ABSTRACT
The history of socialism is the history of socialisms. Moreover, it is a history not of fraternal plurality, but of rivalry and antagonism. The battle lines have often changed (Marxists versus anarchists, collectivists versus syndicalists, reformers versus revolutionaries, communists versus social democrats, Trotskyists versus everybody else, new socialists versus old socialists), but battle lines there have always been. Many socialists have reserved their sharpest arrows for attacks on other socialists, while almost all socialists have found it necessary to fight on at least two fronts at the same time. The arena of battle has also changed significantly over time, to take in new places, contestants, and traditions. The dramatic collapse of the communist regimes at the end of the 1980s is the most recent, and most momentous, development in this unfolding story.
