Utopian communities like the Catholic Worker, Homeboy Industries, and others like them hold at least four lessons for the secular Left. First, utopian forms of alternative communities are possible now, even at a medium scale. There is no need to wait for a future society that has transitioned beyond neoliberal capitalism. Many religious communities are unwittingly instantiating them piecemeal as we speak, from the bottom up.
Second, electoral politics are important, but if not fed by deep roots, such victories will be ephemeral or quickly betrayed. Moving beyond neoliberal capitalism entails moving beyond the indifference and greed of the libertarian self.
Third, today’s democratic socialists should seek out ways to create, support, or join communities of radical belonging with the poor, often (and even) religious ones. They should recognize that without cultural liturgies that place them in solidarity with the poor they risk drifting unwittingly into other patterns of worship—a political hero, an ideological test, an abstract vision of the future, or revenge against opponents. The twentieth century was full of Leftist movements with lofty ambitions that quickly turned violent as they fell out of unity with the people they purported to help.
Finally, critics of neoliberal capitalism should steer clear of the easy temptation to ignore, marginalize, or alienate religious communities. They should see that Catholic communities in particular are cells of individuals learning to share material life in common, beyond alienation and scarcity. They are utopian collectivities ordered by the rhythms of gathering and redistributing. Despite their many flaws, Catholic communities bear witness to the possibility of mutual interest built not on consumerist entertainment, not on state power or ethno-nationalism, and certainly not on ideological uniformity, but on interdependent vulnerability and care for the neighbor without precondition. With a little hope, we might even see in them the germ of a utopian movement that could ramify in concrete networks across the United States, an actually existing solidarity.
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