ABSTRACT
This is the paper of the lecture given by the author at the CPDOC/FGV in july 2016. It offers an overview of the present situation and of the possibilities of research in the most important archives for historical studies of communism in different parts of the world. The archives of the International Communist in Russia and the "Comintern online" are specially analysed. The opening of these archives had a considerable impact on historiography in the last 20 years, affecting the study of of the XXth century history as well as memory policies.
Keywords:
communism; archives; memory; historiography