Reinventing Solidarity

Episode 65 - Making Sense of the Radical Right

Radical right-wing politics is commonly understood as a cry of the “left behind” - working-class voters who lost out in the transition to a post-industrial, services-based, and globalized economy. Philip Rathgeb, a political economist at the University of Edinburgh, challenges this view in How the Radical Right Has Changed Capitalism and Welfare in Europe and the USA (Oxford University Press, 2024). Rathgeb joins Chris Maisano on the latest episode of the SLU podcast Reinventing Solidarity to talk about his book, what differentiates the Republican Party from its right-wing counterparts elsewhere, and how his research might inform the efforts of people working to reinvent solidarity in the current moment.

Episode 64 - "The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It"

Capitalism is commonly understood as an economic system, but Columbia University legal scholar Katharina Pistor argues that its more properly understood as a kind of legal regime. Pistor joins Chris Maisano on the latest episode of the SLU podcast Reinventing Solidarity to talk about her new book, The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It, and its practical relevance to labor organizing today.

Episode 63 - Lessons from 100 Years of Black Labor Activism

At a live event at CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, CUNY SLU Assistant Professor of Labor Studies Cameron Black moderated a lively panel discussion of Cedric de Leon’s new book, Freedom Train: Black Politics and the Story of Interracial Labor Solidarity (University of California Press, 2025). The panel also included author and activist Bill Fletcher Jr. and Tamara Lee, Associate Professor, Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University

Episode 62 - Introducing New Labor Forum Editor Chris Maisano

At a live event at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, New Labor Forum Editor-at-Large Micah Uetricht interviews the journal's new Editor Chris Maisano, who introduces himself, offers some thoughts about the current state of the labor movement, and discusses his article "Does 'Left-Conservatism' Have a Future?" from the Fall 2025 issue of New Labor Forum.

Episode 61 - Labor Against Authoritarianism

In this episode of Reinventing Solidarity, we feature a keynote address from National Education Association president Becky Pringle from a conference titled "Labor and the Crisis of Democracy," hosted by the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies and co-sponsored with the Cornell University Worker Institute. Pringle takes stock of the attacks on workers, free speech, and basic democratic rights, but argues, “Unions were built for this moment” of fighting back.