Western Marxism: Chinese and Anglophone Perspectives

Date and Venue

Dates: 28–29 November 2026

Venue: Chapman Building, University of Salford, University Road, Salford M5 4BR, United Kingdom

This year 2026, marks the 50^th anniversary of the publication of Perry Anderson’s seminal work Considerations on Western Marxism. While more recent studies by Dominic Losurdo and Gabriel Rockhill have challenged his interpretation of this contested concept, the power and influence of Anderson’s study remains a pivotal intellectual landmark.

According to Anderson, Western Marxism represented the retreat of Marxist thought from class politics to epistemological concerns in the wake of a profound political defeat – it saw creative Marxism in the West move into the academy generally and towards philosophy more specifically.

If Anderson optimistically believed that the upsurge of 1968 heralded both the death of Western Marxism and the rebirth of genuine revolutionary Marxism as embodied in the Trotskyist tradition, a decade later his response to the subsequent “crisis of Marxism” saw him embrace what he called the ‘steadier and more tough minded historical materialism’ of the Anglophone world.

By contrast, Losurdo and Rockhill reject the very notion of defeat upon which Anderson’s account of Western Marxism was founded. Moreover, they insisted on a much more negative interpretation not only of the reactionary and imperialist coordinates and blindspots of Western Marxism itself but also of the Trotskyist and Anglophone writers praised by Anderson in the 1970s and 1980s.

We invite papers which continue to develop this conversation and cultural exchange – a conversation which aims to strengthen an outwards-looking Marxist theory and practice that effectively addresses the political issues posed by twenty-first-century global capitalism.

Academic Committee

Professor David Bates
Professor of Contemporary Political Thought at Canterbury Christ Church University and Co-Convenor of the Political Studies Marxism Specialist Group

Professor Paul Blackledge
Professor of Marxist Theory, Shanxi University

Professor Terrell Carver
School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol

Organisers

• University of Salford

• University of Canterbury

• Marx & Engels International Humanities Exchange Association (MEIA)

• Remin University of China

Submission Information

Abstract Submission Deadline: 15 September 2026

Abstract Submissions Email: academic@themeia.org

General Enquiries Email: info@themeia.org