The Space Merchants and The Merchants' War by Frederik Pohl
"The Space Merchants" and its sequel, "The Merchants' War," are science fiction novels co-written by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth, with the latter being authored solely by Pohl. Set in a future where advertising dominates society, "The Space Merchants" follows Mitch Courtney, a successful advertising executive tasked with promoting Venus as a desirable colony. As Mitch navigates corporate treachery and personal peril, he ultimately finds himself trapped in a consumer labor crew, where he uncovers the harsh realities of life for the lower classes and becomes involved with a radical conservationist movement, challenging the exploitative practices of his industry.
In "The Merchants' War," set decades later, Mitch is remembered as a hero on Venus. The focus shifts to Tenny Tarb, another advertising executive who grapples with his loyalties after uncovering the exploitative intentions of Earth toward Venus. Tenny's journey leads him to question the ethics of his profession and ultimately to ally with the Venusian inhabitants, working to defend their autonomy against Earth’s imperialistic ambitions. Together, these novels explore themes of capitalism, environmentalism, and the impact of advertising on human values and society.
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The Space Merchants and The Merchants' War
First published:The Space Merchants (1953; serial form, Galaxy, 1952) and The Merchants’ War (1984)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Science fiction—extrapolatory
Time of work: An unspecified time in the future
Locale: Various locations on Earth, the Moon, and Venus
The Plot
One of many collaborations between Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth, The Space Merchants was also Pohl’s return to writing after working as a literary agent. The novel has an interesting textual history. Written under the title Fall Campaign, it was serialized as “Gravy Planet” in Galaxy magazine, whose editor, H. L. Gold, thought that the ending was incomplete and demanded that Pohl and Kornbluth produce an additional three chapters to show what happens to the colonizers after they reach Venus. When the novel was published in book form, these chapters were omitted from the text, although they have since been reprinted in Our Best: The Best of Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth (1987). Pohl has made minor revisions to the novel’s text; for example, a reference in the first edition to “Western Union and American Express Railway” became a reference to “United Parcel and American Express” in the 1985 edition. More than three decades lapsed before the publication of the novel’s sequel, The Merchants’ War, written by Pohl alone. The two novels were collected into an omnibus volume, Venus, Inc. (1985).
The Space Merchants is the story of Mitch Courtney, a “copysmith star class” in a future in which advertising dominates the world and outlawed “Consies” (Conservationists) are regarded as dangerous and deluded radicals. Mitch’s big break in the corporate world occurs when he is given the assignment of “selling” Venus, convincing the people of Earth that the inhospitable planet is actually a paradise begging for colonists. As he attempts to do this, Mitch finds his life threatened from all sides as he discovers the truth about himself, his profession, and his wife, Kathy.
Despite obvious attempts on his life, Mitch takes his work very seriously, and in trying to eliminate incompetence and inefficiency in the agency, he fires most of the San Diego branch of the Fowler Schocken advertising agency and leaves for Antarctica to confront Matt Runstead. When he meets Runstead, Mitch realizes that he has walked into a trap. Upon passing out, he is sure that he is as good as dead. When he wakes, however, Mitch learns that his fate is actually worse than death: He has become part of a lower-class consumer labor crew, contracted to work for five years at the Chlorella plantations in Costa Rica. His name and social security/identification number have been changed, and the world thinks that he died in Antarctica.
At the Chlorella plantations, Mitch learns how “the other half” lives and is invited to join the Consies movement. Although he is at first horrified, he realizes that hooking up with the Consies might help him get away from Chlorella and back to Fowler Schocken. His copy-smith skills prove useful in revising and creating Consie propaganda, and soon he is so valuable a Consie that he is sent back to New York.
Once Mitch returns, however, his troubles really begin. He finds out that Taunton, a rival of Schocken who is angry about losing the Venus project, was responsible for the attempts on his life. Taunton also frames him for murder and breach of contract. He flees to the moon, where he discovers that Kathy is a Consie leader. Returning to Earth with Schocken, Mitch for the first time notices the true nature of the advertising industry. When he takes over the Schocken agency after Schocken’s murder, he seeks out Kathy and works with the Consies to make sure that the first colonists to Venus are conservationists. Unfortunately, if his enemies had reason to destroy him beforehand, they have even more reasons now.
The Merchants’ War is set several decades after The Space Merchants. Long after his death, Mitch is revered as a hero to the “Veenies” (inhabitants of Venus); the anniversary of his demise is a planetary holiday. This novel is the story of Tenny Tarb, another advertising executive who becomes a “traitor” to his own people and a “hero” to those whose political beliefs he comes to embrace.
As the novel begins, Tenny is finishing a term of service on Venus. Earth now regularly sends both political prisoners and “ambassadors” to Venus, many of them spies or agents who want to extend the advertising industry’s domination to Earth’s sister planet. Tenny loves one of those agents, Mitzi Ku, and wishes that she would return to Earth with him. Mitzi agrees to spend time with Tenny on his last day on Venus, but while sightseeing they both are wounded, apparently as a result of a deliberate Veenie attempt to kill them.
On his way back to Earth, Tenny finds out that Mitzi is also returning, citing her brush with death as her reason for leaving Venus. The bandages that nearly cover her head lend credence to her story. Tenny is surprised to learn that in an amazingly swift bit of legal work, Mitzi has obtained six million dollars from a damage suit filed after her accident. With that money, she “buys” her way into a higher position with Fowler Schocken Associates. Despite Tenny’s repeated efforts to see her, Mitzi is usually too busy to spend much time with her former lover.
Life on Earth does not go very well for Tenny. Unaware of the nature of the “commercial zones” that have been established in his absence, he becomes a “Mokehead,” an addict to a new drug. Attempting to work his way back up in the Schocken agency, he is dismissed when Mitzi becomes co-founder of a competing ad agency. He is activated in the army reserves and stationed as a chaplain in the Gobi Desert. Because his military service ends with a dishonorable discharge, Tenny can no longer obtain a good job. As did Mitch Courtney before him, he learns how “the other half” lives.
Tenny eventually realizes that the Gobi military exercises were practice runs for an Earth attack on Venus. He also discovers that Mitzi is not who she appears to be; she is in fact a Veenie impersonator working to protect Venus from Earth’s imperialistic overtures. Although it means a harrowing bout with detoxification, threats of death, and various dangers, Tenny joins the Veenies and puts his advertising skills to work in an all-out effort to turn the tide of public opinion against an invasion of Venus.