Radical Love and the Left
A leftist politics divorced from love is not a leftist politics. In our actions, we must stay grounded in a universal love of humanity and a conviction to continuously fight for those we don’t know.
“The questions of cultivating empathy, cultivating compassion, cultivating awareness — the complete antithesis of social media modes. Long term thinking, compassion, seeing complexity, comfort with oneself, solitude, the opposite of instant gratification, the attempt to constantly humanize and not dehumanize your fellow humans. These are all completely countervailing forces to the market technologic that subsumes all of us today.” — Michael Brooks (1983–2020)
In what would become one of his final live streams, political commentator and writer Michael Brooks offered a stunning insight into how modern media culture drives a stake through the heart of our collective humanity and ability to live in an empathy-driven world. Capitalism, a mode of production born out of ruthless competition, rugged individualism, and exploitation of both the Earth and humankind, produced a culture modeled upon those very vices. Because of this, any politics rooted in a revolutionary desire to liberate people from their oppressive social conditions must be driven by deeply held compassion for humanity and love for all living things. The act of recognizing the common struggle you share with your fellow human is itself a revolutionary activity. In a hyper-individualized, competitive, and hierarchical social reality, forming bonds with those around you and caring for those you don’t yet know is a profound act of defiance against an economic system and social order which incentivize the opposite.
As the Left continues to organize in response to the various crises that plague our world, we must deliberately center our values within a framework of righteous and radical love, empathy, and justice. Informed by radical love, we can meaningfully challenge the cruel logic of the prevailing economic order. For instance, why do we organize our society in a way that gives small groups of people, employers, authoritarian control over our working lives? Why do we disregard democratic values in the workplace, where adults spend most of their waking hours? Why do we give small groups of people the power to deny access to essential resources such as housing, food, and healthcare, if those in need do not possess sufficient funds?
Of course, we know the answers to these questions. The benefits of an economy will go to those who control the production and distribution of its resources. When decisions over production are placed into the hands of a select few who are motivated by personal profit, the distribution of said resources will always be organized in a way which benefits those select few. Recognizing this, we must offer an alternative method of organizing production and distribution — one rooted in radical love. The capitalist mode of production demands that landlords selfishly hoard empty apartments and force people into homelessness out of their greed, because the landlord is motivated by their own personal profit, not the well-being of their fellow human. Despite the apartment having been built by workers, workers do not own the building. Instead, control over the house and who gets to use it is filtered through a middleman totally separate from the construction process. A similar dynamic plays out in capitalism, where employers do not contribute labor to the production of the goods and services of their industry, yet are given autocratic control over what is done with (and who gets to profit from) the products that their workers produce. Working people are not only alienated by a lack of control over their lives during their working hours, but are also exploited by their bosses who quite literally live off the fruits of their labor. The Left must therefore make the case for a democratic workplace in which those who create the products and wealth which make a business successful — its workers — should have direct democratic control over their workplaces.
Answering the question of who controls production, we can turn our eyes to the question of distribution through the lens of radical love. Within a cooperative business model, workers can decide what, when, and how much to produce. Because of this, the capitalist logic of denying a homeless person housing while a home remains vacant becomes exposed for its inefficiency, idiocy, and cruelty. Instead of empowering landlords who hoard houses built by workers and then live parasitically off the wealth created by those same workers, we can democratically decide to use our resources to build enough houses for everyone and give working people full ownership over their homes.
Building a politics of care is critical to proposing a meaningful challenge to the social realities imposed by capitalism. Our politics must be rooted in the fundamental belief that all people should have the right to the basic necessities of life as well as the right of bodily autonomy and freedom from exploitation. Our politics must be international and committed to the empowerment of people around the world in their struggle for liberation. Housing, healthcare, education, and food are human rights. The select few who control production and exploit and profit off the working class stand in the way of constructing that reality. The fight for socialism is the fight against authoritarian and oligarchic control over our economy and our lives. We must build a society and an economy which is run democratically, by and for working people, and not the profit of a small few who make up an “owning” class. To do this, we need to center compassion in our politics and advocate for democracy in the workplace, production to meet human need, and social systems which maximize human flourishing. Capitalist alienation, which robs us of our ability to have meaningful control over our labor, our relationships, and our lives, drives us apart and detaches us not only from each other but from ourselves.
In the age of COVID-19, it is more important than ever that we emphasize cooperation over competition and compassion over cruelty. In the wake of the ongoing crisis, hundreds of mutual aid networks sprung up across the country. Since the outbreak, millions recognized they are stronger together and, as a result, began taking care of one another. It is these values that we must continue to hold dear in the struggle against the mismanaged response to COVID-19, police brutality, heightened capitalist exploitation, and a looming climate crisis. While grassroots mutual aid networks are important for meeting people’s immediate needs, they do not replace bold state action which is necessary to protect society’s most vulnerable. Going forward, remember the words of Michael Brooks: “Be ruthless with systems and kind to each other.” Have empathy for people, and ruthless criticism for the systems of oppression and exploitation which dominate our lives. Together, we can build a better tomorrow by fighting for new systems which uplift and cherish human life.
A better world is possible.
