporters on the basis that these funds would be converted into capital in a jointly-owned worker-reader co-op, with representation on a new Board. The staff have agreed to continue working in order to get out a final edition and allow some time, short as it is, for an alternative to be found.
Mr McGrath, who rescued the paper after a consortium of trade unions relinquished ownership in March 2009, said: “The newspaper format of Tribune has, in a changing world of electronic communications and economics, become unsustainable. We are, however, determined to keep the Tribune brand alive by moving all publication to its web site and through the continued maintenance of the archive of the paper’s 75 years.
“This means that the Company has safeguarded the history of Tribune and will keep the brand alive through the web site which will run on an automated basis feeding off other left of centre political and arts web sites and will offer immediate, up-to-date news coverage. It is a positive and exciting move into the 21st century.
“I would personally like to thank all the staff for their hard work and commitment to Tribune over the years. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all our loyal readers for their support and hope they will stay with Tribune at tribunemagazine.co.uk and archive.tribunemagazine.co.uk “
“Since its launch in January 1937 Tribune has been a renowned journal of intellectual, literary journalistic and artistic merit. As a weekly, independent journal of the labour movement it is needed now more than ever.”
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