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Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction Ulbe Bosma and Karin Hofmeester This collection of essays has been compiled on the occasion of Marcel van der Linden’s sixty-sixth birthday, marking his official retirement from the Inter- national Institute of Social History (iish) in Amsterdam, and celebrating a new phase in his academic life. The volume reflects the variety of topics that characterize his work and the golden thread that connects them. It shows how his writings on Marxist theory, capitalism, the working classes, the renewal of labor history as a discipline—including all forms of work, labor relations, and movements—and the study of labor on a global scale evolved over the years, and how they have inspired many colleagues all over the world. At the same time, the articles reveal Marcel’s sources of inspiration: The colleagues and Ph.D. students he worked with, and the insights and methodological approaches that disciplines such as anthropology, ethnology, and area studies offered him. 1 The Career of a Historical Social Scientist “We know only a single science, the science of history.”1 Marcel van der Linden was born in Hittfeld near Hamburg in 1952 into a Dutch-German family, and grew up in Weert (Limburg province) where he at- tended the Gymnasium. At the age of 16, he started to develop political ide- als diametrically opposed to those of his parents. In 1971 he began studying mathematics, physics, and astronomy at Utrecht University, inspired by the famous astronomer and Marxist theorist, Anton Pannekoek. He became a very * The authors would like to thank Aad Blok, Mona Hilfman, Alice Mul, and Ben Stroomberg for their input regarding the biographical and IRSH part of this introduction. 1 “Er is maar een wetenschap en dat is de sociale wetenschap en die is historisch,” Leo Noor- degraaf, “In gesprek met Marcel van der Linden,” in Waarover spraken zij? Economische ge- schiedbeoefening in Nederland omstreeks het jaar 2000, ed. Leo Noordegraaf (Amsterdam, 2006), 193–203, 197. For an elaboration on this idea from Marx that Marcel van der Linden used in translation, see Michael R. Krätke, “Marx and World History,” International Review of Social History 63, no. 1 (April 2018): 91–125. © ulbe bosma and karin hofmeester, ���8 | doi:�0.��63/97890043866�7_00� This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the prevailingUlbe Bosmacc-by -andnc KarinLicense. Hofmeester - 9789004386617 Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 12:40:02PM via free access <UN> 2 Ulbe Bosma and Karin Hofmeester active member of the student movement, and during his second year decided to switch to sociology, as this had more societal impact than the study of the stars. As one of the co-founders of the Socialist Sociologist Union (Socialis- tische Sociologen Bond), he developed close ties to the Dutch section of the Fourth International and its charismatic thinker Ernest Mandel, who became his tutor.2 Years of intense reading and debating followed, and predominantly Marxist theory was combined with journalistic political activism. Marcel van der Linden left the Trotskyite political movement in 1980, but theoretical con- siderations about the foundations and conceptions of socialist thinking would remain an important part of his intellectual life. In 1978, he graduated cum laude in sociology, worked as an economics teacher at two high schools for three years, and then decided it was time for a change. He began thinking about Ph.D. research and met his future life partner Alice Mul during a meet- ing of an anti-fascist action committee in Utrecht. Western Marxism and the Soviet Union was the topic of his Ph.D. research, which he carried out “in his spare time” as he states in his own introduction. Frits de Jong Edz. was his supervisor and an impressive list of people—including Ernest Mandel—acted as commentators and sparring partners. In 1989 he received his Ph.D. cum laude at the University of Amsterdam. In the meantime he had joined the iish in 1983, and became the editorial advisor for the International Review of Social History (irsh), the academic jour- nal of the institute. In 1987, Arend van Woerden retired as editorial secretary of the journal and Marcel became his successor as executive editor. He would thoroughly change the publication policy of the journal, an operation that benefited both the irsh and the iish, as well as Marcel’s academic develop- ment, as will be shown in the next section. At the same time, the iish under- went a huge reorganization led by its new director Eric Fischer. The main goal of this was to rebalance the resources devoted to collections on the one hand, and research and publications on the other. These latter two functions, part of the original aims of the iish foundation, had been neglected because of the massive growth of the collections and their use by the public.3 The publica- tions department, now headed by Marcel, changed its policy in accordance with this rebalancing. Traditionally, the iish had focused on source publica- tions based on the archival collections of the institute, now publications based on important new research questions were prepared. 2 Noordegraaf, “In gesprek met Marcel van der Linden,” 193. 3 Eric Fischer, “The International Institute of Social History—Reorganization after fifty years,” International Review of Social History 33, no. 3 (December 1988): 246–257. Ulbe Bosma and Karin Hofmeester - 9789004386617 Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 12:40:02PM via free access <UN> Introduction 3 Research at the iish received a major boost when one year later, in 1988, Jan Lucassen, a social and economic historian at Utrecht University, joined the institute. He was invited by Eric Fisher to establish a research department that would become an independent unit within the iish.4 At that time labor his- tory was confined to white, male, European, or American industrial workers, often studied through the lens of their trade unions and worker’s parties, and analyzed at a national level. Jan suggested using a much wider definition of work and workers—including pre-industrial, non-paid, and unfree work—to approach the subject from an international comparative perspective and to broaden the scope of labor history; both in time (going back to 1500) and in space, encompassing the whole world. Jan and Marcel became close collabora- tors, and research and publication strategies became so integrated that in 1993 the Research and Publications department merged, with Jan as head and Marcel as deputy. Together they wrote the Prolegomena for a Global Labour History, a manifesto for global labor history. How this field evolved can be traced from the overview of Marcel’s work provided in this introduction, from Jan Lucas- sen’s contribution, and from other articles in this volume. Marcel’s upwardly mobile career at the iish culminated in 2001, when he succeeded Jan as Direc- tor of the Research and Publications Department. Marcel would hold this posi- tion until 2014 when he—just like his predecessor—voluntarily stepped down and became a senior researcher. In addition to being an editor and researcher, Marcel was also a tutor. From 1997 until 2017 he was a professor of social movement history at the Univer- sity of Amsterdam. In addition, he was a visiting professor at the University of Vienna, the Université Libre in Brussels, the University of Nanjing, and the Uni- versity of Oslo, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2008. As well as his outreach to students worldwide, he is also a networker: He is a co-founder of the Association of Indian Labour Historians, the European Labour History Network, and the Global Labour History Network. In 2014, the Ruhr University Bochum awarded him with the Bochumer Historikerpreis for his role as the “de- cisive designer of the concept of Global Labour History” and as the establisher of the “institutional foundations for a strong global network that deals with the history of labour and the labour movement, which in the 21st century has lost none of its relevance and appeal.”5 4 In his contribution to this volume, Jan Lucassen elaborates on these developments, see pp. 22–23. 5 http://www.isb.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/sbr/historikerpreis/preistraeger2014.html.de. Ulbe Bosma and Karin Hofmeester - 9789004386617 Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 12:40:02PM via free access <UN> 4 Ulbe Bosma and Karin Hofmeester 2 The International Review of Social History When Marcel started working for the irsh as editorial advisor in 1983, his main task was to produce an extensive, annotated bibliography of the jour- nal. This gave him the opportunity to read and digest the latest literature on social history with a focus on labor and labor movements. A firm foundation for his later well-informed work was laid in these formative years. According to his friend and colleague Karl Heinz Roth, who calls Marcel an “Encyclopaedist of critical thought,” this work stimulated the development of Marcel’s ency- clopedic arsenal.6 When he became executive editor of the irsh in 1987, he also replaced Charles B. Timmer as Head of the Publications Department, with Mona Hilfman as editorial assistant, and from 1988 onward, Aad Blok as pro- duction and managing editor. The department was responsible for the irsh and the book publication series of the iish, including the newly established iisg Studies and Essays series published by the Stichting Beheer iisg publish- ing house, and from 1995 onward, the series International Comparative Social History, published by Peter Lang. Where Marcel’s predecessor at the irsh had been an editorial secretary, and accordingly a member of the Editorial Com- mittee, Marcel as executive editor became a facilitator, but not a member of the committee.
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