Call for Papers
Pulling the Emergency Brake: MarxismNL Conference 2026
(Amsterdam, 8th Oct 2026 - 9th Oct 2026)
Deadline for proposals: 29.05.2026
After launching MarxismNL as a new platform and network for Marxism in the Netherlands, we are pleased to announce our first conference on October 8-9, 2026, at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam.
Reflecting on the first quarter of this century, it is imminently clear that current political-economic arrangements have failed to address the interlocking crises produced by capital accumulation. As we witness a new era of rising fascism, imperialist wars and counterrevolutionary crackdowns, we find ourselves desperately looking for the emergency brake. In this context, Marxist critique remains crucial, both for understanding our current social conditions as moments of capitalist crisis, and for building futures founded on solidarity and liberation.
Numerous reading groups and our sold-out public event on Marxism in Amsterdam at the end of last year show a growing interest in Marxism by students and activists in the Netherlands. As Marxist researchers working across disparate intellectual and activist fields, we simultaneously lack institutions, community, and organizing structures necessary for transforming our current conditions. The 2026 MarxismNL research conference offers a much-needed forum for dialogue across disciplinary boundaries, collective organizing, and popularizing Marxist perspectives.
As the first conference organized by MarxismNL, we call for papers, presentations, or other contributions with the broadest possible reach: activists, academics, organizers, cultural critics, or thinkers of any kind whose research draws from Marxist thought. We welcome contributions that cross the boundary between theory and praxis: for example, experiences with labor organizing and activism in academia (and beyond), or broader strategic questions for organizing workers.
We consider the following themes to be among the most relevant issues for this conference in the current moment:
- Dutch Marxism and Socialism
- Class struggle and contemporary labour
- Fascism, imperialism and colonialism
- The ecological crisis: class and climate
- Social reproduction, care and Marxist feminism
- Technological change and AI
- Labor organizing: experiences and strategies
However, we sincerely encourage you to submit and/or to attend the conference if you are working on another topic or if you are an early-career scholar, student or activist interested but new to Marxism!
We welcome submissions in English and in Dutch. You can submit a paper or a panel idea with a theme, short description and a list of speakers.
The conference will take place in person at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam (IISH). There will be no hybrid option. Admission and attendance are free for anyone without institutional funding.
If you have any questions reach out to the organizing team:
About MarxismNL
Amid global turmoil, the rise of far-right and fascist politics around the world, university budget cuts and political attacks on our institutions during the protests in solidarity with Palestine, we came together as a group of Marxist students, researchers, and teachers active in the Netherlands, to unite as the MarxismNL network. MarxismNL promotes both academic and non-academic events such as public lectures, societal and political debates, reading groups, book launches by members or affiliated groups. It is open to whoever is interested in strategic and practical collaborations within and outside academia.