Marxists Internet Archive: Introduction
The Marxists Internet Archive (MIA, http://www.marxists.org/) is an all-volunteer, non-profit public library, established in its present form in 1998 (see also the MIA history page for the archive's earlier history). In 2022, MIA averaged 3.3 million visitors per month, downloading 27.5 million files per month. This represents a 79% increase in visitors since 2013.
In 2022, MIA has over 100 active volunteers from several dozen countries. MIA contains the writings of close to 1000 authors representing a complete spectrum of political, philosophical, and scientific thought, generally spanning the past 200 years. MIA contains these writings in 83 different languages, comprising a total size of over 180,000 documents and 288 GB of data, all created through the work of volunteers around the world.
MIA abides by seven fundamental tenets found in our Charter: (1) We will always be 100% Free; (2) We will always be a non-profit organization; (3) We will always be based on democratic decision making; (4) We will always have full disclosure; (5) We will always remain politically independent; (6) We do not ‘judge’ writers; (7) Our priority is to provide archival information.
In 2007, we terminated our former practice of dividing all writers into Marxists and non-Marxists, and instead offer an index of Selected Marxist Writers in most language sections. The MIA aims to maintain an archive of any and all writings which are Marxist or relevant to the understanding of Marxism and can be lawfully published. In the past, some writers who have contributed to Marxism have expressed racist, sexist or other distasteful views. The MIA generally does not “filter out” such views; if we are archiving the work of a writer, any and all of that writer’s work may be included, within the limits imposed by the availability of a willing volunteer to transcribe the works and the impact of intellectual property laws. The MIA does not endorse any of the views expressed by any of the writers included here, which are provided solely for the information of the reader.
If you have basic questions about Marxism and all that relates to it, start in our Student's Section. This will help introduce you to all the resources we have available and dispell common misconceptions of our views on various issues.
The purpose of these pages is to tell you all about our organisation. We do this believing in the importance of organisational transparency to ensure our internal democracy remains strong, to help potential volunteers understand how we work, and to give readers insight into the scope and purpose of our organisation. For any and all legal questions, please read our Terms of Use section and the Creative Commons License.
All material within these Archives, unless noted otherwise, is public domain. MIA-created material is protected by the Creative Commons License.
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Contact the Marxists Internet Archive Admin Committee for further information