4th International Conference Socialism on the Bench
CONTINUITIES AND INNOVATIONS
Pula, September 26-28, 2019

CALL FOR PAPERS (pdf) 
Application form (docx)
Deadline: April 1, 2019

While the themes of the two previous conferences marked important anniversaries, this will not be the case now. In the European context, the chosen theme might evoke associations with 1989, but this was not our intention. In the history of Yugoslavia, which constitutes the backbone of our conferences, the following two years have an incomparably stronger resonance. However, with the theme Continuities and Innovations we want to encompass a geographical space larger than Yugoslavia, either as an independent subject of inquiry, or by way of contact or comparison. Also, much more importantly, we aim to cover a longer historical dimension, that goes beyond the duration of one-party socialist systems and Cold War divides. Socialist society was understood as a transitional society: it included characteristics of both past and future, of both capitalist bourgeois and utopian communist society. Therefore, we are interested in what communists could or had to rely on when they came to power, what they preserved and adjusted, what they invented anew and how much of it survived, was transferred to post-socialism and became a welcome heritage or unwanted burden. We would like to invite the participants to be aware of "year zero" moments, of political and historical ruptures and of proclaims of a new era in which there would be no return to the old. Participants should also look beyond the usual chronological fences, and find metamorphoses and re-semantisations, spontaneous and imposed oblivion, repressed and living memories in the continuous, social longue-durée. From the 1920s, 1940s and 1990s until the present day, one can find both old and new, backward and progressive, permanent values and short-term experiments, invented traditions and sunken cultural goods in the spheres of politics, economy, everyday life, culture, art and sport. We would like to listen and discuss all these topics and much more during the conference.

PROGRAMME (PDF download)       BOOK OF ABSTRACTS (PDF download)
         

PHOTO ALBUM


AUDIO
Okrugli stol: Komunisti i komunističke partije
Okrugli stol: Mikrosocijalizam
Okrugli stol: Laboratory of Political Innovation
Razgovor: Paul Stubbs
Razgovor: Lea Horvat

Keynote speakers
Muriel Blaive (Prague), Marie-Janine Calic (Munich), Catherine Samary (Paris)

Organizing Committee
Anita Buhin, Igor Duda, Lada Duraković, Tina Filipović, Boris Koroman, Andrea Matošević, Igor Stanić

Programme Committee
Chiara Bonfiglioli (Cork), Ulf Brunnbauer (Regensburg), Anita Buhin (Pula), Igor Duda (Pula), Lada Duraković (Pula), Boris Koroman (Pula), Andrea Matošević (Pula), Tanja Petrović (Ljubljana)

Organizer
Juraj Dobrila University of Pula
Centre for Cultural and Historical Research of Socialism

Contact
ckpis.conf@gmail.com

Conference venue
Sveučilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli / Juraj Dobrila University of Pula
Filozofski fakultet / Faculty of Humanities
Ivana Matetića Ronjgova 1, Pula

We thank for the support
Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe

Media coverage
Radio Rojc

Published papers
History in Flux, 2, 2020
Anita Buhin, Tina Filipović, ur., Kontinuiteti i inovacije. Zbornik odabranih radova s Četvrtog međunarodnog znanstvenog skupa Socijalizam na klupi, Pula, 26-28. rujna 2019., Srednja Europa i Sveučilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli, Zagreb i Pula, 2021. CeKaPISarnica