Rainer is a shill. Anyone who’s been listening to the PSL and to Becker’s analyses knows that Becker is not against multipolarity. Becker’s position is summed it quite well in the quotations Rainer pulls out of context - multipolarity is not a solution, only socialism is a solution.

The interpretation Rainer applies to the words of Becker are bald-faced bad faith interpretation. Becker is being quoted literally as saying that China and Russia are not looking to replace the US as the new global hegemon. Becker doesn’t disavow multipolarity, nor does he state it should be resisted. Martin’s quotation, which echoes Becker’s analyses from other contexts, is that Russia isn’t communist and in fact may even be anti-communist, and there are other countries in BRICS that are also anti-communist domestically. We must be vigilant there. Becker’s position on Russia is measured - the US is at fault and also war is hell. We don’t need to revel in bloodshed to have a multipolar analysis, nor do we need to defend Russia as a pure beacon of hope in order to understand the historical context that led to the now-escalating conflict nor to understand a Russian victory as the only outcome that will support socialism, a position that Becker has reiterated for years.

Rainer selects quottations from Becker and Becker’s work that demonstrate Becker’s position and instead of using them to establish a consistent reading of the PSL’s position uses them to make a contradiction where none exists. First, Rainer assumes that the measured and nuanced position on Russia means Becker/PSL is anti-multipolarity, believes Russia and China are imperialist, and that the PSL is PatSoc. Then, Rainer selects quotations from the PSL and from Becker that disprove his own assumptions, but he frames that as “see how inconsistent these people are, they are disproving their own thesis”.

I don’t know what game Rainer is playing and who’s paying him, but he’s completely lost my trust in every single substack article I’ve ever read from him. He completely misrepresents the PSL and Becker and uses modern “journalistic” techniques like a strong propagandist does. Reports some facts, misinterprets those facts but frames the interpretation as fact not opinion, then reasons from there to a conclusion that is completely and obviously untenable, with the only goal of leaving the reader with an impression about the ideology of a third party.

If you read this particular piece, the only logical conclusion from the perspective of the author is that 100% of what has been said by the Russian government must be taken as pure unadulterated fact and that any attempt at interpreting the situation beyond that is equivalent to opposition of Russia. Every single serious communist treats the words of any government as propaganda, and as such, always takes a nuanced approach to interpretation. Rainer does not seem to even acknowledge this as a possibility, yet clearly demonstrates the capability by applying a nuanced interpretation of Becker and the PSL.

AFAIK, Rainer is a wrecker and a spoiler. He may be an op. He may just be a PatSoc looking to undermine the PSL so that something more vile can fill the void. My money is on him being an op.

I highly recommend you all listen to Becker’s podcast (The Socialist Program) and listen specifically to the episodes on Ukraine and on Multipolarity and come to your own conclusions. And if you find that my assessment of Becker is a reasonable one, I would highly recommend putting up shields whenever Rainer’s work comes through. From my perspective it’s getting bad enough that I think we need to really consider as a community where we are going to limit how Rainer’s work comes through here. I fear that amplifying and propagating his work is dangerously anti-communist.