Your new book, being launched in London on April 30, is called Mutiny: How Our World is Tilting. What inspired this title?

The word “mutiny” comes from a quote by Fiona Hill, a former staff member of the US National Security Council. For Hill, the fact that 127 countries did not support the sanctions against Russia was nothing less than a “mutiny.” That resonated with me.

I found that very symbolic because for the first time, more than a third of the world’s countries said that what is said in Washington is no longer law. If that’s mutiny, let’s embrace it, as a sobriquet, with a bit of a rebellious character.

Mutiny for me is also a metaphor, a symbol of disobeying the established order. This image carries a long maritime history, with mutiny representing various forms of collective resistance. From singing together below deck to petitions and work refusal, to sabotage and the overtaking of the ship. It was not all calm on the water — quite the contrary, resistance was more common than not. Mutiny occurred in one in 10 slave ships.

Today too, there is mutiny, both in the North and South. Look at the biggest social protest in human history in India, where peasants and workers mobilised together. Or how large popular movements from Bolivia to Chile led to democratic reforms in Latin America. In the North, the class struggle ebbs and flows like the waves of the sea. But it exists, and it fights against the same world order, the same monopolies, the same system of exploitation.

You’ve said the fate of the whole planet depends on building a new international order to replace US and European-dominated world capitalism. Why?

Today, the brief unipolar moment in history under US hegemony, that brought worldwide inequality, instability and insecurity, is behind us.

In my book, I look into a series of watershed moments in recent history, like the illegal war in Iraq in 2003, the global financial crisis of 2008 and the war in Ukraine, that have changed the landscape for the United States. Washington has become vulnerable, and more and more countries are looking for alternatives.

The question is what will replace the current international order? Because we are living in a polarising world that can tilt in all directions. The monsters are never far away.

But you can see how people, both in the North and the South of the planet, come together, organise and rise up. For simple things: a decent income, a healthy meal, a roof over their heads, affordable energy. My opinion is, if we can let the mutiny of the North shake hands with the mutiny of the South, and vice versa, we can tilt the world in the democratic, social and ecological direction that this planet needs. Capitalism is not the future — socialism 2.0 is.

You say the mutiny consists of two interrelated struggles, that of the global South against the rich West, and of the ordinary people in the rich countries who are also sick of the current system. But many of the wave of left movements in the West in recent years — Corbyn in Britain, Bernie Sanders in the US, Syriza in Greece — have disappeared, and across Europe, it is the far right who seem to have taken the initiative. Do you agree that is the case, and if so, why is it happening?

I think the left in Europe is too often found organising its own collective depression — focusing on how bad things are, how weak the forces of the left are, how little we agree with each other and how strong the rise of the far right is.

I’ve never been much of a fan of that myself. There is a lot of discontent among people, and they show it in a lot of different ways. That offers opportunities. I think we are on a boiling continent that can go in all directions, so also in the good direction.

The forces of the left should just have a bit more confidence in themselves and more ambition — and not be afraid that they are still small, still growing. So what? What is small can become big. It comes down to seeing the seeds of that which has potential. It comes down to seeing the diamonds under the dust. This is true for people, it is true for organisations, and it is true for movements in society.

The left must give people hope and perspective again. The left must want to fight to win, and actually win. For small victories, in the neighbourhood, at work, with the union. And for bigger victories on a larger scale.

The PTB is a rare success story on the left in Europe at the moment. How rapid has your party’s growth been in recent years and how was this achieved?

Our party has grown significantly over the past decade. Since the Renewal Congress in 2008, the party has grown from 2,800 members to 25,000. With 8 per cent of votes nationwide, we count 12 seats in the federal parliament and one seat in the European parliament. And, according to the polls, we should double our number of seats in this year’s elections.

The foundation for this growth was laid in the early 2000s. 2003 was a tipping point: we barely got votes in the elections, and hardly anyone was betting on our future any more. We then had to stand in front of the mirror, and what we saw was a party cut off from the people’s everyday concerns, too dogmatic, too sectarian, too preachy. That was not a pleasant sight.

We had to renew ourselves or disappear. Within the party, more and more voices were being raised to say that we cannot go on like this and that we must put an end to this attitude of lecturing, this disconnection from reality and this dogmatism.

At general meetings, the members voted overwhelmingly in favour of renewal. This was the tipping point and what would save our party. The new leadership mobilised the party for its Renewal Congress, which was focused on three areas: being a party of principles, being a flexible party, and being a party of the working class.

What are the PTB’s main political objectives for the coming year?

2024 is an election year, and our ambition is to win these elections. We are campaigning for a break with current policies, first and foremost in social terms. We’re facing a social emergency, and that requires a radical change.

Let us finally dare to take the money where it is, in the hands of the richest 1 per cent, with an ambitious wealth tax. Let us finally increase the purchasing power of working people, by freezing prices, not wages. Let’s invest in public transport instead of taxing people in the name of climate change. Finally, let us tackle the political privileges of the political caste.

These are the priorities we as a party want to weigh in on, and where we want to get things moving. To get things moving and force change, you need to build power relationships from the bottom up, through a process of social action, organisation and awareness-raising.

We want to emerge from this election campaign with a stronger party, a party capable of putting even more pressure to get things done, a party even more capable of raising awareness, organising and mobilising.

Do you have any reflections for socialists in Britain on how we can learn from the PTB to rebuild a formidable political movement?

Every situation is different, and you can’t just copy-paste experiences. I can only talk about our experience in recent years.

Firmness of principle is the first cornerstone of our party’s renewal since 2008. Some forces would have liked us to behave nicely within the chalk lines of capitalism. We did not and will not do that. We kept our emancipatory view of humanity, a Marxist analytical framework, and a socialist worldview. That is our backbone. But that’s not enough.

Being right isn’t sufficient; it’s essential to also be proven right and effect change. So we always think about the best tactics to find the most suitable path and methods to progress in the right direction, taking into account the existing balance of power and the level of awareness in society.

Last but not least, the left needs to reintroduce class consciousness and class pride. More and more movements no longer conduct economic analyses. They no longer speak about the “working class,” but only about the “people” or the “middle class.”

The class analysis is gone, production is gone, and the heroes of the pandemic are gone. And once all class differences are dismissed, various identity debates enter the dominant discourse. All possible real and false contradictions are stirred up, and before you know it, ordinary people are shouting hard at each other. We believe it’s time to take a class position again.

Peter Mertens will present Mutiny: How Our World is Tilting at 6pm on April 30 in Bolivar Hall, 56 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DL.

The event features a distinguished panel: Vijay Prashad (LeftWord Books), Jeremy Corbyn MP, Mick Lynch (RMT general secretary), Helen O’Connor (GMB organiser), Anneleen Kennis (climate justice author, academic and activist), and a video presentation by Malak Mattar (artist for Palestine).

The author will be available to sign copies of his book. Register for this free event at www.tinyurl.com/PeterMertens.