Social and Labour History News

by Sébastien Bonetti et Théo Georget

 

Hiver 1978.

Alors que le gouvernement de Raymond Barre vient d’annoncer un vaste plan de restructuration de l’industrie sidérurgique entraînant une suppression massive d’emplois, des milliers de personnes se jettent dans les rues de Longwy en défense de « leurs » usines.
De toutes les organisations qui prennent part à la bataille, la section locale de la CFDT est l’une des plus actives. Héritière de la tumultueuse décennie post-68, elle contribue à sortir la lutte des lieux de travail et à élargir le champ des revendications en questionnant le sens de la production industrielle et la place des minorités dans l’univers sidérurgique. De l’occupation du crassier à l’enlèvement de Johnny Hallyday, de l’emprunt de la Coupe de France à la création d’une radio libre, du piratage de la télévision aux attaques du commissariat local, les actions que mène la CFDT propulsent Longwy à la une de l’actualité nationale durant plusieurs mois.

S’appuyant sur le témoignage de nombreux membres de l’organisation et sur de multiples archives, ce livre entend rendre compte de la vie de la CFDT Longwy au cours de cette période.

Call for Papers
European Labour History Network Conference 2026 – Barcelona
Session: “Extractive Industry under Dictatorship in the 20th Century: Social, Political and Environmental Issues”
Organizers: Labour in Mining Working Group

The mining sector occupied a central role in shaping the economic, political, and social history of many countries throughout the 20th century. As a strategic industry, mining was closely tied to national development agendas, regimes of labour control, environmental transformations, and the consolidation of state power.

This panel aims to explore the labour, social, political, and environmental dimensions of the mining sector under dictatorial regimes during the 20th century. While we are particularly interested in European cases, we also strongly encourage contributions that examine similar processes in other parts of the world—such as Latin America, but we could consider other cases in Africa or Asia—to foster comparative perspectives and transregional dialogues.

We invite paper proposals that address, among others, the following topics:

• Labour regimes and working conditions; state violence and labour discipline; occupational health and safety;
• Industrial relations and collective action: trade unionism, strikes, worker mobilization, and their repression or negotiation by authoritarian regimes;
• The role of mining in economic and political planning under dictatorships: including its ideological instrumentalization in fascist, communist, or military regimes;
• The responses of dictatorial regimes to the environmental impacts of mining and the narratives of progress or sacrifice that justified extractive policies.

We are especially interested in interdisciplinary approaches that bridge labour history with environmental history, political economy, social history, or the history of science and technology. Contributions may be based on local case studies, national analyses, or comparative and transregional frameworks.

Deadline for abstract submission: 15 October 2025

Please send a 250–300 word abstract and a short CV to: labourinmining@gmail.com; josejgg@ual.es; or francesca.sanna@univ-tlse2.fr

Panel organizers:

• José Joaquín García Gómez (Universidad de Almería, Labour in Mining Working Group, ELHN)
• Francesca Sanna (Université de Toulouse 2 Jean Jaurès, Labour in Mining Working Group, ELHN)
• Eva María Trescastro López (Universidad de Alicante)

by Mareen Heying, Alexandra Jaeger, Nina Kleinöder, Sebastian Knoll-Jung, Sebastian Voigt

 

Der Sammelband gibt einen Einblick in Wandel und Kontinuitäten seit dem 19. Jahrhundert. Die Autor_innen fragen nach Akteur_innen und gesellschaftlichen Verhältnissen, die die Gewalt ermöglichten, analysieren aber auch die Reaktionen der Betroffenen.

Gewalt am Arbeitsplatz war und ist allgegenwärtig. Sie wurde hinter Fabriktoren, Bürotüren oder in Haushalten oft nicht sichtbar, verharmlost oder tabuisiert. Die Gewaltformen, ihre Wahrnehmung und ihre Rahmenbedingungen haben sich seit dem 19. Jahrhundert verändert. Der Band gibt einen Einblick in Wandel und Kontinuitäten, Gruppen von Akteur_innen und die gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse, die die Gewalt ermöglichten und ermöglichen.

Gewalt zeigt sich in der Arbeitswelt in unterschiedlichen Formen: Gewalt von oder gegen Vorgesetzte, Gewalt unter Kolleg_innen, aber auch Gewalt durch Kund:innen. Eine besonders verbreitete Form ist die sexualisierte Gewalt, die von unangemessenen Kommentaren bis zu körperlichen Übergriffen reicht. Die Autor_innen analysieren Macht- und Geschlechterverhältnisse sowie Reaktionen von Betroffenen.

Mareen Heying/Alexandra Jaeger/Nina Kleinöder/Sebastian Knoll-Jung/Sebastian Voigt (Hrsg.) Verschwiegener Alltag. Gewalt am Arbeitsplatz seit dem 19. Jahrhundert

Bonn 2025

Reihe: Politik- und Gesellschaftsgeschichte, Bd. 115

240 Seiten
ISBN 978-3-8012-4298-5

Organizer: Institute of History / Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences Location: Akademické konferenční centrum Postcode: Prague Country: Czech Republic Date: 08.12.2025 - Deadline: 17.08.2025

A one-day international interdisciplinary methodological workshop on industrial relations in modern and contemporary history will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, on 8th December 2025. The event is organized by postdoctoral researchers from the Institute of History and the Institute of Contemporary History at the Czech Academy of Sciences.

Industrial Relations and Institutional Resilience in Central Europe (1789–2004)

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to invite proposals for a one-day international interdisciplinary methodological workshop on industrial relations in modern and contemporary history, to be held in Prague, Czech Republic, on 8th December 2025. The event is organized by two postdoctoral researchers from the Institute of History and the Institute of Contemporary History at the Czech Academy of Sciences, and is supported by the Academy’s “Strategy AV21” program.

This workshop aims to explore the role of labour–employer relations and the management of industrial conflicts in shaping the stability and reproduction of social institutions—viewed as essential components of a resilient society. We seek to bring together scholars from various disciplines, including history, sociology, social anthropology, political science, and state theory, to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and comparative insights.

Thematic Focus:
We welcome both national-level studies of industrial relations and micro-level research rooted in labour history, especially those that address:
- The transfer of industrial conflicts into the political realm or their political instrumentalization;
- Reflections of labour-related tensions in political thought and ideologies;
- Transformations in labour relations during periods of institutional upheaval (e.g., revolutions, coups, systemic transitions);
- The interconnected evolution of employment relations and political representation in modern societies.
We especially encourage methodological contributions that engage with these issues across a broad historical period—from the late 18th century (ca. 1789) through the post-communist transformation (up to 2004)—with a geographical focus on Central Europe.

Practical Information:
The workshop will take place in Prague and will be conducted in English. Thanks to the support of Strategy AV21, we are able to offer full reimbursement for travel expenses (up to €250), accommodation for one or two nights, and meals (lunch and dinner on the day of the workshop).

While no collective publication is planned at this stage, we hope the meeting will serve as a starting point for future scholarly collaboration.

How to Apply:
If you are interested in participating, please contact us (rames@usd.cas.cz, raska@hiu.cas.cz) with a brief abstract (max. 300 words) and a short bio (max. 150 words) by 17th August 2025. The selection procedure is expected to be finished by early September.

We look forward to your contributions and to a rich and productive discussion in Prague.

Best regards,

Jakub Raška and Václav Rameš
Institute of History & Institute of Contemporary History
Czech Academy of Sciences

Kontakt

rames@usd.cas.cz
raska@hiu.cas.cz

The Maritime Labour History Working Group of the European Labour History Network (ELHN) invites submissions for its sessions at the 6th ELHN Conference, to be held in Barcelona from 16 to 19 June 2026.

The working group brings together scholars interested in the study of maritime labour across time and space. Since its inception, it has provided a transnational platform for sharing research on the transformation of maritime and port labour markets, and the conditions, struggles and agency of labouring communities connected to maritime economies.

For the 2026 conference, we welcome contributions on all aspects of maritime labour history across Europe and its global connections, with no thematic, chronological or geographical restrictions. Possible themes include (but are not limited to):

• Repertoires of labour struggles in the maritime world
• Migration, mobility and diasporas of maritime and port workers
• Labour relations, hierarchies and discipline at sea and ashore
• Labour communities in urban and rural settings
• Gender, ethnicity and race in maritime and port labour
• Pluriactivity in the maritime world
• Sources, methods and historiographical debates in maritime labour history

Based on the proposals received, the sessions will be organised thematically, grouping contributions by shared approaches or topics. The official language of the conference is English.

Abstracts (max. 400 words) should be sent to the working group coordinators by 31 August 2025 at the latest. It should incude a short academic CV (max. 200 words). Given the tight schedule for the organisation of sessions, we kindly ask you to submit your abstracts as soon as possible.

We look forward to receiving your proposals and to continuing our collective exploration of maritime labour history in Barcelona.

Please submit proposals by e-mail to the three coordinators:

• Kristof Loockx (Centre for Urban History, University of Antwerp): kristof.loockx@uantwerpen.be 
• Eduard Page (Universitat de Barcelona): eduardpage@ub.edu 
• Kalliopi Vasilaki (Università degli studi di Genova): kk.vasilaki@gmail.com 

Call for Papers: The conceptions and contributions to Social Europe of European Trade Union Federations, the European Trade Union Confederation, and the Workers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee of the EU

Sixth European Labour History Network (ELHN) meeting

Barcelona-16-19 June 2026

Working Group: European Trade Unionism.

The creation of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in 1973 marked a new departure in the history of European trade unionism by creating a specific common agenda and institutional links between European trade unions. It aimed to overcome ideological differences, and Cold War divides with a common action in the framework of the process of European integration. Such European transformation had been already announced and practiced in various European sections of international trade union federations (ITUFs). The building of a European integration of trade unions, therefore, was driven by both the institutional constraints marked by European institutions, and the concrete struggles of European dimension to which various ITUF had been confronted with the building of global capitalism.

This working group aims to bring together those researchers interested in the trade union organizations designed for concrete struggle at the European level. Departing from the network created for the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the history of the ETUC, this working group had focused on the contribution of national trade unions and key trade union leaders to the ETUC history. We aim to continue this cooperation by extending this reflection to the contribution of European trade union federations (ETUFs) to build European solidarity not just across borders, but also across sectors. Last, but not least, the group would like to engage into a historiographical dialogue with on-going research projects about the history of international trade unionism and international solidarity with a particular attention to the interaction between ETUFs and ITUFs, which resulted to a large extent in the progressive creation of global unions.

In 2026 the group aims to keep having papers on the history of the ETUC, but now extended to the creation and development of ETUFs recognized by the ETUC and originating in the European regional organizations of ITUFs. It also encourages to focus on key moments of European integration (Enlargements and European Treaties) and the role played at regional, national or European level by trade unions leaders and key officials. We would like to include also a particular attention to the means of this action by their contribution to European legislation through their representatives in the workers’ group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) of the European Union. 

We aim in particular for papers to build panels addressing:

• The history of ETUC in particular during the role played by European Trade Unions leaders and officials during the period led by Mathias Hinterscheid (1976-1991) and Emilio Gabaglio (1991-2003).
• The history of ETUFs (and their predecessors)m and in particular UNI-Europa, European Public Services Union, European Transport Federation and Industriall Europe.
• The history of European trade unionists who participated in the Workers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee of the EU and its predecessors (ex. Consultative Committee of the European Coal and Steel Community).

This call for papers is not just addressed to historians of labor, but it also aims to engage into a reflection on how to write a new history of European trade unionism. Therefore, it welcomes presentations from industrial sociologists, political scientists, and labor law scholars interested to engage with historical dimensions of European and international trade unionism.

Deadline for submissions

The deadline is 23rd September 2025. The outcome of the selection will be communicated by 15th October 2025.

How to apply: Sending a 500-word abstract and short academic CV (max.500 word) to both organisers:

• · Sigfrido Ramírez Pérez, Max-Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt-am-Main, ramirez@lhlt.mpg.de
• · Claude Roccati, Centre d’histoire sociale des mondes contemporains, Paris, claude.roccati@orange.fr

The proposal should include name, surname, current affiliation and contact details. 

We invite scholars to explore the complex entanglements between labour, sites of production, industrial geography and environments across historical contexts. We seek papers that examine how workplaces—whether factories, offices, shipyards, mines, farms, or digital infrastructures—function not only as sites of economic production, but also as dynamic ecosystems embedded in social, spatial, and environmental relations.

Workplaces are ecosystems with variable interdependencies of labour, space, technology and environment (Becker, 1990). Work has never occurred in a vacuum. It is shaped by and shapes architectural forms, infrastructural systems, material flows, climatic and territorial conditions and, of course, the social and technological organisation of labour. Workplace ecologies both reflect and reproduce social hierarchies, environmental transformations, and spatial configurations of power.

Environmental historians have argued that we should begin with work to understand how societies know and transform nature, insisting that people encounter and shape the environment primarily through labour (White). Concepts like “workscapes” describe the dynamic material settings forged by the interplay between labour and natural processes (Andrews). Labour historians, in turn, have drawn on perspectives including labour geography and environmental justice to explore how capital reorganizes nature—and how ecological conditions, in turn, structure relations of class, gender, and exploitation (Bailey and Gwyther, Peck). Workplace ecologies and infrastructures are also deeply intertwined with systems of imperial extraction and racialized labour hierarchies (Larkin 2013; Cowen 2014). These approaches unsettle disciplinary boundaries, bringing ecological analysis into labour history and reintroducing political economy into environmental studies.

This call for papers aims to foreground historical approaches that interrogate how the organization of labour intersects with ecological systems and spatial politics. We welcome contributions that analyze the reciprocal influences between the workplace as a constructed space and broader environmental and social processes. How have workplaces historically mediated relations between humans, technology, materials, and the environment? What role has the built environment played in codifying or contesting labour relations and environmental impacts? How has the social and spatial organisation of labour impacted resistance or accommodation to management control? 

As a site where ecological processes and social struggles meet, the workplace enables a more grounded analysis of how human and nonhuman worlds are co-produced through situated practices of labour, contestation, and survival. Through an empirical and conceptual focus on the workplace as an interconnected ecosystem, and through interdisciplinary frameworks, this call for paper opens space to reframe these questions.

Possible themes include (but are not limited to):

• Spatial politics of labour: segregation, mobility, and infrastructures of control
• Ecological transformations in specific workplaces (e.g., mines, factories, ports, farms, warehouses) and their effects
• The role of industrial geography in shaping workplace ecologies and workers’ lived experience across local, regional, and global scales
• How material infrastructures shape labour regimes and labour processes.
• Labour struggle and how they reshaped workplace ecology
• Methodological challenges in researching workplace ecologies: archives, oral histories, and interdisciplinary approaches
• Conceptual papers that explore the multidimensionality of workplace ecology.
• Environmental histories of workplaces: pollution, toxicity, resource use, and ecological change
• The embodied and metabolic experience of workers and the socio-natures that they interact with
• Gender, race, class, and the ecologies of workplace design and function
• Technological change and the environmental footprint of work
• Transnational and colonial entanglements in the construction of labour ecologies
• Digital and remote work and its spatial and ecological implications

Submission Guidelines

We welcome both individual paper proposals and session proposals. For session proposals, please include 3 to 4 papers, along with an abstract that outlines the overarching theme or common thread of the session. Each individual paper should also include an abstract.

• Each abstract should be a maximum of 500 words (excluding the bibliography).
• Your proposal should include your name, surname, current affiliation, contact information, and paper title.
• Abstracts must explicitly indicate which of the themes (from the provided bullet points) your paper or session addresses.

Please submit your abstract by 15 August 2025 to Görkem Akgöz (akgozgorkem@yahoo.com) or Nico Pizzolato (n.pizzolato@mdx.ac.uk).

About the ELHN “Workplaces: Pasts and Presents” Working Group

The working group has been active since 2014, initially known as “Factory History.” The name change in 2021 reflects the expanding scope of the group, which now includes scholars studying a wide range of workplaces beyond the industrial context. It also acknowledges the growing contributions from scholars in fields like anthropology and geography, in addition to history. The group is truly international, bringing together scholars at various stages of their careers from a
wide range of academic disciplines. It has developed a rich library of working papers and primary materials and is fuelled by a wealth of energy and innovative ideas. The group also runs a digital platform for collaborative research exhibits and produces a podcast series.

If you are interested in joining or would like to receive updates from the group, please contact one of the coordinators at akgozgorkem@yahoo.com or n.pizzolato@mdx.ac.uk.

Institut d'histoire sociale de la Fédération CGT des cheminots 263, rue de Paris - Case 546 - 93515 Montreuil Cedex

L’institut d’histoire sociale de la fédération CGT des cheminots lance l’organisation d’un colloque portant sur la grève de l’hiver 1986/1987, qui s’est étendue du 18 décembre 1986 au 15 janvier 1987, faisant de ce conflit (à ce moment-là) le plus long de l’histoire sociale des cheminots. Ce conflit avait notamment permis le retrait d’une grille des salaires « au mérite » rejetée par l’ensemble du corps social.

Ce conflit a durablement marqué l’histoire des luttes cheminotes pour des raisons qui ne tiennent pas seulement à la durée de la grève. Dans un contexte marqué par le recul important des effectifs syndicaux d’un côté, par l’entrée dans la première cohabitation de la 5ème République de l’autre, cette grève s’inscrit d’abord dans une séquence de renouveau des luttes sociales qui se manifeste de différentes manières. En cette fin d’année 1986, les étudiants sont notamment mobilisés contre le projet Devaquet alors ministre de l’éducation nationale. Parmi les agents de la SNCF, le conflit prend forme dans un contexte de durcissement des relations avec le gouvernement.

Dès le mois d’août 1986, le ministre Douffiagues avait accordé au Monde un entretien, reçu comme une véritable provocation par les syndicats. Le ministre y déclare notamment vouloir « ouvrir un débat » sur le statut du cheminot, au motif qu’il ne lui semble pas toujours justifié par des considérations techniques, et exige à la SNCF des comptes sur la façon dont elle dépense 33 milliards de francs de concours publics annuels. En riposte, la fédération CGT appelle à un rassemblement des cheminots de la région parisienne à la gare d’Austerlitz.

Cette mobilisation s‘inscrit dans un ensemble de 14 actions nationales initiées par le syndicat au cours de l’année 1986 chez les cheminots. Ainsi dès le 30 janvier contre la flexibilité du travail ; en février et mars contre les sanctions frappant les militants du train jaune de Cerdagne qui se sont opposés à son démantèlement. Une manifestation nationale des cheminots est organisée à Montpellier le 20 février pour défendre les militants du train jaune ; puis le 23 avril action contre la mise en oeuvre du contrat de plan État/SNCF prévoyant la suppression de 28000 emplois entre 1986 et 1989. Citons encore la forte mobilisation des agents de conduite et contrôleurs le 30 mai, et la semaine d’actions organisée du 20 au 25 octobre sur les salaires, l’emploi, les conditions de travail, les atteintes aux libertés syndicales, la défense du statut ; dans la foulée, du 10 au 16 décembre, s’enclenche la grève victorieuse des guichetiers des gares contre le retrait de la « prime de saisie »

Si la grève de l’hiver 1986 prend donc naissance dans un contexte d’intensification des luttes syndicales cheminotes, les conditions de son émergence et les modalités de son organisation en ont cependant aussi débordé les cadres habituels du travail syndical d’organisation des mobilisations. Le déclenchement de cette grève n’a pas été en effet impulsée par la CGT ni par une autre organisation syndicale, dont le rôle dans l’organisation de la lutte est aussi mis en question par l’émergence de coordinations, qui donnent une place centrale à la pratique de l’assemblée générale dans la conduite du mouvement. Autre trait distinctif de cette grève, sa temporalité, puisqu’elle s’enclenche et se poursuit pendant les fêtes de fin d’année. C’est là une autre rupture manifeste avec les stratégies syndicales habituelles de recours à la grève, qui préfèrent en règle générale éviter d’en faire usage à cette période, dans une logique de défense du sens du service public et de limitation des risques de stigmatisation de la lutte syndicale.

Au regard de ces différents éléments, ce colloque se propose de réinvestir l’étude de cette grève à partir d’une double ambition : celle de contribuer à une meilleure connaissance des ressorts de cette mobilisation et de ses effets, en encourageant pour cela la mise en perspective de recherches académiques et de témoignages militants permettant de décentrer le regard à partir duquel cette mobilisation a été le plus souvent appréhendée dans le champ scientifique. Outre que les travaux historiques spécifiquement centrés sur ce conflit restent rares, les sociologues s’en sont eux emparés à partir d’un prisme essentiellement centré sur l’objet des coordinations. Elles ont été saisies comme un révélateur de la crise du syndicalisme, qui s’est imposée, jusqu’à la fin des années 1990 comme le principal angle de questionnement à partir duquel les sciences sociales se sont intéressées aux questions syndicales. Sans remettre évidemment en cause l’intérêt de ces travaux, l’objectif de ce colloque est cependant de rassembler des contributions qui permettent d’élargir tout aussi bien les angles de questionnement que les échelles de l’analyse, en ne la réduisant pas notamment à ce qui s’est joué dans la région parisienne.

Comment le déclenchement et le déroulement de ce conflit a-t-il été appréhendé et accompagné (ou non) par les directions syndicales qui n’en avaient pas pris l’initiative ? Quelle place ont concrètement occupé les militants syndicaux (et lesquels) dans les coordinations ? Cette forme d’organisation de la lutte était-elle d’ailleurs généralisée sur l’ensemble du territoire ? Comment le « tabou syndical » de la grève pendant les périodes de fêtes de fin d’année a-t-il pu être levé ? Quelles résistances internes, quelles réactions politiques et médiatiques hostiles cela a-t-il pu engendrer ? Enfin, qu’a produit ce conflit, tant du point de vue de ses résultats revendicatifs immédiats ou à plus long terme (le retrait du projet de grille des salaires au mérite en particulier), que des formes d’adaptation et de redynamisation de l’action syndicale qu’il a pu encourager ? Plus que la fin du syndicalisme cheminot, ce conflit n’a-t-il pas davantage marqué son entrée dans une nouvelle séquence, posant les germes de la démarche syndicale qui aboutira au conflit de novembre et décembre 1995 ? Quel impact de la lutte et de ses formes sur les orientations et pratiques de la CGT au-delà de la seule fédération des cheminots ? Telles sont, parmi d’autres possibles, les questions que ce colloque se propose notamment de défricher.

 

Dans cette optique, les contributions pourront s’ordonner autour de quatre principaux axes de questionnement :

1. Le moment du conflit et sa genèse
   12. effets du conflit sur le champ syndical CGT et autres
   13. effets sur les pratiques et les organisations

 

1. 12. expériences territoriales
   13. portée de ce conflit quatre décennies plus tard

 

Les archives de l’Institut d’Histoire Sociale de la CGT Cheminots pourront être exploitées en vue d’apporter des contributions originales au colloque

 

Conseil scientifique :

Baptiste GIRAUD, maitre de conférences en science politique, université Aix-Marseille, Laboratoire d’Économie et de Sociologie du Travail

Paul BOULLAND, ingénieur de recherche, CNRS

Maryse DUMAS, membre du bureau de l’Institut CGT d’Histoire Sociale

Isabelle PASQUET, Patrick CHAMARET, Christian JONCRET, Pierre DELANOUE, membres du bureau de l’IHS CGT Cheminots

Contact :

colloque8687.ihs@cheminotcgt.fr

Pierre DELANOUE : 06 22 33 77 00

12–13 February 2026, Vila Lanna/Prague

More than three decades after the fall of state socialism in Europe, the liberal democratic, capitalist regimes that emerged in 1989 face new and growing challenges. The post-1989 liberal order—once broadly accepted—now finds itself in a moment of crisis. But how deep did that original acceptance run? What meanings did people attach to the new political, economic and social arrangements? How did they navigate and make sense of these transformations in everyday life?

This exploratory conference seeks to open a new perspective on postsocialist transformation in Eastern Europe —not just as a political and economic process, but as a "world of meaning" shaped by the complex interplay of domination and agency. We draw inspiration from conceptual approaches used in the study of state socialism and communist dictatorship, particularly the ideas of Sinnwelt (world of meaning) and Eigensinn (individual sense-making), to ask fresh questions about how the post-1989 order was lived, legitimated, adapted—and sometimes resisted—by those within it (Lüdtke 1993; Lindenberger 1999; Donert, Kladnik and Sabrow 2022).

We invite proposals for papers that explore how people navigated, internalized, or challenged the shifting norms, values, and ideals of the new postsocialist order and are interested in perspectives that take into account the lived experience of different social, age, gender and ethnic groups. We are particularly seeking contributions that examine how the legitimacy of the liberal democratic order was constructed in everyday life, beyond official discourses and binary frameworks of "winners and losers."

 

We invite papers that explicitly engage with Sinnwelt and Eigensinn on topics such as:

• Prepolitical sources of legitimacy and how they were accepted, challenged or transformed
• Everyday practices of navigating new power structures (in workplaces, institutions, etc.)
• The persistence, adaptation or rejection of late socialist social strategies
• The relationship between hegemonic ideologies and lived experience across different social groups
• The market as a site of both domination and self-realization: how different kinds of capitalism shaped moral expectations, subjectivities, and life trajectories
• The market as a political order: how market logics replaced or supplemented traditional forms of governance and legitimacy
• Conceptual and theoretical approaches to postsocialist meaning-making, including comparisons with state socialist frameworks

We also welcome contributions that explore how the concepts of Sinnwelt and Eigensinn relate to frameworks such as governmentality (Foucault), praxeology (Bourdieu), or Polányi’s concept of the “great transformation” in the study of postsocialist transformation.

 

The conference is organized as a collaborative, work-in-progress space. Participants will be expected to develop their contributions into written chapters for a collective publication following the event.

Submit abstracts (max 300 words) and a brief biographical note by 15 September 2025 to:
transformace@usd.cas.cz

We look forward to your submissions and to collectively rethinking how postsocialist transformation has shaped—and continues to shape—our worlds of meaning.

Conference organizers:

Dr Martin Babička, Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Dr Veronika Pehe, Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Dr Michal Kopeček, Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Organizational partners:

Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung, TU Dresden
Research Center for the History of Transformations, University of Vienna

References

Donert, Celia, Ana Kladnik, and Martin Sabrow. Making Sense of Dictatorship: Domination and Everyday Life in East Central Europe after 1945 (Budapest: Central European University Press, 2022).

 

Lindenberger, Thomas, and Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam. Herrschaft Und Eigen-Sinn in Der Diktatur : Studien Zur Gesellschaftsgeschichte Der DDR (Köln: Böhlau, 1999).

 

Lüdtke, Alf. Eigen-Sinn: Fabrikalltag, Arbeitererfahrungen und Politik vom Kaiserreich bis in den Faschismus (Hamburg: Ergebnisse Verlag, 1993).

 

This conference is supported by the Lumina Quaeruntur Award 300632301 of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

 

13 al 17 de abril de 2026

Mesas temáticas: 13 al 16 de abril (modalidad virtual)

Conferencias y paneles: 17 de abril (modalidad presencial - CABA)

 El Centro de Estudios Históricos de los Trabajadores y las Izquierdas y la revista Archivos invitan a participar de las “IV Jornadas internacionales de historia de los/as trabajadores/as y las izquierdas” que se realizarán entre el 13 y el 17 de abril de 2026.

Desde junio de 2015 se realizan las “Jornadas internacionales de historia de los/as trabajadores/as y las izquierdas” con el objetivo de potenciar la elaboración y el intercambio acerca de la historia de la clase trabajadora y las izquierdas en la Argentina y en el mundo. Las diversas y masivas ediciones del evento congregaron a una significativa representación de los investigadores especialistas en las temáticas en cuestión y se desarrollaron bajo múltiples modalidades. Sin rehuir a la crítica y al debate franco, en un clima abierto y plural, se aportaron valiosas contribuciones sobre las dimensiones empíricas, teóricas, metodológicas y políticas de nuestro campo de estudio.

El desafío inicial sigue vigente, pero sobre un pilar aún más sólido: la consolidación del CEHTI, constituido en julio de 2016 y en donde se prolongó la elaboración desde una perspectiva crítica y de intercambio colectivo. Aspiramos a recibir trabajos que se extiendan a los múltiples aportes de la historia social, política, intelectual, cultural y de género, desde enfoques interdisciplinarios, abiertos tanto al escenario nacional como internacional. Retomando toda esta dinámica de trabajo, ahora nos proponemos la organización de las “IV Jornadas internacionales de historia de los/as trabajadores/as y las izquierdas”, en las que apelamos a una convocatoria pública para la presentación de ponencias y con una serie de ejes temáticos que pretenden priorizar y ordenar la discusión.

La modalidad de las Jornadas será doble. Por un lado, las mesas temáticas con ponencias funcionarán de modo virtual entre los días lunes 13 de abril y jueves 16 de abril de 2026. Por otro lado, el día viernes 17 de abril desde la mañana y durante toda la jornada se realizarán múltiples conferencias y paneles que se desarrollarán de modo presencial en nuestra sede y que oportunamente serán comunicados.

Los resúmenes y las ponencias podrán abordar cualquiera de estas dinámicas:

1)     Las izquierdas: culturas políticas, tradiciones, partidos y programas.

2)     Izquierda y clase obrera: experiencias de lucha y organización.

3)     Proceso de trabajo, estructuras sindicales y conflictividad laboral.

4)     Teoría e historia del marxismo.

5)     Historia intelectual de las izquierdas: redes y trayectorias.

6)     Estudios de género, clase trabajadora e izquierdas.

7)     Experiencias artísticas y culturales.

8)     Juventudes y movimiento estudiantil.

9)     Clase trabajadora, migraciones y etnicidad.

10)  Derechas, mundo católico y movimiento obrero.

11)  Violencia política y lucha armada.

12)  Formas de trabajo y conflictos sociales y políticos.

13)  Sociabilidad y vida cotidiana.

14)  Estado y clase trabajadora: iniciativas reformistas y políticas represivas.

15)  Cuestiones historiográficas y metodológicas.

16)  Clase obrera, nacionalismo y peronismo.

17)  Movimientos sociales, conflicto territorial y luchas medioambientales.

Fechas de presentación:

• Envío de Resúmenes: hasta el 1 de septiembre de 2025
• Envío de Ponencias: hasta el 1 de marzo de 2026

Criterios de presentación:

• Se aceptarán ponencias en español, inglés y portugués.
• Los resúmenes deben tener hasta 200 palabras y un encabezado con el nombre y apellido, el e-mail y la pertenencia institucional del autor/autora. Las ponencias podrán tener un máximo de 55.000 caracteres con espacio, en letra Times New Roman, tamaño 12 e interlineado de 1,5. En el encabezado se debe explicitar si autoriza la publicación en las actas de las Jornadas.
• Las propuestas deben ser enviadas a cuartasjornadascehti@gmail.com en un archivo cuyo nombre debe ser el apellido del autor/autora y el eje seleccionado. Ejemplo: PerezEje2.doc
• La asistencia será gratuita y el arancel para ponentes se detallará oportunamente.

Organizan:

• Centro de Estudios Históricos de los Trabajadores y las Izquierdas (CEHTI).
• Revista Archivos de historia del movimiento obrero y la izquierda.
• Proyecto de investigación UBACyT, “Izquierdas y movimiento obrero en la Argentina, 1880-1990: culturas políticas y experiencias de clase”, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Instituto de Hist. Arg. y Americana “Dr. Emilio Ravignani”, UBA/CONICET.

Auspician:

• Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires.d

www.cehti.org

Sommaire

 

L’ère des aliments industriels

Pour une histoire des industries agroalimentaires en France (19e-21e siècle)

Marc-Olivier Déplaude et Julian Mischi

 

Les vacheries parisiennes

Régulations d’une production laitière urbaine, 1815-1830

Thomas Le Roux

 

Le travail des ouvrières et sa rationalisation dans les biscuiteries industrielles en France avant 1940

Julian Mischi

 

Les ateliers de viande militaires, une production intégrée pendant la Première Guerre mondiale

Emmanuelle Cronier

 

L’invention du porc industriel

Résidus alimentaires et porcheries d’engraissement dans la France des années 1860-1930

Marc-Olivier Déplaude

 

Quelle place pour la coopération agricole dans l’industrie agroalimentaire ?

Le délicat rééquilibrage des soutiens publics au temps de la « modernisation agricole »

Pierre-Antoine Dessaux

 

L’avènement de la Cooperl

Le rôle des coopératives dans la modernisation de l’élevage porcin breton (années 1940-années 1970)

Clémence Gadenne-Rosfelder

 

Une usine encombrante

La régulation des « débordements industriels » d’une sucrerie normande face à l’intensification de sa production au 20e siècle

Nicolas Larchet

 

Organisation de la production et conditions d’emploi dans une usine agroalimentaire périurbaine

Pauline Liochon

 

Condition ouvrière et hors-travail dans l’industrie du saumon au Chili

Natalia Briceño

Cher.e.s collègues cher.es ami.e.s,

Nous avons le plaisir de vous faire part de la naissance d’une nouvelle revue internationale, la Revue d’histoire sociale (RHS).

Cette revue interdisciplinaire, ouverte sur l’ensemble des périodes historiques, y compris la préhistoire, l’ensemble des continents, vise à prendre une place, modeste, aux côtés de ses ainées, en (re)vitalisant, sans dogmatisme le terrain fertile de l’histoire sociale dans sa pluralité. Elle accueille les recherches et travaux de chercheur.e.s de différentes nationalités pouvant proposer articles, recensions, hypothèses en lien avec les thématiques poursuivies par la revue. Elle publie actuellement des articles en français, anglais, Italien ou espagnol.

Aussi, le premier numéro de la Revue d'histoire sociale est désormais en ligne https://www.ouvroir.fr/portail/index.php?id=81. Au travers de nombreux entretiens, de différentes recensions, il pose la question suivante : Où en est l'histoire sociale ?

Vous trouverez ainsi la présentation de la revue : https://www.ouvroir.fr/rhs/index.php?id=77

Le prochain dossier à paraitre est consacré aux « usages scientifiques du peuple ».

 

Contact général et soumission d’articles

jerome.lamy(at)laposte.net

by Ariane Mak

 

« Il n’y avait pas de grèves pendant la guerre ! » Ce livre défie l’idée, solidement ancrée dans les représentations de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, d’une suspension des conflits sociaux au nom de la nécessaire unité nationale. De 1939 à 1945, le Royaume-Uni connaît plus de 7 000 grèves, la plupart dans l’industrie charbonnière. Qu’est-ce qu’implique la grève en temps de guerre ?

Faut-il être solidaire de la nation ou plutôt de la classe ouvrière ?

En revisitant les enquêtes ethnographiques réalisées au cœur des grèves par un institut de recherche, le Mass-Observation, Ariane Mak propose une analyse par le bas, à hauteur des mineurs et des communautés, des vies ouvrières en temps de guerre. La grève se dévoile dans les dépenses de la voisine chez l’épicier, au détour de plaisanteries échangées entre grévistes dans les pubs ou encore à travers les ragots transmis entre femmes sur le pas de la porte. L’ouvrage met en lumière l’articulation entre revendications salariales, rapports de genre, transmission familiale et fierté professionnelle. Le travail des enquêtrices et celui de l’historienne se font échos ici pour mieux éclairer un pan méconnu des luttes sociales du XXe siècle.

Trish Kahle, Georgetown University Qatar (trish.kahle@georgetown.edu)

Ewan Gibbs, University of Glasgow (ewan.gibbs@glasgow.ac.uk)

Electricity has transformed the modern world, but histories of the labor of electricity are few and far between. This special issue of International Labor and Working-Class History charts a new direction in the entangled histories of energy and labor by exploring the much-overlooked theme of labor within electric power systems in a global context.

Historians have long understood changes in the social organization of labor and class conflict as pivotal experiences in global history. Increasingly, they also understand energy transformations in a similar manner. Whilst energy history and labor history stand at a crucial interface, they have often failed to engage with each other, even—at times—obscuring each other. Outside a few well explored topics, like coal mining and, to a lesser extent, oil production, the labor of energy systems remains poorly understood. Electricity is perhaps the most understudied of all these areas, despite its global reach and centrality to histories of statecraft, international development, and technological change.

Since the emergence of commercial power generation in the late nineteenth century, electricity use has increased rapidly and unevenly. As electric intensification proceeded across the twentieth century, its generation and application transformed social and political relations. Electric infrastructure building projects helped forge contested visions of modernity. Systems of electricity supply emerged as domineering local, regional and national networks, dispersing electricity workers across countries, and furnishing systems of technological exchange across national borders.  

We seek to examine the relationships of work which made electric power systems operable. We define work broadly to include—for example—waged labor for electric companies and related industries, the mining and manufacture of electric power system components like wires, waged and unwaged labor in homes (and the forms of industrial and home economics education that shaped this labor), forms of unfree and coerced labor, the work of maintenance and repair, and the information and service labor of the power sector. This list is by no means exhaustive. By the nature of dispersed systems that stretched into the home but were also subject to the technological ambitions of national governments, electricity workers were subject to myriad connections. These extended beyond their employers, to the state and the citizenry and customers, often made direct and personal through systems of connection and collection. These dynamics create strong potential for social hierarchies of class, gender and race to shape the electricity sector in diverse contexts.

The special edition will integrate varying political and economic circumstances which shaped electricity labor across differing global contexts. We are keen to record examples from post-colonial, Global South, and socialist settings. While proposals from any region of the world will be considered, regions of particular interest include East Asia, South Asia, West Africa, and SWANA/MENA. Following a workshop on these themes, we are particularly interested in the following subjects:  

• Labor demands of varied system quality and maintaining supply
• Domestic and informal labor, both waged and unwaged
• Workers in renewable energies and supply chains, especially critical minerals
• Safety and danger as a contested facet of historical electricity labor
• Disconnection and living off-grid
• Electricity intensive forms of work 
• Cultural representations of electrical labor and electricity workers
• The labor of rural electrification 
• Parameters of essential labor and how it shapes and limits workplace mobilization

Please submit abstracts to the co-editors trish.kahle@georgetown.edu and ewan.gibbs@glasgow.ac.uk by October 1, 2025. A first draft of the essay (for internal review by the co-editors) will be due by February 1, 2026. Essays will also undergo doubly-anonymous peer-review through the journal. The special issue of ILWCH is slated to appear in early 2028. 

Contact Information

Please contact the issue co-editors, Trish Kahle, Georgetown University Qatar (trish.kahle@georgetown.edu) and Ewan Gibbs, University of Glasgow (ewan.gibbs@glasgow.ac.uk) with any questions. 

Contact Email trish.kahle@georgetown.edu

Rennes/France, 9-10 April 2026

The conference organised at Sciences Po Rennes (France) on 9-10 April 2026 will analyse the rise and limits of protest movements and social mobilizations related to the European project since the 1950s to the present day. It will consider both mobilisations in reaction to European policies (CAP, CFP, competition, trade, industrial, environmental policies) and integration processes (markets, EMU, Europe Union), and mobilisations calling for more Europe. The lack of focus on Europe in political and trade union mobilization strategies will also be explored.

Protest Movements and Social Mobilizations in European Integration History

The history of protest movements and social mobilizations in Europe and the history of European integration have long been written separately from each other and largely disconnected. Yet the construction of the European project has been debated very early on, leading to mobilizations from the 1950s to the present day. These mobilizations accompanied the process of economic, social and political convergence of European societies and helped to shape, redirect or accelerate it. This was the case from the first protests against the Common Agricultural Policy to the transnational environmental mobilizations of the 21st century, including movements of road hauliers and railway workers, and social conflicts such as the Renault-Vilvoorde strike and the demonstrations against the Bolkestein Directive. These mobilizations shaped the contours of a ‘Europe from below’, reflecting the growing role of civil society in European integration. They also contributed to the acceptance and legitimisation of European economic and social compromises.

The conference organised by the Jean Monnet Chair EU-CONV aims to make an interdisciplinary contribution to the current revival of the social history of the European project by analysing these various protests and mobilizations over the long term, from the 1950s to the present day. Sociology and political science have extensively explored the issue of the Europeanisation of collective action, focusing in particular on social movements, lobbies and interest groups since the 1980s and 1990s (DELLA PORTA/CAIANI, FILLIEULE/ACCORNERO, MARKS). They highlighted the growing importance of Europe in social movements (BALME/CHABANET, CRESPY, IMIG/TARROW) and the structural limits of this process, starting with the absence of a European public sphere (RUCHT). For its part, the comparative and transnational history of European protests and social movements (HORN, KLIMKE/SCHARLOTH) focused on a global approach that paid less attention to the European project. As a result, there is a lack of long-term approaches studying the rise and limits of protest movements and social mobilizations related to the European project since its origins. Most importantly, while movements and mobilizations are generally considered in terms of their own Europeanisation or their direct contribution to European debates, it seems important to also take into account the various mobilizations resulting from the different European policies and integration processes. European public policies or transnational industrial plans at EC/EU level provoked national or local mobilizations in response, but were also sometimes fostered by them. Similarly, the major processes of economic integration (Common/Single Market, EMU, enlargements), social integration (social and environmental Europe) and political integration (union of values) shaped national policies, indirectly giving rise to social mobilizations. This applies in particular to the processes of convergence of European societies towards a specific regulatory model of liberalism (liberalisation, external openness, competition, external constraint). Protest movements have also been privileged occasions for imagining Europe and proposing progressive or populist additions or alternatives to the European project under construction. Finally, the relatively low level of social mobilization in the strategies of collective actors, particularly political parties and trade unions, also deserves examination in order to understand the factors that explain this ‘absence of Europe’, but also the strong capacity of the European institutions to legitimise their action.

These issues open up a vast field of research, which will be delimited by a repertoire of collective action based on the notions of ‘protest movements’ and ‘social mobilizations’. While the social mobilizations studied here will mainly be protests, other types of mobilization, non-contesting and/or using other forms of collective action, will also be taken into consideration. These notions will be associated with a repertoire of action that goes beyond strict elitist lobbying by mobilizing broad social groups (demonstrations, strikes, petitions, occupations, blockades, collective meetings, symbolic collective actions, etc.). It will highlight the specific features of the repertoire of action related to European integration, as well as the preferred strategies for addressing ‘Brussels’. Analysing this repertoire will also lead to study the diversity of projects for Europe proposed by the various players involved in the actions. The scope will not be limited only to transnational mobilizations explicitly claiming a direct link with European integration. Specific attention will be paid to the role played by the European integration process in national or local mobilizations that have no explicit link with Europe, but for which Europe is an underestimated or even ignored factor.

The conference will examine the transformation of the European project as a breeding ground for protests and mobilizations by focusing on four main issues:

1) Direct reactions to Community policies (CAP, CFP, competition, industrial, transport, and trade policies) are the aspect of the subject that has been best highlighted. The focus will be placed on the process of Europeanisation and/or the transnational dimension of the movements over the long term, in particular in an evolutionary logic highlighting the major chronological phases in the history of the Communities (ECSC, Euratom, EEC, and EU) and the development of Community policies.

2) Indirect mobilizations or movements disconnected from European policies, but indirectly linked to the integration and convergence processes. Here we refer in particular to the enlargements and the multiple mobilizations that occurred during the phases of accession to the EC/EU. Contributions highlighting an indirect link between protest movements and the processes of economic and social convergence (Common/Single Market, EMS, EMU, and Stability Pact) will be particularly welcome.

3) Mobilizations promoting EC/EU projects or alternative projects in the economic, social, environmental or political fields. Specific attention will be paid to the emergence of social or political alternatives generated or supported by social mobilizations. Projects promoted by political movements, trade unions, and non-governmental organisations will be particularly scrutinised, but this will also be the case for projects promoted by the ‘new social movements’ (ecology, feminism, regionalism) to go beyond or bypass the national level.

4) The factors behind the ‘absence of Europe’ or the lack of social mobilizations to address European issues will also deserve clarification. This will be the case in particular for the strategies of the trade union organisations and of the main European political currents (communism, social democracy, nationalism). From another perspective, the underestimation of the Community scale in social mobilizations may also result from the fact that the European institutions present the social impact of their action as limited. The reactions of the EC/EU to protest movements and the processes of legitimisation that accompany them will also be analysed.

Priority will be given to contributions including an evolutionary and/or comparative and transnational dimension between several mobilizations, rather than case studies centred on a particular event. The aim is to highlight the gradual awareness or integration of the European dimension into social mobilizations.

Proposal submission
Proposals from all disciplines in the humanities and social sciences will be submitted in English (2000 characters maximum) with a short biography (one page maximum) to the address below. The submission deadline is 20 September 2025.

mathieu.dubois@sciencespo-rennes.fr

Conditions of participation
Confirmation of participation will be sent to participants in October 2025. The language of communication will be English. The Jean Monnet Chair will cover travel costs within Europe and accommodation in Rennes. A publication of the contributions will follow in a collective volume.

Scientific committee
Manuela CAIANI (Associate Professor in Political Science – Scuola Sup. Normale of Florence)
Amandine CRESPY (Professor in Political Science – Université libre of Brussels)
Gerd-Rainer HORN (Professor in History – Sciences Po Paris)
Lorenzo MECHI (Professor in History – University of Padua)
Kiran PATEL (Professor in History – Ludwig-Maximilian Universität – Munich)
Laurent WARLOUZET (Professor in History – Sorbonne Université – Paris)

Conference organization
Mathieu DUBOIS, Associate Prof. in History at Sciences Po Rennes, Jean Monnet Chair Holder
mathieu.dubois@sciencespo-rennes.fr

Kontakt

mathieu.dubois@sciencespo-rennes.fr

It is our pleasure to share with you the promising range of papers that successfully made it into our roster for the Madeira conference on "Women and Health in the 19th-Century Transatlantic World" (Dec. 4-6).

We would now like to solicit responses for these papers. Please propose your responses by July 25 at the latest.

Women and Health in the 19th-Century Transatlantic World

Call for Responses for the 5th Crosscurrents Conference—Women and Health in the Nineteenth-Century Transatlantic World

4 - 6 December 2025; Venue: University of Madeira – Rectory Building (Madeira Island, Portugal)

Organised by Intercontinental Cross-Currents Network and University of Madeira, Faculty of Arts and Humanities - Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

We welcome response proposals addressing the main themes of the accepted individual papers, which can be found on our website (https://crosscurrents.uni-halle.de/2025-conference/).

Each response proposal should engage directly and substantively with only ONE of the accepted individual papers. We encourage response proposals that focus on:

- Constructively critiquing arguments, methods, or conclusions.
- Suggesting extensions (research, applications, theory).
- Discussing broader implications and contexts.
- Raising key questions or identifying tensions for future study.

Also, your response should enhance the transatlantic and transnational scope of the original paper.

Your response proposal should include:

- A 150-word abstract of the proposed response (rough collection of potential ideas suffices).
- A brief biography (150 words), including the author’s name, institutional affiliation, and contact information.

Responses should last 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the number of contributors.

Please submit your response proposal to crosscurrents@amerikanistik.uni-halle.de by July 25, 2025, with the subject line: “Response – Women’s Health Conference.”

Kontakt

crosscurrents@amerikanistik.uni-halle.de

publié par Lisa Caliste

Produire, échanger, consommer : ce triptyque est au cœur d’un renouvellement de la recherche sur l’histoire du travail dans les campagnes médiévales. S’inscrivant dans cette dynamique, l’ouvrage restitue une enquête sur un territoire, le Lodévois, au XVe siècle, menée au plus près des sources notariées. Si la draperie est l’activité majeure de cet arrière-pays languedocien, petites villes et bourgs sont marqués par la variété des industries et par la pluriactivité des hommes. Certains sont en capacité de faire circuler des capitaux et de mobiliser des réseaux, autant de caractéristiques de l’entreprise médiévale. Leurs initiatives participent d’un système de marchés emboîtés reliant le Lodévois aux grandes places marchandes de l’époque.

Toutes les informations nécessaires en suivant le lien ci-dessous:

https://classiques-garnier.com/l-industrie-en-lodevois-des-ateliers-des-marches-et-des-hommes-xve-siecle.html

Reihe

luxemburg beiträge

Autor*innen

Wolfgang Hien, Kolja Huth, Mario Keßler, Ansgar Martins, Holger Politt, Yuval Rubovitch, Jörn Schütrumpf, Reiner Tosstorff, Alexander Friedman, Lutz Brangsch, Bernd-Rainer Barth, Yves Müller, Florian Weis, Christoph Jünke, Magda Albrecht , Alexander Karschnia, Ingar Solty

Herausgeber*innen

Riccardo Altieri, Bernd Hüttner, Florian Weis

 

Link: https://www.rosalux.de/publikation/id/53564

 

«Die jüdische mit der allgemeinen proletarischen Bewegung zu vereinen» ist – in Anlehnung an einen programmatischen Artikel des Allgemeinen Jüdischen Arbeiterbundes (kurz: «Bund») aus den 1920er-Jahren – der Titel der luxemburg beiträge zu «Jüdinnen und Juden in der internationalen Linken», die wir 2021 veröffentlichten, ohne zu wissen, dass daraus eine ganze Reihe mit vier weiteren Bänden entstehen würde. 

Der erste Band stellt politische Strömungen und Organisationen (den Linkszionismus und den «Bund»), das jüdisch-linke Wirken in einzelnen Ländern bzw. Regionen (Südafrika, Großbritannien und Frankfurt am Main) sowie Persönlichkeiten (Rosa Luxemburg, Jürgen Kuczynski, Jakob Moneta und Theodor Bergmann) vor. 

Der zweite Band aus dem Jahr 2022 ist mit einem Zitat aus einem Interview mit Gregor Gysi überschrieben: «Wenn du ausgegrenzt wirst, gehst du zu anderen Ausgegrenzten ».2 In den 17 Beiträgen werden vor allem jüdisch-sozialistische Persönlichkeiten porträtiert, darunter Luise Kautsky und Mathilde Jacob, die Bundisten Henryk Erlich und Wiktor Alter, der Schriftsteller Lew Kopelew und andere. Der Beitrag von Reiner Tosstorff ist darüber hinaus dem Jüdischen Antifaschistischen Komitee gewidmet.

2023 legten wir einen dritten Band mit dem Titel «Die Arbeiter*innenbewegung als Emanzipationsraum» vor, in dem Beiträge zu «Aschkenasim – Sephardim – Mizrachim », zum Osmanischen Reich und Griechenland, Marokko und Tunesien sowie Österreich bzw. Österreich-Ungarn enthalten sind.3 Weitere Texte widmen sich Jüdinnen und Juden in linken Hochschulgruppen in der Weimarer Republik, dem internationalen Trotzkismus sowie exemplarisch dem US-amerikanischen Politiker, Publizisten und (zeitweiligen) Trotzkisten Max Shachtman, dem Labour-Politiker Ian Mikardo, dem Schriftsteller Jean Améry und der Neuen Linken in Frankreich. 

Der 2024 veröffentlichte vierte Band «‹Zog nit keyn mol, as Du geyst dem letsten Veg. Mir zaynen do!›»4 wird von einem Interview mit dem damaligen Ministerpräsidenten von Thüringen und jetzigen Vizepräsidenten des Deutschen Bundestags, Bodo Ramelow, eröffnet und mit einem Gespräch mit der Wiener Sängerin und Aktivistin Isabel Frey beschlossen. Viele Beiträge thematisieren die Lebenswege von linken Jüdinnen und Juden, die – aus Haft, Untergrund und Emigration zurückgekehrt – die Sowjetische Besatzungszone bzw. die DDR wählten, weil sie dort auf einen konsequent antifaschistischen und sozialistischen Neuaufbau setzten. Weitere Beiträge widmen sich beispielsweise Moses Hess, Esther Bejarano und dem jüdischen Widerstand gegen die Nazis in Polen, dem heutigen Belarus und in Deutschland.

Nichtjüdische Juden: Themen und Personen des neuen Bandes

In jedem der bisherigen Bände unserer Reihe haben wir den einprägsamen Begriff des «nichtjüdischen Juden» von Isaac Deutscher zitiert und aufgegriffen – nur haben wir diesen wichtigen Trotzki-Biografen und frühen Stalin-Gegner bislang nicht vorgestellt. Diese Lücke schließen wir nun mit dem vorliegenden Band, in dem Reiner Tosstorff in einem Kurzporträt Isaac Deutscher vorstellt, der unser Verständnis der Geschichte des Kommunismus maßgeblich geprägt hat, wie Tosstorff hervorhebt.

Fast 50 Autor*innen und drei Gesprächspartner* innen haben insgesamt über 70 Beiträge zu unserer Reihe beigesteuert. Ihnen möchten wir an dieser Stelle einen herzlichen Dank aussprechen! Gleichermaßen möchten wir auch all denjenigen danken, die diese fünf Bände durch ihre Arbeit erst ermöglicht haben, sei es durch Anregungen und kritische Anmerkungen, sei es in der Transkription, dem Lektorat, dem Layout und schließlich der Verbreitung des Materials. 

Wir freuen uns über die Möglichkeit, einzelne Aspekte aus dieser Reihe mit Interessierten in öffentlichen Veranstaltungen zu erörtern, wie wir es in der Vergangenheit beispielsweise in Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Erfurt und Zürich tun konnten und in vielen weiteren Orten in nächster Zeit mit unterschiedlichen Kooperationspartner* innen und wechselnden Referent* innen tun werden. Gern stehen wir für weitere Vorstellungen und Gespräche zur Verfügung.

Die Herausgeber

Riccardo Altieri ist Historiker und promovierte nach dem Studium der Geschichte und Germanistik 2021 an der Universität Potsdam zu «Rosi Wolfstein und Paul Frölich. Transnationale Linke des 20. Jahrhunderts». Altieri forscht auf den Gebieten unterfränkisches Judentum, historische Arbeiterbewegung und Klassismus. Er leitet das Johanna-Stahl-Zentrum für jüdische Geschichte und Kultur in Unterfranken in Würzburg. Zuletzt erschien «Johanna Stahl. Wirtschaftswissenschaftlerin – Politikerin – Frauenrechtlerin» (2022).

Bernd Hüttner ist Politikwissenschaftler und lebt in Bremen. Er ist Referent für Zeitgeschichte und Geschichtspolitik und Koordinator des Gesprächskreises «Geschichte» der Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung. Er ist unter anderem Mitglied des Vorstandes der German Labour History Association und der Redaktion von Arbeit – Bewegung – Geschichte. Zeitschrift für historische Studien. Zu seinen Interessensgebieten gehören emanzipatorische historische Bildung, Intersektionalität, Kunstgeschichte und neue soziale Bewegungen. Seine Webseite mit Publikationsverzeichnis ist unter www.bernd-huettner.de zu finden.

Florian Weis ist Historiker mit Schwerpunkten zur neueren und neuesten britischen und deutschen Geschichte (Promotion 1998 zu «‹And now – win the Peace›. Nachkriegsplanungen der Labour Party»). Er arbeitet seit 1999 in verschiedenen Funktionen in der Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung und ist dort gegenwärtig Co-Leiter der Gesprächskreise «Antisemitismus/jüdisch-linke Geschichte und Gegenwart» sowie «Klassen und Sozialstruktur».

The 2025 General Conference of WORKLAB – International Association of Labour Museums – will take place in Hamburg, hosted by the Museum der Arbeit from 5–7 November. This year’s theme is:

Workers’ Culture

In an era of growing social and economic inequality, the cultural heritage of working people remains a powerful and necessary part of our collective memory. Workers’ culture—from songs and rituals to union banners, tools, and everyday practices—offers insight into identity, solidarity, resistance, and creativity. It reflects how working people have made meaning in their lives across different historical periods, geographies, and political contexts.

The conference invites museum professionals, curators, researchers, archivists, and cultural practitioners to explore how museums and heritage institutions collect, preserve, interpret, and communicate workers’ culture—and how they can play a role in empowering communities and advancing museum practice today.

Call for Papers

We welcome proposals for papers and workshops on topics including, but not limited to:

• Interpreting workers’ material culture: banners, badges, tools, union ephemera, and publications

• Preserving immaterial culture: songs, stories, and oral histories
• Artist–worker–community collaborations
• Cultural expressions shaped by gendered experiences and LGBTQ workers
• Labour migration and transnational narratives
• Museums as spaces for democratic engagement and cultural memory

Submissions from museum professionals, researchers, activists, artists, and interdisciplinary contributors are encouraged.

Deadline for proposals: Monday, 25 August 2025

Send your proposal to Dr. Sandra Schürmann, sandra.schuermann@mda.shmh.de.

Join us in Hamburg

The WORKLAB 2025 conference will bring together members of our network and guests from across Europe and beyond for two days of presentations, workshops, and discussion. Participants will also have the opportunity to explore the Museum der Arbeit and connect with colleagues working at the intersection of labour history, museology, and cultural practice.

Registration opens in September 2025.

Rouen/France

Pour la deuxième année consécutive se tient le séminaire « Les marxismes dans l’histoire ». L’histoire des marxismes a connu depuis quelques années de multiples renouvellements. A distance de l’opprobre consécutif à l’effondrement de l’Union soviétique comme de l’apologie « marxiste-léniniste » qui avait forgé un dogme marginalisant toute approche critique, les recherches autour de Marx et des marxismes connaissent une certaine dynamique depuis une dizaine d’années, notamment dans le monde anglophone mais aussi dans plusieurs pays, dont la France. Ce séminaire pluridisciplinaire entend y prendre part, en mobilisant des chercheurs français et étrangers investis dans ce domaine. Les différentes séances sont construites autour d’une thématique, en rapport avec les fonds d’archives conservés à l’Imec. Elles visent à interroger l’histoire intellectuelle et des pensées critiques à partir de Marx.

 

Hors des étudiants de l’université de Rouen Normandie, l’inscription est obligatoire pour venir assister sur place ou pour suivre à distance reservation@imec-archives.com

 

PROGRAMME

27 Juin 2025. Lexiques de Marx : la revue Études de marxologie (1959-1994) Journée d’étude consacrée à la revue Études de marxologie dirigée par Maximilien Rubel. Organisée en partenariat avec l’ISMEA .

 

13h30 - Ouverture Les marxismes en revue (François Bordes et Jean-Numa Ducange)

13h45 - Éric Sevault, L'inspiration éditoriale des "Études de marxologie"

14h15 - Louis Janover, grand témoin

14h45 – pause

15h - Jean-Louis Perrault, Perroux, le marxisme et les "Études de marxologie"

15h30 - Julien Chuzeville, Maximilien Rubel historien 16h Conclusions et perspectives

 

Organisateurs : Jean-Numa Ducange (Professeur d’histoire contemporaine, Université de Rouen Normandie et IUF) et François Bordes (Docteur en histoire contemporaine du CHSP, Directeur de la recherche à l’Imec).

Institutions partenaires : Université de Rouen Normandie (GRHIS et IRIHS), Institut Mémoires de l’édition contemporaine, Institut Universitaire de France.

 

 Restant à votre disposition pour toute information complémentaire, François Delisle

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IE en production et analyse de données

Groupe de Recherche Histoire (UR 3831)

Université de Rouen Normandie