Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: patreon.com/OneDime
On this episode of 1Dime Radio, I sit down with British-Nigerian writer Ralph Leonard to ask what it even means to be a Marxist today, after the political fallout of the 20th century. Ralph describes himself as a “conservative Marxist,” which sounds like a contradiction until you realize that one of the core questions in this conversation is whether socialism, properly understood, is not the worship of capitalist progress but a defense of society against capital’s destructive acceleration.
We get into Marxism’s roots in the Enlightenment, liberalism, and the Western political tradition, why Marxism is in many ways a radicalization of Western values rather than a rejection of them, and how Stalinism distorted Marxism into a state-worshipping ideology that dismissed freedom and democracy as “bourgeois” illusions. We also discuss race as ideology, decolonization theory, nationalism, Zionism, the USSR, and whether its failures were historically necessary or politically avoidable.
In The Backroom exclusive episode on Patreon, Ralph and I debate the notion of Conservative Marxism, Nationalism, the Marxist ideal of international revolution, and a lot more.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 The Backroom Sneak Peek
00:03:53 Introduction to Conservative Marxism
00:17:30 Marxism, Enlightenment and the State
00:33:00 Western Values and Decolonial Critiques
00:55:20 Historical Necessity or Preventable Atrocity
01:14:15 Race, Culture and Western Identity
01:24:43 Zionism Opposed to Liberalism
GUEST:
Ralph Leonard• Ralph’s writing at UnHerd: unherd.com/author/ralph-leonard
Ralph’s Twitter: https://x.com/buffsoldier_96
FOLLOW 1Dime:• Substack (Articles and Essays): 1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: youtube.com/@1Dimee
Leave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.
Tags: #Marxism #Socialism #The West #TheEnlightenment #WesternCivilization
Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: patreon.com/OneDime
On this episode of 1Dime Radio, I sit down with British-Nigerian writer Ralph Leonard to ask what it even means to be a Marxist today, after the political fallout of the 20th century. Ralph describes himself as a “conservative Marxist,” which sounds like a contradiction until you realize that one of the core questions in this conversation is whether socialism, properly understood, is not the worship of capitalist progress but a defense of society against capital’s destructive acceleration.
We get into Marxism’s roots in the Enlightenment, liberalism, and the Western political tradition, why Marxism is in many ways a radicalization of Western values rather than a rejection of them, and how Stalinism distorted Marxism into a state-worshipping ideology that dismissed freedom and democracy as “bourgeois” illusions. We also discuss race as ideology, decolonization theory, nationalism, Zionism, the USSR, and whether its failures were historically necessary or politically avoidable.
In The Backroom exclusive episode on Patreon, Ralph and I debate the notion of Conservative Marxism, Nationalism, the Marxist ideal of international revolution, and a lot more.
Timestamps:
00:00:00 The Backroom Sneak Peek
00:03:53 Introduction to Conservative Marxism
00:17:30 Marxism, Enlightenment and the State
00:33:00 Western Values and Decolonial Critiques
00:55:20 Historical Necessity or Preventable Atrocity
01:14:15 Race, Culture and Western Identity
01:24:43 Zionism Opposed to Liberalism
GUEST:
Ralph Leonard• Ralph’s writing at UnHerd: unherd.com/author/ralph-leonard
Ralph’s Twitter: https://x.com/buffsoldier_96
FOLLOW 1Dime:• Substack (Articles and Essays): 1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: youtube.com/@1Dimee
Leave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.
Tags: #Marxism #Socialism #The West #TheEnlightenment #WesternCivilization
