Noam Chomsky has joined more than 30 scholars from around the world calling for a boycott of Marxism conferences in China as part of the international backlash against Beijing’s crackdown on students organising pro-workers groups.

The academics are mostly from leading US and UK universities and apart from Prof Chomsky, a linguistics scholar at the University of Arizona, include John Roemer, professor of political science and economics at Yale University.

In a statement seen by the Financial Times, Prof Chomsky wrote: “To continue to participate in?.?.?.?officially sponsored Marxism-related events means we would stay complicit in the Chinese government’s game. Leftist scholars around the world should join the boycott of such conferences and events.”