Few words are more central to the left tradition, and uttered and sung by leftists more frequently, than “solidarity.” The concept is at the heart of any kind of progressive or socialist campaigning: to build a better world for the majority, we must act in solidarity with others for the collective good, rather than as atomized individuals doggedly pursuing what’s best for me and me alone.

We’re all better off together, seeing each other’s well-being as intrinsically tied to our own.

Astra Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix explore the concept and history of the word in their book Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea. In an episode of the Jacobin podcast The Dig, guest hosted by Jacobin editor Micah Uetricht and recorded before the 2024 presidential election, Taylor and Hunt-Hendrix explore a range of questions about solidarity: Where did our contemporary understandings of solidarity come from? Are there strands of solidarity that are actually reactionary rather than liberatory? How can we talk about oppression and difference in a way that seeks to build solidarity rather than weaken it? What might it look like to pursue a society organized around the principle of solidarity?

We face intensifying climate disasters, mass genocidal killing, and an ongoing erosion of the basic idea that we all belong to and are indebted to one another. Solidarity isn’t just a good idea, Taylor and Hunt-Hendrix argue. We need it.

You can listen to the podcast version of the conversation here. It has been edited for length and clarity.