Across four seminars, this workshop examines how class conflict was channelled into democratic politics, and what this meant for the left. You will begin with the classic theory of social cleavages, asking how divisions of class, religion and region shaped European party systems and why they proved so durable. You will then work through Adam Przeworski's Capitalism and Social Democracy, alongside Sidney Tarrow's account of how political opportunities shape social movements. With Przeworski, you will examine how workers were organized into a class, the strategic dilemmas parties faced in winning elections, and the material bases of the compromise between labor and capital. Throughout, you will learn to connect the strategies of parties and unions to the structural constraints of capitalism.