The first book to explore the historical development of Belgian politics, this groundbreaking study of the rivalry between Catholicism, Socialism and nationalism is essential reading for anyone interested in Europe before World War I.

"Strikwerda makes his case with an impressive command of comparative European political history." - CHOICE, April 1998

"A very important work, throughly researched. Strikwerda's book will be a must for labour scholars." - English Historcal Review

"Strikwerda does not retell the history of national movements or parties, but lokks locally to analyze institutions that embodied 'working class solidarity.' Strikwerda's meticulous research in primary sources, as well as the encyclopedic range of his secondary scholarship, allows him to build upon and often to counter effectively the story told by Belgian historians of their own labor movements. This book should interest European labor historians who too easily overlook Belgium." - Central European History, Vol. 32, No.2, 1999

"...substantial and important study... Strikwerda's admirably wide-ranging book therefore deserves to be read by a wide audience. Equipped with a wealth of primary research, the author is at ease with Flemish Dutch sources..." - French History, Vol.13, No.3, 1999

"Carl Strikwerda has skillfully and thoroughly investigated the workers' movement in Ghent, Brussels, and Liège. He offers an innovative study of the mutual relationship of trade unionism, socialism, anarchism, Catholicism, and ethnicity in the period of emerging mass politics. . . . with admirable clarity, he has written a fine book, of great interest not only to Belgian scholars, but to all historians interested in the emergence of a pluralistic mass political life." - Journal of Modern History