Crisis, struggle and political alternatives

The annual conference of the Historical Materialism journal takes place at SOAS in two weeks' time. Speakers include: Gilbert Achcar, Robin Blackburn, Paul Blackledge, Alex Callinicos, Ben Fine, Lindsey German, Owen Hatherley, John Holloway, Fredric Jameson, Kim Moody, Leo Panitch, John Rees, Sheila Rowbotham, Alfredo Saad-Filho and Hilary Wainwright.

Here's what the organisers say:

'The annual Historical Materialism conference is organised by the editorial board of Historical Materialism in association with the Deutscher Memorial Prize committee and the Socialist Register. The conference has become an important event on the Left, providing an annual forum to discuss recent developments on the agenda of historical-materialist research and has attracted an increasingly high attendance over the past four years...

One of the principal objectives of the conference has been to build bridges among the various Marxist communities, including the breaking down some of the linguistic and intellectual barriers which continue to hamper the circulation and expansion of critical-Marxist thought. The sixth annual Historical Materialism Conference, under the banner of ‘Crisis, Struggle and Political Alternatives’, promises to continue and take forward this objective.

The conference is organised around three plenary sessions (the Deutscher lecture, the launch of the Socialist Register 2010, and Historical Materialism’s plenary) and a host of workshops dedicated to specific themes.'