Marxism as a system of thought has profoundly influenced the philosophical, economic, political and cultural life of the twentieth century. Its application has not been limited to a particular discipline. Thinkers in almost all disciplines have developed methodologies following Marxian logic, both to explain existing phenomena and to develop new strategies. The growing importance of Marxian methods and concepts resulted in setting up the Centre for Marxian Studies as an interdisciplinary forum in the Faculty of Arts, Jadavpur University in 1995. The objective of the Centre is to promote research and understanding of socio-economic issues involving the essentials of Marxian concepts, through both theoretical and empirical investigations. It aims to provide a forum for interaction between faculty members and scholars of various departments of the University as well as other academic institutions. Its activities include discussion sessions, lectures, conferences, seminars and workshops for dissemination of new ideas and research involving key Marxian concepts.

The Centre, a unique institution of its kind in South Asia, was established in 1998 on the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Communist Manifesto. The inaugural seminar, focused on the Manifesto, was addressed by Sumit Sarkar, Utsa Patnaik and Sobhanlal Datta Gupta and chaired by the late Gautam Chattopadhyay. Since then the Centre has attempted to bring together a broad range of academics interested in Marxian analysis and hold discussions on Marxism and contemporary intellectual and social issues from a Marxian perspective. Some of our recent endeavors have resulted in organizing international seminars and seminar lectures. In the recent times, we have been honoured with the presence of Marxian scholars including Ashok Mitra, Irfan Habib, Samir Amin, Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Prabhat Patnaik, Aijaz Ahmad, Himani Banerji, Malini Bhattacharya, Sobhanlal Datta Gupta, Ramkrishna Bhattacharya, Achin Vanaik, Modhumita Roy, Craig Brandist, Vijay Prashad, Surajit Mazumdar, Chirashree Dasgupta, Satyaki Roy, Vivek Chibber and many others, . Younger scholars from abroad as well as India and West Bengal have also participated in our seminars and enlivened these occasions. The present Coordinator of the Centre is Abdul Kafi, Assistant Professor, Department of Bengali. The Joint Coordinator is Suchetana Chattopadhyay, Professor, Department of History.