About RGASPI

RTsKhIDNI was established in October 1991 on the basis of the former the Central Party Archive--TsPA IML, under the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, which was nationalized by the presidental decree in August 1991.

The origins of RTsKhIDNI (TsPA IML) date back to various prerevolutionary Bolshevik party archives and libraries in emigration. Former RTsKhIDNI holdings now comprise three major thematic structural divisions: (1) documents on the social and political history of Western Europe (17th-20th cc.), with fonds and collections of copies and originals documents from Western European archives, including collected documents of Marx and Engels and personal papers of founders of other socialist and labor movements in various European countries; (2) records on the political history of Russia in the modern and contemporary periods (late 19th-20th cc.), including records of the Russian Social-Democratic Party (Bol'sheviks and Mensheviks), the archive of V. I. Lenin, and records of governing agencies of the CPSU from 1917 until 1991, and personal papers are rich with documentation of Bol'shevik leaders.; and (3) records on the history of the international communist, socialist, and labor movements (1860s through the 1950s), including records of the First, the Second, the Third Communist Internationals (Comintern), the Socialist Labor International, the Information Bureau of Communist and Workers Parties (Cominform, 1947-1956). In March 1993 RTsKhIDNI acquired the valuable collections (200,000 units) from the former Museum of Marx and Engels, which is now arranged as a new Division of Museum Fonds. RGASPI also holds remaining museum exhibits as well as documentation from the former Lenin Museum.

Personal papers are rich with documentation of Bolshevik leaders, such as N. I. Bukharin, F. E. Dzerzhinskii, M. I. Kalinin, L. B. Kamenev (Rozenfel'd), S. M. Kirov (Kostrikov), V. M. Molotov (Skriabin), I. V. Stalin (Dzhugashvili), L. D. Trotskii (Bronshtein), K. E. Voroshilov, A. A. Zhdanov, and G. E. Zinov'ev (Radomysl'skii), and of prominent spokesmen of alternative RSDRP tendencies P. B. Aksel'rod, L. Martov (Iu. O. Tsederbaum), and G. V. Plekhanov among others. Additional groups of personal papers of Communist leaders received from the Presidential Archive (AP RF) during 1996 include those of S. A. Alliluev, L. M. Kaganovich, M. M. Litvinov, G. M. Malenkov, A. I. Mikoian, among others. In April 1999, RGASPI received most of the remaining Stalin papers from the Archive of the President of the Russian Federation (C-1).

Extensive audiovisual collections include photographs, films, and sound recordings. These include collections of photographs of delegates to congresses, conferences, and plenums of the CPSU Central Committee (1922-1976), photographic portraits of CPSU and Soviet state leaders (1918-1949), and photographs of Russian revolutionary and social activists. Motion pictures are particularly extensive regarding the life and activities of Lenin and include special collections of the "Living Lenin" and the "Funeral of Lenin." Among sound recordings are numerous recordings of Lenin speeches (especially 1919-1921).

The Central Archive of the Komsomol was established in 1965 on the basis of the archive of the General Division of the VLKSM Central Committee. In accordance with nationalization in 1991, the Komsomol Archive was transformed into a new center and officially renamed TsKhDMO in July 1992. As part of the Rosarkhiv March 1999 reorganization, TsKhDMO was abolished as a separate archive and its holdings combined with those of RTsKhIDNI as part of the consolidated RGASPI.

The basic holdings in the archive are the records of the highest organs of the Komsomol, including most of its congresses and conferences. Starting from 1919 protocols (resolutions) have been preserved of plenums of the Bureau and Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Russian Young Communist League (Rossiiskii kommunisticheskii soiuz molodezhi--RKSM, 1918-1924), the Russian Leninist Young Communist League (RLKSM, 1924-1926), and the Leninist Young Communist League of the USSR (VLKSM), along with their supplementary materials. There are also some records of Komsomol organs in the former Soviet union republics, and Komsomol committees of krais (kraikomy), and oblasts (obkomy). There are also records of Communist and other youth organizations, associations, and movements that functioned to the end of 1991, including the Committee for Affairs of Youth Organizations of the USSR, the Central Council of All-Union Pioneer Organization (1922-1991), and the Central Bureau of the Sputnik Youth Tourist Agency (1958-). In 1992 TsKhDMO began to collect personal papers.

RGASPI also holds a voluminous collection of photographs, sound recordings, microforms, and motion pictures (including videotapes), museum exhibits, and other materials from the former Komsomol archive.

Access

Although most fonds in the archive are open for research, access is now restricted to some fonds previously open in the early 1990s. Only a small percentage of files from the Comintern archive remain classified. Most post-1941 records of the VKP(b)/CPSU CC International Department remain closed, although many Cominform documents have been published. Not all of the Politburo records received from the Presidential Archive have been declassified. Many personnel and other files relating to individuals are closed in connection with the law on personal privacy see the published RTsKhIDNI regulation on this matter Nauchno-informatsionnyi biulleten' RTsKhIDNI (1992), no. 6.

Declassified documentation from AP RF include supplemental materials of the Party Congresses (I-XXIII); most Politburo records through 1934, including the supplemental materials and "special files" for protocols of CC meetings from 1923 through 1934; and the protocols of Politburo CC meetings for 1941-1952. Some personal papers of CPSU leaders received from the Presidential Archive (AP RF), including those of Kaganovich and others, are now open for research. As of May 2004, many of the Stalin papers, and those of other CP leaders, that were transferred from AP RF in April 1999 are still not open for public research. Especially those that are still in loose folders are of limited access, but others are being processed, some with priority for various publication projects.

Working Conditions

Researchers using fonds from TsPA and most others acquired by RTsKhIDNI use the large RGASPI reading room on the fifth floor (Bol'shaia Dmitrovka, 15). Researchers can order up to 20 files per day, with some restrictions. Orders are delivered usually within 24 hours.

Researchers using Comintern records should note the electronic database including many images opened at RGASPI in June 2003, and can be accessed on computer terminals in the main reading room. Internet versions are now available at some libraries that have subscribed through IDC Publishers (see below). That electronic facility is also available in participating repositories abroad, including the Library of Congress (Washington DC). Comintern records are delivered in the separate reading room on the fourth floor (room 413). Orders (limited to 10 files per day) placed before noon are usually delivered the following day (within 24 hours), orders placed in the afternoon are usually delivered within 36 hours.

Researchers using Komsomol records from former TsKhDMO use the RGASPI Reading Room No. 3 (ul. Profsoiuznaia, 82). All fonds retain their previous numbers with the addition of the letter "M." Researchers have the right to order 10 files per day. Orders are delivered the following day, sometimes the same day.

General Guides

• Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv sotsial'no-politecheskoi istorii: Kratkii spravochnik. Compiled by Iu. N. Amiantov, Z. N. Tikhonova, I. V. Volkova, I. A. Ioffe, et al. Edited by Iu. N. Amiantov, O. V. Naumov, Z. N. Tikhonova, and K. M. Anderson. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2004. 352 p. "Spravochno-informatsionnye materialy k dokumental'nym i muzeinym fondam RGASPI," vol. 3. [Rosarkhiv; RGASPI] (Lib: MH)
  ELECTRONIC VERSION: http://guides.rusarchives.ru/browse/GuidebookCard.html?id=146.
  This most recent in the RGASPI series of reference aids (vol. 1--1993; vol. 2--1996), provides an up-to-date, comprehensive, but unannotated list of fonds in the various components of the archive. An introduction by Iurii Amiantov presents a short history of RGASPI and its earlier separate components-the Central Party Archive (TsPA/RTsKhIDNI) and the Komsomol Archive (TsKhDMO). The guide accordingly includes: a corrected and updated list of fonds for the 1993 RTsKhIDNI guide, an unannotated variant of the still unpublished guide to TsKhDMO, and a new list of archival and museum materials acquired by RGASPI (and earlier RTsKhIDNI and TsKhDMO).

• Rossiiskii tsentr khraneniia i izucheniia dokumentov noveishei istorii: Kratkii putevoditel'. Fondy i kollektsii, sobrannye Tsentral'nym partiinym arkhivom. Compiled by Zh. G. Adibekova, Iu. N. Amiantov, S. S. Ivanova, et al. Edited by Iu. N. Amiantov, V. P. Kozlov, O. V. Naumov, et al. Moscow: "Blagovest," 1993. viii, 201 p. "Spravochno-informatsionnye materialy k dokumental'nym fondam RTsKhIDNI," vol. 1. (Lib: DLC; IU; MH)

• Rossiiskii tsentr khraneniia i izucheniia dokumentov noveishei istorii: Kratkii putevoditel': Fondy i kollektsii, sobrannye Tsentral'nym partiinym arkhivom/Research Guide to the Russian Center for the Preservation and Study of Documents (Records) of Modern (Contemporary) History (former Central Party Archive). Compiled by O. V. Naumov, Iu. N. Amiantov, et al. Edited by J. A. Getty, V. P. Kozlov, et al. Moscow: "Blagovest," 1993. xxx, 221 p. "Russian Archive Series," vol. 1. (Lib: DLC; IU; MH) Distributed abroad by REES, University of Pittsburgh.
  This first guide to the former TsPA provides a comprehensive list of all fonds and opisi within fonds (including those still classified), and notes about other available reference materials. The English edition is the same as the Russian (see above), but includes an English preface by J. Arch Getty with a helpful survey history of the archive and its holdings, and appended English-language annotations for fonds and collections of Western provenance.

• Rossiiskii tsentr khraneniia i izucheniia dokumentov noveishei istorii: Putevoditel' po fondam i kollektsiiam lichnogo proiskhozhdeniia. Compiled by Iu. N. Amiantov and Z. N. Tikhonova. Edited by Iu. N. Amiantov, O. V. Naumov, Z. N. Tikhonova, and K. M. Anderson. Moscow, 1996. viii, 405 p. "Spravochno-informatsionnye materialy k dokumental'nym fondam RTsKhIDNI," vol. 2. [Rosarkhiv; RTsKhIDNI] (Lib: DLC; IU; MH)
  ELECTRONIC VERSION: http://guides.rusarchives.ru/browse/GuidebookCard.html?id=141.
  A detailed guide describing 240 fonds and collections of personal papers, supplementing data in the first volume of the RTsKhIDNI guide. In many cases the source and date of acquisition are indicated, as are other parts of the same individual's papers in other repositories within Russia and abroad, but these data are incomplete. The guide was started on the basis of an earlier guide to personal papers in CPSU archives, originally edited by Iu. N. Amiantov and V. V. Anikeev, intended as a third volume of the directory of personal papers Lichnye arkhivnye fondy v gosudarstvennykh khranilishchakh SSSR: Ukazatel' (1980). An appendix lists additional fonds and supplements to earlier fonds of personal papers received during 1995 from AP RF.

Series

• Nauchno-informatsionnyi biulleten' RGASPI. Moscow, 2000-. 2 issues through 2000. [RGASPI] Continues Nauchno-informatsionnyi biulleten' RTsKhIDNI. [RGASPI] 

• Nauchno-informatsionnyi biulleten' RTsKhIDNI. Moscow, 1992-1998. Irregular. 10 issues. [RTsKhIDNI] (Lib: MH)
  INDEX: No. 6 includes bibliographical-analytical data on the contents of earlier issues.

Fonds of the former Komsomol Archive (1992-1999-TsKhDMO)

• Ukolova, Vera Alekseevna. "Molodezhnyi arkhiv i ego fondy." Nauchno-informatsionnyi biulleten' RGASPI, 2000, no. 1(11), pp. 63-69.  
  Surveys the history and holdings of the former Komsomol Archive/TsKhDMO.

• Ioffe, Irina Abramovna, and Khorunzhii, Viktor Vasil'evich (Chorunshi, Wiktor). "Das Jugendarchive Russlands." In Jahrbuch fur zeitgeschichtliche Jugendforschung: 1994/95, pp. 289-98. Berlin: Metropol Verlag, 1995.
  Surveys the history and holdings of former TsKhDMO.