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Going beyond the new communist movement & Problems of Maoism
The theme for Material’s next issue is “Going Beyond the New Communist Movement & Problems of Maoism.” Its aim is to serve as one of many platforms for fostering debate on a number of fundamental political issues and theoretical questions that are rooted in history and highly relevant today. Here are a number of “guiding questions” to help frame your contributions around the issues at hand:
- On the problem of dogmatism and its relation to “historical fetishism” as well as dogmatic currents in the Maoist movement and even dogmatic critics of such currents.
- Critique of the “neo-Leninist” perspectives (that is, perspectives that place themselves in the history of Leninism but also claim to be “new” developments) and organizational forms of the 1960s–1980s that still dominate today’s ML(M) milieu/movement.
- (How) can one be a revolutionary in the imperialist centers?
- Updating our analysis of the global situation.
- From the Philippines and India to Turkey, the “semi-feudalism versus semi-capitalism” debate.
- (How) can one be a Maoist in the imperialist centers?
- MLM as a tool for updating our analysis of the global situation.
- What does the Maoist tradition have to contribute to an analysis of the environment and climate change?
- Continuities and ruptures within the short history of MLM since the 1980s.
- How can we examine the Cultural Revolution in terms of its reasons for “defeat”—in order to transcend simplistic glorifications of the real contribution it historically represented—without falling into idealism (militarism, defeatism, overly abstract analyses, etc.)?
Submission deadline:
October 30, 2026
— CLOSED —
Political prisoners, “Lawfare,” Resistance to repression
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The 100th birth anniversary of Fanon, Malcolm X and Lumumba
2025 marks the 100 anniversaries of the births of three giants: Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, and Patrice Lumumba. The theme of Material’s next issue will be a reflection on their history as well as the legacy and developments of their lives, struggles, and writings. We’re calling out for articles that investigate the continued relevance of this theme. We look forward to reading your submissions!
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Special Issue on Colonialism and National Liberation
When the first issue of Material was released, an upsurge of Palesatinian resistance against Israeli colonialism in Gaza, as well as the unrestrained expansion of genocidal violence against the Palestinian people began. These still unfolding events should remind us that colonialism in all of its forms and the necessity of national self-determination are not historical leftovers but ongoing problems and the sites of sharp contradictions in this late stage of imperialism. Critical for understanding the struggles of the colonies and semi-colonies, is also the fact that some of the most powerful imperialist states (the US and Canada, for example) are themselves settler-colonial formations.
Hence, we think it is important to structure the next issue of Material around the subject of colonialism and national liberation in the current phase of imperialism. We invite potential submitters who have considered the following interrelated subjects: the meaning and prospects of national liberation struggles and anti-colonial movements in this historical context, the persistence of colonialism and settler-colonialism under contemporary imperialism, notions of Indigenous resistance, the meaning of the theory of the national question in the current conjuncture, and other related topics.
For prose submissions (articles, essays, fiction) please format your work in a standard Word or Open Office page, double-spaced, with a limit of 8000 words. Poetry submissions should be no longer than 3000 words, spaced and arranged according to how the author wants the poem to appear on A5 dimensions. Visual art (photographs, drawings, etc.) can be submitted in any image format but should be 300 dpi, 148×210 mm minimum. Do not submit PDF files and please use Times New Roman, 12 point. Scholarly work that requires citation should use footnotes and Chicago 17th Edition rules for formatting. All submissions will be submitted to a review process by scholars/organizers in the relevant fields.
All work should be submitted to material.contact@protonmail.com. If you have an idea of something you would like to write for us, or you would like to send letters in response to work we have published, you can also contact us at that email address.