Collection of Self-Published Materials issued by Oppositional Political Parties and Civil Society Organizations since the End of Socialism

The collection contains self-published materials as issued by political and civil society organizations in Poland, Russia, and the Czech Republic since the end of Socialism. Self-published materials are printed documents which describe the profile and work of political and civil society organizations and which are produced and distributed by the parties and organizations. In the vast majority of cases the self-published materials are documents intended for the general public, in other words not internal papers or reports. The collection contains above all five types of documents: (1) Political party programmes and programmatic writings, (2) annual reports, (3) analytical reports as well as background materials on specific topics, (4) information booklets and leaflets, and (5) websites and online documents provided by the respective organizations.

Contact:
Russia: archivfso@uni-bremen.de 
Poland and Czech Republic: archiv.ome@uni-bremen.de

Collection profiles and catalogues 

• Russia

With regard to Russia, self-published materials issued by political parties / organizations as well as by human rights organizations are being collected. The collection of post-Socialist self-published materials dates back to 1992 and gathering materials was finished after the invasion of Russia to Ukraine in 2022. 

As Political parties / organizations  all those organizations in Russia were defined, which as political actors, rather than lobbyists, strive to be directly involved in the political decision-making processes either at the national, regional, or local level.
The definition human rights organizations include all civil society organizations in Russia that, according to their statutes and as a matter of priority, campaign for the compliance with or enforcement of human rights. These can be organizations that campaign for human rights in general or focus on certain civil rights, such as freedom of speech, in particular. The collection contains the self-published materials issued by Russian human rights organizations only. More specifically, only the materials issued by renowned organizations enjoying supra-regional significance were being collected. 

At the moment the collection is being indexed in the framework of the archival project "On Attempts to Transform the Communist Past into Democracy: Testimonies and Documents of Civil Society Institutions and Political Opposition in Russia until 2022". Data soon will be accessible in FSO's archival database.

• Poland

• Czech Republic