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Concepts of Solidarity in the Political Theory
of Hannah Arendt*
Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique, XXV:4 (December/
decembre 1992). Printed in Canada / Imprime au Canada
724 KEN RESHAUR
ally, develops into "a phony sentimentality in which all real issues are
obscured."1 Moreover, she claims that solidarity is a necessary condi-
tion for emotions such as compassion in the face of suffering, the proviso
being that one remain aware that it is someone else who suffers. It is
instructive, therefore, to consider what she says in On Revolution.
There are two passages in this study which together contain virtually all
of her analytical comments on solidarity and in which is to be found,
again, a sharp demarcation between the affective and the cognitive
capacities of humankind. In the first passage she claims that the alterna-
tive to pity-conceived here as the perversion of compassion-is sol-
idarity.
It is throughsolidaritythatpeople establishdeliberatelyand, as it were, dispas-
sionatelya communityof interestwith the oppressedand exploited. The com-
moninterestwouldthen be "the grandeurof man"or "the honourof the human
race" or the dignityof man. For solidarity,because it partakesof reason, and
hence of generality,is ableto comprehenda multitudeconceptually,not only the
multitudeof a class or a nationor a people, but eventuallyall mankind.But this
solidarity,though it may be aroused by suffering, is not guided by it, and it
comprehendsthe strong and the rich no less than the weak and the poor;
comparedwith the sentimentof pity, it may appearcold and abstract, for it
remainscommittedto "ideas"-to greatness,or honour,or dignity-rather than
to any "love" of men.... Terminologicallyspeaking, solidarityis a principle
that can inspire and guide action.2
In the second passage Arendt writes: "The political trouble which
misery of the people holds in store is that manyness can in fact assume
the guise of oneness, that suffering indeed breeds moods and emotions
and attitudes that resemble solidarity to the point of confusion."3
What Arendt wants to make clear when she writes about solidarity
is how essential it is to the integrity of this principle for there to be a
world which mediates the concern of one with the suffering of another. If
solidarity is a precondition for the existence of compassion, it is because
solidarity is world-building. It provides a means by which a relationship
can be established between people who suffer and people who decide to
remove or at least ameliorate this suffering, by establishing a community
of interest with the oppressed. The world, by relating at the cost of
separating, is what enables concern and compassion rather than pity to
be the feeling one experiences as a solidary. This distinction between self
and world is at the centre of Arendt's thought.
Arendt's writings contain four concepts of solidarity.4 One is a
solidarity which has its basis in the experience of a coincidence of
I Hannah Arendt, "Collective Responsibility," in James W. Bernauer, ed., Amor
Mundi: Explorations in the Faith and Thought of Hannah Arendt (Boston: Martinus
Nijhoff, 1987), 43.
2 Hannah Arendt, On Revolution (New York: Viking, 1963), 84.
3 Ibid., 90.
4 The history of solidarity involves two Latin derivatives: salvus, which means safe;
Abstract. This article has two objectives: one is to distinguish and explicate four con-
cepts of solidarity which are found in the writings of Hannah Arendt; the other is to show
how Arendt's respect for facts and suspicion of sentiment publicly displayed are justified.
The first concept of solidarity is exclusive solidarity. It is limited to those who are suffering
from exploitation or oppression. The second conception of solidarity is inclusive: it
includes those who suffer but can also accommodate those who make common cause with
them. This is the only kind of solidarity that Arendt specifically analyzes. A third concept
of solidarity is universal: its proximate constituent parts are the different "peoples" who
collectively make up humankind. Finally, there is natural solidarity. This variety of
solidarity, the author argues, is conceptually inadequate and confused. In the development
and articulation of each of these four concepts, some attention is given to the relative
contributions of emotion and cognition in determining one's understanding of solidarity.
Resume. Le present article vise deux buts: le premier est de distinguer et d'expliquer
quatre concepts de la solidarit6 qui se trouvent mentionn6s dans les 6crits de Hannah
Arendt, alors que le deuxieme est d'illustrer comment le respect que d6montre Arendt
pour les faits, tout comme sa m6fiance h l'6gard de la manifestation publique des senti-
ments, sontjustifies. Le premier concept de la solidarit6 est la solidarit6 exclusive: celle-ci
est limit6e aux victimes d'exploitation ou d'oppression. Le deuxieme concept est la
solidarit6 inclusive: celle-ci englobe non seulement les victimes, mais aussi ceux et celles
qui font cause commune avec elles. Il s'agit ici du seul concept de la solidarit6 qu'elabore
Arendt de fagon precise. Le troisieme concept est la solidarit6 universelle: ses compo-
santes imm6diates sont les divers peuples qui constituent ensemble l'humanit6. Le qua-
trieme concept est la solidarit6 naturelle. L'auteur soutient que cette dernitre cat6gorie de
la solidarit6 est non seulement vague, mais aussi insuffisante du point de vue conceptuel.
En d6veloppant et en expliquant ces quatre concepts, les roles relatifs que jouent les
sentiments et la cognition dans l'l6aboration de la comprehension de la solidarit6 sont
consideres aussi.
1
Exclusive solidarity,anchoredin oppression,may be precipitatedby an
intensification of tyranny which results in the citizen realizing how
inuredto sufferinghe has become. It may result from the efforts of a
charismaticpersonality to draw to the attention of the oppressed the
injustice of their plight. Or it may be the unanticipatedoutcome of an
isolated act. The dynamics of this kind of experience appearto be as
follows. The oppressedpersonputs up with the circumstancesin which
he finds himself. He is alienatedfromthe sense of himselfas an initiator
of change. His awarenessof oppressionis not discrete but holistic; he
has become so habituatedto assimilatinghis tacit awarenessof self to his
oppressed self that, practicallyspeaking,he is unableto use awareness
of the daily, routinizedoppressionbuilt into his life as a cognitivelever
by means of which he can acquirea disengagedperspective. Shouldan
opportunityfor change presentitself, however, such a person may very
well become aware of the fetters of his situationand, with them as the
focus of his attention, attempt to remove them, replacing them with
conditions more likely to allow him to feel at home in the world.
This, I believe, is an account of the development of exclusive
solidaritywhich is both plausible and implicit in Arendt's account of
how the councilformof governmentappearedduringthe shortlife of the
HungarianRevolutionin 1956.The councils, as had the Pariscommune
6 See, for example, Maurizio Passerin d'Entreves, "Agency, Identity, and Culture:
Hannah Arendt's Conception of Citizenship," Praxis International 9 (1989), 2-24;
Jennifer Ring, "The Pariah as Hero: Hannah Arendt's Political Actor," Political
Theory 19 (1991), 433-52; and Seyla Benhabib, "Judgment and the Moral Foundations
of Politics in Arendt's Thought," Political Theory 16 (1988), 29-51.
Solidarity in the Political Theory of Hannah Arendt 727
before them, provided a space of appearance for action and the genera-
tion of power. There was a wide variety of bases for the councils that
sprang up; and they began to generate organizational ties, both horizon-
tal and vertical, building on networks of relationships between people
which, for the most part, constituted the practical ambience of their
lives. There were
neighbourhoodcouncils that emergedin all residentialdistricts, so-calledrevo-
lutionarycouncils that grew out of fightingtogetherin the streets, councils of
writersandartists,bornin the coffee houses of Budapest,students'and youth's
councils at the universities,workers'councils in the factories, councils in the
army,among the civil servants and so on.7
The councils were spaces for action where words did not conform to the
logic of an ideology or the constraints of party discipline. They incor-
porated the federalist principle, and because of their bottom-up repre-
sentational structure, their articulation at the base retained its integrity.8
Arendt's commentary on the council phenomenon includes men-
tion of two considerations of central importance to an adequate explic-
ation of exclusive solidarity: equality and authority. People in a relation-
ship of solidarity are, for the purposes of that relationship, equal, since
solidary action is concerted action and requires comparable, although
not identical, effort. Authority is similarly dispersed among the constitu-
ent actors in such a relationship since each person understands the
rationale of solidary action in terms of his own reading of a situation
common to all. This enables him to exercise the power which flows from
mutual dependence: an ongoing negotiation and renegotiation of the
terms, direction and goals of the solidarity grouping. This requires
substantial overlap of tacit awareness by each actor of the shared con-
text so that a coherent outcome is the result.
The structure of inclusive solidarity differs from exclusive solidarity
inasmuch as the experience of oppression is an experience available only
to the oppressed; it cannot be shared with those who choose deliberately
to establish a community of interest with them. By contrast, the particu-
lars of the situation which are sources of irritation, harrassment, pain
and alienation which the oppressed have become used to may be bla-
tantly obvious to those who make common cause with them. This is the
point and substance of Arendt's claim that solidarity may be aroused by
suffering but is established dispassionately. It is, indeed, impossible to
have vicarious feelings, but it is not at all difficult to make the judgment
that certain factual conditions involved in the objective situation of
another person or group constitute an affront to the dignity of human-
kind. The reaction of prospective solidaries, upon becoming aware of
subhuman conditions with which other people have to contend, may
7 Arendt, On Revolution, 270.
8 Ibid., 282.
728 KEN RESHAUR
2
Arendt's conception of universal solidarity has its origin in her distinc-
tion between nature and humanity: human beings are very unnatural
beings and cannot be fully understood in terms of the categories of
nature which we apply to animals. Humanity exists only to the extent
that humans are able to transcend their natural needs and attributes.
This conception of humankind articulates with two of Arendt's most
important concepts: natality-the possibility of the new and unexpected
which each new birth brings to the world; and plurality-the fact that
while there are many people in the world, each one is distinctive. Both of
these attributes require the freedom of a world for their activation and
realization. To forsake the world and become preoccupied with con-
12 Michael Polanyi, "Of Self-Giving," The Papers of Michael Polanyi, The University of
Chicago, Box 41, Folder 11.
730 KEN RESHAUR
death is made anonymous, it merely sets "a seal on the fact that he never
really existed."30 This applies equally to routinized murder and indi-
vidual suicide. Indeed, the latter was ambiguous morally since suicide
might have the consequence that one's family would be killed. This
prepared the way for the administration of the death camps to involve
inmates in running the camps, thereby blurring the distinction between
prisoner and persecutor.
Finally, Arendt considers the loss of identity as a consequence of
the loss of plurality. This occurred in the camps on an individual basis
and on a world scale on the basis of race. In the camps, spontaneous
violence designed to manipulate one's body in ways calculated to
destroy a sense of identity at least involved "a last remnant of humanly
understandable feeling."31 When this was replaced by a systematic,
calculated challenge to human dignity, its results confirmed "that
human beings can be transformed into specimens of the human animal,
and that man's 'nature' is only 'human' insofar as it opens up to man the
possibility of becoming something highly unnatural, that is, a man."32
Loss of plurality on the basis of race is, for Arendt, a political
tragedy of the first order: "race is, politically speaking, not the begin-
ning of humanity but its end."33 Consequently, she makes a distinction
between races and nations or peoples. For example, the European
"Pan" movements of the interwar period were, in her opinion, an
instance of tribal nationalism under seige, surrounded by hostile out-
siders rejecting their claims to be unique and of divine origin.34 These
racists "denied the great principle upon which national organizations of
peoples are built, the principle of equality and solidarity of all peoples
guaranteed by the idea of mankind."35 The fact that Eichmann had, by
his actions, denied this same principle, provided Arendt with the basis
and rationale for her judgment on him.
Arendt has quite a different conception of a people: it is a nation in
which what is held in common is not the sameness of race but partici-
pation in a shared language, history and culture. In the context of a world
federalism, individuals would mediate their political contribution
through the nation so that there would be both a sameness and diversity.
In contrast, a world government which had a direct relationship with the
individual and, corresponding to this, a world citizenship would mean
the end of all citizenship. It would not be the climax of world politics but
quite literally its end. This would be the outcome since such a political
arrangement would attempt "to overcome and eliminate authentic poli-
tics, that is, different peoples getting along with each other in the full
force of their power."36 The federal principle, then, is the one organiza-
30 Ibid.,452. 34 Ibid.,234.
31 Ibid.,454. 35 Ibid.,161.
32 Ibid.,455. 36 Ibid.,142,n. 38.
33 Ibid.,157.
734 KEN RESHAUR
3
Arendt mentions two instances of solidarityof one's "own kind" or
what I shall call naturalsolidarity.They both illustratea type of solidar-
ity in which what people have in common is a naturalattribute.On the
otherhand,only in the case of the familyis the givennessthey exemplify
that which typifies humanityin contradistinctionto, say, a particular
racial group or age category. Arendt's characterizationof these as
instances of solidarityis both unexpected and disappointing.
The first instanceis foundin Arendt'sobservationthatthe "natural
solidarityof 'white' men in alien lands"37promptedthe perversionof
nationalconsciousness into race consciousness. Consistentwith this is
her claim that, faced with a non-historicalcompletely naturalworld in
which the restraintsand conventionsof Westernsociety neitherexisted
nor applied, "the gentlemanandthe criminalfelt not only the closeness
of men who share the same color of skin, but the impact of a world of
infinite possibilitiesfor crimes committedin the spirit of play."38
The second instance is the family unit where she mentions that
"membership in a social class replaced the protection previously
offered by membershipin a family, and social solidaritybecame a very
efficient substitute for the earlier, naturalsolidarityruling the family
unit."39While this passage mentionedinterests-since class solidarity
would seem to be about interests-Arendt specifically refers to "natu-
ral" solidarity in the family. This combination and juxtaposition of
words, natural and solidarity, seems to be, in terms of the logic of
Arendt'spositionas statedat the beginningof this article,inconsistentif
not contradictory.
Finally, in a discussion of the crisis in education, Arendtadvances
an argumentagainstchild-centredliberaleducationandmakesa case for
the necessity of adultauthorityin the classroom if childrenare going to
be inducted properly into the world. An essential component of her
critiqueinvolves the salutaryrole which solidaritycan play in the rela-
tion between the child and its peer groupon the one hand, and the child
in its relationto adultauthorityon the other. She claimsthatthe fact that
a child can "count on the solidarityof other children,that is, of his own
kind,"40gives some base to the child from which a grievance can be
mountedand an argumentmade. It is the possibility that there is some
flexibilityin the relationshipwhichis the enablingconditionfor a contest
37 Ibid., 503.
38 Ibid., 190.
39 Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1959), 232.
40 Hannah Arendt, Between Past and Future (New York: World Publishing, 1961), 181.
Solidarity in the Political Theory of Hannah Arendt 735
to take place. By contrast, there is no room to move for the child who is
in a singular minority confronting the unanimous opposition of its peer
group.
Now, apart from the persuasiveness of Arendt's indictment of
liberal education, her contention that solidarity springs from the posses-
sion of certain natural attributes ("his own kind"-is this the level to
which "objective bonds" has sunk?) or is activated by a natural status,
suggests that this conceptualization of "natural" solidarity is somewhat
distinctive. First of all, one need not earn the status of a solidary; both
the capacity and the existence of solidarity is presumed to exist by virtue
of natural, defining attributes. Second, and of considerable importance,
is the inescapable conclusion that solidarity, or at least this conception
of it, does not require a world for its existence or recognition. In the case
of children, one of the main points Arendt seeks to make is that the
educational process should function in such a fashion that it is an
introduction to the world for young people. But the schoolchildren who
are potential or actual solidaries do not yet have a world in Arendt's
sense; therefore, "natural" solidarity does not require a world-it can
flow from the presence and possession of natural attributes. In other
words, solidarity can exist in a natural state determined by natural
processes such as equivalence of physiological maturation on the part of
those among whom solidarity exists. This is entirely consistent with her
claim that natural solidarity developed among white people in those
colonies where the indigenous people and culture were alien, the natural
attribute being something entirely contingent and fortuitous: white skin.
We must, I believe, ask ourselves what was the enabling condition,
in this instance and the other two, for natural solidarity to exist. The
answer is straightforward: the lack of a world which enabled nature to
set the agenda for those who had lost a world and embraced with
enthusiasm their new-found worldlessness because of its "infinite pos-
sibilities"; those for whom the option neither occurred nor existed; and
those who had not yet become worldly. Worldless people do not, it
seems, choose natural solidarity: they accept it. And, in doing so, if
Arendt is to be consistent, the rationale of solidarity is perverted since it
is not committed to "ideas." On the basis of these examples, it seems
clear that natural solidarity is a condition in which both praise and
blame, responsibility and entitlement, are misplaced and irrelevant.
The use by Arendt of the term solidarity in these circumstances is,
as noted above, quite inconsistent with her normal usage. It is completely
at odds with her indictment of racism and dismissal of the political
claims of racists who imported considerations of nature into politics. It
also robs of its point and impact the thrust of her distinction between
human and natural behaviour.41
41 Hannah Arendt, Men in Dark Times (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1968),
12.
736 KEN RESHAUR
4
In the passage from On Revolution cited near the beginning of this
article, Hannah Arendt claims that solidarityhas to do not only with
lifting oppressionbut, as well, with overcomingexploitation. There is
little in her writings, however, which shows concern for the "social
question." This lack of consideration for socio-economic factors,
except as they have a negativeimpacton politics, has been widely noted
by both detractorsanddefendersof her work. Indeed, in one of the few
instanceswhen she does mentionsolidarityin a socio-economiccontext,
it has at least as much to do with her views on student protest move-
mentsas withuniversityworkerswho were on strikefor higherwages.42
Arendt's intransigenceon the social question, her refusal to con-
sider society as anythingmore than a corruptionof the private and a
threatto the publicrealm,is shown clearlyin her response to the entire
questionof decent housing. This, she claims, is an entirely administra-
tive matter-to be addressedand decided by experts.43But, of course,
that is not at all the case. Decent housingis closely relatedto consider-
ationsof humandignity.And by her own admission,humandignityis an
importantand legitimate goal of solidarity. Hannah Arendt, in this
respect, simply refuses to consider the facts.
Whenit comes to a solidaritywhich is constitutedin orderto reject
tyrannyand oppression,HannahArendt'saccount of the corruptionof
solidarityby pity is very perceptive as well as significant. This, com-
bined with her critiqueof modernityto the effect that world-alienation
and not self-alienationis characteristicof contemporaryWesternsoci-
ety,44remindsus of the threat to solidarityposed by the self that has
ceased to be the means by which pluralityis mediated, having itself
become the focus of attention.It is in such circumstances,of which our
time providesabundantexamples, that Arendt's stress on revealingthe
facts of oppressionis extremelyimportant.Solidarity,if it is authentic,is
founded on and informedby the facts-not feelings, especially those
which are thought to be vicarious.
42 Hannah Arendt, Crises of the Republic (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
1972), 203.
43 Melvyn Hill, Hannah Arendt: The Recovery of the Public World (New York: St.
Martin's Press, 1979), 319.
44 Arendt, The Human Condition, 231.