Twentieth Century Communism

06/01/2025

CFP - Communist Festivals

Inspired by the Fête de l'Humanité, hosted by the French newspaper L’Humanité since 1930, Western communist newspapers have historically organized well-attended festivals that combine cultural, political and social elements featuring musical performances, the sale of regional foods and produce, theatrical plays, children’s entertainment, art exhibits, political debates, and activism. Seen as important expressions of working-class sociability, these festivals attracted communists and non-communists.

This is a call for articles for a special issue about these annual festivals organized by Western communist newspapers/parties, including but not limited to Fête de l'Humanité (France), Festa de l’Unità (Italy), Waarheidfestival (The Netherlands), Fiesta del PCE (Spain), Avante! Festival (Portugal), Land og Folk Festival (Denmark), Odigitis Festival (Greece), and The People’s Festival (Great Britain).

In addition to discussing a festival's general history, we encourage authors to explore:

• How did the balance between political and cultural elements evolve, and did this evolution reflect social and ideological shifts?

• The celebration of regional culture and traditions.

• The use of culture as a tool to communicate political messages and attract new members.

• The impact of the Cold War on the popularity of the festival.

• Organizers’ efforts to attract politicised youth in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and connect with other social and political movements.

• International visitors to such festivals and expressions of solidarity.

Authors are encouraged to use oral testimonies (organizers/attendees) if available/suitable.

We invite you to submit an abstract of approximately 500 words by May 1, 2025. The abstract should include the title of the paper, state the problem or research question, outline the theoretical framework, state the main point or argument, and provide a rough indication of the methods and sources you intend to use. Please include a short academic biography.

07/11/2024

November 7 is the anniversary of the Bolshevik (or October) Revolution of 1917.

Issue 14 of Twentieth Century Communism journal was a special issue dedicated to the centenary of 1917 and its impact on the international communist movement.

Twentieth Century Communism: a journal of international history - Issue contents for Volume 2018 Issue 14 (2018)

29/10/2024

Today is the 100th anniversary of the 1924 UK general election, which was overshadowed by the 'Zinoviev Letter', widely seen as an effort to discredit the Labour Party by the security services. Kevin Morgan discusses this in his 2019 article on the archives of the British security services and state surveillance.

In Britain as in other countries security service files have come to provide an important resource for the writing of communist

01/10/2024

On 1 October, 1949, Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China.

This back issue of Twentieth Century Communism journal looks at the influence of Communist China and Maoism across the globe between the 1950s and 1980s, with 2 open access articles.

Twentieth Century Communism: a journal of international history - Issue contents for Volume 2022 Issue 22 (2022)

19/09/2024

Twentieth Century Communism journal is happy to announce that a new editorial team is taking the reins!

The new joint chief editors are Kasper Braskén and Margarite Poulos. The new book reviews editors are Evan Smith and Giulia Strippoli.

Twentieth Century Communism journal is always looking for original research articles on any aspect of international communist history, as well as broader labour and radical history. We also welcome pitches for special issues.

Please get in touch!

Twentieth Century Communism: a journal of international history

03/09/2024

Today is the anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War.

In 2014, Alix Heiniger published this article with Twentieth Century Communism journal on German communists in exile during WWII.

It is now free to download from Lawrence & Wishart.

During the Second World War, German communists exiled in Belgium, France and Switzerland kept being active on behalf of their pa

27/08/2024

Hard copy of issue 26 has now arrived!

Get your copy here: https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2024-issue-26/

20/07/2024

This week is the anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936. Twentieth Century Communism journal has published several articles on the conflict including this free to download article by David Featherstone on African American volunteers and Black internationalism.

This paper considers some of the political trajectories of the ninety or so African Americans who fought in the Spanish Civil Wa

01/07/2024

On this day (1 July) in 1960, Kwame Nkrumah became the first President of Ghana. Nkrumah appeared on the front cover of issue 15 of Twentieth Century Communism journal on communism and post-war Africa, published in 2018.

Twentieth Century Communism: a journal of international history - Issue contents for Volume 2018 Issue 15 (2018)

03/06/2024

This event is happening on Thursday, June 27th at 5 pm in Amsterdam (recording will be available at a later date):

On the occasion of the Dutch translation in 2023 of the novel Niki (2014) by the Greek writer Christos Chomenidis – longlisted for the (Dutch) European Literature Prize – the author will have a conversation with Michel Krielaars and Elke Weesjes about the myths and realities around ideological and dogmatic forms of education in Greece, the Netherlands, and former communist states, and the multiple afterlives of history in the present.

On the occasion of the Dutch translation in 2023 of the novel Niki (2014) by the Greek writer Christos Chomenidis – longlisted for the (Dutch) European Literature Prize – the author will have a conversation with Michel Krielaars and Elke Weesjes about the myths and realities around ideological a...

01/05/2024

Happy May Day comrades!

14/03/2024

Just a reminder to historians and scholars in adjacent disciplines that Twentieth Century Communism journal is always looking for original research articles on any aspect of the history of communism, radicalism, labour and left-wing activism. Please get in touch!

Twentieth Century Communism: a journal of international history