The Power of Marxist Thought
York University, Toronto
Friday & Saturday, 26–27 September 2025

CALL FOR PAPERS

Claims about the importance of Marxism typically and understandably focus on its historic role in analyzing political, social and economic life. This conference will assess the impact and importance of Marxism in the context of the wider intellectual realm, and how central theory is to its very existence. We seek papers by scholars from across disciplines, including but not limited to anthropology, economics, human geography, political science, social psychology, sociology and others, including Area studies and interdisciplinary fields. Their papers should demonstrate the intellectual power of Marxist thought, especially in relation to the serious problems and issues facing humanity.

The collection of the conference papers will offer a chance for interdisciplinary analyses with the goal of strengthening Marxist thought. We believe that Marxism cannot be an intellectual island and that it must be in a critical and productive dialogue with non-Marxist bodies of work. We invite participants to compare Marxist and non-Marxist approaches to a wide range of issues, and to articulate how being informed by a Marxist approach can produce a unique, important, and essential analysis of pressing political, economic, social-cultural and ecological issues that are generally missing outside of Marxism. We believe that this will serve to help clarify the power of a Marxist analytical frame.

The conference will be an in-person, two-day event. In a comradely spirit, presenters should participate in the entirety of the conference. We especially encourage young, working class, and marginalized scholars to present their research at the conference. We expect to publish many of the papers presented at the conference in the form of one or two edited books and/or special issues organized for Left journals. 

Deadlines:

• Submission of abstracts (250 words):  15 March 2025 (please submit here) (there may be a slight flexibility around this deadline)
• Abstracts acceptance decision: 15 April 2025
• Email submission of first drafts of the papers:  30 August 2025
• Conference registration opens 5 May 
• Email submission of final drafts for consideration for publication: 15 November 2025

Organized by the Marxist Studies in Global and Asian Perspectives (MSGAP) Research Group at York University

Contact the Organizing Collective at msgap@PROTECTED

Sponsored by: Science & Society; Critical Sociology; Socialist Register; YorkU Global Labour Research Centre; Alternate Routes; Capital & Class; and the York University Faculty of Environment and Urban Change.