Out of date, I guess- my Webster's Collegiate (10th ed. 1996) defines caucus ("origin unknown") as "a closed meeting of a group of persons belonging to the same political or faction usu. to select candidates or to decide on policy; also: a group of people united to promote an agreed-upon cause."

OED- alleged to have been used in Boston as early as 1723; "Already in 1774 Gordon (Hist. Amer. Rev.) could obtain no "Satisfactory account of the origin of the name.""
The word has been transported to England and New Zealand and has been used in various ways; see OED.

I am not blue collar, but I avoid meetings of that type, especially political. If I did attend, it would be as a silent observer. My vote is nobody's business but my own.