The International Newsletter of Communist Studies Online IX

The International Newsletter of Communist Studies Online 16/2003 16
decisions taken at the meetings. From 1920 to 1938, the whole archives consist of microfilm copies, the original
documents can only be found in Moscow at the RGASPI. From 1944 on, the user may find original documents.
The archives of the Central Committee contain typewritten documents and microfilms of reports and
interventions until 1953. From that date on, the archives consist of audio recordings.
These archives have their own history. The different ways chosen to record the meetings are of importance.
Since the typewritten minutes of the meetings were abandoned in favour of the summaries of decisions, many
relevant debates and other details for the database have been lost.
A study of these archives without an appropriate methodological approach could only reinforce the myth of a
perfect communist organisation.
The high number of decisions and directives is, at the first glimpse, presenting a kind of infallible machinery.
On the other hand, the repetition of the same directives at more than one or two meetings could imply that
they have still not been executed. In these cases, the archives give more information about the institution than
the event. As an example, in the early 1930’s, a contribution or intervention at the Central Committee’s
meetings always began with » I do agree with comrade X report...«.
In the heart of indexing
However, the database is a research tool which opens some perspectives. Historians and archivists have
participated in the conceptual elaboration of the database initiated by the Institute of Contemporary History of
the University of Burgundy. Rosine Fry has conceived the technical adaptation of a 4d computer program, the
indexing is being done by some Phd students.
The aim of this project is shown through the description by a multitude of indexing fields. In order to identify
each meeting, we are indicating the type of governing body (Secretariat, Politburo, Central Committee) in the
author’s field, followed by the date, the type of document (typewritten minutes, decisions) and the references.
The main topics are also described in a specific field. This previous work allows – through a fast and clear
reading – a good knowledge of the different meetings.
Through the index three specific fields are created: »authors«, »thematic words« and »locations«. All
geographical sites are indexed. The geographical thesaurus allows any inquiry down to the regional subdivision
of each country. Through a single and specific research, it is possible to find other links to enlarge the
geographical scale. For example, starting from the entries matching with the town of Marseilles the user will be
able to look for any meeting concerning the departement Bouches-du-Rhône.
The indexing by key words is the principal analytic contribution to the inventory. The indexing allows to
interrogate with reliability the documents whose characteristics are a special terminology which has evolved in
time. This thesaurus inserts a dimension which respects the linguistic evolutions. This bears a whole range of
possiblities for synthetic and exhaustive researching.