Draft:Gerusija

Gerusija (2005–2020) was a notable philosophy student's club that evolved into an influential theoretical group in the ex-Yugoslav region, originally formed at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad by a group of philosophy students in 2005. It comprised Ivan Radenković, Maja Solar Maja Solar, Mark Losoncz, Aleksandar Matković, Đorđe Hristov, Saša Hrnjez and Andrea Jovanović. Following the revival of Marxism after the financial crisis of 2008, Gerusija broke-off from the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, unhappy with the commercialization of science and the abstract way in which philosophy was being thought at the faculties. Following the break-up they increasingly dedicated themselves to empirical problems coming from the various social issues in Serbia and the region (the role of the University in society; labor reform and the Serbian working class during the transition period; the state of the trade unions in Serbia; the Roma question; the rise of the regional right-wing, etc.), analyzed with the help of a Marxist theoretical framework. In doing so, they contributed to the spread of various currents of Marxism in the Balkans by means of self-educational events (such as workshops, lectures and discussions), public engagements in protest movements, academic institutions and political debates, and the annual publication of the non-academic theoretical journal "Stvar" ("The thing") - "a journal for theoretical practices" as its subtitle stated. The journal's issues ran for almost ten years and, although it had retained the academic and scientific structure of articles, it nevertheless refused to follow the usual paths for similar journals and be incorporated into the grading system introduced by the Serbian Ministry of Science and Education, which was a conscious decision by its editors. Following the death of one of its editors, Ivan Radenković, the journal ceased to be published in printed form, before ceasing to be published altogether.