The original papers of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, World Classics, are digitized and now online accessible. The papers can be consulted from anywhere and by anyone who logs into the catalogue website of the International Institute of Social History.  Access is open and free.
These famous and precious archives are used intensively by highly specialized researchers. They are among the most influential pieces of writing in world history and still play a major role in the rethinking of capitalism, labour, economic crises and revolution. Non-academics will enjoy the historical sensation of having these papers at their fingertips – reading them would be another matter, as Marx’ handwriting is extremely fiddly.


In June 2013, the only surviving handwritten page of the Communist Manifesto (1848) and the first edition of volume I of Das Kapital (1867) were inscribed on the prestigious UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

The Marx/Engels papers have been preserved at the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam since 1938. The digitization of the archives was a most complex job. High-quality digital master files will be kept in a digital repository. Derivatives are accessible through the IISH catalogue website, the Europeana Digital Library  Europeana (link is external) and other platforms.

• How to proceed: In the IISH catalogue website, go to the Marx/Engels archive, (link is external) click ‘Content List’, select a document , click ‘View’
• See also: Itineraries of Kapital, about the acquisition of the archive in 1938