Call for Papers
Call for Papers
Historical Materialism Cluj / Kolozsvár
April 16-18, 2026
Interregnum here & now: post-communist collapse, planetary crisis, and emancipatory resolve
Since the first Historical Materialism Cluj / Kolozsvár conference in 2024, the polycrisis which was its main theme has not subsided. Instead, it has stabilized and deepened into a thick interregnum. We still face multiple, overlapping crises—economic, social, ecological, and geopolitical—yet these crises neither move toward resolution nor de-escalate. They persist, consolidate, and sediment themselves as the new normal.
Hence interregnum now, as an instant of historical dialectique à l’arrêt. In stark contrast to the optimistic, fluidly progressive narratives of liberal transition studies—that triumphant Weltanschauung of the post-communist 1990s, now dead and buried by waves of austerity, dispossession, and historical humiliation through neoimperial wars—, our present interregnum reveals history as suspended progression, in which the multiplicity and perdurance of crises testify that the old is undoubtedly dying, yet without engendering, nor even prefigurating, a new historical stage worthy of that name.
But also interregnum here. In this, Eastern Europe’s own specificity comes to light, as the geographical embodiment of interregnum: as contested, and currently exploding, inter-world, caught between the twin monsters—simultaneously decaying yet vigorous—of western authoritarian neoliberalism and non-western neoliberal authoritarianism. Eastern Europe has been self-positioning, for decades now, as a land willing to accept economic exploitation for the sake of elusive economic growth, geopolitical servitude for the sake of fragile peace at home and complicity in brutal wars everywhere else, and as culturally and socially conservative and politically right-wing whenever convenient, fast to align itself with the changing winds of anti-progressivism, to draw on a rich and shameful history of local illiberalism and extremism, and ready to innovate.
In short, interregnum as both permanentized and localized polycrisis.
But as Gramsci famously said about such conjunctures: “the old is dying and the new cannot be born”—this is the time to party.
Even within a suspended historical landscape, scattered intimations of the new persist—fragile, discontinuous, but unmistakably present. From the mass mobilizations against the genocide in Gaza that forced Western “authoritarian-neoliberal” states into reluctant, if largely symbolic, gestures of condemnation; to the marches of millions in the United States against Trumpism and the municipal defeats suffered by his hand-picked candidates; from the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in Iran that has cornered the fascistic Islamic regime and exposed its vulnerabilities; to countless smaller insurgent solidarities across the globe—these eruptions reveal that history does not move of its own accord. Nothing new will be born without deliberate human intervention: systematic, organized, and emancipatory.
This then is the time to organize, strategize, and mobilize with emancipatory resolve, the time for international convening and merciless problematizing. This then is the time for socialism and optimism. At this dramatic historical and geographical juncture, the organizing committee of the Historical Materialism Cluj 2026 conference invites proposals for the following streams:
- Eastern Europe: Socialist Traditions and Contemporary Politics, Society & Economy
- Political Economy, Labour, and Class
- Socialist Feminism, the Work of Social Reproduction, Intersectional Struggles
- Organizing on the Left: Strategy, Activism, Mobilization
- State and Territory
- Ecosocialism, Ecological Crisis, and Planetary Communism
- Marxist Thought and Critical Theory Today
- Literature, Film & Media: New Perspectives from the Left
- From the Techno-Scientific Revolution to Big Tech
Besides the streams covering problematics pertaining to Eastern Europe, the conference welcomes presentations and panels on all the traditional themes and topics of the Historical Materialism series, as well as discussions on the most pressing and critical aspects of today’s world, with a particular emphasis on materialist readings of recent developments in media, technology & popular culture.
Whilst we encourage papers and panels that address these themes, the Historical Materialism Cluj Conference seeks to provide a space for critical Marxist theory and research across the globe and the range of disciplines and interests. Other papers and panels that enrich Marxist understandings – historical and contemporary – of theory and philosophy, culture, politics, political economy and societies under modern capitalism are also welcome.
The organizational committee of Historical Materialism Cluj 2026 can be reached at historicalmaterialismcluj@gmail.com
Please note that individual papers and panels should include:
- Names of participants with e-mails and affiliations, and clear indication of a corresponding author where there is more than one participant
- Title of paper or panel – In the case of a paper, an abstract of no longer than 300 words. In the case of panels, an overarching description of 300 words and as relevant, abstracts for individual papers.
Partial submissions may be rejected. Please submit panels here and papers here.
We invite submissions from all producers of knowledge, working within or outside institutions (researchers, students, educators, activists, organizers, cultural workers, artists, writers, translators, editors, journalists, etc.), in a variety of formats. Apart from papers and panels, which can be submitted via the online form, we warmly welcome proposals for roundtables, book launches, debates, workshops, etc. Please send a brief description (300 words) of your planned event, including bios of all participants to: historicalmaterialismcluj@gmail.com
We still believe that this particular format of the in-person conference offers a unique and irreplaceable form that brings together comrades, enables discussion, helps the dissemination of new and original research, creates research networks and communities, and builds solidarity. This is why we will not normally accept online presentations. We would also note that we do engage in online broadcasts and podcasts all year round for such sessions.
As in the past, the conference ethos is strictly egalitarian. This means everyone is invited to contribute in a comradely spirit, the conference is open to all currents of critical Marxist theory and we expect all presenters to attend the entire conference, not just their own session (with no ‘cameo appearances’). The conference is an important part of the broader Historical Materialism project – including the journal, the book series, and the global network of HM conferences – and we want to encourage all conference participants to get involved with these different elements, for example by submitting their conference paper to the journal.
Deadline for abstracts: February 8, 2026
Conference fees:
Solidarity donations: 150 EUR;
High-waged: 100 EUR;
Mid-waged: 50 EUR;
Low-waged: 20 EUR;
Unwaged, students, freelancers, and unaffiliated: free.
Keynote Speakers TBD.
This conference is organised under the aegis of Historical Materialism: Research in Critical Marxist Theory (http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/), which supports a journal (http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/journal) a book series (https://brill.com/view/serial/HM) and Marxist conferences across the globe. The conference is part of the PHILSE project ran by Janovics Center for Screen and Performing Arts Studies at BBU Cluj-Napoca, STRASYN project ran by Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, and partnered by tranzit.ro/cluj.
