The National Archives and Left-Wing Sources from Russia: Records of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, the Communist Party of Canada and Left-Wing Internationals (original) (raw)

As THE COMMUNIST ORDER in Russia and the other Union Republics began unravelling, its bonds critically weakened by Gorbachev's efforts to humanize and modernize tbat order both in theory and sbuctue, one of the countless side-effects of Gorbacbev's ministrations was, in the realm of archives, a loosening of extraordinarily strict controls over ncotds in the Soviet archival system, d in access to them. This phenomenon manifested itself by 1989. By the t h e that Gorbachev was finally stripped of any norninal, residual authority in late 1990-early 1991, Russian archives were revealing riches whose existence had been suspected by many, but experienced by very, very few. Among the records of interest to many Western countries were the fonds of the Rossiikii Tsentr Khmncniia i Izucheniia Dokumcntov Noveishei Istoni (the "Centre for the Preservatioa and Study of Records of Contemporary Historyn), Gegle Bolotenlro, "Ibe Natioaal Archives and Left-Wing Sources from Russia: Records of the Mackenzie-Papiacau Battalion, Communist Party of C.rrrda, aad Left-Wing Intanethd~," Lobour/Lc T d , 37 (Spring 19%). 179-203. 180 LABOUWLE TRAVAIL formrly tbe Central Party Archives in Moscow which bowed, iata alia, the. . lustand-archival documentation of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the Central comaittee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). (Hence forth, I will call this institution simply "the Comintan Archives"). In this institution were located the records Qcumenting the relationship between the CPSU and the Communist parties of otha countries, as well as the records of the left inmtional movement in g d , the various "-internsn of the inw-war years. Tbe Natiollal Archives in late 1992, initiated an effort to acquire the records of the Canadian left from the Cornintern &hives.' After pliminary reviews of Canada-related material in a number of Russian archives, effected in 1993. the National Archives purchased from the Centn, copies of records deemed to be of extraordinary interest to Canadian researchers. In early July of 1994, the National Archives a c q u i d microfilm copies of approximately 10,000 pages of material on the Mackenzi~Papineau Battalion, and in July of 1995, approximately 22.000 pages of material on the CPC, the Comintern, and other Internationals. What follows is intended to acquaint the reader with the scope and nature of these records. n. Recorcls of the Mackenzic-Papineau Battalion niEse DOCUMFNIS are all drawn from Fonds 545 of the Comintem ar~hives.~ his fonds holds the records of the Intenrational Brigades (1936-1939) which fought in &fence of the Spanish Republic against Franco's fascist Falange. Of all outside powers, only Soviet Russia supported Republican Spain, playing the leading role in organizing resistance against Franco through the Comintem. Once Republican forces were defeated, Comintern officials left Spain in 1939, taking all recordsincluding the records of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalionwith them to the Soviet Union. Hence the location of these largely Canadian-content records in Moscow. A number of Canadians. most of them inclined politically to the left, volunteered to defend the Spanish Republic. Many, though not all, fought in the ranks of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, a distinctly Canadian unit formed in mid-1937. Other Canadian volunteers fought in the ranks of the American "Abe Lincoln Battalion." the British Battalion, or in other specialized army services (medical, artillery, transportation, armound, etc) of the regular Spanish Defence Force. The Mackenzie-Papineau (or 60th) Battalion, when formed, came to constitute a unit of the XVth Intetnational ("English-Speaking") Brigade, which was itself attached '~h c Dcpammnt of E x W Affairs W y finand the early stages of this endeavour, which went far beyoad acquisition done. Acquisition of kft-wing materid was only one patt of an ovaall package of uchivll aFopentioa betwan Canada and Russia, which included the training of Russian archivists here in Ottawa. % l c Mac-Pap records constitute r singk. discrete foads at the NA. The fonds is officially titkd T h e MackcnZie-Papinuu Battalion Fonds," and its call number is MGlO K2. The F*g Aid to this fonds is No.1996. LER-WING SOURCES FROM RUSSIA 181 to the 35th Division of the Sp&& ReplMian ArmyBpanisb Defmcc Force. In &about 1300mnadinncpecticipatcdintbe&fawxoftheSpanishRcpublkaad rcganikss of what unit they may have saved in, they rre maaor-less collectively b w n as the "Mac-Paps." 'Ibe early fiks in these Mac-Pap m a d s axpired by the National Archives &d with mattas of the Intanatiod Bri-(especially the XVth "English-Speaking" Brigade) in genml, and provide the context in which the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion operated Howevers a u b q u m t d (from Fde List 3, Fk 507, Reel K-260) onwards, deal systemtidy aad almost exclusively with Mac-Papsandtheiraffairs.Additidy,itsbouldbeDotedthatfiMntheearliafilesin the Comintan Archives, the Nrtioaal Archives selected only those m u d s which makc mention of a Mac-Pap a r C a d i a n in the International Brigades. With these pertially+qkd files, file titles have been changed a sbortared from the original title as g i m in the file list$ of the Cornintan Archives in Moscow. A boon to Canartian msaucbas, the Mac-Pap documa~ts required by the National Archives are pmpdmmtly in the Eoglisb Imguagc. Ibe aoa-English records are largely in Spanish and Fmch, with occasional documcats in Italian, Oamm, or one of several Slavic languages. It should be d that the records captured in the Mac-Pap fonds are those which, within a variety of constraints, were deemed the most important to acquire. consequently, far h m all the Mac-Pap ncords in tbe Comintern Archives have b a n copied, and much of the substance and the detail of the Mac-Pap story continue to reside in Moscow. For example, the actual battle history of the Mac-Paps is h i e d in a 50,000-page mxd subgroup consisting of battle otders, ~0 0 s and reports; the National Archives simply could not fund either the time or the filming expense to process this material and identify what related specifically to the Mac-Paps. This notwithstanding, the material acquired by the National Archives should prove useful in filling in many of the blank spots which continue to sumnurd, pehaps becloud, the history of this legelrdary Canadian group.