INCS - Vol. X - The International Newsletter of Communist Studies ...
INCS - Vol. X - The International Newsletter of Communist Studies ...
INCS - Vol. X - The International Newsletter of Communist Studies ...
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10 <strong>The</strong> <strong>International</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Communist</strong> <strong>Studies</strong><br />
quarter <strong>of</strong> a century (1919 -1943) and deeply influenced the political life <strong>of</strong> many<br />
countries worldwide. Consequently, a new initiative was devoted to the publication <strong>of</strong> the<br />
files <strong>of</strong> National <strong>Communist</strong> Parties on analogue carriers (micr<strong>of</strong>iche/micr<strong>of</strong>ilm). <strong>The</strong>se<br />
communist parties have always been secretive organizations. While occasional<br />
government raids, subpoenas, search warrants, and congressional investigations made<br />
some documentation part <strong>of</strong> the public record, the quantity was never large because <strong>of</strong><br />
the party's practice <strong>of</strong> hiding or destroying records. Many documents in these collections<br />
are unique. In addition to records produced by national communist parties, these files<br />
also contain documents created or gathered in Moscow by parties' representatives to the<br />
Comintern. <strong>The</strong> files contain the original incoming mail, carbons <strong>of</strong> outgoing<br />
correspondence, reports from regional and local organizers, internal memoranda<br />
produced by <strong>of</strong>ficials and <strong>of</strong>fices <strong>of</strong> the national headquarters, paper clippings and rare<br />
collections <strong>of</strong> journals and newspapers. This extensive project started in 2002 when<br />
RGASPI granted IDC Publishers the exclusive right to distribute the micr<strong>of</strong>ilm collection <strong>of</strong><br />
the <strong>Communist</strong> Party <strong>of</strong> the USA (fond 515). It includes 4,313 files (326 reels), largely the<br />
original headquarters records <strong>of</strong> the CPUSA shipped to Moscow many decades ago. Dr.<br />
John Haynes, Library <strong>of</strong> Congress, prepared the guide to this collection.<br />
In early 2004 the material <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Communist</strong> Party <strong>of</strong> Japan (616 files from fond 495) was<br />
released on 132 reels. <strong>The</strong>se files cover the period 1919-1941 and include extensive<br />
documentation on the relations between the Soviet <strong>Communist</strong> Party and its counterparts<br />
in Japan, the Far East, Europe, and America. Collections on the <strong>Communist</strong> Party <strong>of</strong><br />
Mexico (fond 495) and other Asian and Latin American countries are currently being<br />
prepared. In the near future, there is no intention to scan the National Party Archives<br />
and make them available through the online service mentioned above. Relevant data <strong>of</strong><br />
the analog publications (such as fiche and reel numbers) will be added to the inventory <strong>of</strong><br />
the complete Comintern Archive and will thus be available to all scholars worldwide.<br />
Online and analog publications from the Comintern archives are available for research -<br />
Apart from the original records held in Moscow in RGASPI, the following sections <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Comintern archives are available (or will be available in a few months) for researchers<br />
throughout the world. A free online database with the complete inventory <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Comintern archives (the 55,000,000 pages <strong>of</strong> ‘the trackless forest <strong>of</strong> documents’ written<br />
in more than 90 languages) will provide researchers access to a user-friendly electronic<br />
finding aid, searchable in both Cyrillic-alphabet Russian and Latin-alphabet English.<br />
Besides an electronic inventory, scholars will be able to revert to the uncensored records<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Comintern which are <strong>of</strong> exceptional value for understanding the history <strong>of</strong> the 20th<br />
century. As a result <strong>of</strong> the INCOMKA project, about 1,000,000 scanned pages will become<br />
available as part <strong>of</strong> the Comintern Archives Online project. About 700,000 pages <strong>of</strong> other<br />
sections <strong>of</strong> the Comintern archives are already available on micr<strong>of</strong>orm carriers through<br />
IDC Publishers. This <strong>of</strong>fering will grow by means <strong>of</strong> international cooperation. Rosarkhiv,<br />
former INCOMKA partners and the <strong>International</strong> Council <strong>of</strong> Archives are represented in the<br />
Supervisory Board <strong>of</strong> RusAR Publishers and consider new projects on opening up the<br />
Comintern archives using both online and analogue publications. If you are interested in<br />
these initiatives and need more information or if you have any comments or suggestions,<br />
please get in touch with us through our website (www.idc.nl) or by e-mail (info@idc.nl).<br />
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