How We Built a Mass Socialist Party in 10 Years, w/ Belgian MP Peter Mertens

Peter Mertens, Secretary General of the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PVDA-PTB) sits for a wide-ranging interview with Brian Becker, longtime socialist organizer and founding member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

They discuss everything from Europe’s economic and political crisis, the window of opportunity for socialism, the U.S.’s goal of encircling China, to how the PYB renewed itself as a mass force in Belgian politics by changing its internal culture and digging deeper roots into the working class. The interview, recorded on December 7, is full of lessons and insights from the movement in Europe and the United States.

Mertens is a member of the Chamber of Representatives since 2019, and as a Municipal Councillor in Antwerp since 2013.

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