Solidarity Whose world is the world?

Written for the film “Kuhle Wampe”, the “Solidaritätslied” (Solidarity Song) stands as a timeless anthem of the workers’ movement. In the film, solidarity was unequivocally tied to the unity of the working class. But what does solidarity mean in today’s world? An article about the social relevance of the song.

The “singing of songs associated with the German labour movement” has been an official part of Germany’s Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2014. This also includes the singing of the Solidaritätslied from the 1932 film Kuhle Wampe or: Who Owns the World? – a film that publicist Siegfried Kracauer described in his 1947 book From Caligari to Hitler as “the first and last German film to openly adopt a communist stance”. Kuhle Wampe, a combination of feature film and documentary, directed by Bulgarian filmmaker Slatan Dudow and co-written by playwright Bertolt Brecht, is widely regarded as one of the Weimar Republic’s most powerful rallying cries for the working class to unite and champion the causes of socialism.

Kuhle Wampe

The plot of the film is both easy to understand and ideologically clear: a Berlin family suffering from the effects of the Great Depression of 1929 loses its home and moves to the Kuhle Wampe garden colony on the outskirts of the city. The daughter finds refuge in a communist group and becomes involved in organising a workers’ sports festival. Among the film’s most forceful moments are the scenes where hundreds of workers sing in unison during the festival and on the train ride home, sparking an impromptu political debate with fellow passengers who do not share their communist views. As a piece of communist propaganda within the “proletarian film” genre from the later, crisis-plagued years of the Weimar Republic, Kuhle Wampe was quickly banned by German censors after its release, having premiered in Moscow.

Scripted for the film by Bertolt Brecht and set to music by composer Hanns Eisler, the Solidaritätslied is central to Kuhle Wampe, serving as a powerful leitmotif that runs through the entire film.

Workers’ songs

The song has become a key element of the tradition of the socialist labour movement, which has been shaped by similar “workers’ songs” since the late 19th century. Songs like The Internationale or Brüder, zur Sonne, zur Freiheit (Brothers, to the sun, to freedom) were intended to strengthen solidarity among workers and identify a common enemy – the “class enemy”. At gatherings they were sung in unison and later shared through recordings.

The Solidaritätslied, of course, is also an appeal for solidarity. It calls for global unity among peoples to overthrow capitalist, war-mongering regimes in the spirit of communist ideology. Its central themes echo core aspects of Marxist theory, addressing issues such as ownership of land, property, means of production, as well as control over time, views of history, and the future: “Forward without forgetting / Till the concrete question is hurled / When starving or when eating? / Whose tomorrow is tomorrow? / And whose world is the world?”. The repeated use of “forward” at the start of the refrain stands for a new departure, mass mobilisation, progress and the vision of a communist social order. After being banned under National Socialism and replaced by Nazi propaganda and battle songs (perverting the principle of international solidarity in favour of the “national community”), the classic worker’s anthem was publicly cultivated again in the German Democratic Republic. In the social democratic tradition of the Federal Republic, on the other hand, it lost much of its significance. In the 1970s, it was reimagined, modernised and adapted to contemporary issues by the West German left, as reflected in the 1971 song Solidarität by the West Berlin band “Ton Steine Scherben”: “We’re not afraid to fight / Because freedom is our goal / All we lack is solidarity”, they sang. The original Solidaritätslied remained a key part of the political canon in East Germany, while in West Germany before reunification, it was sung mainly by left-wing singer-songwriters like Hannes Wader (1977). Since reunification, however, the song has largely faded from public consciousness, resurfacing only as a ghostly reference. One example is a 2002 house track from Marc Ushmi and Reverend Galloway (aka Marcus Schmickler and Stephen Galloway), which includes the line: “What’s on my plate? Die Solidaritate! Oh, I’m so hungry!”.

The fact that the end of state socialism in Europe was ushered in by a movement calling itself “Solidarity” turned the premise of the Solidaritätslied upside down. After all, the song reflected the proletarian belief that a state party, the guarantor of working-class interests, would fulfil all promises of solidarity. This assumption was fundamentally challenged in 1980 when the Gdańsk Agreement recognised Solidarność, the first independent trade union in a socialist country. This pivotal moment raised a question that remains as relevant today as ever: Who actually owns solidarity?

Solidarity as a political concept

While Kuhle Wampe clearly highlights the unity of the working class, solidarity has since evolved into a broader political concept that is no longer confined to the ideology of the class struggle. Today, solidarity is a central motif in various societal movements, addressing such causes as social justice, anti-racism, climate or gender justice – a list that is by no means exhaustive. These struggles are often interconnected, particularly when viewed through the lens of intersectional theory and practice. The working class, once seen as the revolutionary “subject of history” in the tradition of internationalism, is scarcely present in this context. Moreover, the vision of the “multitude” being a collective of “singularities acting together,” as envisioned by Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt in their seminal work Empire (2000) – remains largely unrealised. This failure can be attributed in part to the rise of neoliberal individualism, which has weakened communal bonds.

Right-wing concepts like “patriotic solidarity”, which tie social policies to nationalistic agendas, are increasingly challenging the internationalist ideals embodied by the Solidaritätslied. These are compounded by the growing polarisation of the term solidarity, particularly in response to such events as Hamas’ attack on Israel and the ongoing war in Gaza. In this charged climate, songs have even less room to resonate, especially within the echo chambers of the internet. Yet, questions about ownership or control over time and future have never been more pressing, especially in an algorithm-driven present that only intensifies these polarisations. Anyone curious to know whether generative AI could adapt the Solidaritätslied to reflect current political realities, while developing an adequate, forward-looking vision of solidarity is welcome to give it a try. Forward, without forgetting / The question to all, we are setting!