From social theorist and psychotherapist Rabbi Michael Lerner comes a
strategy for a new socialism built on love, kindness, and compassion
for one another. Revolutionary Love proposes a method to
replace what Lerner terms the "capitalist globalization of
selfishness" with a globalization of generosity, prophetic
empathy, and environmental sanity.
Lerner challenges liberal and progressive forces to move beyond often
weak-kneed and visionless politics to build instead a movement that
can reverse the environmental destructiveness and social injustice
caused by the relentless pursuit of economic growth and profits.
Revisiting the hidden injuries of class, Lerner shows that much of
the suffering in our society—including most of its addictions and
the growing embrace of right-wing nationalism and reactionary
versions of fundamentalism—is driven by frustrated needs for
community, love, respect, and connection to a higher purpose in life.
Yet these needs are too often missing from liberal discourse. No
matter that progressive programs are smartly constructed—they
cannot be achieved unless they speak to the heart and address the
pain so many people experience.
Liberals and progressives need coherent alternatives to capitalism,
but previous visions of socialism do not address the yearning for
anything beyond material benefits. Inspired by Herbert Marcuse, Erich
Fromm, and Carol Gilligan, Revolutionary Love offers a
strategy to create the "Caring Society." Lerner details how
a civilization infused with love could put an end to global poverty,
homelessness, and hunger, while democratizing the economy, shifting
to a twenty-eight-hour work week, and saving the life-support system
of Earth. He asks that we develop the courage to stop listening to
those who tell us that fundamental social transformation is
"unrealistic."