History, Memory and the Past in Twentieth Century Communism

Deadline: 31 December 2025

Editors: Giulia Strippoli and José Neves (Institute of Contemporary History — NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST, Portugal)

While the revolution and the future of mankind were their main concerns, Communist Parties and movements, nevertheless, also developed an interest in the past. Communist engagement with the past has often been considered in contradictory terms. On the one hand, it has been interpreted as an engagement that had manipulatory purposes. On the other, even if less frequently, some communist intellectuals became professional historians who have been widely acclaimed as major contributors to the development and renewal of the discipline — Eric J. Hobsbawn among the most famous examples.

Some questions of interest include:

1. How have the political strategies and theories developed by communist parties and movements influenced the discipline of history and vice-versa?
2. How did the development of Marxist historical analysis influence professional historians and historical schools, as well as the emergence of new areas of historical research?
3. What kinds of memory policies and practices were promoted by communist movements, parties and militants outside academia?

Timetable

We invite you to submit an abstract of approximately 500 words by 31 December 2025 to giuliastrippoli@fcsh.unl.pt

Authors will be notified about the acceptance of their proposal by 1 March 2026. Manuscripts should be submitted by 1 December 2026.

The issue will be published in 2028.

For more information about Twentieth Century Communism and for general author guidelines, see this link.