On the kader kleurschema Waterfront huisstijlhandboek thonik © 2011 newsletter of the friends of the IISH 2015 no. 30 Interview with Archive Lectures on Funeral Marcel van der Linden Koos Vorrink Culture by Wim Cappers CMYK 50/25/100/0 CMYK 25/0/100/0 CMYK 0/50/100/0and Guus Sluiter CMYK 0/70/100/0 RGB 150/160/25 RGB 215/215/0 RGB 255/150/0 RGB 255/105/10 CMYK 0/100/100/0 CMYK 0/100/0/0 CMYK 0/50/0/0 CMYK 40/100/0/0 RGB 225/0/25 RGB 225/0/125 RGB 255/160/195 RGB 165/0/125 CMYK 70/70/0/0 CMYK 100/100/0/0 CMYK 100/0/50/0 CMYK 100/0/0/0 RGB 100/90/160 RGB 25/40/130 RGB 0/150/145 RGB 0/160/225 11 On the Waterfront 30 – 2015 Intro duction Cover photo: I will start this selection of important news from research project The Historical Dynamics of Industri- Passport Koos the past six months with updates about the col- alization in Northwestern Europe and China (1800-2010). Vorrink, 1947 lections. Rather than the usual paper archives, Spanning 5 years, the ERC project will be con- See page 5 the following project is likely to become increas- ducted under the aegis of Bas by a research team ingly commonplace. Andreas Admasie, Stefano comprising two PhD candidates, a post doc, and a Bellucci, and Marien van der Heijden travelled research assistant. At present the dynamics at the to the Bahir Dar Textile Factory in Ethiopia to iish are no cause for complaint at all. start up a digitization project. The factory, which opened in 1961, has a virtually complete archive Huub Sanders of staff records. In the late 1960s 1,900 workers were employed there, compared with 1,300 to- day. Clearly, such an archive contains a wealth About the Friends of in-depth information about labour, and about how labour is organized. Especially for studying Members of the Friends of the iish pay annual dues labour in Africa, where sources are scarce, this of 100 or 500 euros or join with a lifetime donation of digitization project is truly unique. 1,500 euros or more. In return, members are invited to On 17 April 2015 PhD candidate at the iish semi-annual sessions featuring presentations of iish and Utrecht University Pim de Zwart defended acquisitions and guest speakers. These guest speakers his PhD thesis Globalization and the Colonial Origins deliver lectures on their field of research, which need of the Great Divergence about worldwide trade and not be related to the iish collection. The presentation its effects on the global distribution of income and lecture are followed by a reception. The board may in the early modern period. Using data from voc consult the Friends about allocation of the revenues from archives for his study, he compares the effects of the dues and delivers an annual financial report in con- acts by the voc in four regions: the Bengals, Cey- junction with the iish administration. lon, Java, and the Cape Colony. Pim was awarded As a token of appreciation for their great contribution his PhD cum laude! to the Friends, Jaap Kloosterman and Jan Lucassen were On 10 April at the iish, during a symposium appointed as honorary members in 2014. dedicated to Jacques Giele, his papers were of- The iish was founded by master collector N.W. Posthu- ficially entrusted to the Institute, and the book mus (1880-1960) in the 1930s. For the past two decades, Hoe zag Nederland eruit in 1850? (a collection of two of the institutions established by this ‘history en- his articles) was presented for the first time. For trepreneur’ have operated from the same premises: the a detailed report about this day, see issue 32 of Netherlands Economic History Archive founded in 1914 Onvoltooid Verleden. Please note the contribution and the International Institute of Social History, which from Henk Wals, in which he relates a section of is now 80 years old. Both institutes continue to collect, iish history from 1982 exceptionally clearly and although the ‘subsidiary’ iish has grown considerably openly. larger than its ‘parent’ neha. Additional information Three new members will be joining our staff about the Institute may be found in Jaap Klooster- scholars: Bas van Leeuwen, Matthias van Rossum, man and Jan Lucassen, Rebels with a Cause: Five and Filipa Ribeiro da Silva. Centuries of Social History Collected by the iish Bas has been awarded 1.4 million euros from (Amsterdam 2010). For all information concerning the the European Research Council (ERC) toward his Friends, see http://socialhistory.org/en/friends Colophon Photography: Hans Luhrs Design and layout: Ruparo (Ivo Sikkema) Printed by: Wilco, Amersfoort Website: Monique van der Pal, Jacqueline Rutte Cruquiusweg 31 Financial administration: Guusje Varkevisser and P.O. Box 2169 Tjerck Zittema 1000 cd Amsterdam Administrative support: Yvonne Bax Tel.: + 31 20 668 58 66 We wish to thank: Frank de Jong, Ursula Langkau-Alex, Fax: + 31 20 665 41 81 Jan Willem Stutje socialhistory.org Composition of the Board: Huub Sanders (chair), Wim [email protected] Berkelaar, Auke Pieter Jacobs, Bauke Marinus, Jacco Deutsche Bank Nederland N.V. 0555958892 Pekelder, Rinus, Penninx, Mieke IJzermans iban: NL11DEUT0555958892 Questions, including on subscriptions of On the bic: DEUTNL2N Waterfront: [email protected] Editors: Bouwe Hijma, Eric de Ruijter, Huub Sanders On the Waterfront is supported by Koninklijke Brill NV Translations: Lee Mitzman issn 15742156 2 On the Waterfront 30 – 2015 Going Global An Interview with Marcel van der Linden In September 2014 Marcel van der Linden that is’. Marcel’s involvement dates all the way stepped down as director of Research and tran- back to his activities in the Fourth International. sitioned to fascinating new projects, giving us That has inspired his interest in the history of two excellent reasons to interview him. the labour movement. He is no longer a tradi- tional Marxist. He believes, for example, that Very few readers do not know Marcel. Very brief- ‘culture’ has been decisive at many points in the ly, he joined the iish as an advisor to the Review development of societies. Nor has history fol- in 1983. In 1987 he became head of the Publica- lowed an automatic progression. ‘There are only tions Department. In 1989 Marcel took his PhD well-formulated hypotheses’. for his work Western Marxism and the Soviet Union. Marcel has made intensive use of the iish From 2001 to 2014 he served as director of Re- library collections in his work. The periodicals search. Since 1997 he has also been a professor have been especially helpful. As for the archives, at the University of Amsterdam on the History of he considers the icftu one to be the most impor- Social Movements. His most significant contribu- tant. He also sees a role for the iish in helping to tion to research at the iish is best summarized preserve sources about work in the Third World as his development of the research programme (such sources are already scarce). ‘The Toco op- on Global Labour History. The iish staff page eration (the plan of the features his many publications, offices, member- previous iish administra- ships, and awards. tion to rescue archives One new membership listed there is of the in danger by operating scientific council of the International Panel on six regional offices. HSa) Social Progress (http://www.ip-socialprogress.org/ proved overly ambi- ipsp.pdf). This is among the new projects that tious: the resources of Marcel has taken on, which will be elaborated the iish were insuf- below. This panel aims to have eminent scholars ficient. Still, we can in social sciences write a report in the coming certainly offer useful period about the most important current global practical advice to ar- social problems. Marcel explains that the panel chives in our field in has been initiated independently of any politi- the “global South”’. cal affiliation, but that the researchers qualify His third project, in as ‘socially committed.’ The panel ‘will discuss addition to the Panel desirable reforms and structural changes and ex- and the history of in- amine their feasibility,’ according to the site. In formalization, is the response to my comment that this sounds very plan to write a book about the history of the challenging and may, like the Climate Panel, be ‘original accumulation’. The cinematic working encumbered by political complications, Marcel title is Blood and Dirt. Marcel aims to explore how replies that ‘of course the follow-up to the con- over the past six or seven hundred years produc- clusions in the report will be political. But the ers have become separated from their means of messages delivered in the report will not be ideo- production, and how ‘dispossession’ has been logically based. The quality of arguments is what ongoing through the present. Capitalism has should matter’. Social sciences and consequently turned everything into merchandise. Based on social history as well derive from the commit- this rationale, a colony such as Barbados is an ment of those who practise them, i.e. from the interesting example of the earliest fully capital- Social Issue. Marcel is working closely with Jan ist society! As early as 1650, virtually all labour Breman on this, and the Social Issue is of course was merchandised as slave labour, all the land considered in a ‘global’ context. They are try- belonged to the plantation owners, and virtually ing to write a history of the ‘informalization‘ all food had to be imported, as did machines, of work.