This is the third book in what one hopes will be a long-term series of new studies in labor history. Many claims have been made for the deteriorating state of labor history both inside and outside of the academy. Yet this series bears testimony to the rich, vibrant, and methodologically innovative research that is being done on the history of trade unionism, socialist organizations, and the electoral fortunes of labor parties. James Owen's contribution to the series, Labour and the Caucus, represents a foray into the crowded historiography of the shifting parameters of electoral politics in Victorian Britain. Owen has produced a study that revisits turning points in the history of working-class politics and presents a critical appraisal of existing assumptions, explanations, and analyses of the relationship between labor activists and the Liberal Party.

Owen's main intention is to unravel the complexity of parliamentary and local government labor representation and how it was both strengthened and impeded by the liberal caucus at the national and regional level. Methodologically, he utilizes a series of local studies in order to challenge the limitations of traditional works by Henry Pelling and others, which have suggested that labor representatives were pushed towards independence because of the dictatorial role of the Liberal caucus in preventing the advance of working-class candidates. According to Owen, this rather limited view that has underpinned the existing historiography “ignores the extent to which labour activists were pragmatic and flexible enough to put their misgivings aside and work with organised Liberalism when and where it suited them” (3). Through careful explorations of political maneuverings within liberalism and labor organizations in places like Birmingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, and Nottingham, Owen emphasizes the importance of local geography, political culture, and religion in shaping the relationship and demarcating the struggle for labor representation. In doing so, he draws on a broad range of both primary and secondary sources. In particular sections, there is diligent use of previously neglected evidence to support the central claims of the text.

The chronological focus begins with the passing of the Second Reform Act in 1867 and ends with Keir Hardie's defeat in Mid-Lanark in 1888. This periodization allows Owen not only to question existing claims around the events leading to the creation of the Independent Labour Party in 1893, but also to offer some fresh interventions on debates around the origins of British socialism and the place of the Liberal Party in both articulating yet diluting a particular form of labor political representation. The first two chapters explore the fortunes of labor candidates and the differing experiences of both urban and rural constituencies. In Birmingham, labor associations were able to negotiate their relationship with the Liberal Party from a position of strength and a shared political ideology, which led to the development of a “harmonious” relationship (53). In rural areas the rise of agricultural trade unionism provided a significant platform for the cause of labor representation, as did the networks that developed around the activity of republican clubs. The political ethos of the national Liberal Party was used by local labor activists to challenge the conservatism and obduracy of local elites who were averse to the idea of working-class candidates. The subsequent chapters on America, Irish nationalism, and political language form a mosaic of labor attitudes and that could be both supportive and averse to aspects of liberalism. Labour leaders who had witnessed the limitations of American politics first hand came back to Britain with suspicions of the machinations of the parties through the use of a “caucus.” Similarly, the politics of Irish nationalism had implications for politics in particular constituencies and also provided a template for how independent labor could organize both in local government and in the House of Commons. The narrative and analytical content of the substantive chapters is given further texture by insightful forays into the lives and careers of local and national labor leaders and their navigation of trade union, liberal, and independent labor politics.

Owen's further aim is to provide a “new” examination of the revival of British socialism in the 1880s. The focus here is on individuals and organizations (Social Democratic Federation, Fabian Society, Socialist League) and their relationship with the Liberal caucus in particular and the party more generally. Owens uses the development and articulation of political language to suggest the importance of locality, contingency, complexity, and nuance. He does this by moving away from the formal positions taken in socialist journals and newspapers and by calling attention to the importance of speeches and declarations made by labor candidates in particular constituencies. Yet this kind of analysis also has limitations. Opportunistic speeches made by candidates in electoral contests were strategic and formulaic, and they could merely mask more certain beliefs that were made explicit in the more formal context of party propaganda. Nonetheless, the case studies of electoral contests in Nottingham and Northumbria offer fascinating insights into the tactical use of political language in the labor movement's negotiation with the caucus.

Owen's book makes a significant contribution to the historiography of labor electoral politics. In particular, through his examination of particular localities, he confirms the view of some historians that advocates of labor representation operated in a context where “pragmatism, flexibility, and diversity” were deployed in order to secure selection. Yet he also goes further in claiming that far from the “caucus” inhibiting working class representation in the way that it did in Hardie's parliamentary ambitions in 1888, it also provided a model that was adopted by the Labour Party after 1906. Moreover, in the aftermath of the contest, “none of the leading actors” felt that the disappointment would lead to the formation of an Independent Labour Party (154). This welcome addition to Liverpool's series lays the foundation for more local and regional studies of the prehistory of the British Labour Party.