[WS:] Yeah, these were great times for socialist organizing. Socialist organizations could benefit from what today is sometimes called "social capital" or a network of social connections based on geographic proximity.
Migrations removed the geographic proximity dimension, and the network of social connections slowly changed or altogether disappeared. I'd say this was one of the most important factor that contributed to the demise of the socialist movement. Not the only one, to be sure - capitalist individualism and consumerism were the obvious ones - but the community ties based on geographic proximity are often overlooked.
-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."