Book review: the great Labour unrest: rank-and-file movements and political change in Durham coalfield by Lewis Mates

In The Great Labour Unrest: Rank-and-File Movements and Political Change in the Durham Coalfield, Lewis Mates examines the fraught process by which the Durham Miners Association shifted its political allegiance from the Liberals to the emerging Labour Party in the Edwardian era. While focused on debates in labour history, the questions it addresses have contemporary resonance, finds John Tomaney.