Socialist History at Marxism 2012

There is much of interest for socialists in general at Marxism 2012 (5-9 July, central London), with speakers including Antonio Negri, David Harvey, Samir Amin, George Galloway, Leila Khaled, Tony Benn, Tariq Ali, Gary Younge, Alex Callinicos and former Black Panther Robert King Wilkerson so on, but socialist historians might particularly take note of the opportunity to see - among others:

- Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize winner Jairus Banaji on 'Theory as history: modes of production' (there is also a course on historical materialism, ranging from base and superstructure, through to the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the Asiatic mode of production, and the question of how revolutionary were the bourgeois revolutions)

- Biographer of Alexandra Kollontai Cathy Porter and Egyptian revolutionary Gigi Ibrahim on ‘Festivals of the oppressed’: women in revolution from Russia to Egypt

- John Newsinger on the hidden history of US radicalism

-  Ken Olende on the origins of racism

- Sheila McGregor, Pete Shaw & Eddie Prevost on 'When workers brought a Tory government to its knees: 40 years since 1972'

- Leo Zeilig, Ian Birchall & Hamza Hamouchene celebrate the 50th anniversary of Algerian independence (there are separate meetings on Frantz Fanon and 'European revolutionaries and Algerian independence)

- Charlie Post and Neil Davidson debating the US Civil War and the American Road to Capitalism

- Donny Gluckstein on his new book A People’s History of the Second World War

 - Tommy McKearney - 30 years on: remembering the Irish hunger strikes

- Colin Barker on 'Patterns of revolution since 1989'

There are lots of other historical meetings, ranging from 'a history of anarchism in struggle' to 'the Luddite Rebellion 200 years on', and from John Rose on a very short history of God to Tom Hickey on Walter Benjamin's philosophy of history, to 'A People's History of Riots' - people should really go and check out the full timetable online for themselves.