REVOLUTIONARY FORGIVENESS
Beyond Moralism, Toward Liberation
David Renton
Haymarket Books (29 March, 2026)
Trade paper • ISBN-13: 9798888905982 • US $14.95 • 5 in x 8 in • 304 pgs.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Forgiveness is necessary in the long fight for a just world—but it is only possible after the oppressed are victorious.
For too long, revolutionary social movements have reconciled to defeat. We must start winning again. Forgiveness is a necessary strategy for remaking the world, to secure and sustain victories, to turn one-time enemies into friends.
With deep political commitment and lucid moral clarity, David Renton makes the case for forgiveness, but of a particularly unruly sort. Tracing the tragic abuse of Eleanor Marx and Jane Wells, the mistakes of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the courage of the Bolshevik Revolution, and the redemption of an American televangelist, Renton urges us to forgive, but only after tearing down the citadels of the rich.
Revolutionary Forgiveness merges history with philosophy, infuses politics with ethics, and connects collective struggle with the individual’s search for justice to demand a future for all—when the oppressed will be magnanimous in power, and even former oppressors will be free.
PRAISE:
“How can the oppressed of the world forgive while colonial capitalism continues to kill? In this excellent book, David Renton shows that many theorists have failed in their thinking by placing forgiveness first. Instead, revolution must come first. Using compelling examples from apartheid South Africa, the Shoah, Israel-Palestine, and key touchpoints in socialist history, Renton explores what it would take for oppressed people to forgive their persecutors. What emerges is a portrait of the possibilities of healing, and a vision of forgiveness underpinned by radical social change.”
Rabbi Lev Taylor, educator for the Queer Yeshiva
“This book is at once an insightful exploration of the politics of forgiveness and a passionate case for the interdependence of personal and social revolution. Too often, forgiveness becomes a substitute for social transformation; David Renton instead convinces us to recognise it as a necessary part of the repertoire and vocabulary of revolution.”
Dan Swain, author of None So Fit to Break the Chains: Marx’s Ethics of Self-Emancipation
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
David Renton is a barrister, writer, and political activist. From 2003 to 2006, he was a member of the national steering committee of Unite Against Fascism. His many books include Fascism: Theory and Practice (1999), Fascism, Anti-Fascism, and Britain in the 1940s (2000), British Fascism, the Labour Movement, and the State (2004), and When We Touched the Sky: the ANL, 1977-1981 (2006).
RIGHTS INFORMATION:
Please contact subagents for the following languages and territories:
| Language/Territory | Subagent |
|---|---|
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| Dutch | Sebes & Bisseling Literary Agency |
| English outside North America | David Grossman Literary Agency |
| French | Deborah Druba Agency |
| German | Paul & Peter Fritz AG Literatur Agentur |
| Greek | Read n' Right Agency |
| Hebrew | The Deborah Harris Agency |
| Italian | Berla & Griffini Rights Agency |
| Japanese | The English Agency (Japan) Ltd |
| Korean | BC Agency, or Korea Copyright Center |
| Portuguese | RIFF Agency |
| Russia/Baltics/Eastern Europe | Prava I Prevodi |
| Scandinavia | Sebes & Bisseling Literary Agency |
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| Turkish | Anatolialit Agency |
For all other languages/territories, please contact Roam Agency.