p. 823-837

The problem with socialism seems to have been that despite a shared focus on the situations of working-class people, there was too wide variety of perspectives for the movement to coalesce into anything other than a fractured minority. Early socialist political strength lay in national mass demonstrations and strong shows of solidarity that could challenge the industrialists' hold over politics. Later socialists became Marxists, arguing for revolution and democracy, but not necessarily through an already established legal system. More radical still, the Anarchists supported workers' rights, but believed in a completely different method of going about provoking a revolution, using violence and deliberate contempt for state institutions. By presenting so many conflicting ideas of how to proceed, the previous exuberance that had carried socialist parties to success dwindled, especially as it became clear that the workers' loyalties themselves were divided. The extreme spectrum of views that socialism encompassed allowed for radicals and reformers to operate within the same party, meaning that there was bitter disagreement over strategy that hindered the movement's effectiveness and ability to present a united front that would be respected nationally.