As long as there have been people who called themselves socialists, there have been people arguing about what socialism is. Socialism is a large, fractious family. Many of its members are not on speaking terms, or have a history of killing one another. Meltdowns are common. Differences of opinion that may seem microscopic to outsiders often serve as the basis for centuries-long shouting matches. Yet even in the most dysfunctional family, there are certain resemblances. Whether Fabian or Maoist, Eurocommunist or anarcho-syndicalist, socialists share the desire to create a world without capitalism.
What would such a world look like? And how might we get from here to there? Until recently, very few people in the US and the UK were interested in debating these questions. Socialist movements were in deep retreat. The possibility of a world without capitalism seemed preposterous. In recent years, this possibility has started to look less preposterous. New leftwing momentum in both countries, propelled by popular upheavals and the campaigns of politicians such as Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn, has put socialist ideas back into circulation. Poll after poll demonstrates the rising popularity of the term. Forty per cent of Americans now say they would rather live in a socialist country than a capitalist one.
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