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Marxists.org)
The Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a volunteer based non-profit organization that maintains an multi-lingual Internet archive of Marxists writers and other similar writers (Socialists, etc.) on the website http://www.marxists.org.
Early beginnings
The archive started life in 1990 when a worker known only by his Internet nickname, Zodiac, started archiving Marxism by transcribing the works of Marx and Engels into e-text. In 1993 the accumulated text was posted on a website for the first time. Volunteers joined and helped spread and mirror the main archive. The main website and it’s mirrors were on academic servers and by 1995 almost every university closed down the mirrors.
By 1996 the website, marx.org, was hosted on a commercial ISP. This was followed by an increase activity by the volunteers. In the years that followed a conflict developed between the volunteers working on the website and Zodiac, who retained control of the project, this resulted in a split.
In July 1998 The Marxists Internet Archive (marxists.org) was created. Followed were an increase activity and an enlargement of the scope of the archive.[1]
Organization
The website, and the group of volunteers working on it, has dramatically changed since its early beginnings. Now the Marxists Internet Archive is a recognized repository for Marxists and non-Marxists writers.
Management
The MIA is controlled by a steering committee. The Committee decides issues such as the categorization of writers, modifications to the bylaws (by 3/4 majority), financial issues of all kinds, and similar matters.
Administrators, are volunteers who assume additional responsibilities over certain section(s) of MIA.[2]
Legal Status
The MIA is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization.
Copyright
According the MIA charter, it will always be 100% free. All the material is made available under the GNU Free Documentation License.[3]
Continuity of the archive
Several mirrors exist of the website, a CD archive (containing the material on the website) is also sold and distributed.
These measures are not only meant for easy access to the material in the archive but also as way of insuring the continuity of the archive. As they put it: “If the Archive is shut down by a publishing conglomerate or the government, having this information widely dispersed around the world, essentially untraceable, with the content entirely intact, is a great thing.”[4]
Archive style
All material on the website are marked with HTML, the style of the documents is determined with CSS.
The markup and style of the archive varies from one section to the other, depending on the volunteer who work there, but all are built on a common a basic document template.
Division of the archive
Although the website is called the Marxists Internet Archive, it has grown the limits of that name and now has several sections:
Marxist Writers
This section contains all Marxist writers from Marx and Engels onward. Most notable writers beside Marx and Engels are Lenin, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg and Che Guevara.
The archive plans to contains all deceased Marxist writers' works, this includes fiction and non-fiction work whether on Marxism or not.
History Archive
This section contains special historical subjects. Most notably are the sections about the Soviet Union and the Paris Commune. About 9 historical subjects are available.
Subject Archive
This section is for Special Subject Collections; most notable is the Philosophy subject archive, which contains a massive collection of over 120 thinkers, from 1600 to 2000. About 24 subjects are available.
Reference Writers
This section is a guide to writers relevant to understanding the concepts of Marxism. Divided into two main parts:
Encyclopedia of Marxism
The Encyclopedia of Marxism is a reference guide to Marxism, the working class, and revolution in the world. Containing definition of Marxist’s terms, short biographies and historical material.
The encyclopedia is open for contribution by the public. The encyclopedia provides the following elements to the whole archive:
- Glossary of terms.
- Brief biographies.
- Events and organizations.
Multi-lingual archives
The MIA is aiming to provide an archive of Marxists works in many languages. Some of these archives have only a few documents by Marx and Engels, while others are much extensive, for example the Chinese language archive has the complete collected Works of Marx & Engels and Lenin.
See also
External links
