Having read the foreword to Peter Mertens’ book “Mutiny”, I was full of anticipation for the rest of the book. The leader of the Belgian Workers’ Party (Parti du Travail de Belgique / Partij van de Arbeid – PTB/PVDA) speaks from my heart: “Why should we leave the working class to the Trumpists, Bolsonarists, Voxians or other far-right pied pipers? The working class is our class. Our standpoint is a class standpoint, unashamed and proud. Our model for society is the liberation of labour through socialism.” And: “Yes, we fight racism, yes, we fight sexism, yes, we call out every form of exclusion. But we always do so from the perspective that the strength and unity of the working class must be strengthened and consolidated. A divided working class cannot win. It never could and cannot do so today either.” Wow – I would love to see such clear statements from the leading figures of Die Linke (the Left Party) in Germany too.
“Self-confidence, class and internationalism” are the key themes of the foreword, which concludes with these sentences: “The left-wing movement must draw on the strength of its convictions, build an unabashed self-confidence, rely proudly on the working class and pursue an internationalist politics of liberation. Only then will we be able to steer the world in the democratic, ecological and social direction that the planet and humanity so urgently need – towards socialism.”
The hopes raised by the foreword were dashed and expectations unmet. Mertens’ book contains much interesting and valuable material critiquing existing capitalist conditions. However, he largely stops at a description of these conditions. His analysis is brief, and he offers virtually no answers as to what programme and strategy the socialist left should adopt to organise the ‘mutiny’ he describes.
Programme
Among other things, Mertens describes conditions in the food industry and the energy sector and addresses the sharp price rises that were shaping society when he wrote the book in 2023. He argues convincingly against the myth of the wage-price spiral and points out that there is, rather, a profit-price spiral. He describes how legal deregulation allowed speculation in energy and food to increase and how corporations attempt to exploit every situation to boost their profits. This is true; however, Mertens does not consistently derive the policies of neoliberalism from the capitalist profitability crisis that began to develop in the early 1970s. In doing so, he gives the impression that measures such as price controls, excess profits taxes and legal restrictions on speculation could solve the problems. When, for example, he explains the impact that the ‘Commodity Futures Modernisation Act’, enacted by the Clinton administration in the US in 2000, had on speculation in agriculture and thus on price fluctuations and food crises, he is correct.
However, he draws the following conclusion: “To eliminate hunger, one must ban stock market speculation in staple foods. How does one do that? Quite simply: by law. No stock exchange in the world functions without law. A country’s parliament can, if public pressure is great enough, introduce a new clause banning stock market speculation.” This raises the question: did capitalism not lead to hunger and misery before Clinton’s legislation? And the question: how will the
Do capitalists react to such laws? They will attempt to intensify the class struggle from above and blackmail governments into repealing such laws or enacting laws that allow them to increase their profits elsewhere. This would intensify the class struggle and the necessity of overcoming capitalism as well. The book lacks a coherent socialist transitional programme that links the everyday hardships and problems of the working class with the necessity of socialist transformation of society. One searches in vain for the demand for the expropriation of banks and corporations in the book by the PTB/PvdA chair. He calls only for a “public banking sector” (without clarifying whether this is to exist alongside a private banking sector or replace it) and for the public development of “European future sectors”, and raises the issue of a return to public ownership and the question of power in very general terms when, for example, he writes: “Who bears the costs of inflation depends on who holds power in society.” Unfortunately, however, readers will not find a strategy for changing the balance of power in “Mutiny”.
Europe
Mertens explains how neoliberalism has indeed been superseded by a new phase of protectionism and state interventionism, but at the same time rightly points out that this does not mark the end of neoliberal policy: “The purported end of neoliberalism does not mean that the days of market liberalisation, privatisation and the dismantling of labour protection are over. The conditions imposed on the countries of the South for the refinancing of their loans are just as rigorously neoliberal today as they were in the past.”
The author points out that the world is entering a new phase that will be “marked by growing rivalry with an emerging China” and highlights the developing trade wars, drawing particular attention to the significance of the struggle for raw materials, semiconductors and the role of artificial intelligence.
However, when he then speaks of Europe’s relationship with the US and other parts of the world, one misses precisely what Mertens claims for himself in his foreword – a class perspective. He speaks positively of the ‘European project’ and trade with China. He now uses the word “we” not for the working class, but across class lines for Europe: “An independent Europe cannot exist without diversifying its political and economic relations. The more partners Europe loses, the more dependent we become on another country. Instead of entrenching ourselves behind blocs or ‘strategic alliances’, we would do better to enter into a broad spectrum of relationships. Then we will be better equipped to counter blackmail and not give in to those who want to isolate the Union from other parts of the world. An independent Europe needs fair trade and good cooperation.” Not a word of systemic change or socialism, but an argument entirely immanent to the system, which creates the illusion that ‘fair trade’ is possible within the framework of capitalism!
The “mutiny on deck”
This logic is linked to one of the book’s main arguments. According to Mertens, there are two ‘mutinies’ taking place simultaneously in the world: the uprising of the masses against capitalist conditions and the attempt by the countries of the neo-colonial world, China and Russia to replace the US-dominated world order with a multipolar one: “On the one hand, there is power from below, with popular movements attempting to push through a progressive agenda. They do this within their own respective contexts: from the landless peasants’ movement MST in Brazil, through the large women’s movement AIDWA in India, to the struggle of the metalworkers’ union NUMSA in South Africa. It is the mutiny below deck. It is loud for democratic rights, land reform and well-paid work. At the same time, this is a struggle for freedom, against reactionary and
dictatorial regimes – that deserves our support. But above deck, too, the Global South is in turmoil and seeking a new form of non-alignment, a realpolitik that serves national interests. That is the double mutiny taking place here.”
Now, Mertens does not take a supportive stance towards Modi or Putin, but explicitly welcomes the opposition in India and criticises Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And yet readers must get the impression that the author is not merely describing the ‘mutiny above deck’, but is placing hopes in it. The comparison with the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War and its attempt to push through a ‘New International Economic Order’ at the UN General Assembly in 1974 illustrates this. In doing so, Mertens fails to recognise that even the states led at the time by Nasser (Egypt), Tito (Yugoslavia) or Nehru (India) did not embody any prospect of freedom, workers’ rights and socialist democracy. He also does not see that the current conditions of global capitalism do not mean that, alongside a bipolarity between two superpowers as existed during the Cold War, there would be space for a “Non-Aligned Movement” but rather that we are dealing with a multipolar (dis)order of a crisis-ridden capitalism, in which various major and minor capitalist powers are locked in a struggle and class contradictions are intensifying massively in all countries. It would be naïve to pin hopes on the development of a new “Non-Aligned Movement”. For even if the power of US imperialism is being challenged, this is not currently being done by forces that would be more social, peaceful or progressive, or that would offer the working class better prospects for their living and working conditions.
Mertens, however, seems to harbour such hopes when he writes, effectively as an adviser to these states: “Any country that claims to be sovereign should build its own relationships and not allow itself to be subjugated by the illegal coercive and punitive measures of the USA.”
Lack of a socialist perspective
The leader of the Belgian Workers’ Party offers little in terms of programme, strategy or concept. This is a pity as the party has a strong position both in different parliaments and in the trade unions and could play a major role in developing socialist consciousness amongst the masses. Nor does he engage critically with the policies of left-wing and trade union forces around the world. The few references to these are consistently positive, whether to the European Trade Union Confederation’s ‘Stop Austerity 2.0’ campaign, which Mertens describes as ‘ambitious’ but of which probably 95 per cent of trade union members in Europe have never heard, or to Brazilian President Lula, who during his many years in office has administered capitalism but has not implemented any anti-capitalist measures, right through to the alliance of 26 opposition parties in India, where he does not even address the fact that this alliance is not based on a class standpoint, but brings together forces across class lines and therefore does not represent a socialist perspective.
What Mertens and his party stand for, and what proposals they make for building a socialist movement, is not made clear in the book. This is disappointing, for every mutiny, every rebellion, every uprising is doomed to failure if it does not produce a leadership that pursues a strategy for victory and has a programme for reshaping conditions ‘above and below deck’ (to stay with Mertens’ image of a ship). This is the reason for building socialist parties, for uprisings cannot, spontaneously and on their own, lead to the overthrow of the capitalist order and beginning the construction of socialism – no matter how this capitalist world order changes. The class standpoint proclaimed by Mertens in the preface to his book – though not adhered to by him – means that the working class must be organisationally and politically independent of the different pro-capitalist forces, whether these represent big capitalists, medium-sized enterprises or the petty bourgeoisie, and regardless of whether these forces pursue a reactionary, liberal or ‘progressive’ agenda. Capitalism is in decline. It has nothing to offer humanity but “endless horror”, as Lenin put it. Every variant of pro-capitalist politics – whether free trade or protectionism, whether right-wing popular liberalism – is trapped within the laws of the capitalist mode of production and its inherent crisis-prone nature. What is needed is a break with this mode of production. To achieve this, the ‘mutinies below deck’ must escalate into socialist revolutions, and we must harbour no illusions about supposed ‘mutinies above deck’.