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Title: Leopold Labedz papers
Date (inclusive): 1860-1996
Collection Number: 89018
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Czech, and French
Physical Description:
140 manuscript boxes, 5 oversize boxes
(64.2 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, speeches and writings, reports, serial issues, clippings, other printed matter, photographs, sound recordings,
and motion picture film relating to political and cultural conditions in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Soviet and Eastern
European dissidents, Russian and Eastern European literature, post-World War II international relations, and the nature and
history of communism and Marxian theory. Includes manuscripts submitted to
Survey for publication, correspondence with contributors, and financial and other records of the journal.
Creator:
Labedz, Leopold
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Box FH9 may not be used without permission of the Archivist. The remainder of the collection is open for research; materials
must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection,
they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1989.
[Identification of item], Leopold Labedz papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Leopold Labedz was born on January 22, 1920, in Simbirsk, Russia, but spent most of his childhood in Warsaw, where both of
his parents were well-respected physicians. Labedz studied at the Kreczmara Gymnasium and subsequently, in 1937, continued
his education at the University of Warsaw. By mid-1938, he had relocated to Paris to study medicine at the Sorbonne. The exposure
to French culture quickly shifted his interests from medicine to the humanities and to political philosophy in particular.
However, the events of World War II stalled Labedz's academic pursuits.
While on summer vacation in Poland, World War II broke out. Labedz's father, who was in the Polish military medical service,
was recruited by the Soviet army to act as a head-physician of a military hospital in Eastern Poland. Since Labedz's mother
died when he was very young, he joined his father at the hospital as its librarian. By 1941, in the course of numerous relocations
of the hospital, 21-year-old Leopold was separated from his father. As a result, he joined the Polish Army, led by General
Anders.
When the war was over, instead of returning to Poland, Labedz reunited with his father in London. In the early 1950s he decided
to continue his studies by enrolling at the London School of Economics. There he obtained his bachelor of science degree in
economics, while never losing sight of his love for the social sciences. In 1955, Labedz founded the quarterly journal
Survey, which he edited for 25 years. The journal primarily focused on Soviet studies and the world of communism and was considered
to be the authoritative publication on the subject. The journal folded in the 1980s, mainly due to lack of funding and Labedz's
ailing health.
Leopold Labedz died in March 1993.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Leopold Labedz papers are comprised of biographical documents, correspondence, conference materials, radio and television
broadcasts, speeches and writings, subject files, administrative records of
Survey journal, writings submitted to the journal for publication, photographs, slides, other audiovisual materials, and printed
matter.
The collection documents the personal and professional life of Leopold Labedz and includes information on the administrative
activities of
Survey journal, as well as its relation to the Congress for Cultural Freedom.
Labedz's original order was retained when possible.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Russian literature
Journalists
Communism
Europe, Eastern -- Politics and government -- 1945-
Dissenters -- Soviet Union
Soviet Union -- Civilization
Soviet Union -- Politics and government
Europe, Eastern -- Civilization
World politics -- 1945-1989
Dissenters -- Europe, Eastern
European literature