Extended Deadline


Call for Papers
International Conference “Crisis and Mobilization since 1789”
International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, February 22-24, 2013

organized by the
International Scholars’ Network “History of Societies and Socialisms”
(HOSAS)/H-Socialisms

Organizers of the 2nd HOSAS conference, to be held in Amsterdam in
February of 2013, welcome proposals from all fields of the social
sciences and humanities from around the world that consider socialism
and its relation to the conference theme –Crisis and Mobilization since
1789.

The political Left—mainstream socialists above all, but also anarchists,
communists, feminists, and others—has played a central role throughout
modern history in giving access to democracy and its benefits to ever
widening portions of society. Socialists—especially those organized in
Marxist-oriented European social democratic parties—proved adept at
mobilizing popular support during political, economic, and other crises
to push forward agendas aiming to combat the social inequalities created
by industrial capitalism, to broaden citizenly enfranchisement in order
to include formerly excluded groups (for example, wage-earning workers
and women), and to pursue many other reformist or revolutionary goals.
Geoff Eley’s landmark study Forging Democracy (2002), is among the
strongest recent arguments for the importance of the socialist Left in
shaping and democratizing modern European history, particularly through
its capacity for mobilizing in response to crisis. We are pleased that
Eley will be present at the conference to give a key-note address and
engage in a discussion of his theses.

Alongside impressive successes, resounding defeats and setbacks have
characterized socialism’s record in modern Europe and around the world.
But until the late 1960s, conventional socialist or social democratic
parties stood at the center of this drama and self-consciously led the
European Left, while more revolutionary variants held sway in the
“developing” world. Since the late 1960s, however, the socialist Left
has declined in influence due to the rise of identity and one-issue
movements (for example, feminist and environmentalist movements), the
changing geographies and modalities of the global economy and labor, the
concomitant weakening of trade unions that had constituted socialism’s
traditional base of support in many countries, the final discrediting
and collapse of Soviet-style “real existing socialism” in Eastern
Europe, the growing power of neo-liberalism as the ideology of the
political mainstream, and other structural and contingent changes. These
developments have challenged conventional socialist politics’ claims to
leadership of the political Left and have led many to question
socialism’s very relevance.

Since the 2008 onset of the current economic crisis, critiques of
capitalism—many of them invoking Marx and/or the socialist mobilizations
of previous eras—have re-entered mainstream political debates in Europe
and around the world. Scholarly discussions about this legacy and its
contemporary relevance have also profited from a surge in interest. Not
least, socialist parties have won some significant electoral contests,
as they recently did in France. Yet in many places, conventional
socialist or Leftist political parties still remain on the defensive and
some of the most recent popular mobilizations that challenge the
political and economic status quo (for instance, the Occupy Movement)
generally reject alliances or identification with established socialist
politics.

In this climate, we think it timely to consider the historical
trajectory of socialism—in all its diverse forms—through crisis and
mobilization. We understand crisis in the broadest sense of the word,
encompassing not just economic downturns, but also political, social,
cultural, and environmental crises as well as war, famine, natural
disasters, and other disruptions. Crises vary in scale too, from the
global or continental level down to the local. By bringing together
scholars from multiple disciplines who specialize in various time
periods and places across the globe, and by opening broad temporal,
comparative, and transnational vistas, we hope to update and enrich the
scholarly conversation about socialism(s). Among the core questions that
we aim to address are:

- How have socialist politics developed historically as a response to
crisis, broadly defined, and through mobilization?
- Why have certain people and movements in history self-identified as
“socialist,” and which theories and concepts have they drawn on?
- How and what did these people and movements learn from their activist
experiences, and what are the memories and legacies of mass mobilization
in times of crisis?
- What lessons – if any – do present-day activists and movements draw
from the past, and how are various memories and myths appropriate to
current debates and actions?
- To what extent have socialist mobilizations that respond to crisis
displayed unique characteristics in the non-European/western or
developing world?
- What have socialist mobilizations accomplished (or not accomplished)
in attempting to redefine the relationships between the state and
society and between society and capitalism?
- How has the recent economic crisis contributed to, or changed,
socialist politics as well as our understanding of socialism as an
aspect of European or global modernity?
- How have socialists (of any sort) stood in relation to other Leftist
political groupings and/or non-Leftists in responding to crisis, both
historically and today?
- To what extent does “socialism” remain a useful category for
animating/galvanizing or studying mobilizations of a certain kind?

In addition to papers that address one or more of these questions, we
invite papers or panels dealing with any of the following broad thematic
areas in any part of the world that have relevance to the central
conference theme:

I. Capitalism in Crisis: Experiences, diagnoses and solutions, past and
present
II. Riots, Revolts & Revolutions: Violent reactions, street activisms,
and their outcomes
III. Parties & Movements: Organisations, networks, and institutions
IV. Ideas & Programs: Analyses, ideologies, and remedies
V. Rebels & Leaders: Who is in charge, why and how?
VI. Elites & Masses: Interests, alliances, and encounters

We invite both junior and senior scholars to present results of
research, works-in-progress, or polished papers concerning these issues
and others related to the general workshop theme. We are interested in
receiving individual paper proposals and proposals for panel sessions.
The organizers will consider publishing some of the contributions
following the conference. Conference presentations will be 15 minutes
in length. Unfortunately, we cannot provide travel funding.
Please email your proposal (250-300 words) along with a brief (100 words
max.) academic bio,
to H-SOCIALISMS@H-NET.MSU.EDU by October 10, 2012.

Keynote speaker:
Geoff Eley (University of Michigan): Forging Democracy: On the history
of the “Left”, 1850-2000

The organizers are:
Giovanni Bernardini, German-Italian Historical Institute - FBK, Trento,
Italy
Christina Morina, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany
Jakub S. Beneš University of California, Davis, USA
Kasper Braskén, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Stefan Müller, Universität Duisburg-Essen

For more information on HOSAS/H-Socialisms, visit:
www.h-net.org/~socialisms/