"H-Socialisms has just been launched as the web-basis for a scholarly network founded in 2009 under the name “History of Societies and Socialisms” (HOSAS). The thematic core of the network is defined by a wide understanding of the term "socialism" as a historical phenomenon that scholars have come to study both in terms of a world of ideas and a social movement. Accordingly, the network’s title uses the plural form "socialisms" to stress the plurality of possible perspectives on socialism and the need to differentiate its study as historical subject. Such a network may also have the welcome side-effect of popularizing the study of socialisms in history and to raise the public awareness for this subject, its enduring and manifold impacts on the past and present as well as its continuous relevance today and tomorrow. We thus welcome scholars who deal with these historical phenomena in the widest possible sense. In order to inspire a trans- and inter-disciplinary dialogue we very much hope to attract not only historians but also colleagues from other cultural and social sciences. Their research perspectives can range from global to local, the chronological focus of their projects can be somewhere between the early 19th century and the end of the bipolar world after the collapse of communism in 1989/90. Most importantly, HOSAS situates itself outside and beyond any political party affiliations. We believe that it is still and especially today necessary to professionally address the history of socialism even though the historiography on the subject is vast and has a long tradition spanning more than a century."