The theme of this year’s Marx Now conference is ‘Borders and Boundaries.’ Since we wrote the initial call for abstracts, the COVID-19 crisis has rendered this topic more pressing than ever, as borders have closed and states have pursued narrow nationalist agendas in response to the global pandemic. Class divisions have intensified, manifesting themselves in unequal exposure to contagion as well as the social and economic effects of lock- down. Meanwhile, capital continues to push production beyond the ecological boundaries of the planet. At the same time, it persists in its attempts to constantly displace the limits of accumulation as financial markets once again become increasingly unstable.

The speakers at this year’s conference present a broad variety of highly original takes on the theme of borders and bound- aries: we have presentations on credit and finance, borders and migration, the rise of the old and new right, reproductive labour,
the climate crisis, state power, subversion and everything in between. As capital approaches the edge, we will push the limits of critical thought.