Archives

The Internationals

Most archival items on the First International (International Working Men's Association) and the Second International appear in personal papers from this period. Examples include the IWMA cofounder Johann Philipp Becker and Hermann Jung, who served on the General Assembly for many years. The IISH also has the papers of Victor Adler, Karl Kautsky, Henri van Kol, and Pieter J. Troelstra, who served with the International Socialist Bureau of the Second International. This Bureau's internal rift and the controversies during World War I are reflected in the papers of the Swiss delegate Robert Grimm/Zimmerwalder Bewegung. The archive of the Labour and Socialist International and the papers of Friedrich Adler contain a wealth of sources on the interwar period. The Socialist International (*1951) and its associated organizations including the Socialist International Women and Socialist Educational International have deposited their archives at the IISH.

Reproductions of holdings at other institutions such as the Moscow RGASPI facilitate research on the Communist Third International at the IISH. Specific discussions and country bureaus of the Comintern are to be found in the collections on Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey, Indonesia, and Holland.

Many persons and organizations tracing their roots back to the Fourth International have entrusted their archives to the IISH, including Trotsky/International Left Opposition, Sania Gontarbert, Ernest Mandel, Rodolphe Prager, George Vereeken, and the Quatrième Internationale Posadiste.

Greenpeace and Amnesty International

The international secretariat's archives of both Greenpeace and Amnesty International are noteworthy recent accessions to the IISH collections. Greenpeace has entrusted its photo and film archives to the IISH as well. From the middle of the 1980s Greenpeace has become active all over the world. Today there are national and regional offices in 41 countries. The archives of the European Environmental Bureau of Greenpeace are expected in the next future. The archives of Amnesty International cover the period from its establishment in 1961 until recently. A wealth of research reports on specific countries is included.

Labour and Student organizations

The extensive archives of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) provide a frequently consulted source for the development of trade unions in the Global South since the 1950s. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) regularly deposits its documents with the IISH, as do the Miners' International Federation, federations of chemical and factory workers, and postal service employees. The International Labour Organization (ILO, founded in 1919) in Geneva is well represented. The World Crafts Council (1964), an international non-governmental organization, aims to offer help and advice to craftsmen and to foster wider knowledge and recognition of their work, giving due regard to the different cultural and national backgrounds and traditions.
International student and youth organizations of various types are represented at the Institute, including the International Union of Students, World Federation of Democratic Youth, World Assembly of Youth, and International Union of Socialist Youth.

Peace movement

By definition, the peace movement has an international outlook. The War Resisters International archive includes sections from the period preceding its establishment in 1921. Together with the archives of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection, the WRI archives are a rich source for research on conscientious objection. The Rassemblement Universel pour la Paix (1935) tried to organize popular support for the peace-keeping tasks of the League of Nations by coordinating relevant activities of groups and individuals from communist to conservative, atheist to religious. The Balkan Peace Team, or the Comité Palestine et Israël vivront share a thematic approach to the peace process.

<< Introduction Library and Documentation collections >>